Come for the Mysteries. Stay for the Characters.
The ocean breeze blew my hair across my sunglasses as I sat at the table on the porch of the beach restaurant. The fragrance of grilling shrimp and garlic stoked my hunger after a morning of swimming. “Glad you made it, Hailey,” said my younger sister Emma, flipping back her long, chocolate brown hair. “You… Continue Reading →
This month I am focusing on how to maximize the senses in your writing. So my Monday sparks will have pictures to encourage you to describe a scene using all five senses. Whether you have directly experienced a setting, or imaging a character in one, it helps to make a list of what your character… Continue Reading →
Using as many senses as you can, how would describe this scene? Here’s mine: “The mist crawled in and chilled me, even though I was wearing a jacket. The wind sighed over the treeless hills. That was the only sound except for an occasional creak from an overturned vehicle. The faint scent of gasoline mixed… Continue Reading →
Brown. My novel had turned to brown. At least, that’s what my freelance editor Sharyn Kopf told me when she read my novel. I had used “brown” far too may times. Most writers write by sight. And most readers think by sight, so writing about the sense of sight is the easiest way to connect… Continue Reading →
Hiding the villain in a mystery is the toughest task when writing a story in the genre. Planting clues and red herrings effectively is hard too, but if I don’t correctly handle hiding the villain in a traditional whodunit, I’ve ruined the whole story. Do’s and Don’ts for Hiding the Villain Don’t have a very… Continue Reading →
JPC Allen Writes