My latest cozy mystery release, Star Tangled Murder, takes place over July Fourth weekend. Hairstylist Marla Vail and her detective husband Dalton attend a Seminole War battle reenactment at a living history village when the town marshal is murdered. A pearl button is found at the scene of the crime. It’s a vintage design with … Read more
Do you ever listen to how story characters speak? I don’t mean what they say, but how they say it. I wasn’t as aware of this factor as I should have been until I put my first four mysteries into audiobooks. Then I realized each character needed a distinctive voice quality. Now that I’m working … Read more
A great way to maintain suspense in a story is to keep the reader asking questions. This will entice her to keep turning pages to see what happens next. The Ark television series on the SyFy channel has an intriguing premise. Earth’s environment is ruined, and mankind seeks another viable planet to colonize. They send … Read more
It’s easy to feel guilty about not writing over the holidays. We’re overwhelmed with festive meal preparations, gift shopping, out-of-town guests, and myriad social activities. Yet everything we do can be considered fodder for the imagination. Be observant, note the characters around you, and describe your surroundings in your head. One of these items might … Read more
Your book is not done just because you typed The End. Now begins the hard work of taking your raw material and honing it into a page-turning story. This will mean several rounds of revisions, intense reading sessions, and submitting to editors and beta readers for additional input. This work happens before you prepare the … Read more
Let’s welcome our guest, Author Mary Cunningham, who will share what inspired her to write the Andi Anna Jones mystery series featuring a travel agent sleuth. A Writer’s Life by Mary Cunningham I’ve written most my life, but until the ripe old age of fifty, I’d never ventured beyond family memoirs and very bad poetry. Then five … Read more
Join me tonight for a Twitter Chat Q&A from 7pm to 8pm EDT sponsored by @cozymysteryclub. Use the hashtag #cozycornerchat and ask me questions. Or you can follow me at https://twitter.com/nancyjcohen Ask anything you want about my books or publishing or the writing process. I’ll be available for the entire hour. And if you’re not … Read more
Every author likely goes through a phase when we are waiting for inspiration to strike. Or perhaps we have a plotting problem and need to find a solution. If you’ve been thinking about this issue for some time, the response will pop into your head at unexpected moments. It’s like a lightbulb turns on in … Read more
When writing a mystery, it’s crucial to tie up any loose ends by the end of the story. You don’t want to leave readers hanging on what some incident or snatch of dialogue might have meant when they finish the book. There are several ways for you to keep track of these plot threads. You … Read more
When writing a cozy mystery, you need to decide upon crime scene details even though interpersonal relations, and not forensics, are your story’s focus. The murder might even be off scene, but you’ll still have to determine how it happened. In Trimmed to Death, the story begins at a farm festival bake-off contest, which my … Read more