by Jodie Renner
What is a Thriller? 2004, Metropolitan Library System: http://www.mls.lib.il.us/consulting/ra/ra_thrillers.asp
The Compulsive Reader: www.thecompulsivereader.com
Wikipedia
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RESOURCES FOR CRIME FICTION WRITERS
CRAFT-OF-WRITING GUIDES
Here are some excellent writing guides, listed alphabetically by author:
Bell, James Scott, Revision & Self-Editing – Techniques for transforming your first draft into a finished novel
Bell, James Scott, Conflict & Suspense
Bell, James Scott, Plot & Structure
Bickham, Jack M., The 38 Most Common Fiction Writing Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them)
Bickham, Jack M., Writing and Selling Your Novel
Block, Lawrence, Writing the Novel
Bradbury, Ray, Zen in the Art of Writing: Releasing the Creative Genius Within You
Browne, Renni and Dave King, Self-Editing for Fiction Writers – How to Edit Yourself into Print
Card, Orson Scott, Characters & Viewpoint – Elements of Fiction Writing
Egri, Lajos, The Art of Creative Writing
Ephron, Hallie, The Everything Guide to Writing Your First Novel
Frey, James N., How to Write a Damn Good Mystery
Frey, James N., How to Write a Damn Good Novel, I & II
Frey, James N., How to Write a Damn Good Thriller
Gardner, John, On Becoming a Novelist
Goldberg, Natalie, Writing Down the Bones
Ingermanson, Randy & Peter Economy, Writing Fiction for Dummies
King, Stephen, On Writing – A Memoir of the Craft
Koontz, Dean, How to Write Best-Selling Fiction
Lamott, Anne, Bird by Bird, Some Instructions on Writing and Life
Lukeman, Noah, The First Five Pages – A Writer’s Guide to Staying out of the Rejection Pile
Lyon, Elizabeth, Manuscript Makeover – Revision Techniques No Fiction Writer Can Afford to Ignore
Lyon, Elizabeth, A Writer’s Guide to Fiction
Maass, Donald, Writing the Breakout Novel
Maass, Donald, The Fire in Fiction
McKee, Robert, Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting
Morrell, David, The Successful Novelist
Morrell, Jessica Page, Thanks, But This Isn’t For Us, A (Sort of) Compassionate Guide to Why Your Writing is Being Rejected
Morrell, Jessica Page, Between the Lines – the subtle elements of fiction writing
Renner, Jodie, Fire up Your Fiction – An Editor’s Guide to Writing Compelling Stories
Stein, Sol, Stein on Writing
Swain, Dwight V., Techniques of the Selling Writer
Whitney, Phyllis, Guide to Fiction Writing
Wiesner, Karen S., From First Draft to Finished Novel
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ORGANIZATIONS
Click on the organization’s name to go to their website.
~ International Thriller Writers – an honorary society of authors who write books broadly classified as “thrillers.” This would include murder mystery, detective, suspense, horror, supernatural, action, espionage, true crime, war, and action-adventure. ITW brings together almost 1000 writers, readers, publishers, editors and agents at its annual conference, ThrillerFest, as well as at CraftFest, a writing workshop program, and AgentFest, where aspiring authors can meet and pitch top literary agents.
~ Mystery Writers of America – MWA, founded in 1945, is the premier organization for mystery and crime writers, professionals allied to the crime writing field, aspiring crime writers, and folks who just love to read crime fiction. Each spring, they present the prestigious Edgar® Awards. MWA also helps to rebuild libraries and offers numerous symposiums and events for both authors and fans.
~ Sisters in Crime – SinC has 3600 members in 48 chapters world-wide, offering networking, advice and support to mystery authors. Members are authors, readers, publishers, agents, booksellers and librarians who love the mystery genre and want to support women who write mysteries. Membership is also open to men.
