How Do We Write About the Monsters Inside Us?
Writers and readers both love stories about extra-fictional characters - beings that don't exist in our world. Hobbits, superheroes, sparkling vampires, talking animals, Jedi...
What Does a Coroner Do Exactly?
In a new series of podcasts, crime writer DP Lyle will talk about various aspects of forensic science and how it might be used...
Time is the Writer’s Friend, Character’s Enemy
Whether we're anticipating a Happy New Year or dreading a deadline, our lives are governed by the clock. In a post on CrimeReads, Andrew...
Do You Grok This Fuzz Lingo?
In a new blog post, Lee Lofland shares some colorful inside vocabulary you can use to add character to your police procedural or detective...
Tips for Writing Fantastic Noir
In a post on the SFWA blog, May Haddad offers advice for blending noir with fantastist genres. "Fantastic noir is a subgenre that blends film...
How Blumhouse Twists Tropes to Horrifying Effect
In a post on The Script Lab, David Young examines how Blumhouse movies take common storytelling tropes and give them a spin to create...
One Writer’s Simple Trick for Brainstorming the Future
Science fiction writers have been predicting elements of the future - and our present - for decades. While we don't yet have holodeck and...
Do You Really Really Know Your Villain?
In a post on the SFWA blog, writer Michael Moore (not that one), says that SF writers can create stronger villains by thinking like...
Why are the Crazy Ones Always So Hot?
From Lucifer on down, we are culturally attracted to beautiful killers. The list is lengthy, but for many, it starts and ends with serial...
Worldbuilding for Urban Fantasy
In an article for Writer's Digest, Steve McHugh shares five tips for writing urban fantasy.
Stick to the Rules of the World You’ve Created. That sounds...
