July 30th, 2010
Intro: I’ve been teaching a writers’ workshop at our local Camosun college on how to write a mystery novel. My students are eating it up, telling me that they’re learning lots of practical and usable tips and techniques, so I thought I’d offer bits and pieces of the workshop in my new Friday Mystery Writing blog posts.
The information is gleaned from my little non-fiction e-book primer called Youdunit Whodunit! How to Write Mysteries. .
Don’t forget to slip in the Sly Bits:
- As mentioned earlier, a good mystery must follow the Rule of Fair Play. This means the audience should receive the same information as the Protagonist, thus giving the reader a chance to solve the crime by the end of the story
- Your job also involves developing these all-important sly bits — clues to the solution and red herrings to cause reader confusion — and then scattering them throughout the story
- Clues and red herring may be tangible (like a bloody glove) or intangible (like a character’s behaviour).
- Intensify suspense with a chase or a villain who escapes until the last possible moment or page
- Place the Protag or someone close to him or her at risk.
…MORE how-to write a mystery tips and techniques continued in the next Friday post!
Find out more information or how to purchase this e-book, jam-packed with ways to immediately improve your writing, click Youdunit Whodunit (only $2.99US!).
Tags: crime fiction, detective fiction, ebook, Electronic / Digital Publishing, fiction, genre fiction, mystery, mystery novel, mystery writing, self-promotion, self-publishing, writing how to, writing skills
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July 29th, 2010
I recently had the pleasure to assist Michael Hanson, a former officer with England’s famed Metropolitan Police, publish his first fiction e-book.
The Black Widow is an intriguing police procedural mystery from a man who’s been in the trenches. To purchase ($2.99 US) or to find out more information, check it out at Smashwords.com. The Black Widow will soon be available from a number of other online booksellers.
The Black Widow by Michael Hanson
Michael kindly offers this note of appreciation for my electronic publishing services, my brief how-to primer, Self-Publish Your E-Book in Minutes, and for my e-publishing course:
When you are getting a little long in the tooth and want to publish a book, modern technology and publishing changes mean that skilled help is necessary.
The lecture on E-Book Publishing given by Nicola Furlong makes it easy for all ages, and her creativity and imagination give the necessary encouragement to take this step to publish your book. She was tremendous help with mine.
Her blog will keep you up to date in a rapidly changing world of fiction and nonfiction reading.
Why not let The Black Widow spin you her web?
Tags: crime fiction, detective fiction, Electronic / Digital Publishing, mystery, mystery novel, self-publishing, smashwords
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July 26th, 2010
It’s taken a month or two but I’m really pleased to announce that my e-book version of Unnatural States is now available on Canada’s fab online bookseller, Kobobooks.
UnnaturalStates
You may read an excerpt and buy my paranormal thriller from Kobobooks for $2.99 at
Unnatural States.
To read some reviews, check out the book trailer and find out more info, please visit Unnatural States.
You may always experience Unnatural States in a cool multi-media format at Unnatural States Quillr®.
Posted in Ebooks, Electronic / Digital Publishing, Marketing, Multimedia Storytelling, Publishing, Self-Publishing, Writing | No Comments »
July 22nd, 2010
e-Riches 2.0: Next-Generation Marketing Strategies for Making Millions Online by Scott Fox
Am always keen to improve my marketing opportunities for my fiction and non-fiction list and finding this book of interest re SEO, blogging strategies and using feeds and email lists.
View all my reviews >>
You may buy E-Riches 2.0 at
Amazon.com
Posted in Epubbing General, Marketing, Publishing | No Comments »
July 17th, 2010
Intro: I’ve been teaching a writers’ workshop at our local Camosun college on how to write a mystery novel. My students are eating it up, telling me that they’re learning lots of practical and usable tips and techniques, so I thought I’d offer bits and pieces of the workshop in my new Friday Mystery Writing blog posts.
Youdunit Whodunit!
The information is gleaned from my little non-fiction e-book primer called Youdunit Whodunit: How to Write Mysteries.
STORY STRUCTURE (PART 6 Continued)
LOOSE THE HOUNDS INTO THE MIDDLE:
Other mid-story development tidbits:
Tags: crime fiction, detective fiction, ebook, genre fiction, mystery novel, mystery writing, writing how to
Posted in Ebooks, Publishing, Self-Publishing, Writing | No Comments »
July 10th, 2010
Intro: I’ve been teaching a writers’ workshop at our local Camosun college on how to write a mystery novel. My students are eating it up, telling me that they’re learning lots of practical and usable tips and techniques, so I thought I’d offer bits and pieces of the workshop in my new Friday Mystery Writing blog posts.
