Out of the clear blue sky December 28, 2007

In the course of a couple of days I received three “no thank you” emails from agents I had sent Finnegans Festive to. (That’s right! I ended a sentence with a preposition.)
A pair of these were swift responders, giving me the bad news within days of my query emails. As if that wasn’t bad [...]

Happy Holidays! December 25, 2007

“No, no. No crime,” said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. “Only one of those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have four million human beings all jostling each other within the pace of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events [...]

Writing is rewriting December 24, 2007

Finnegans Afoot, the novel I’m currently working on, takes place in part along the Ozark Trail in southern Missouri. As I am imagining the story, I feel a bit like I’m on a winding trail myself. I know where I’m supposed to finish, but I’m discovering all sorts of new scenery along the way. (Actually, [...]

Clarity December 22, 2007

I’ve never worked on a short story or novel (or even a feature article for that matter) with as much clarity as I have for the story I’ve titled “The Sleep of Reason.” I know exactly what the story needs to do at every point, exactly what motivates the protagonist as his psychology evolves through [...]

Warming Up December 20, 2007

I once read an interview with the actor Karl Malden in which he said he used to work with William Faulkner when Faulkner spent some time in Hollywood writing movie scripts. He said that Faulkner would warm up in the morning just writing random stories unrelated to whatever movie they were working on. Malden said [...]

Chapter 9 completed December 15, 2007

In first draft, of course. The group sits around the morning table at the bed and breakfast and seem to indulge in idle, rambling conversation. But it’s purposeful conversation that does a lot of set up work for the coming crisis in the plot. I have a lot of these conversation chapters in the story.
The [...]

Fresh fiction December 13, 2007

I’m always on the prowl for mysteries that don’t involve murder. I realize that to some, a story without a murder doesn’t qualify as a mystery, but as I’ve said before, I think there is plenty of evil that people can do aside from murder, and all of this can make compelling stories.
I recently read [...]

Point of view December 10, 2007

I made a decision when I first began writing the Finnegan novels that nothing would happen in the stories unless it happened in the presence of Greg or Ann Finnegan. When I say “happen” I mean “depicted.” Certainly all sorts of things occur offstage in any story that affect the story as it is told. [...]

Chapter 9 commences December 9, 2007

I thought I knew what this chapter was going to be about, but not so. Finnegans Afoot is set in the Missouri Ozarks, and it is ostensibly about hiking on the Ozark Trail. Most of the story does not occur on the trail, though I expected this chapter to.
Instead it’s another conversation chapter, doing more [...]

Chapter 8 completed December 8, 2007

Chapter 8 is now completed. The writing breezed along, words slipping through my fingertips and onto the screen as fast as I could go.
The chapter is intended to build tension in the story, and I think I managed to do it. The cozy, murderless mysteries I champion need to find some way other than gore [...]