All Blog Posts Tagged 'time' (35)

Pauline Rowson explains how she uses time frames in novels when writing the DI Andy Horton crime series

Time frames in novels, and particularly when writing a series, as I do with the DI Andy Horton novels, are a tricky thing. There is ‘real time’ and there is ‘fictional time’.

In ‘real time’ I write two DI Horton novels a year whereas in ‘fictional time’ the current novels are set over a period of sixteen months, which means there are an awful lot of murders in Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight, making it…

Continue

Added by Pauline Rowson on November 12, 2013 at 9:18pm — No Comments

Writing Time

Morning chores. Getting the kids dressed and off to school or other activities. Work. Dentist and doctor appointments. After school activities. Laundry. Meal preparation. House cleaning. Car maintenance. Social time. Shopping for groceries and other essentials. Church. Lawn maintenance. Date night with the spouse or with a new acquaintance. Balancing the check…

Continue

Added by Stephen Brayton on December 7, 2012 at 4:36pm — No Comments

Like Aviation Thrillers? Check out A Time For Patriots By Dale Brown

Dale Brown is the well-known author many aviation techno-thriller novels, including a widely popular series centered around the retired Air Force Lieutenant-General Patrick McLanahan. He has thirteen New York Times best sellers under his belt and…

Continue

Added by Ehsan Ehsani on April 24, 2012 at 6:30am — No Comments

WHAT GRINDS MY GEARS

You know…

Continue

Added by Ed Casas on July 21, 2011 at 3:30am — No Comments

Time frames in novels - real time and fictional time

Time frames in novels, and particularly when writing a crime series, are a tricky thing. There is 'real time' and then there is 'fictional time'. In 'real time’ I write one DI Horton a year whereas in ‘fictional time’ the novels are currently set over a period of a year.

Tide of Death,…

Continue

Added by Pauline Rowson on June 6, 2011 at 5:41pm — No Comments

On the Road Again

In my dreams, a week dances tantalizingly just over the horizon. This week is filled with nothing. No appointments, no road trips, no phone calls. In my dream, I work at one of my three computers (the sitting down at the desk one, the standing up when my back is tired one, and the go-anywhere laptop one) all day, every day, and at the end of the…

Continue

Added by Peg Herring on March 7, 2011 at 10:10pm — No Comments

Crime Time Event with Pauline Rowson at the Isle of Wight Festival

Tickets are now on sale for my event at the exciting and vibrant Isle of Wight Festival in April. You can read about my event and other events taking place over the weekend of 15-17 April at Ventnor on the Isle of Wight on the website, but below is a…

Continue

Added by Pauline Rowson on February 28, 2011 at 6:35pm — No Comments

Crime writing can be a messy process

So I have the idea. I do some research. I work it up into an outline plot with a smattering of characters and then I start writing. This is when it gets messy.

1. The brain dump or free flow

First up is the free flow type of writing when I'm eager to bring the idea and characters to life by getting words and actions on to my computer screen as quickly as possible. Often these are not the correct words, the description is hazy, the characters not fully formed, the grammar and… Continue

Added by Pauline Rowson on February 1, 2011 at 1:41am — No Comments

K IS FOR "KEEP WRITING" - WRITERS TRICKS OF THE TRADE

LINK TO TODAY'S COLUMN - http://exm.nr/KforKeepWriting

As writers, we all say that we will keep writing. Oh yeah, write every day. Some of us do and some of us don't. I decided this would make a great topic for my column today in the Las Vegas edition of Examiner.com. Those of you…

Continue

Added by Morgan St. James on January 21, 2011 at 9:02am — 2 Comments

WRITERS TRICKS OF THE TRADE - TODAY'S COLUMN - B IS FOR BALANCE

LINK: http://exm.nr/BforBalance

…

Continue

Added by Morgan St. James on January 15, 2011 at 2:00am — No Comments

How to keep up on the Middle East

JERUSALEM — Time was anyone with an interest in the Middle East could be guaranteed a couple of books a year would be brought out by U.S. journalists based in the region. Now many of those correspondents are history, with news bureaus closing and those that remain cutting back. The new books written by Americans tend to be by think-tank types or others whose agenda is hard to figure out.

But you know that already. It’s one reason you’re reading GlobalPost, which was founded… Continue

Added by Matt Rees on June 20, 2010 at 9:19pm — No Comments

Sobbing on the Pages

I've never been much for sob stories. Of course, great literature tends to be tragic, and some of those stories are on my list of all-time favorites. I love reading versions of the King Arthur legend, for example, but I know that I'll be sad at the end because that "fleeting wisp of glory" could not sustain itself in the face of Man's corruption.

