Entrants into the Write Hook writing contest submitted a 300-word hook which showcased their writing skills. A “Hook” is what grabs the reader and snares him into reading the rest of a book. While there are many hooks throughout a book, this contest focused on the first page of a novel. The winners’ prizes and their Hook submissions are listed below. Continue reading “Write Hook Contest Winners”
Tag: Mystery Thriller Week
Exclusive Interview with Executive Director of the APA
GOT AUDIOBOOKS?
Please Welcome Michele Cobb Executive Director of the The Audio Publishers Association (APA).
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Interview with Author Anne Buist
Please welcome Anne Buist, author of the Natalie King Forensic Psychiatrist Series.
Anne Buist is the Chair of Women’s Mental Health at the University of Melbourne and has over 25 years clinical and research experience in perinatal psychiatry. She works with Protective Services and the legal system in cases of abuse, kidnapping, infanticide and murder. Medea’s Curse is her first mainstream psychological thriller. Professor Buist is married to novelist Graeme Simsion and has two children.
Living Dangerously: get closer to crime-thriller author Frank Westworth
Living Dangerously: get closer to crime-thriller author Frank Westworth
While readers get to grips with his new collection of quick thrillers, author Frank Westworth pauses in between projects to chat about what he writes, and why. And what he reads, and where his characters come from, and which kinds of Kevlar can actually stop bullets…
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Based on a True Story – How Can It Be Real? by Michael Allan Scott
How Can It Be Real?
As an author of supernatural thrillers, it’s a question I’ve heard a time or two before.
In my experience, the single most important aspect of good storytelling is what I call the “Reality Factor.” We’ve all read a book, seen a movie, that should have worked but didn’t. There are a ton of factors that may contribute to its failure, but at the core, I’m confident you’ll find a lack of reality as the main culprit.
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Writer’s Craft: Cruel Claws: Describing the Killer’s Hands by Rayne Hall
To increase suspense in a scene where a dangerous person is about to do something nasty, slow down the pace and describe their hands. This is perfect for when the evil overlord signs the order to exterminate the children, or when the torturer readies his instruments.
This technique works especially well in thrillers. Show the killer’s (or the suspect’s) hands, especially when the point-of-view character is helpless to do anything. This will send creepy shivers across the reader’s skin.
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Historical Division: Restitution of Artwork Stolen by the Nazis during World War Two by Jennifer Alderson
Before moving to Amsterdam, I knew very little about the restitution of artwork stolen by the Nazis during World War Two, a topic that plays a central role in my novel, The Lover’s Portrait: An Art Mystery. Sure, I’d read about controversial cases in newspapers and wondered why museums didn’t hand over the artwork immediately when legitimate claimants appeared on the scene, but also why it took the relative of the legal owner so long to submit a claim.
Crime Division: How to Achieve Accuracy by Stephen Bentley
There is nothing so annoying as reading a book or watching a movie and finding inaccuracies in things like police and courtroom procedures. I am not a pedant but I prefer accuracy in my own writing and that of others, whether the result is within the pages or up on the screen.
As a former UK detective and a barrister, trial counsel to Americans but we got to wear those wigs and gowns, I have an advantage in my own writing to portray accuracy.
So how does a crime writer without the same advantage set about achieving accuracy?
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I Have this Great Idea By Catherine Dilts
You introduce yourself as an author. Maybe mention a writing credit or two.
“The third book in my series is being released next week,” you say.
Instead of asking where they can purchase your novel, your new acquaintance hits you with an all-too-familiar line.
“I have this great idea for a book.”
Admit it. You’ve been on the receiving end of this conversation, or perhaps you’ve been the person delivering the germ of an idea destined to become a NYT bestselling novel. Whichever role you played, the end result was Awkward.
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Mystery Thriller Week 