Wheat - How to write killer fiction : the funhouse of mystery & the roller coaster of suspense

Wheat, Carolyn

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CAROLYN WHEAT

the FUN HOUSE OF MYSTERY & the ROLLER COASTER of SUSPENSE

$13.95

JUN 1 0 2003

Winner of the Anthony, Agatha, Macavity, and Shamus Awards

Wheats characterizations are lethal, and she doesnt let up... A strong, smart writer with a clear head for complicated matters and a kind eye for her characters feelings.

New York Times Book Review

Dazzlingly plotted... Wheat is a natural storyteller.

Kirkus Reviews

Literate, witty... characters who have real depth and honest emotions.

Library Journal

An author who equals and even outstrips many established mystery writers in depth of plotting and intricate character development...

Booklist

...promises all the tension and excitement of a great roller coaster ride. All you need to do is buckle your seat belt and hang on for dear life.

Mostly Murder

Carolyn Wheat...proves that shes the equal of any of the best writers.

Amazon.com Mystery Editor

Sharply drawn characters and incisively written scenes are the rule.

The Armchair Detective

Wheat spins a solid mystery... More impressively, she teases out many quirks of character...

Publishers Weekly

Also by Carolyn Wheat

the Cass Jameson series Dead Mens Thoughts Where Nobody Dies Fresh Kills Mean Streak Troubled Waters Sworn To Defend

Tales Out of School (short fiction)

ANTHOLOGIES EDITED BY CAROLYN WHEAT Murder on Route 66 Women Before the Bench

The Funhouse of Mystery

&

the Roller Coaster of Suspense

Carolyn Wheat

PALO ALTO :: SANTA BARBARA :: 2OO3 PERSEVERANCE PRESS " JOHN DANIEL & COMPANY

V

Copyright 2003 by Carolyn Wheat All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

For information concerning quantity discounts for educational institutions, writing groups, conferences, etc., call 1-800-662-8351.

A Perseverance Press Book Published by John Daniel & Company A division of Daniel & Daniel, Publishers, Inc.

Post Office Box 21922

Santa Barbara, California 93121

www. danielpublishing. com/ perseverance

10 987654321 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03

Book design by Eric Larson, Studio E Books, Santa Barbara www. studio-e-books. com

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Wheat, Carolyn.

How to write killer fiction : the funhouse of mystery & the roller coaster of suspense / by Carolyn Wheat, p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references (p.).

ISBN 1-880284-62-6 (pbk.: alk. paper)

1. Detective and mystery storiesAuthorship. 2. Suspense fictionAuthorship. I. Title.

PN3377.5.D4 W46 2003 808.3872dc21

2002015588

Acknowledgments

EVERYTHING I KNOW about writing I learned from...

A lot of people.

Starting where?

Do I go back to my mother, the former English teacher and born editor who helped me rewrite a seventh-grade science paper we titled Man and His Muscles?

Thanks, Ma. Nothing like a zippy title.

Or the first time I read a composition out loud in class and kids laughed because it was funny and they liked it and I realized that words on paper had power?

Should I thank all the nuns who drilled me on grammar, took red pencils to my too-often-overheated prose, and introduced me to great writers?

Why not? Thank you, Sisters all, even the drill sergeant whose eighth-grade classroom taught me all the grammar Ill ever need.

I thank my first agent, John Ware, and my first editor, Hope Dellon of St. Martins Press, for taking a chance on a lawyer-turned-writer. I thank my present agent, Ellen Geiger of Curtis, Brown for following me down many a tortuous path (I still think that Star Trek Tarot Deck should have been a winner), and I thank Natalee Bernstein of Berkley Prime Crime for sticking with Cass Jameson and me as long as possible.

I never believed in critique groups until I was in The Best Writers Group Ever with Donald Porter, Roy Sorrells, Donna Meyer, and

K.T. Anders. Each member of the group contributed something different to the process of making our writing better, week by week.

From Katie the actress I learned to add physicality to my characters. They couldnt remain talking heads when she read your prose; she constantly asked what the bodies were doing. Donna was the fastest line editor in the world, making quick corrections with her pen while you read your sentences aloud. Roy contributed passion, always questioning whether the action was as dramatic as it could possibly be.

Donald was our leader and our chief theorist. I used to laugh at his immense collection of how-to books and his determination to break the process down the way youd break down a car to see all the parts.