by Susan Spann Sherlock Holmes. Jane Marple. Jack Reacher. Three famous names with something important in common … aside from the fact that each of them solves crimes in mystery or thriller novels. What is this common element? Readers love them. The key to writing successful mysteries and thrillers doesn’t lie in careful plotting, clever […]

by Shannon Donnelly Years ago I was struggling to try and figure out how to write a synopsis. It took a lot of input from other writers, and some workshops, but I finally became comfortable with syopsis writing—and now it’s one of my favorite tools. I’m now doing my “Sexy Synopsis workshop again for Outreach […]

by Jami Gold If you’ve heard of beat sheets before, you might have heard about complicated forms or spreadsheets. I don’t know about you, but I don’t do math. Heck, I write my stories by the seat of my pants, so something that forces me to draft in a regimented way doesn’t appeal to me […]

by James Preston The general who wins the battle makes many calculations in his temple before the battle is fought. The general who loses makes but few calculations beforehand. -- Sun Tzu First, thanks for having me back.  I really enjoy these opportunities to talk about our work. About this entry -- If you have […]

by Cynthia D’Alba I was sitting an RWA chapter meeting last month when the older woman beside me said, “I didn’t think I’d have to do so much promotion. I thought the publishing company took care of that.” She sighed. “Things have changed.” I just nodded but in reality,  I wouldn’t know how things used […]