Posts Tagged ‘mystery novel’

The Novel Experience Podcast – Crime Writer Anthony Bidulka (Part 2)

Sunday, August 29th, 2010

Hey lovers of words and stories.

Welcome to The Novel Experience®, the podcast dedicated to the craft and art of fiction writing. Listen, enjoy and improve your chances of getting published!

Cover pic for The Novel Experience Podcast

The Novel Experience Podcast

Episode 3: Date with a Sheesha Part 2

Just launched the third episode where I continue my conversation with the award-winning crime writer Anthony Bidulka, the pride of the Canadian prairies. (Duration: roughly 15 minutes)

Listen (above or below) to Part 2 to discover Anthony’s Five ‘Cs’ of author promotion and help your own book marketing…oh, all right. I’ll give you a hint. The first three are: Confidence, Communication and Capitalization.

Of course, to learn the last two and to hear Anthony’s terrific insight on Capitalization, which he describes as capitalizing on your strengths and dealing with your weaknesses, you gotta listen.

If you haven’t heard Part 1 or would like to hear my other interviews, click The Novel Experience Podcast.

The Novel Experience Podcast Ep. 3 – Anthony Bidulka

How to Write A Mystery Novel – 8) Character Development

Friday, August 27th, 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 up these writing skills, telling me that they’re learning lots of practical and usable Friday Mystery Writing blog posts.

The information is gleaned from my little non-fiction e-book primer called Youdunit Whodunit! How to Write Mysteries and offers my tips, techniques and information suitable for crafting of all types of genre writing. So, even if you write romance, sci-fi, fantasy or horror, please keep reading and learn with us crime writers.

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT (Part 8a)

The last group of posts have concentrated on the story structure of a mystery novel. Been there; done that. Now we’re onto developing characters or as I like to think of it: Ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille.

Just take a couple of seconds and think about which characters you consider outstanding. Who instantly comes to mind? For me, there’s Tulkinghorn in Bleak House, Phyllis Dietrichson in Double Indemnity, Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs, Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe and Olive Martin in The Sculptress, just to name a few.

Why are they so outstanding? They’re all unique, memorable, fascinating and believable. The gold standard of character development; something we all aim for.

Ready for my close up!

Ready for my close up!

SO WHO’S TELLING YOUR STORY, ANYWAY?

A critical decision: who is your storyteller? It is from his or her point of view (POV) that your murderous tale will unfold. This is especially important in a mystery as you have to follow the fair-play rule and make sure that all the necessary information is available to the reader. (more…)

How to Write a Mystery Novel –7b) Story Structure Key Elements Continued

Friday, August 20th, 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 and offers my tips, techniques and information suitable for crafting of all types of genre writing.

STORY STRUCTURE (PART 7 (b))

This is it. You’ve driven your story and your readers headlong towards the final solution (as described in earlier posts.) The occasion when all is revealed. The moment your audience has been waiting for…so make sure that your story’s Ending:

  • Winds up all the sub-plots first and achieves the bits and pieces necessary in order to attain the main goal
  • Gives everyone what they deserve, good or bad
  • Arises logically through the action and detection of the lead character isn’t obvious but is believable, bestowing that much-sought after “Ah ha!” moment for your audience
  • Ends at the very end; sounds ridiculously obvious yet it’s not always pulled off, and

And finally, once all is exposed, everything else is a reader’s let down. So, quickly tidy up any loose ends and beat a hasty exit. Leave your audience wanting MORE not less.

If you found this post of interest, you may wish to see the previous posts starting here.

…MORE how-to write a mystery tips and techniques continued in the next Friday post as we begin exploring character development! Ready for my close up, Mr. Demille.

Find out further information or how to purchase this e-book, jam-packed with ways to immediately improve your writing, click Youdunit Whodunit (only $2.99US!).

The Novel Experience – Author Interview Podcast Available on Podcast Pickle

Thursday, August 19th, 2010

Delighted to report that my Novel Experience podcast, dedicated to the craft and art of fiction writing, is now available via Podcast Pickle.

