by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig Cozy mysteries are a subgenre in a large field of mystery subgenres. They’re primarily defined by their use of an amateur sleuth, lack of gore and profanity, offstage [...]
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig I realized recently that the most common question I’m asked in podcast interviews, during writer’s conferences, and via email is: “What does your cozy mystery outline look like?” [...]
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig Believe it or not, there are ways to make cozy mystery writing complex. And I think cozies are fairly easy books to write. At first I titled this [...]
by Gretchen Mullen, @GretchenMdm9524 “Thou shalt not cheat thy reader” Ronald Knox (1888-1957) was an English priest who moonlighted as a well-regarded author of detective novels and short stories. His reputation was such [...]
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig I like reading many different kinds of books. Everything from biographies to literary fiction and classic literature interests me. But for writing, I’ve been sticking with cozy mysteries. [...]
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig Unpleasant characters are tough for any genre. But for mysteries, they present special challenges. My editors from Penguin would often bring up concerns they had with unpleasant characters [...]
by Patrick Kelly, @pkfiction For two and a half years I slaved over my first novel, arranged and rearranged the plot, constructed and deconstructed the characters, and polished each sentence twice. Then [...]
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig In the past month, I’ve had three writers reach out to me. They were all writing mysteries for the first time. They asked me about outlining with arcs [...]
by M.K. Tod, @MKTodAuthor What do The Ashford Affair by Lauren Willig, The Labyrinth by Kate Mosse, The Light in the Ruins by Chris Bohjalian, The Muralist by B.A. Shapiro, and The Lost [...]
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig What makes a solid mystery? What is it about murder mysteries that draws readers to the genre? How good are mystery writers at picking out the killer as [...]
By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig This is the last post in my series on cozy writing. (Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 6.) Today I thought I’d wrap up a few things that are, [...]
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig If you’re just joining us, I’ve been running a series on writing cozy mysteries. (Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5). Today I thought I’d cover a few problem [...]
By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig One of the most important aspects of the cozy mystery is the puzzle itself. Aside from character development, the puzzle is the most important part of the mystery. [...]
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig This is the fourth part in my series on writing cozy mysteries. Today, I’m covering two important elements of our story: the setting and our sidekick. Most cozy [...]
By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig This is the third in my cozy mystery writing series. Today I’m taking a closer look at our victim. Parts one and two can be found here and [...]
By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig This is the second in my cozy mystery writing series. Last week I focused on writing better sleuths. Today, I thought I’d take a look at another vital [...]
By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig I’ve had a few people emailing me asking questions about starting a cozy mystery (or, really, any type of mystery involving an amateur sleuth). I promised to write [...]
by Carolyn Haines, @DeltaGalCarolyn In real estate, the old saw is that location is everything. For me, the same is almost always true in fiction. My reading and writing preference is that the [...]
by Harrison Demchick, @HDemchick Have you ever read a mystery where the culprit’s motivations made no sense at all? Or how about one where the culprit is caught because he did something he would [...]
Thanks for French writer Frédérique Molay for guest posting today. A quick note that I’m posting on the Writers on the Storm blog today on Making Our Content Work Harder for Us. Thanks! by Frédérique [...]
by Kathryn Jones, @Kakido The Secret of the Old Clock…The Bungalow Mystery…The Mystery of Lilac Inn… I was twelve-years-old when I began reading Nancy Drew mysteries by Carolyn Keene. Nancy not only drew me [...]
by Dori Butler, @Dorihbutler I write mysteries for kids. I don’t write for this audience because it’s easier than writing for adults. (It’s NOT easier!) I write for this audience because I like [...]
by D.J. Swykert, @djswykert The Death of Anyone (Melange Books; February 2013 trade paperback and ebook formats) is a fictional story in which a Familial DNA search is a key investigative component. This is [...]
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig One thing that I love about writing mysteries is that they’re so much fun to write. In my guest post today for Mason Canyon at the Thoughts [...]
By Dan Morse, @morsedan, author of The Yoga Store Murder In 2011, as a reporter for The Washington Post, I covered the most violent of murders in the least likely of places. Someone had slashed, [...]
by J.J. Hensley, @JJHensleyauthor As most of you, I’ve read hundreds of mysteries and thrillers. And as most of you, I’ve recognized that many of them can be formulaic and use characters that [...]
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig I recently read an interesting novel—I won’t say which one, since I’d be spoiling the ending. The most important character in the book was killed in an ending [...]
by Joe Benevento Anyone familiar with mystery knows the “femme fatale,” a character who can prove literally lethal to the man she seduces away from clear thinking. Bridget O’Shaughnessy in Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon [...]
by Barry Knister, @barryknister When I first decided to write a mystery series, the initial problem I faced didn’t have to do with writing. It had to do with the crime business. I’m [...]
By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig Mystery writers that I’ve met tend to fall into a couple of different groups—writers who have picked their killer before they start writing their story (or early in [...]
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