Download or read book Writing Mysteries written by Sue Grafton and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2002-04-22 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Here's your ticket to the greatest mystery-writing workshop ever! In this extraordinary compilation, more than three dozen members of the Mystery Writers of America share insights and advice that can help make your writing dreams a reality. You'll learn how to: • Develop unique ideas • Construct an airtight plot packed with intrigue and suspense • Create compelling characters and atmospheric settings • Develop a writing style all your own • Write convincing dialogue • Choose the appropriate point of view • Work with an agent • Conduct accurate research • and much, much more! You'll also find special guidelines for creating clues, dropping red herrings, and writing medical, legal, historical, true crime, and young adult mysteries. It's all the information you need to solve the mystery-writing riddle!

Download or read book How to Write a Mystery written by Mystery Writers of America and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2022-04-12 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From 70 of the most successful mystery writers in the business, an invaluable guide to crafting mysteries—from character development and plot to procedurals and thrillers—“this is a writing guide that readers and writers will turn to again and again” (Booklist, starred review). Mystery Writers of America (MWA) is known for providing unparalleled resources on the craft, art, and business of storytelling, helping writers of all levels improve their skills for nearly a century. Now, this handbook helps authors navigate the ever-shifting publishing landscape—from pacing, plotting, the business side of publishing, to the current demand for diversity and inclusivity across all genres, and more. Featuring essays by a new generation of bestselling experts on various elements of the craft and shorter pieces of crowd-sourced wisdom from the MWA membership as a whole, the topics covered can be categorized as follows: —Before Writing (rules; genres; setting; character; research; etc.) —While Writing (outlining; the plot; dialogue; mood; etc.) —After Writing (agents; editors; self-pub; etc.) —Other than Novels (short stories; true crime; etc.) —Other Considerations (diverse characters; legal questions; criticism) Also included is a collection of essays from MWA published authors—including Jeffery Deaver, Tess Gerritsen, and Charlaine Harris—selected by bestselling authors Lee Child and Laurie King and arranged thematically answering, “What piece of writing advice do you wish you’d had at the beginning of your career?” “Everything you wanted to know about how to plan, draft, write, revise, publish, and market a mystery” (Kirkus Reviews), this inclusive manual provides practical, current, easily digestible advice for new and established authors alike.

Download or read book Write This Book written by Pseudonymous Bosch and published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. This book was released on 2013-04-02 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This imaginative companion to the New York Times bestselling Secret Series teases, prompts, and leads readers through the steps of writing a story. Bosch's signature rip-roaring voice delivers an engaging narrative (for the reader to help complete!) and interactive puzzles and games. Readers get the chance to create their own story while enjoying a satisfying mystery as well. Here's a note from our fearless "author":I feared this might happen. I knew reading was a dangerous business, but now it's not safe for writers either! You see, the author of this book is missing. Well, maybe not "missing." A certain author whom I won't name (okay, me) has abandoned his book and has left his readers hanging out to dry. This is a crime, I admit, but there it is. Most of this book, well, I just haven't written it. And I'm not going to, either. Why? Oh, I have my reasons. Big. Grown up. Author. Reasons. Unfortunately, I can't reveal them yet. Let's just say a life is at stake (mine) and leave it at that. So will you do it? Pretty please? You'll do it? Thank you! But please hurry! Time is of the essence and you can't wait any longer. You must WRITE THIS BOOK!

Download or read book Secret Writing written by Peter Sears and published by . This book was released on 1986 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discusses secret writing, ciphers, and the processes of creating and deciphering secret or difficult languages. Includes thinking and writing exercises.

