Tag: Writing Tips
Character vs. Plot II
I’m outnumbered! The Poisoned Martini‘s first poll asked the question: which do you prefer…character-driven or plot-driven mysteries? The results were 70% vs. 30%. Yours truly prefers puzzle plots to solve in mysteries, but the majority of respondents want character-driven stories. I previously discussed this topic here. A quick recap: my experience has been that recent mysteries—while… Read More ›
Character vs. Plot
It is the quandary of mystery writing. Which is more important to readers–and writers–of mysteries? The Character-driven story or the Plot-driven one? This is not to say that character-driven stories don’t feature a strong puzzle plot or plot-driven stories can’t have good characterizations. Generally though, most mysteries fall to one side or the other. For example… Agatha… Read More ›
The Organization of Writing
Looking over old pieces of mine this weekend, I’m struck again by a curious thing. Grabbing readers from the very beginning of what you write can be of the utmost importance when crafting a story. Yet is the beginning of what story you’ve written necessarily told in the best possible way? Take the following as… Read More ›
A Writer’s Work
Writing is a passion! Writing is a job! I discovered a love of writing at a young age. Sometime around the fourth grade. I remember that we were asked to write a Halloween story for class. It didn’t have to be long. Just a page really. I loved Halloween (still do). Writing that one page… Read More ›
The Poisoned Martini 