Last year, I judged the Edgar Awards for the Mystery Writers of America. I was on the committee that selected Best Novel. My committee was nine judges to start with, including me. One judge dropped out somewhere around August, perhaps overwhelmed by the number of books or underwhelmed by the stories he was reading. I’ll…
Blog
Meet the WOTY Finalist: Gwen Florio
For all that is good and holy in the world, what possessed you to become an author? Because I can’t afford really good drugs, so I thought I’d destroy my sanity this way instead? That’s the only reason that makes even a shred of sense. Are you a plotter or a pantser? Pantser! Pantser! Pantser!…
Meet the IWOTY Finalist: Sue Duff
Are you a plotter or a pantser? I am a pantser! When I first sat in front of the computer to write, I never dreamt I had a novel in me. But I heard and visualized the story in my head like a movie playing. Luckily, I type fast (thank you Ms. Irwin, my high…
Solving the Conflict Puzzle
I recently started a new novel. I’ve only been working on it for a few weeks, but it’s already given me an epiphany. I looked at my last book as a collection of elements, all independent from one another. I spent the first round of revision working out plot kinks, the next developing character, the…
The Eureka! Moment
Have you ever had one of those when you’re writing? When you suddenly notice something that was right there, but you couldn’t see it until that exact moment in time? I recently had one, and while it gave me a bit of a headache, it was definitely a good thing. This weekend was the Jeffery Deaver…