Download or read book How to Write a Mystery written by Larry Beinhart and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2010-12-01 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: WHODUNIT? YOUDUNIT! So you want to write a mystery. There's more to it than just a detective, a dead body, and Colonel Mustard in the drawing room with the candlestick. Fortunately, Larry Beinhart--Edgar Award-winning author of You Get What You Pay For, Foreign Exchange, and American Hero--has taken a break from writing smart, suspenseful thrillers to act as your guide through all the twists and turns of creating the twists and turns of a good mystery. Drawing on advice and examples from a host of the best names in mystery writing--from Raymond Chandler and Mickey Spillane to Scott Turow and Thomas Harris--plus some of his own prime plots, Larry Beinhart introduces you to your most indispensable partners in crime: *Character, plot, and procedure * The secrets to creating heroes, heroines, and villains ("All writers draw upon themselves and their experience. While the whole of yourself might not be capable of being either a serial killer or an FBI agent, there are parts in each of us that are capable of almost anything.") * The fine art of scripting the sex scene *The low-down on violence ("A crime novel without violence is like smoking pot without inhaling, sex without orgasm, or a hug without a squeeze." ) *And much more! From the opening hook to the final denouement, Larry Beinhart takes the mystery out of being a mystery writer.

Download or read book Bounced written by Ted Staunton and published by Scholastic Canada. This book was released on 2017-01-31 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A detective story with as many laughs as there are twists and turns, from award-winning author Ted Staunton! In the beginning, it was simple: I wanted to be a detective, and I needed something to detect . . . Thirteen-year-old Duncan lives with his unconventional bohemian aunt. She's determined to give him an expensive private education, even though Duncan isn't particularly interested in school. He wants to be a detective like the ones in the World's Best 100 Detective Stories, which he reads when he should be studying. Fortunately for Duncan (and readers!), he gets something to detect in the first chapter of this funny crime mystery. Full of twists and turns and laugh-out-loud adventure, this highly entertaining story will have readers wondering if they've solved the mystery (and most likely they haven't) until the last page turn. Ted Staunton ratchets up the fun in this fast-paced romp, loosely based on a true story from Texas in the early 2000s.

Download or read book Writing the Mystery written by G. Miki Hayden and published by Big Earth Publishing. This book was released on 2004 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Hayden then goes one step further and guides the reader through the post-writing process, explaining manuscript preparation, cover letters, acquiring an agent, and methods of successful promotion. Writing the Mystery concludes each section with in-depth exercises that put the lessons of the chapter into practice. Also included is a special collection of interviews, featuring mystery major leaguers who discuss the craft and offer their own valuable advice for the aspiring author and professionals switching to the mystery genre."--Jacket.

Download or read book Theory of Prose written by Виктор Шкловский and published by Dalkey Archive Press. This book was released on 1991 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Viktor Shklovsky's 1925 book Theory of Prose might have become the most important work of literary criticism in the twentieth century had not two obstacles barred its way: the crackdown by the Soviet dictatorship on Shklovsky and other Russian Formalists in the 1930s, and the unavailability of an English translation. Now translated in its entirety for the first time, Theory of Prose not only anticipates structuralism and post-structuralism, but poses questions about the nature of fiction that are as provocative today as they were in the 1920s. Arguing that writers structure their material according to artistic principles rather than from attempts to imitate "reality," Shklovsky uses Cervantes, Tolstoi, Sterne, Dickens, Bely, and Rozanov to give us a new way of thinking about fiction and, in his most impassioned moments, about the world. Benjamin Sher's lucid translation will allow Shklovsky's Theory of Prose to fulfill its destiny as a major theoretical work of the twentieth century." from back cover.

