Thursday, September 30, 2021

Tell Me Your Story

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 Since I seem to be at something of an impasse lately, I've decided that if I can't make headway with my own writing career, the lea...
Monday, September 27, 2021

When suspended disbelief crashes down

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Let's talk about handbrake moments. Those are the points in a story where the suspension of disbelief, needed for so much genre fiction,...
6 comments:
Saturday, September 25, 2021

Gats and Cats

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I'm known as a workaholic and so it was unusual to pry myself loose for a long overdue vacation. Last year, the cons I planned to attend...
Friday, September 24, 2021

Hall of Fame

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  The Colorado Authors' Hall of Fame last Saturday is without a doubt the most exciting event in my career as a writer. I was thrilled t...
5 comments:
Wednesday, September 22, 2021

Icelandic and Snow Noir

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  I've been watching a lot of foreign crime dramas over the last couple years. Most of them are set in very cold climates, often during...
2 comments:
Tuesday, September 21, 2021

How I see social commentary in crime fiction

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by Rick Blechta This week I’m riffing off Tom Kie’s post from yesterday . I’ll have to make this short and sweet because I’m already a day b...
3 comments:
Monday, September 20, 2021

Is There a Place For Social Commentary in Our Novels?

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How much social commentary should a writer put into their work? Should they put any in at all? I think we all know how polarized our country...
2 comments:
Friday, September 17, 2021

If Only It Would All Fit Together

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 I'm late today because I had some day job tasks to do. Then I got distracted. I realized I couldn't remember all the details of a s...
Thursday, September 16, 2021

Random Thoughts Before Sleeping

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 I often read myself to sleep with a book of poetry or a play. Yes, I'm a nerd. Being a writer, I also keep a notebook by my bedside. Ma...
Tuesday, September 14, 2021

My take on the length of novels

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By Rick Blechta  This week’s post is a riff on what Douglas wrote yesterday. You should read it . I’ll start with no doubt the widest-sellin...
6 comments:
Monday, September 13, 2021

Sometimes less is more

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John Corrigan's post a few days ago about short novels resonated with me. My crime reading tastes were honed by Ed McBain and his 87th P...
2 comments:
Friday, September 10, 2021

Don't Do This

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 There are so many things they don't tell you about when you become a writer. Recently, I've had to side-step a situation that is ve...
Thursday, September 09, 2021

Shorties: Blog posts and Novels

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This week, I’ve been wondering about short books, books that weigh in under 250 pages. Some shorties are among my favorites –– Ross Macdonal...
Wednesday, September 08, 2021

Signs of a Good Story

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  How do you know that you’ve read or watched a particularly good story? For me there are a number of signs.  - I’ve read a lot of good book...
2 comments:
Tuesday, September 07, 2021

Why writers can be a little “odd”

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by Rick Blechta A while back a friend asked me how hard it is to write a novel. “Is it sort of like writing a very long composition?” I thou...
4 comments:
Monday, September 06, 2021

Emotional Connections—Intended or Not

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In spite of Covid, here on the coast, we’re still having some events, mostly outside. A few nights ago, our downtown association held an out...
Friday, September 03, 2021

Guest Author Hannah Dennison

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Hannah Dennison Hannah's back! Type M 4 Murder is thrilled to welcome guest poster and one-time Type M regular Hannah Dennison back to t...
10 comments:
Thursday, September 02, 2021

Ordinary Lives

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Wreck of the White Ship, 1120 CE  Lately I've been thinking a lot about William Aelthing, only legitimate son and heir of England's ...
Wednesday, September 01, 2021

Writing struggles

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 Rick's post of yesterday reflects what a lot of us writers feel, as we struggle to block out the outside world and enter the world of o...
2 comments:
Tuesday, August 31, 2021

Writing used to be my “safe place”

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by Rick Blechta  I’ve been around long enough to have collected a lot of writer friends. Over the course of the past several years — and thi...
6 comments: