Synopses & Reviews
It takes brains to solve a mystery; it takes guts to survive suspense. Here are tips and inspiration for successful writing in either game.
Carolyn Wheat, the highly regarded creative writing teacher and author, explains the difference between mysteries (the art of the whodunit) and novels of suspense (the flight from danger) and offers tips of the trade for writing in either genre. Wheat shows how to make your book work, from the first word to the final revision.
Now you can learn the craft of mystery writing from one of the most respected contemporary writers in the field: Carolyn Wheat, winner of multitudinous awards and nominations. Wheat knows what editors want and shows you how to reach your writing and publishing goals.
How To Write Killer Fiction also helps with the process itself. Recognizing that there are two kinds of writersthe Outliners who love and need to plan ahead, and the Blank-pagers who like to go where their Muse takes themthis book offers useful advice for both, without making a judgment about which is better. Wheat covers all aspects of writing from construction to revision to marketing. Her voice is friendly and entertaining, her grasp of the subject thorough and no-nonsense, and she offers tips and inspiration for good writing from the first word to the final period.
Review
"Carolyn Wheat has written the clearest, most definitive How-To book on constructing a mystery novel that I have ever read. My only complaint is that she didnt write it thirty years earlier when I was first starting out."
Margaret Maron, winner of the Edgar, the Anthony, and multiple Agathas
Review
"Wheat exposes the blood, sinews, and bones of the books we love to read and want to write. It's an elegant and fascinating How-To, written with dash and verve by a master storyteller. Simply grand." Carolyn G. Hart, winner of the Anthony and Agatha Awards
About the Author
Carolyn Wheat is an award-winning mystery writer, editor, and anthologist. Two of her Cass Jameson legal mysteries were nominated for Edgar awards, and she's won the Agatha, the Anthony, the Macavity and the Shamus awards for her short stories. Wheat, an attorney, worked as a public defender in Brooklyn and taught mystery writing at the New School in New York City. She currently teaches writing at the University of California, San Diego.