writing
Crime writing, anyone?
Coming up in Corte Madera, beginning July 24, a gathering of truly fabulous writers and editors are coming together to talk crime. For 21 years, this has been one of the best crime writing conferences out there—and yes, this year I’m joining in the fun. If you’re serious about starting a crime writing career, or…
Read MoreDeep Breath
When is the end not the end? When it’s a book, and its author knows that a first draft is crap. I sent a very rough first draft of Dreaming Spies off to my editor today. This proto-novel is an exceedingly thin 270 pages, missing one of its two endings, with sporadic character development, a…
Read MoreStoryteller’s whispers
Storyteller is a tease. Storyteller whispers in the writer’s ear, makes promises, leads the writer on… and then goes silent. There are basically two ways to approach a book. For some, Storyteller speaks in advance, clearly laying out the book’s logical sequence, opening hook to ending coda. For others, like myself, a book is an…
Read MoreLaurie talks!
When I was in the Pacific Northwest last month for the fabulous Sherlock Seattle I sat down and talked with Bill Kenower with Author about, well, Sherlock Holmes–and also about Mary Russell, the temerity of an innocent, writer’s block, and what writing has taught me:
Read MoreLetting in the day
In the Dick Francis novel Decider, the protagonist is an architect with many sons and a difficult marriage. At one point he reflects on the unlikely things that make people buy one house over another—in his case, a large tree that he can envision his boys climbing. I bought a house last year. My decider…
Read MoreHigher Mysteries podcast
My buddy Rick Kleffel has posted his podcasts of the Higher Mysteries panel, in which four top-ranking crime writers talk about using religion and theology in their work, on his web site, The Agony Column: “You’re all here for Tax Law 101, right?” —Laurie R. King For all the seriousness of her premise, Laurie R.…
Read MoreHigher Mysteries
Last month, you may recall, I urged you to drop what you were doing and come to listen to four fabulous ladies (or anyway, three fabulous ladies and me) talk about how we use religion and theology when writing crime fiction. There’s a podcast on its way, but the excellent video has just gone up…
Read MoreThese Bones are alive!
The page proofs for The Bones of Paris are come, and gone. This is a time of considerable rejoicing chez King because after this, I NEVER HAVE TO READ THIS BOOK EVER AGAIN. Except to flip through and choose bits for reading aloud, and maybe off in the future when I’m about to write the…
Read MoreSpring surprises
Last spring this time, I was waiting for my offer on a house to be accepted. And waiting. In the meantime, the garden went through the springtime without me. That means that this year, every week brings a new surprise. Like the view off my deck, green all winter and now scattered with various colors…
Read MoreThe Bones of Paris, scrubbing away
Midday on Thursday I sent the revised version of The Bones of Paris off to my editor. The much-revised version. Since getting the first draft back just before Thanksgiving, I’ve been chained to my chair, working 70+ hour weeks on it, to make up for having lost three months in the process of moving house. …
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