Anne R. Allen's Blog... with Ruth Harris
Writing about writing. Mostly.
by Anne R. Allen The British TV series Morse, based on the mystery novels by Colin Dexter, won the “Best British Mystery Series of All Time” title in a Radio Times poll. A recent Facebook post about the win made me think about the admonition authors hear that novels must have likeable characters. Inspector Morse […]
by Anne R. Allen Choosing a genre for your novel is one of the toughest challenges for many new writers. This week both former agent Nathan Bransford and current agent Jessica Faust wrote posts telling authors their books must have a genre. But new writers may not know why this has become such a hard-and-fast […]
Novel genre isn’t always obvious, even to the author. While we’re writing, (especially during NaNoWriMo) we just let the inspiration pull us along. But there comes a point where we have to decide where our work fits in the great bookish ecosystem – its genre and the age of its audience. Writing coach and novelist […]
by Ruth Harris Romance with a side of horror? Happens in real life—oy!—but not such a hot idea in fiction. Cozy mystery with a soupçon of blood and gore? Only if you want readers coming after you with shoulder-fired missiles. Sci-fi in a gauzy, vintage-y mood? Not unless you want to find an IED in […]
by Anne R. Allen One of my favorite moments in film happens in Star Trek IV, when the Enterprise crew find themselves back the 20th century. Kirk refers to “the complete works of Jacqueline Susann, the novels of Harold Robbins,” and Spock replies, “Ah… The giants!” Funny bit. But the thing is—they were giants. Not great writers, but […]