Download or read book Writing the Breakout Novel written by Donald Maass and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2002-08-01 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Take your fiction to the next level! Maybe you're a first-time novelist looking for practical guidance. Maybe you've already been published, but your latest effort is stuck in mid-list limbo. Whatever the case may be, author and literary agent Donald Maass can show you how to take your prose to the next level and write a breakout novel - one that rises out of obscurity and hits the best-seller lists. Maass details the elements that all breakout novels share - regardless of genre - then shows you writing techniques that can make your own books stand out and succeed in a crowded marketplace. You'll learn to: • establish a powerful and sweeping sense of time and place • weave subplots into the main action for a complex, engrossing story • create larger-than-life characters that step right off the page • explore universal themes that will interest a broad audience of readers • sustain a high degree of narrative tension from start to finish • develop an inspired premise that sets your novel apart from the competition Then, using examples from the recent works of several best-selling authors - including novelist Anne Perry - Maass illustrates methods for upping the ante in every aspect of your novel writing. You'll capture the eye of an agent, generate publisher interest and lay the foundation for a promising career.

Download or read book DIY MFA written by Gabriela Pereira and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2016-07-08 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Get the Knowledge Without the College! You are a writer. You dream of sharing your words with the world, and you're willing to put in the hard work to achieve success. You may have even considered earning your MFA, but for whatever reason--tuition costs, the time commitment, or other responsibilities--you've never been able to do it. Or maybe you've been looking for a self-guided approach so you don't have to go back to school. This book is for you. DIY MFA is the do-it-yourself alternative to a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing. By combining the three main components of a traditional MFA--writing, reading, and community--it teaches you how to craft compelling stories, engage your readers, and publish your work. Inside you'll learn how to: • Set customized goals for writing and learning. • Generate ideas on demand. • Outline your book from beginning to end. • Breathe life into your characters. • Master point of view, voice, dialogue, and more. • Read with a "writer's eye" to emulate the techniques of others. • Network like a pro, get the most out of writing workshops, and submit your work successfully. Writing belongs to everyone--not only those who earn a degree. With DIY MFA, you can take charge of your writing, produce high-quality work, get published, and build a writing career.

Download or read book Dead Write written by Sheila Lowe and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2009-08-04 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When it comes to solving murder, sometimes the pen can be mightier than the sword ... Handwriting expert Claudia Rose heads to the Big Apple at the behest of Grusha Olinetsky, the notorious founder of an elite dating service whose members are mysteriously dying. Drawn into the feckless lives of the rich and single, Claudia finds herself in a twisted world of love and lies fueled by desperation. But is one among them desperate enough to kill? Claudia must find clues in the suspects' handwriting before more victims are scribbled into the killer's black book...

Download or read book How to Write a Damn Good Mystery written by James N. Frey and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2007-04-01 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Edgar award nominee James N. Frey, author of the internationally best-selling books on the craft of writing, How to Write a Damn Good Novel, How to Write a Damn Good Novel II: Advanced Techniques, and The Key: How to Write Damn Good Fiction Using the Power of Myth, has now written what is certain to become the standard "how to" book for mystery writing, How to Write a Damn Good Mystery. Frey urges writers to aim high-not to try to write a good-enough-to-get-published mystery, but a damn good mystery. A damn good mystery is first a dramatic novel, Frey insists-a dramatic novel with living, breathing characters-and he shows his readers how to create a living, breathing, believable character who will be clever and resourceful, willful and resolute, and will be what Frey calls "the author of the plot behind the plot." Frey then shows, in his well-known, entertaining, and accessible (and often humorous) style , how the characters-the entire ensemble, including the murderer, the detective, the authorities, the victims, the suspects, the witnesses and the bystanders-create a complete and coherent world. Exploring both the on-stage action and the behind-the-scenes intrigue, Frey shows prospective writers how to build a fleshed-out, believable, and logical world. He shows them exactly which parts of that world show up in the pages of a damn good mystery-and which parts are held back just long enough to keep the reader guessing. This is an indispensable step-by-step guide for anyone who's ever dreamed of writing a damn good mystery.

Download or read book Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction written by Patricia Highsmith and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2001-09-08 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Originally published in Great Britain by Polar Press Limited.

