SIGN LANGUAGE by John M. Floyd Last weekend I did a bit of work and play, at the same time: a Saturday afternoon booksigning, about 120 miles northeast of the town where I live. (As some of you know, my latest book — a second collection of mystery/suspense short stories — will be “officially” released […]

OKAY, THAT’S A WRAP by John M. Floyd All of us who love fiction—especially the mystery/suspense genre—know the importance of a good ending. According to Mickey Spillane, “Nobody reads a mystery to get to the middle. They read it to get to the end … The first page sells that book, and the last page […]

THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT by John M. Floyd Here’s a question for you: What has to be present in a short story (especially a crime/suspense story) to make it really good? Different Strokes The answer, of course, depends on the reader. An article in the current issue of The Writer lists some things folks like to see […]

IMMORTALITY by John M. Floyd In a story I wrote some time ago, called “A Place in History,” a corporate executive embarks on a diabolical plot (what good plot isn’t?) to ensure that his name will be around long after he’s gone. When reminded by his Man Friday that he’s already a multimillion- aire, the […]

THE WRONG STUFF by John M. Floyd It’s often been said that if you want to write fiction you’d better also read fiction. And not just a book or two, now and then. You should read a lot of fiction. If you don’t—well, if you don’t, you might want to rethink the whole aspiring-writer thing. […]

I MADE IT UP by John M. Floyd I’m climbing onto the wagon a little late, here, but the recent Criminal Brief columns on the subject of truth and falsehoods in fiction got me to thinking. Does truth matter? Do readers really care? How much leeway do we, as writers, have, between fact and fantasy? […]

AT EASE WITH THESE APOSTROPHES by John M. Floyd British author Lynne Truss says one of the things that prompted her to write Eats, Shoots & Leaves was her sighting of a poster on the side of a city bus, announcing the Hugh Grant/Sandra Bullock movie “Two Weeks Notice.” The missing apostrophe was apparently more […]