P is for Pacing

Hey you fiction writers out there: have you ever felt the story was running away with you and speeding toward the conclusion or solutions too fast. Slowing things down in a manner the reader embraces is a wonderful tool. Check out today's Writers tricks of the trade: P is for Pacing Part II - Slowing…

Listen to it right here on CrimeSpace. I called in to Giovanni Gelati's G-Zone podcast today. The more I do these calls, the easier it is to sound coherent. I write for a living, not talk in front of people. But I don't mind it.

I call in about halfway through. S.R. Edvalson talks about her new noir short story in the first half. Here you be:

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"It is a time for champions, little brother.  It is your time." (Mycroft Holmes, WHITECHAPEL)

"My Sherlock Holmes…

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Today’s Writers tricks of the trade deals with tapping into your own emotions and experiences to write what your characters are feeling. This allows you to make a wide detour around clichés and create dimensional…

Mystery conventions have to be some of the wackiest, most creative and high energy get-togethers around, Comic Con not withstanding (if you can stand a hundred Darth Vadersroaming around).

Years ago, when I was starting out in the mystery field, a small conference called Bare Bones took place in the hills above Escondido in a church camp near the town of Julian. We stayed in cabins, ate…

Rather than rent out a community center or library for a "real-world" launch party, I'm hosting one virtually via my e-mail newsletter (shout out to CrimeSpace's Clay Morgan for the inspiration, as he's a big proponent of e-mail newsletters).

But unlike a regular old "buy this buy this buy this" event, this launch party is full of exclusive fun only for newsletter subscribers. I'm including plenty of prizes, an online video game based on the novel, writing I've never shared…

Fellow CrimeSpacer B.R. Stateham has the guest post today on my blog. He's talking about short stories, and he's got 4 bits of advice. Of most interest to me was his insistence that you "leave a few holes in the plot."

I don't think he means to work in inconsistencies. Rather, leave some of the story to the reader's imagination. Do you agree?

You can read all of B.R.'s post on my blog here: http://tinyurl.com/4xrd6tb

The best reason I have for writing a novel about Mozart must surely be that I love his music. Other elements contribute, including my fascination with his neglected sister and the growing historical research which I believe points toward his murder. But the music must be at the center of the novel itself.

I’ve played music all my life. But after my initial music lessons I…

It is always a challenge to make characters seem real, but using your own experiences and emotions, like a method actor, takes them a long way.

LINK TO TODAY'S COLUMN:…

I wanted share one of my columns in today’s Las Vegas edition of Examiner.com with you. This one isn’t really about writing. It’s about rock and roll. 

You see, 60s Rock is alive and well in Las Vegas. I was invited to review and enjoy “Echoes of the 60s” at the V2 Theater at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas and took a step back in time.…

The pace of a story is critical. It can keep the reader engaged or turn them off. Imagine pace as though you were driving a car. Part I deals with speeding things up.

http://exm.nr/fkqMXI 

Remember, writers should…

A thief goes into a confessional to search for a hidden treasure but instead finds a priest willing to hear his past sins. 

I’m giving away my short story Absolution Withheld. It was originally published in the now defunct Amazon Short programs but now is yours to have. To get it, I won’t ask you to search for hidden pictures, or fill out a questionnaire, or buy any thing upfront. This time it’s a giveaway plain and simple.

Just email me at jhbogran at…

I've certainly done my share of carping over authors' failings, both live and online. I am impatient with characters who act in ways real people never would, with plots that don't make complete sense at the end, and especially with killers who come out of nowhere in the last chapter. However, I don't pretend to be a critic. Like so many other people, I only know--and only want to talk about--what I like.

I've heard writers and readers say that critics don't matter. "I never…

In the southern desert of Jordan, the ancient Nabateans carved their city, Petra, out of the red-rose rock. Later the caves were home to tribes of Bedouin. And to a young backpacker from New Zealand who fell in love with a Bedouin man. Marguerite van Geldermalsen met Mohammad in the late-Seventies and for the initial seven years of their marriage they lived inside the rock and…

Today's Writer tricks of the trade in the Los Angeles edition of examiner.com is about rewrites.

LINK:…