Posts by LesleyADiehl
Introducing new characters in a cozy mystery series
If you already have a cast of interesting characters in your series, why would you want to introduce another one? Consider this: writers insert new characters in a series when the protagonist solves the crime. The bad guy or gal is almost never someone who has appeared in the series before, although this could…
Read MoreIt’s a Trip with Cats
It’s that time of year again when we close up our house in New York and make the trek to Florida. Most people pack clothes for Florida, turn down the heat in the house and hit the road, arriving no more than two or three days later. We are not most people. We own…
Read MoreTypewriter to Computer
Is what we write how we write it? An old Smith-Corona typewriter sat on the desk in the house I grew up in. It had been there since the nineteen thirties before my parents moved to the farm. It was my grandfather’s, but I never saw him use it. My mother didn’t either, but on…
Read MoreTags in Writing
Support Your Local Library “He said.” “She said.” Sometimes a writer needs them to indicate who is speaking. Sometimes it’s easy to insert them when, with a little effort, we could make our writing better. Tags can disappear when reading a conversation. They may sound redundant in the process of writing them, but reading…
Read MoreGuest blogger Lois Winston: Making Fun of Murder
She’s visited several times before, but I’m delighted to have author Lois Winston back again to my blog. Like me, shes a gal who likes to write humor, and she’s an expert at it. USA Today bestselling and award-winning author Lois Winston writes mystery, romance, romantic suspense, chick lit, women’s fiction, children’s chapter books, and…
Read MoreA Crowded Season for Murder
Fall is not my favorite season. Here in Upstate New York it is usually cold and wet, signaling for me the coming of snow, more cold and ice. But this year, we had no summer, only rain, rain, rain. So now we are enjoying summer, weeks of sunny, warm weather. A little late, perhaps, but…
Read MoreRescuing the Princess
One day the music teacher for the elementary school walked into my second or third room classroom and said she was going to play us a piece of classical music. She instructed us to use our imaginations and draw a picture of what we saw as the music was playing. I drew a picture of…
Read MoreOutdoors in Late Summer and A Treat for my Readers
The summer months were a struggle with showers almost every day. Now that the days are cooler, the rain seems to have left us for a time, and we’re happy to have the sunshine. Beginning the first of August, the sun found us just in time for the county fair. Yes, of course, we…
Read MoreThe Three Stages of Pantsing
This week did not turn out to be what I was anticipating. Glenn and I had to cancel our trip to Killer Nashville because both my vertigo and my arthritis decided to take over my life for a while. I seem to be getting better today. I’m sorry I had wasn’t able to be on…
Read MoreMaking the most of weather
Tension, tension, tension. That’s what we want in our work to move the story forward and keep the reader’s interest. My cozy mysteries are set in unusual areas of the country, one in Upstate New York, the other in rural Florida. I like to feature these setting in my mysteries to create the atmosphere for…
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