By Mark Stevens I did the math so you don’t have to. 25 + 38 + 18 + 52 = 133. Left to right—Sue Grafton, Charlaine Harris, Sara Paretsky, J.A. Jance. They are on the panel, dubbed “A Conversation Among Authors.” It should be called “A Conversation Among Crank Monsters.” I mean, holy cow that’s…
Author: Mark Stevens
Mark Stevens is the author of the The Fireballer (Lake Union, 2023) and The Allison Coil Mystery Series including Antler Dust, Buried by the Roan, Trapline, Lake of Fire, and The Melancholy Howl. Trapline won The Colorado Book Award for Best Mystery. Stevens has also published short stories in Denver Noir (Akashic Books, 2022), Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, and Mystery Tribune, among others. Stevens is longtime member of Mystery Writers of America. In 2023, Stevens was named Writer of the Year by Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers for the second time. He lives in southwest Colorado.
A Few Bad Habits
By Mark Stevens You brush your teeth. You comb your hair. You make a pot of coffee. You’re on auto pilot, right? Not much brainpower required. Your head is busy elsewhere, thinking ahead. Or something. You sit down to write. Man oh man, that first sentence of your new bestseller is going to be carved…
Pen and Paper? Are You Kidding Me????
By Mark Stevens I recently sparked a flutter on Twitter. I mentioned that I write by hand. Yes, full novels—start to finish. By hand. I mentioned this on Twitter and I could hear virtual jaws dropping from coast to coast. Okay, in reality, I had five or six comments along these lines: “Are you KIDDING…
Crush the Crutches
By Mark Stevens Do you have “crutch” words? Words you inject into your prose without thinking? I mean, they are such great freaking words that you when you ask a reader to plow through your latest incredible best-selling novel, she comes back and says: “Well, not bad. But did you know you used the word…
Here Comes the Judge
By Mark Stevens Who am I to judge? No, really? I’ve judged the Colorado Gold contest for many years. I take on five or six entries each time around. That’s not many pieces to rate. Some judges handle dozens—and more. Five or six entries take time—twenty pages of each novel and a three or four-page…