Cover for mystery writing primer, Youdunit Whodunit!
The information is gleaned from my little non-fiction e-book primer called
Youdunit Whodunit: How to Write Mysteries.
STORY STRUCTURE (PART 5 Continued)
LOOSE THE HOUNDS INTO THE MIDDLE:
Other mid-story development tidbits:
- Never introduce the guilty party late in the book; that’s betraying the rule of fair game
- Generate more complications resulting from the criminal’s efforts at concealment or escape; these often result in a really big problem: a second murder or crime
- Remember that the strongest stories are intertwined, so construct your main and sub-plots to resonate or reflect one another. Perhaps your main mystery is a missing child; then a strong sub-plot would be to have one of your character’s searching for their birth family.
- Make it personal: have someone the reader likes be affected by the first murder or crime: maybe as a suspect? Or is in love with the suspect? Or their life’s changed by the crime?
Remember how MURDER SHE WROTE’S Jessica Fletcher always had some relationship with the victim or the suspect? So much so that no one would ever really want to be close to her!
- Develop and show strong motives for at least three characters and you’re off and running
…MORE how-to write a mystery tips and techniques continued in the next post!
Find out more information or how to purchase this e-book, jam-packed with ways to immediately improve your writing, click Youdunit Whodunit (only $2.99US!).
Tags: crime fiction, detective fiction, ebook, Electronic / Digital Publishing, fiction, genre fiction, mystery, mystery novel, mystery writing, self-publishing, writing how to, writing skills
Posted in Ebooks, Publishing, Self-Publishing, Writing | No Comments »
July 7th, 2010
The Coral Thief by Rebecca Stott
Interesting thriller. Old-fashioned feel with clues, pursuit and love in Paris.
View all my reviews >>
You may buy this book at Amazon.com
Tags: book review, crime fiction, mystery, mystery novel
Posted in Publishing, Writing | No Comments »
July 5th, 2010
Recently, I was fortunate enough to listen to an excellent free webinar, offered by Enhanced E-Book University, on enhanced e-books.
Three interesting guests:
- Jessica Goodman, Wiley and Sons, explained their “How to Cook Everything” app
- Theodore Gray, Touch Press, on creating his wildly popular app, “The Elements, and
- Rhys Cazenove, Enhanced Editions, about producing the very popular, “Death of Bunny Munro”.
The trio offered excellent information and advice.
UnnaturalStates: John & Harry Battling
It was so cool to learn that others are embracing the multimedia enhanced book platform. Though different from our UnnaturalStates Quillr® concept, they were all hip to offering stories and information in a whole new way.
Text alone storytelling and reading is just so five minutes ago!
Read more and see some video of the webinar here.
Tags: Electronic / Digital Publishing, enhanced e-book, ereaders, multimedia storytelling, Publishing, quillr, writing how to
Posted in Ebooks, Electronic / Digital Publishing, Multimedia Storytelling, Self-Publishing, Writing | No Comments »
June 29th, 2010
I’m delighted to announce the electronic publication of my latest how-to primer. This time, I tackled electronic self-publishing with Self-Publish Your E-Book in Minutes!.
I jumped on the digital wagon last year by re-publishing my mysteries as e-books. Soon, I began instructing others—many had failed with traditional publishers or were wary of costly Print on Demand—at a Victoria, B.C., college.
Self-Publish Your E-Book in Minutes
I immediately found the demand far exceeded my eager students and concluded that a practical, simple and affordable how-to primer on electronic publishing was needed.
Thus, Self-Publish Your E-Book in Minutes! was born.
It’s brief, practical and succinctly covers all the essentials of electronic publication, like formatting, uploading and marketing, and is available online at Amazon.com and Smashwords.com for $0.99.
Tags: Electronic / Digital Publishing, ereaders, iPad, iPhone, kindle, kobo, non-fiction, Publishing, smashwords, writing how to
Posted in Ebooks, Electronic / Digital Publishing, Publishing, Self-Publishing, Writing | No Comments »
June 28th, 2010
Come spend some time in my cottage garden along with my fellow crime writer, Anthony Bidulka.
Geordie enjoying blossoms
He’s got an unusually fun posting regime where he asks Canadian mystery writers to answer 10 silly questions.
I did and he very cleverly put it all together using pics from my cottage garden. The results are delightful!
Check it out today at Anthony Bidulka.
Thanks, Anthony.
Tags: anthony bidulka, cottage garden, crime fiction, crime writers of canada, detective fiction, mystery, mystery novel, mystery writing, self-promotion
Posted in Epubbing General, Marketing, Writing | No Comments »
