Manhunting - sounds like something I did in my earlier days before I found Hubby. But that's not what I was up to this particular weekend. I took part in a three-day training in tracking humans. When your missing person is reported to 911, the police will come out and start to put the basic pieces of the puzzle together. The police are usually not trained in search and rescue techniques. This is a specialization, and it is performed by volunteers. Search and Rescue volunteers go through a great deal of training and practice because the skill sets need to be built upon and these skills are perishable - that is "use it or lose it." But within the search and rescue community there are specializ
Choosing a book's title is kind of like naming your baby. You want something original but not weird, easy to remember, not too common, and something that goes well with the family name. BUT—and this is a huge but—most readers don't realize that authors don’t always get to choose their books’ titles. Publishers have their own agendas and that’s what rules. There are many ways to approach title choice: a bit of dialogue from the book (“Or was Tara also gone with the wind that had swept through Georgia?”), a theme (War and Peace), something exotic and mysterious (DaVinci Code), a location (Jurassic Park), a person’s name (Dr. Zhivago), a person’s title or description (The Paris Wife) . . . et c
Writers wear many hats these days. Today, I wrote one chapter of a novella I’m working on, and took a break, did some laundry. Yesterday, I sent out a newsletter, announcing a fabulous giveaway I’m involved in. Next I’ll be updating my social media channels. Now, I’m writing this blog post. Blogging is one those hats. Social media. Appearances. Giveaways. Conferences. Websites. Branding. What is branding? Very simply it’s a promise you make your readers and a part of a conversation between you. Your part is your promise to deliver what they are used to getting from you, but in a different way from your previous book. (Tricky, heh?) Their promise to you is that they will buy your books—if y
I got to wondering recently, if readers ever subconsciously associated the heroines/female main characters in novels, especially in mystery/thrillers, as being based on certain archetypical models. For that matter, I wonder if any writers deliberately base their female protagonists on them. Archetypes represent the main traits that drive a character to act the way they do; in other words, what motivates them and what’s at stake when they don’t get what they want. For those of us from a certain generation, Nancy Drew is probably the most recognized default personality to emulate female sleuthing characteristics; the educated, strong, independent type who in spite of the risk to her own safety
