JESSICA THOMPSON GOES ROGUE: MAKE YOUR SETTING DO THE WORK
By Jessica Thompson When reading a book, watching a movie, listening to a story, or even playing a game, most people focus on the characters or plot, but the third big ingredient is your setting. What is the setting? Google says it is the place or type of surroundings where something is positioned...
TOTAL IMMERSION II
The Art of Going Deep: Part II By Chris Goff In Part I, I talked about digging DEEP to find the BIG concept, the right Point of View, and getting to know your characters. So, how do you get into your character’s head? Use your own experiences. Thomas Harris in Silence of the Lambs gave...
ON TOUR WITH DEAD WRITERS: THE ST. REGIS
By Z.J. Czupor On Tour with Dead Writers is Z.J. Czupor's new installment on Rogue Women Writers. Guess the correct dead writer and be entered to win a free book. Let’s check in to New York City’s famous St. Regis Hotel on 55th Street. The hotel has long been a celebrity haven and is where, in...
A NOT SO COZY REALITY
By Lisa Black Truth is often stranger than fiction, but sometimes fiction is truth—whether it means to be or not. Any cozy mystery worth its salt has a small town, a bickering couple, eccentric characters, and a great climate. A murder in 2013 checked all these boxes and more, but to the...
LEE GOLDBERG GOES ROGUE
Writing Outside the Box Chris Goff: I first met Lee Goldberg at a Bouchercon some 20 years ago, and what sticks with me is his sense of humor and bigger-than-life personality. The man was holding court in the hotel foyer, recounting a conversation he’d had with his beautiful wife, Valerie (who is...
CAN’T YOU TELL I’M WRITING?
By Tosca Lee Last night an author friend of mine sent me a message accompanied by an unspoken (but noted by me) sage nod. “I am never more productive with busywork type tasks than when I’m on deadline for a book!” she said. How’d she know I was “writing?” Because I’d just posted a picture of...
OCTOBER ROGUE ROUNDUP
It’s a Rogue Roundup: See what we Rogues discovered, researched, and talked about in October… Big dogs, little dogs, good dogs, bad dogs: Karna Small Bodman began October with Man and Woman's Best Friend in both novels and real life. Daniella Bernett then stopped by to delve into an unforgettable...
PAUL VIDICH GOES ROGUE: The Real Historical Incident that Inspired Beirut Station
K. J. Howe: Paul Vidich’s Beirut Station is a novel with deep historical roots, and it reads like a real-life thriller. Spies, revenge, betrayal—buckle up your seat belt! By Paul Vidich On March 16, 1985, William Francis Buckley, the newly appointed CIA Chief of Station in Beirut, left his...
