VILLIANS by Melodie Johnson Howe We tend to focus on the protagonists when discussing mysteries, but I think we should give the villains their do. Without them there would be no heroes. Villains illuminate our fears more than heroes illuminate our bravery. There is a need to make our heroes more human, so many writers […]

READERS OF THE LAST ARC1 Considering the Storyline Diagram, Part the First by James Lincoln Warren One of the wonderful things about running a rotating blog is the gift of inspiration from distinguished colleagues. John wrote about story arcs a couple days ago, and that simple act has stimulated me to write this column, the […]

INTERNATIONAL DATE LINE: Setting a Story in Europe by Leigh Lundin I recently finished an international thriller that reminded me of a novella I’d read. Both were set in Europe, but I came away with the feeling grand European cities were all patterned on Dayton, Ohio. The novella was set near Lake Como in Italy, […]

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 […]

BANDERSNATCH BUFFET by Steve Steinbock This week I have a small smörgåsbord of items to spread on the table. Think of it as our very own Mad Tea Party, and I’m your March Hare. March? It’s only September. The words “buffet” and “smörgåsbord” are both etymologically linked to the idea of a table. The former […]

FUNNY by Deborah Elliott-Upton “When he is late for dinner and I know he must be either having an affair or lying dead in the street, I always hope he’s dead.” —Judith Viorst I remember one magazine’s submission guidelines stating they would not accept any story in which the husband or wife was murdered by […]

A THOUSAND STORIES DEEP by Rob Lopresti This continues last week’s tale of how I spent my summer vacation: volunteering at an archaeological dig in Israel. By the way, this photo by my fellow digger John Vanee shows me meditating on one of the major decisions of the volunteer’s day: grape or cherry popsicle at […]