In You Can Write a Mystery, award-winning author Gillian Roberts gives aspiring crime writers practical advice on how to produce a marketable mystery novel. Included is everything from "The 15 commandments for mystery writers" to instructions on how to pick your detective and how to decide which kind of story is for you--a cozy or police procedural; a spy thriller or romantic suspense? There are also the seven Cs that good books should never do without--characters, conflict, causality, complications, change, crisis, and closure. She gives tips on how to hide the clues (in plain sight) and how to make those red herrings tempting enough to distract. There are pointers on research techniques and helpful hints on how to develop a manageable writing work ethic, find your style and voice, and construct a killer plot line.Roberts is very generous with her advice and extremely helpful to the writer wanna-be (that would be me!). Reading the book makes me anxious to get back to my (very) rough draft and see if I can't get myself from wanna-be to full-fledged author. Wish me luck!
Four stars.
This sounds exactly like something I need to read. :-)
ReplyDeleteIt seems very mystery-friendly for writers.
ReplyDeleteYou GO girl, you can do it! Next year you can have a reading challenge that includes your book! :O)
ReplyDeleteGood luck! Hope this resource helps you in your writing!
ReplyDeleteBev, I was excited when you linked this review to our "My Kind Of Mystery" group. First, because we're taking advantage of material beyond mystery stories; second, because Gillian is an author I've collected. It is looking as if I will enjoy her, including the tutorial I didn't know she had.
ReplyDeleteI'll take an opportunity to hint that now is a good time to re-visit the Mother blog page: see if any new 'information' has been added... ;) http://cmriedel.wordpress.com/mykindofmystery2014/