What Makes a Jewish Book Jewish?
by Rabbi Ilene Schneider Am I a Jewish writer? Are my books Jewish books? And what determines a Jewish book anyway? I’m a rabbi. My protagonist is a rabbi. My…
Fiction Writing
Writers’ Police Academy MurderCon 2020
by Kari Wainwright Most mystery writers know about Writers’ Police Academy (WPA) put on by Lee and Denene Lofland for the past twelve years. Those writers either attended one or…
Empowering Women through Fiction
by Jacqueline Seewald, Reprinted with permission Women in today’s fiction are often brave, confident and self-sufficient. In this respect, they reflect modern society. In the Kim Reynolds mystery series, for…
Paperback Writer
by Paul D. Marks Dear Sir or Madam, will you read my book? It took me years to write, will you take a look? It’s based on a novel by…
What to Keep Track of When You're Plotting a Mystery
by Marilyn Levinson Recently, while outlining the fifth book in my Haunted Library mystery series, I found myself making a list of the many elements a writer must remember to…
Writing Two Series… as Two Different People
by Ellen Byron and Maria DiRico In the process of writing two mystery series under two different author names, I’ve learned something important about myself: I would make a terrible…
Research and Novels
by Jacqueline Seewald You’ll notice that a lot of writers set their novels in places they either live in or have lived in. This may seem provincial, but in fact,…
Starting a New Series
by Kaye George This isn’t something I haven’t done before. Or, to eliminate the double negatives, I have done this—several times before. So far, I’ve started four published series, and…
Once Upon a Time, Lots of Cool Stuff, The End. But is your middle sagging?
by Jackson Palmer Hello! It’s January, named after Janus, the Roman god of beginnings and endings. It’s hard not to see writing a book like a New Year’s resolution. You…
Writing is a Harsh Mistress
by Paul D. Marks Does your writing ever interfere with your family life? Do the demands of your fiction ever create friction with those closest to you? The title of…