Writing Guides

Writing suspense is all about building tension. Writing romance is also all about building tension-just a different kind. These rising tensions can be achieved in all sorts of different ways. Please note: my way may be very different than your way. Take my words as suggestions or thought provokers as you discover what works best for you.  Read more

The subscription newsletter platform Substack announced on Wednesday it had signed an exclusive deal with Salman Rushdie - but he is just the latest in a growing number of authors making the leap to write serialised fiction delivered straight to the inboxes of subscribers who pay a monthly fee.

The first time I considered the relationship between fiction and research was during a writing workshop-my first-while I watched the professor eviscerate some poor kid's story about World War II. And yeah, the story was bad. I remember the protagonist being told to "take cover" and then performing several combat rolls to do so.  Read more

Thirty years ago, Helen Mirren stepped into the role of Detective Chief Inspector Jane Tennison, and an icon was born. In the series Prime Suspect (which ran from 1991-2006), Mirren's Tennison created an indelible archetype of the female investigator: a take-no-crap leader battling the overtly misogynist and often corrupt institution that she nevertheless believed in very deeply.

In a follow to Monday's (August 30) update on the United States' market, NPD BookScan's research team has released a genre-specific look at the thriller and suspense category, finding that US sales have dropped six percent in the last year.  Read more