Posts Tagged: Sue Grafton

W.L. Ripley: How To Create a Series Character

Written by

W.L. Ripley is the author of two critically-acclaimed series of crime novels -- four books featuring ex-professional football player Wyatt Storme and four books about ex-Secret Service agent Cole Springer. His latest novel is Storme Warning, a stunning new mystery/thriller that we're publishing in February. We will also be re-releasing Ripley's other books through 2015 and early 2016. Wyatt Storme evolved from a love of mystery characters like Travis McGee, Spenser, and the protagonists of Elmore Leonard’s many novels. But in shaping Storme as a series lead, I wanted a neo-classic mystery/thriller hero who would seem familiar and yet would be uniquely his own person and uniquely my... more

Read More of W.L. Ripley: How To Create a Series Character

You’ve Got To Open with a Grabber…

Written by

Bang out of the gate.  Or else. Are you one of those readers who scan the first paragraph of a book and puts it down if it doesn't grab you?  I am.  If I'm feeling ornery, I'll give the author only one line to snag me.  So, as a writer, I make a point of trying to write openings that pop in order to avoid losing those readers who are as quick to judge as I. The first line has to be a grabber. A lot of writers like to set the scene before diving into a story, but most readers aren't interested in what a character feels or how a setting looks unless they're already invested in that character or wonder about that setting.  As Elmore Leonard famously advised, "Never open a book with... more

Read More of You’ve Got To Open with a Grabber…

Creating Delilah West: Can’t swim? Dive in Anyway

Written by

Death is Forever by author Maxine O'Callaghan

When I began writing my first novel, I was blissfully ignorant of that sage piece of advice: Write what you know. I wasn't a cop, or a pathologist, or a special agent for the FBI. Besides a stint in the Marine Corp Reserve, I was, first, a secretary, then a stay-at-home housewife and mother who read. A lot. Mostly mysteries and suspense with an emphasis on private eye fiction. So it seemed perfectly natural to me that when one of my first short stories, A Change of Clients, appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine in 1974, it featured a private detective. My only concession to the write-what-you-know maxim was to make my detective a woman, because, well, I was one. It really... more

Read More of Creating Delilah West: Can’t swim? Dive in Anyway