~ Crime Writers of Canada – CWC is a national association for Canadian mystery and crime writers, associated professionals, and others with a serious interest in Canadian crime writing. Promotes Canadian crime writing. Newsletter, information on authors, awards, and links. The CWC has sponsored Canada’s Arthur Ellis Awards for Crime and Mystery Writing since 1984.
~ Crime Writers of Great Britain – A professional body which sets out to represent writers of crime fiction and non-fiction. The CWA has played a major role both in discovering and supporting the careers of many of Britain’s finest writers, including PD James, Ian Rankin, Frederick Forsyth, Ruth Rendell, Val McDermid and Alexander McCall Smith. Presents the annual prestigious CWA Dagger Awards to recognize quality in today’s crime and thriller fiction writing.
CONFERENCES, CONVENTIONS, and WORKSHOPS FOR CRIME WRITERS
Click on the name to go to the website. Also see list of Writers’ Conferences and Book Festivals.
THRILLERFEST and CRAFTFEST – International Thriller Writers annual conference, New York, NY, July. A four-day celebration of suspense-thriller novels, the authors who write them, and the fans who read them. Includes Craftfest, the first day and a half, crammed with excellent craft workshops to choose from presented by bestselling authors, and Agentfest, a half-day of pitching to as many agents as you can cram in. Thrillerfest, the last two days, features excellent panel discussions on various topics.
BOUCHERCON Crime Fiction Convention – Annual world mystery convention, open to anyone; a place for fans, authors and professionals to gather and celebrate their love of the mystery genre. Usually held in October. Includes book-signings, panels, discussions, and interviews with authors and people from the mystery community covering all parts of the genre. Anthony Awards, named after Anthony Boucher, presented at the convention.
LOVE IS MURDER CONFERENCE. The Love is Murder Mystery Authors, Readers and Fans Con is always Superbowl weekend, at the Intercontinental O’Hare Hotel, just outside of Chicago. Draws more than 300 writers and readers from the U.S., Canada, and overseas. Features panel discussions, author signings, demonstrations, Lovey awards banquet, entertainment, and opportunities to meet mystery authors and network with other readers and fans.
WRITERS’ POLICE ACADEMY, Jamestown, NC. The Writers’ Police Academy offers the most hands-on, interactive and educational experience writers can find to enhance their understanding of all aspects of law enforcement and forensics. This is a one of a kind event, featuring real police, fire, and EMS training at an actual police academy. Top instructors and experts!
THE NEW ENGLAND CRIME BAKE Conference, Dedham, Mass, just outside Boston, in November. An annual conference celebrating the work of New England crime fiction and nonfiction authors. Features panels, seminars, and interviews with authors, literary agents, and experts in forensics and other fields related to crime writing, as well as classes on writing craft, manuscript critiques, and book signing events.
CAPE FEAR CRIME FESTIVAL – New Hanover Library, Wilmington, NC, February. The festival is an intimate gathering for writers to learn about the craft of writing and promotion with other writing professionals.
LEFT COAST CRIME MYSTERY CONVENTION – An annual mystery convention sponsored by mystery fans, for mystery fans. It is held during the first quarter of the calendar year in Western North America, as defined by the Mountain Time Zone and all time zones westward to Hawaii.
MALICE DOMESTIC, annual traditional mystery fan convention, in Bethesda, MD, in May. Malice Domestic is an annual “fun fan” convention in metropolitan Washington, D.C., saluting the traditional mystery—books best typified by the works of Agatha Christie. The genre is loosely defined as mysteries which contain no explicit sex or excessive gore or violence.
CRIMEFEST, Bristol, UK – First organised in June 2008, CrimeFest has become one of the most popular dates in the crime fiction cal
endar. The annual convention draws top crime novelists, readers, editors, publishers and reviewers from around the world and gives delegates the opportunity to celebrate the genre in an informal atmosphere. Includes author panels, crime writing workshops, a pitch-an-agent strand, etc.
PUBLIC SAFETY WRITERS CONFERENCE, Las Vegas, Nevada. Open to those writing fiction or nonfiction about or for any public safety field. Conference speakers include a coroner, fire fighters, police officers, and others in the writing field.
