Sharing an Inspiration with Joyce Carol Oates
When I set out to write a novel inspired by the case of Charles Schmid, the “Pied Piper of Tucson,” I knew from the start that I was not the only writer to find a story in this case.
Category: Crime Fiction
Four Lies People Will Tell You About Marketing Your Novel
After I jubilantly signed with an agent I met at last year’s Muse and the Marketplace conference in Boston, well-meaning friends and fellow writers began bombarding me with advice. You need more Facebook followers. You have to be more visible…
The Importance of a Style Guide and Log
Here’s a comment my copyeditor, Jade Z. Scibilia, made about my last manuscript: “I laughed when you had Lynch mention the number of Johns in the police force (I recall we had to work on that in Idyll Threats). Buuuuut, we have…
Interview with April ’17 Craft on Draft Contest Winner: Melanie DeCarolis
April’s Craft on Draft event focused on portraying fleshed-out secondary characters who bring out the best – and worst – in their characters. Authors Camille DeAngelis (Immaculate Heart), Sara Farizan (Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel), and Annie…
How to Teach a Craft Session at a Conference
I’ve just returned from the Muse & Marketplace 2017 Conference put on by Grub Street It was a wonderful, happy, exhausting, enlightening, and inspiring time. I was chosen to be a presenter, along with my friend and fellow crime writer,…
Depravity Happens. Do We Have to Read About It? The Case for (and against) Violence in Literature
This spring I nearly declared a moratorium on violent fiction after reading three savage novels: The Orphan Master’s Son, The Sympathizer and A Little Life. Afterward life felt dirty. Basta! After all, the news is horrific: a toddler refugee washes…