The Chopping Blog

Their goal, naturally, is to get money from you. As for your book’s future? They couldn’t care less.  

Don’t be afraid to find out that something isn’t working. It’s rare to stick the landing on your first draft.

In a genre as established as mystery, it’s not easy to do something new.

While most agents and publishers want a first book to stand alone, it’s a bonus if your mystery novel (or any novel) has series potential.

"Long time lurker, first time poster."

"It was her 11th birthday, and the sky had the nerve to be blue."

"The bronchial whining of the elevator always reminds Jonathan of the night he accidentally murdered his father."

If the protagonist is going to succeed, then you want to bring them closer and closer to failure. If they are going to fail, you want to bring them closer and closer to victory.

Plot is the transformation of the internal by the external.

Coincidence works when it ignites trouble, not when it puts out fires.

“Ito offers a soul-searching memoir about the lasting effects of childhood emotional neglect… A compelling, honest, and ultimately victorious memoir.”
—Kirkus Reviews

The charm of the amateur sleuth lies in contradiction: they don’t belong in the world of crime, yet somehow they thrive there.