Just a reminder, if you have not yet RSVPed for this week’s meeting, please do so! More information here: http://www.meetup.com/Arizona-Mystery-Writers-of-Tucson/events/216385112/
We have two members with new books out: Jake Jacobs with The Battered Butterfly, and Preston Holtry with A Troublesome Affair. Check them out!
Do you know about the All-Zona Book Fest on November 23? Lots of authors in attendance (all from Arizona!), and Arizona Mystery Writers will have a table there.
Need some creepy inspiration for your mystery? Here’s a few real-life cases to give you ideas:
- The Murders Next Door – Couple kills the woman’s parents, buries them at their house and manages to conceal the murders for 15 years.
- Men make curry from bodies they dug up. I think this falls under “truth is stranger than fiction.”
- Under that same heading…. Man makes “dolls” of mummified remains of young girls.
- My grandma the poisoner. Particularly interesting in the human nature of it – both the act and the way the victims minimize what’s happening.
For those less interested in the creepy, and more in the craft:
- Body language cheat sheet for writers
- The gap in your narrative – the things you may be summarizing that would be better as full scenes.
- Three tips for a better first revision
I’ll also point you over to the Fuse Literary Agency, whose agents are putting out short ebooks on publishing. All of the “Short Fuse Guide to….” books are free until the new year. You can find them on Smashwords. (The $2.99 ebook Authorpreneur might be of interest to some of you as well; it’s listed at the same link.)
