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Hometown:: Arlington, Texas

About Me:: Mystery writer, full time RVer, some time stunt kite flyer, wannabe barefoot beach bum, but the muse calls

I Am A:: Writer

Website:: http://www.janchristensen.com

Books And Authors I Like:: Anything written by: P. D. James, Anne Perry, Anne Tyler, Anne Rivers Siddons, Sue Grafton, John D. MacDonald, Donald Westlake, Ed Gorman, Larry Block, Dennis Lehane,and too many more to mention or even remember off the top of my head

Movies And TV Shows I Like:: Mystic River
Boston Legal

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Jan Christensen's Blog

MISTAKES IN FICTON

The reason I write fiction is so I can make things up.

Suddenly, especially with TV getting so much wrong apparently (I don't watch a lot, so I only know what I read about watching TV), everything in fiction has to be real.

Huh?

The only people who can write fiction anymore without fear of criticism about what they've made up, it seems, are those who write "Speculative Fiction." The rest of us can make up people, places, maybe some situations, but not things,… Continue

Posted on January 12, 2010 at 9:06am — 7 Comments

DOES YOUR MANUSCRIPT STINK?

Just found this fascinating article in the NY Times today--about the scents of NYC. Just reading through them will vastly increase our ability to use the sense of smell in our manuscripts.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/08/29/opinion/20090829-smell-map-feature.html?th&emc=th

(Hope the link works--if not, please cut and paste)

I try to have at least one distinctive smell in each chapter. When I check my descriptions, I try to remember to include a… Continue

Posted on August 31, 2009 at 5:00am

WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM VENTRILOQUISTS?

The one I'm watching right now has a dummy with movable eyes and eyebrows. His lower jaw also moves, of course, but that's to show speech. The eyes move from side to side, and although they don't change in size, they look bigger when the eyebrows are moved upward. The eyebrows can go up to show surprise or can go down to form a V on the dummy's forehead for a frown. The head may also be moved in a bobbing movement just a little and often from side to side.

Look at how the… Continue

Posted on July 4, 2009 at 1:00pm

NEW STORY ON-LINE!

A flash story (under 1,000 words) went on-line yesterday at http://pattinase.blogspot.com/
Although it's not a mystery, I hope everyone will take a look. Patti Abbott asked me to submit, and I thought the premise was interesting: A wedding cake in the road. Check out the other stories, as well. Scroll down about halfway until you see the picture of another wedding cake. I love being given a prompt and see where it leads me. Enjoy!

Posted on June 8, 2009 at 3:05am

Comment Wall (33 comments)

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At 1:18am on August 30, 2009, Barbara DaCosta said…: I'm reading a lot more again after letting my TV "expire" instead of convert. Now, if I didn't have email and internet....

At 1:24pm on August 28, 2009, Jan Christensen said…: Well, hi there Den. Thanks for stopping by. I do hope to be more active here in a bit--just some loose ends I need to tie up first.

At 12:07pm on August 28, 2009, Dennis Leppanen said…: Hi Jan,

I'm a SMFS cat also. I've seen your name around for a while. - den

At 2:54am on June 8, 2009, Jan Christensen said…: Thanks, Paul! I never know where a story is going. For this one, I decided to start with a wedding cake and see where it went. Boy, was I surprised. And you have reminded me I should put up a link here so others can go see it! Thanks again!

At 11:46am on June 4, 2009, JackBludis said…: Great post on the short mystery list today. A lot of us were feeling like you are. Thanks.

At 10:47am on March 24, 2009, Sunny Frazier said…: I save all my social network updates for Sundays, then I rush to the computer like it's Christmas! Yesterday I uploaded all the fun photos from LCC. Oh, it was a terrific time! I'm sure you recognize many of the authors.

At 8:27am on October 9, 2008, Jan Christensen said…: Beth, so glad to see you here. Because of your prompt, I just put up a new entry. I hope everyone will read and enjoy it!

At 9:54am on October 4, 2008, Beth Groundwater said…: Hi Jan,
Thanks for befriending this fellow mystery author!

At 2:36am on February 24, 2008, Jan Christensen said…: L.J., I bet we're all the same. I do my final edit of anything on paper. I catch things on paper I never see on screen. And I like being able to use my red pen on that paper to fix things. On screen I'm more likely to just fix the little things. But at least then, I can throw the paper out, after I've fixed the story in Word. Thanks for chiming in
Disclaimer: I didn't print this comment out, so all mistakes are because of my weak eyes.

At 2:30pm on February 23, 2008, L.J. Sellers said…: Boston Legal is the best thing on TV, intensely political and LOL funny.
I like your paperless idea. I've tried it. But the irony for me is, I really prefer not to read long documents on screen. So the more paper needed, the more likely I am to print it!