A SHORT LIST OF GOOD BLOGS FOR CRIME FICTION WRITERS
Click on the blog name below. To see a more extensive list, please go to Crime Fiction Collective Blog (link below).
~ Crime Fiction Collective
~ The Kill Zone
~ Mystery Writing is Murder
~ Murderati
~ The Writer’s Forensics Blog
~ The Thrill Begins
~ Suspense Magazine’s blog
~ Sisters in Crime
~ Poe’s Deadly Daughters
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*****
A FEW WORDS FROM THE AUTHOR
I’d love to hear from you. If my tips here have inspired you to make your story more powerful by introducing more tension, conflict, suspense and intrigue, I’d love it if you could write a short review of this e-booklet on its Amazon page.
If you have any suggestions for this book or future ones, please contact me by email. Thanks!
And I invite you to also check out my book on style, pacing, and voice, with an emphasis on writing tighter, Fire up Your Fiction, which is filled with before-and-after examples from my editing.
My third book, Captivate Your Readers, is all about engaging your readers and bringing your story and characters to life through techniques like deep point of view, showing instead of telling, and avoiding author intrusions.
Also writers, editors, students, and journalists find my two handy, clickable, time-saving e-resources indispensable: Quick Clicks: Spelling List – Precise Word Choices at Your Fingertips and Quick Clicks: Word Usage – Commonly Misspelled Words at Your Fingertips.
Keep on writing! I look forward to reading your compelling suspense fiction!
~ Jodie Renner
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jodie Renner is a freelance fiction editor who specializes in thrillers, romantic suspense, mysteries, and other crime fiction, as well as mainstream, young adult, and middle-grade fiction.
Jodie taught English (and French) for many years, and has a master’s degree in literature, as well as a lifelong passion for reading well-written, compelling fiction.
Some of Jodie’s favorite authors include Robert Crais, Sandra Brown, Lee Child, Lisa Gardner, Dean Koontz, Nora Roberts, Michael Connelly, Lisa Scottoline, John Grisham, Allison Brennan, Harlan Coben, Karin Slaughter, and Janet Evanovich.
Jodie’s craft-of-fiction articles appear regularly on the award-winning The Kill Zone blog (2013–2015) Crime Fiction Collective (2011–2014), as well as, occasionally, on her own blog, Resources for Writers.
When she’s not reading novels, writing blog posts or craft-of-writing books, or editing manuscripts, Jodie loves to pursue her three other main passions, photography, dancing, and travel. In fact, Jodie loves traveling so much she’s thinking of changing her tagline from “Let’s work together to enhance and empower your writing,” to “Have laptop, will travel.”
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OTHER BOOKS BY JODIE RENNER
FIRE UP YOUR FICTION – An Editor’s Guide to Writing Compelling Stories
Amazon.com Amazon.ca Amazon.co.uk
Fiction writers – if you’re looking to hone your style, bring your scenes to life, tighten up your writing, add tension, pick up the pace, and develop a more authentic, appealing voice, this multi-award-winning guide to the indispensable style elements of writing a popular novel is for you.
Fire up Your Fiction has won three awards to date: two Silver Medals (FAPA President’s Book Awards, Readers' Favorite Book Awards) and an Honorable Mention from Writer’s Digest, and is a finalist for two more.
“This should be on the booklist for Master’s Programs in Writing for Publication.” ~ Judge, Writer’s Digest
“This book is packed with good advice on how to spot and fix weaknesses in your fiction writing. It summarizes the combined wisdom of the last century or so of fiction teachers into one handy volume.”
~ Randy Ingermanson, bestselling author of Writing Fiction For Dummies
“A handy checklist and self-editing guide that will get any fiction writer to a stronger, well-told tale.”
~ James Scott Bell, bestselling author of Revision & Self-Editing, Plot & Structure, and more
“Fire up Your Fiction is the Strunk and White for writers who want to be not just mere storytellers but master story-compellers.”