The best tragedies offer us some kind of hope, but even so, as I've gotten older, I find myself reading fewer books that I know can't end…

Continue

Added by Peg Herring on May 19, 2010 at 10:26pm — 5 Comments

New York Times Book Review: THE FOURTH ASSASSIN 'engrossing,' 'New Yorkers will be startled'

New Yorkers tend to have a "seen it all" outlook on life. Unsurprisingly, given the madhouse that is the Big Apple. But I've now officially done something that'll shock them. In The New York Times Book Review's crime fiction roundup by Marilyn Stasio, my new novel THE FOURTH ASSASSIN is called "engrossing." It's also described as a novel that…

Continue

Added by Matt Rees on February 27, 2010 at 5:01pm — 3 Comments

Inventing the Palestinian detective

The dead man's mother raged and cried as she told me how she’d discovered her son’s body, in the cabbage patch outside her home. She’d gone down on her knees, she said, touched his blood and wiped her fingers on her face and called out that God is most great.

As the wind came winter cold off the Judean Desert, I watched her weep and thought: “I have to write a novel about this.”

Forgive me if that sounds heartless, but I’m a…

Continue

Added by Matt Rees on February 25, 2010 at 4:52pm — 1 Comment

The Crime Fiction Insider: Duncan Campbell's Writing Life

One of the great pleasures of life as a writer is being paired with interesting authors when you speak at book fairs. (It's also an occasional rough ride when you find yourself stuck with a bum who can't write, but I'm being nice here so I won't go into any of those.) The most delightful fellow I've ever met in this way is Duncan Campbell, with whom I was paired at the book fair in his native Edinburgh two years ago. He also happens to be the British crime writer with the best knowledge of…

Continue

Added by Matt Rees on February 24, 2010 at 4:09am — No Comments

Where Has The Time Gone?

My family has been snowed in six days. Today, a second blizzard is dumping another two feet of the white stuff. With Jack, my husband, immersed in his imaginary world of HO-scale trains; and Tristan, my son, conquering empires in the world of Wii, I should have the first draft of the great American mystery novel completed by the time we’re dug out around Easter. Don’t you think?

When it comes to explaining my lack of progress, I…

Continue

Added by Lauren Carr on February 12, 2010 at 1:59am — 6 Comments

Writer's Glut, The Opposite of Writer's Block

There isn't enough time in the day. You all know I'm hard at work on the sequel to HER HIGHNESS, which is moving at a snail's pace for some reason. But then I get into my old computer files for some reason and stumble onto other projects, some barely started, some almost done.

Gee, that was a good idea. Why didn't I finish it? Oh, right. I was stuck on motive. Oh, and that one's nice, too. I was going to work on the characters, get them some depth. Oh, that clever idea for a plot… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on November 10, 2009 at 9:27pm — 1 Comment

That Wonderful Bottom Drawer

In my writing workshops, I always advise letting a piece "rest" in a drawer or file somewhere for an extended time when it's finished, and I just proved to myself once more the value of that practice. There's something about stepping away that clarifies things: plot flaws solve themselves, characters solidify, and bits that nail the thing together grow between the cracks and almost insert themselves.

My WIP for October is the sequel to HER HIGHNESS' FIRST MURDER, which has been… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on October 8, 2009 at 10:01pm — No Comments

Ancillary Actions

I'd never used the word "ancillary" in my life until my first publishing days. Now I know and sometimes dread the word. Every job has aspects to it that outsiders don't know about or assume are done by someone else. Writers have a ton of ancillary tasks that not only aren't as much fun as writing, they actually take away from writing time.

First, of course is promotion, but there are a thousand things that come up. In my head I keep saying, "Maybe next week I can get back to my WIP."… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on September 30, 2009 at 1:49am — 4 Comments

Author Hours

I did a workshop on Saturday and as usual got the question, "Do you set regular writing hours for yourself?"

I always answer yes, but the sign on the door of my writing "business" would have to have some disclaimers:

BUSINESS OPEN:

M-F 7:00-11:00* ** *** ****

*-ish. If things are going well, I might continue until suppertime. If not, I wander the house from 9:30 on, doing little non-writing tasks and hoping the muse gets her butt back into the chair soon.

** Of… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on September 28, 2009 at 10:18pm — No Comments