Posts Categorized: The Writing Life

Building the Too-Perfect Protagonist

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One of the questions we writers get all the time is: “Is your protagonist you?“ I’ve heard a lot of different answers to this question, some long and some short, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone just come out and say what we all know to be true: “Of course he is!” Because really, is there ever any doubt?  Why create a heroic character — especially one who triumphs in the end — if you can’t live vicariously through him?  And how can you live vicariously through a character who’s totally removed from yourself? Has anyone ever read a Charlie Fox thriller and not seen Zoë Sharp herself doing all that ass-kicking? I didn’t think so. Sure,... more

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WL Ripley: MISTAKES MADE BY BEGINNING WRITERS (and what to do about them)

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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. Want to sell your book? Here are the major mistakes to avoid... UNPROFESSIONAL BEHAVIOR This is a profession, not a hobby. Act like an adult when you’re dealing with editors (who are overworked and the best people in the business). Don’t write nasty letters when your work is rejected. Nobody likes... more

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STORMING THE GATES: How To Write A Sure-fire, Can’t Miss, Guaranteed-To-Get-A-Read, Fiction Proposal

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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. I live in rural Missouri, which is not in the middle of nowhere despite anything you may have heard. The middle of nowhere is a good fifty yards south of my house. Still, it’s two thousand miles from New York City and the publishing industry.  I’ve never been there and in no hurry to go. I am not a... more

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The Washington Post Celebrates The Return of Barbara Neely’s “Blanche White” Books

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The Washington Post ran a terrific piece today about our reissues of Barbara Neely's ground-breaking "Blanche White" mystery novels. The series explores race, culture, politics and sexism through the prism of a compelling, entertaining, and highly-original crime story. These books are prime examples of our dedication to publishing "the best crime novels in existence." The article includes interviews with Barbara and Brash Books co-founder Joel Goldman. Here's an excerpt: Before “The Help” there was Blanche White, an African American housekeeper with a knack for getting tangled up in murder mysteries. Yet as fascinating as the character Blanche White is, the story of Barbara Neely,... more

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

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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

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Mark Smith on Writing THE DEATH OF THE DETECTIVE

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I think it was Heywood Hale Broun who said, “When a professional man is doing the best work of his life, he will be reading only detective novels,” or words similar. I hope, even at my age, I have my best work ahead of me, but when I was writing The Death of the Detective, in my leisure hours I was exhausting the classic English who-dun-its written between the Wars, favoring Dorothy Sayers and Freeman Wills Croft, while also re-reading Raymond Chandler and re-discovering Nero Wolfe. In this regard I shared the addiction with the likes of William Butler Yeats, William Faulkner and FDR, among others. My first two novels, the companion novels, Toyland and House Across the White... more

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