~ IndieReader review
CAPTIVATE YOUR READERS – An Editor’s Guide to Writing Compelling Fiction
Amazon.com Amazon.ca Amazon.co.uk
Are you looking for concrete, effective ways to bring your fiction to life for the readers, so they feel they’re right there with the characters? And they stay up until the wee hours of the night eagerly turning the pages? Then this book is for you.
This third editor’s guide to writing compelling fiction by multi-award-winning author Jodie Renner provides specific advice, with examples, for captivating readers and immersing them in your story world.
Today’s readers want to put aside their cares and chores and lose themselves in an absorbing story. This book shows you how to provide the emotional involvement and immediacy readers crave in fiction.
It’s all about engaging readers through techniques such as writing in deep point of view, showing instead of telling, avoiding author intrusions, creating dialogue that’s real and riveting, and basically stepping back as the author and letting the characters tell the story.
And like editor Jodie Renner's other popular writing guides, the format of this one is reader-friendly, designed for busy writers, with text broken up by subheadings, examples, and lists, and plenty of concrete tips. It also has plenty of internal links in the e-version so you can click around quickly.
~ Quick Clicks: Word Usage – Precise Word Choices at Your Fingertips Amazon.com Amazon.ca Amazon.co.uk
~ Quick Clicks: Spelling List – Commonly Misspelled Words at Your Fingertips Amazon.com Amazon.ca Amazon.co.uk
Anthologies for Charity, Compiled & Edited by Jodie Renner:
~ Voices from the Valleys – Stories & Poems about Life in BC's Interior 51 contributors. All net proceeds to Doctors Without Borders
Amazon.com Amazon.ca Amazon.co.uk
~ Childhood Regained – Stories of Hope for Asian Child Workers
19 contributors. All net proceeds to SOS Children’s Villages
Amazon.com Amazon.ca Amazon.co.uk
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*****
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I’d like to thank D.P. Lyle, MD, for inviting me back repeatedly as a guest on his popular blog, The Writer’s Forensics Blog, where he posted most of the original articles for the first, shorter edition of this book, in 2011–2012.
Of all the writing “gurus” whose books have taught me so much and whom I quote in my books, James Scott Bell and Jessica Page Morrell top the list.
James Scott Bell’s books have been my beacon since I started seriously studying the craft of writing compelling fiction about seven years ago. I highly recommend these books by Bell, which I consider indispensable for any fiction writers who are serious about perfecting their craft: Revision & Self-Editing, Plot & Structure, and Conflict & Suspense.
I’d also like to thank Jessica Page Morrell, whose
writing I’ve long admired, for giving me the personal advice I needed to start taking my own writing more seriously. I highly recommend Jessica’s craft books, Thanks, But This Isn’t for Us, and Between the Lines.
Other writing instructors I’ve learned a great deal from include Randy Ingermanson and Peter Economy, Jack M. Bickham, Donald Maass, James N. Frey, Elizabeth Lyon, Sol Stein, and Hallie Ephron.
Finally, I’d like to thank my many author clients, especially the thriller writers – working with you to make your novels the best they can be forced me to analyze what works and what doesn’t, and search for the essential ingredients of a riveting, page-turning novel.
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COPYRIGHT
Copyright © 2012, 2013, 2014, by Jodie Renner. All rights reserved.
Published by Cobalt Books, www.CobaltBooks.net.
Jodie Renner, http://www.JodieRenner.com
Cover Design: Travis Miles, www.ProBookCovers.com
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Permission had been granted for passages quoted, from:
Andrew Gross, for a passage from Don’t Look Twice
Lynn Sholes and Joe Moore, for a passage from The Blade
David Morrell, for a passage from The Brotherhood of the Rose
Andrew E. Kaufman, for a passage from The Lion, The Lamb, The Hunted
Dennis Lehane’s agent, for a passage from Shutter Island
James N. Frey, for quotes and ideas from How to Write a Damn Good Thriller