CASTING CALL by James Lincoln Warren One of the indispensable skills of an effective story-teller is creating good characters. As with coming up with plots, this is may be regarded as a matter of mixing invention with convention, a blend of novelty and familiarity. I usually “design” a character to fit the circumstances I wish […]

E-BRIEFS by James Lincoln Warren I was out of town this weekend, and since my hotel charged ten bucks a day for internet access—which is half of what I pay every month for my home DSL connection—I decided to let my email ride until I got home Sunday afternoon. Sitting in my mailbox was the […]

CRIME SCENERY by James Lincoln Warren There’s nothing a mystery writer loves better than pulling out the old yellow tape and marking off the scene of the crime. In these days of crime dramas that depend almost exclusively on physical evidence, it is often more critical to story development than motive and opportunity. I must […]

IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD PROCESSOR1 by James Lincoln Warren A carpenter is only as good as his tools. The first time I ever got to play with a consumer-oriented computer was in 1985, when I was at the U.S Navy’s Department Head School in Newport, RI. One of my colleagues, Dave Rodgers, had […]

SOME BIBELOTS AND BAUBLES by James Lincoln Warren Here, completely free, are some nuggets of advice for aspiring short story writers of crime fiction. These are all little things, but then again, a fatal bullet is a little thing, too. Yeah, I know that free advice is worth exactly what one pays for it, to […]

WATCHING THE DETECTIVES by James Lincoln Warren The other day, I went looking to see if the classic TV detective show 77 Sunset Strip, starring Ephrem Zimbalist, Jr., and Roger Smith, were available on DVD. This was the first private eye show I remember ever watching when I was a little kid. I didn’t get […]

HIGH INFIDELITY by James Lincoln Warren If the Gentle Reader is passing anywhere near a magazine rack anytime soon, stop and pick up The Strand Magazine‘s Feb-May 2010 issue, and while you’re at it, see if you might also put the June 2010 issue of Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine in your shopping bag (after paying […]