The Novel Experience Podcast

The Novel Experience Podcast

If you’re interested in words, writers and storytelling or if you’re a writer seeking sound advice from published authors to help you get published, please give it a spin at PodcastPickle.com. My latest guest is the Saskatchewan crime writer, Anthony Bidulka.

Click here for more info or if you want to listen via this blog or other podcasting services, such as iTunes and Podcast Alley.

Love to know what you think. Email me @ epubbing (at) shaw (dot) ca. Cheers!

Novel Experience Podcast: Interview with Crime Writer Anthony Bidulka

Thursday, August 12th, 2010

Hey lovers of words and stories.

Welcome to The Novel Experience®, the podcast dedicated to the craft and art of fiction writing. Listen, learn and improve your chances of getting published!

Cover pic for The Novel Experience Podcast

The Novel Experience Podcast

Episode 2: Date with a Sheesha

Just launched the second episode where my erudite and entertaining guest is the pride of the Canadian prairies, award winning crime writer Anthony Bidulka.

Listen to Part 1 below to discover Anthony’s excellent tip for character development and to find out why Anthony ‘plays God’ now and then.

Come back soon for Part 2 to learn Anthony’s five ‘Cs’ of author promotion and help your own book marketing. (Duration: roughly 14 minutes)

The Novel Experience 2

Fabulous New Fiction Book Review: A Hemorrhaging of Souls by Nicola Furlong

Wednesday, August 11th, 2010

Am very excited to receive an excellent new review of my fiction mystery e-book (and print paperback), A Hemorrhaging of Souls.

A Hemorrhaging of Souls cover

Clare Swindlehurst, of the excellent review site bluearchipelagoreviews, has just given my dark psychological suspense mystery a five-starred review.

(BTW, Clare defines this rating as…these books were gripping and thoroughly enjoyable. If I award a book 5 Stars it gets to stay on my bookshelf so that one day I can read it again. )

Her review:

This is a story of skeletons in closets and betrayal, with so many twists and turns you’d be forgiven for getting dizzy!

I was drawn into this book from the very first page, and Nicola does a wonderful job of weaving a tale with so many twists and turns, that I didn’t know whodunnit until the last page. I couldn’t even begin to tell you what happened in this book as it is so wonderfully complex, yet simple to follow along as you read it.

The characters are quirky and believable, and it’s always good to throw in a little romantic tension in a “will they won’t they” fashion!

If you have a few hours to spare and you want to escape from the world then download this book to your Kindle and get reading.

You may read this review and many others at bluearchipelagoreviews.com.

For more about A Hemorrhaging of Souls, including an excerpt, other reviews and links to buy here.

How to Write a Mystery Novel –7) Story Structure Key Elements Continued

Friday, August 6th, 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.

STORY STRUCTURE (PART 7 (a)

This is it. You’ve driven your story and your readers headlong towards the final solution (as described in earlier posts). The occasion when all is revealed. The moment your audience has been waiting for…so make sure that your story’s Ending:

  • Occurs at the height of suspense, conflict, life or death situation for the Protagonist or someone she loves
  • Is driven by action, often a chase scene
  • Involves high emotional drama among the players
  • Answers all the main questions (usually), especially those involving the solution to the crime. If you want to leave some of the soft stuff — relationships, life details, whatever — unfinished for the next in the series, go for it.

To be continued…

If you found this of interest, you may wish to see the previous posts starting here.

…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!).

Epubbing with Nicola Furlong – Best Link for Mystery Writers

Sunday, August 1st, 2010

This is very cool. Just discovered that Charmaine Clancy, a children’s and YA author, has chosen Epubbing and my ongoing series of posts on writing mysteries as one of her top links for mystery writers.

She lists a dozen other excellent sites and blogs at Wagging Tales.

Thanks, Charmaine, and cheers!

If you’d like to read the series of mystery writing posts from my primer, Youdunit Whodunit!, start here.

How to Write a Mystery Novel – 6) Story Structure Key Elements Continued

Friday, 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
  • (more…)

THE BLACK WIDOW by Michael Hanson

Thursday, 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

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?