Download or read book Talking About Detective Fiction written by P. D. James and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2011-05-03 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: P. D. James, the undisputed queen of mystery, gives us an intriguing, inspiring and idiosyncratic look at the genre she has spent her life perfecting. Examining mystery from top to bottom, beginning with such classics as Charles Dickens's Bleak House and Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White, and then looking at such contemporary masters as Colin Dexter and Henning Mankell, P. D. James goes right to the heart of the genre. Along the way she traces the lives and writing styles of Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, Dashiell Hammett, and many more. Here is P.D. James discussing detective fiction as social history, explaining its stylistic components, revealing her own writing process, and commenting on the recent resurgence of detective fiction in modern culture. It is a must have for the mystery connoisseur and casual fan alike.

Download or read book No News is Bad News written by Maureen Milliken and published by . This book was released on 2024-01-11 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A grisly discovery in the woods of Redimere, Maine, resurrects an old case of Police Chief Pete Novotny's involving a missing boy, but it's just one of the ghosts that haunts the town in the second of the Bernie O'Dea mystery series. As Pete struggles with demons both old and new, newspaper editor Bernadette "Bernie" O'Dea's life is complicated by the sudden appearance of her brother, who has secrets of his own. Everyone in Redimere hoped things would quiet down after the tragic summer of COLD HARD NEWS, but as fall fades into winter, the town is once again pulled into a deadly web of deceit and terror.

Download or read book Now Write Mysteries written by Sherry Ellis and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2011-12-29 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The essential handbook for writers of whodunits, techno- thrillers, cozies, and everything in between-featuring never-before- published personal writing exercises from some of today's bestselling and award-winning mystery writers. Now Write! Mysteries, the fourth volume in the acclaimed Now Write! writing guide series, brings together numerous bestselling authors-including winners of and nominees for the Edgar, Hugo, and Shamus awards,-for the definitive guide to writing mysteries, thrillers, and suspense stories. Now Write! Mysteries teaches you everything you've ever wanted to know about crafting a page-turning mystery-from creating a believable detective hero (or terrifying villain), to using real-life cutting-edge investigative techniques to bring your story to life-with practical exercises taken directly from the pros: Discover the best techniques for seamlessly integrating action into your story with John Lutz, New York Times-bestselling author of Urge to Kill, Night Kills, and Serial. Learn how to fine-tune your sense of place and setting with Louise Penny, New York Times-bestselling author of the Armand Gamache mysteries. Take advice from Lorenzo Carcaterra, author of Sleepers and writer/producer for Law & Order, on how to compose a scene that lives up to your character's backstory. Let Marcia Talley, Agatha- and Anthony-winning author of the Hannah Ives mysteries, show you how to build a memorable, engaging detective. (Hint: It's not about making him flawless.) Others included are: Simon Brett, Hallie Ephron, Meg Gardiner, Peter James, Christopher G. Moore, Michael Sears, and many others. No other mystery-writing guide offers the road tested wisdom of so many award-winners and bestselling authors in one place.

Download or read book The Mysteries of Pittsburgh written by Michael Chabon and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2011-12-20 with total page 307 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Pulitzer Prize–winning author’s “astonishing” debut novel, about a son’s struggle to find his own identity and integrity (The New York Times). Michael Chabon, author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Moonglow, and The Yiddish Policeman’s Union, is one of the most acclaimed talents in contemporary fiction. The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, published when Chabon was just twenty-five, is the beautifully crafted debut that propelled him into the literary stratosphere. Art Bechstein may be too young to know what he wants to do with his life, but he knows what he doesn’t want: the life of his father, a man who laundered money for the mob. He spends the summer after graduation finding his own way, experimenting with a group of brilliant and seductive new friends: erudite Arthur Lecomte, who opens up new horizons for Art; mercurial Phlox, who confounds him at every turn; and Cleveland, a poetry-reciting biker who pulls him inevitably back into his father’s mobbed-up world. A New York Times bestseller, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh was called “astonishing” by Alice McDermott, and heralded the arrival of one of our era’s great voices. This ebook features a biography of the author.