Category Archives: Editing

SOLVING THE PUZZLE

I’ve been watching Endeavour on Masterpiece this summer. For those who haven’t ever tuned in to the series, which is now in its fourth season, the title character is Colin Dexter’s Inspector Morse, depicted in the early years of his … Continue reading

Posted in Characters, Classic Mystery, Editing, Writers, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

ON ENDINGS

Recently I was asked to serve on a short-story panel at the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention in Toronto (October 12-15) that will attempt to provide advice to new writers on various aspects of craft. The panel’s moderator, frequent EQMM and … Continue reading

Posted in Editing, Fiction, Genre, Story, Writers, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

“The Trials of Writing at 65 MPH” (by M.C. Lee)

Fiction writers come from all walks of life, as this post demonstrates. And those who really have it in them to write will often endure many difficulties, even hardships, to make it possible. I’ve known writers who composed all their … Continue reading

Posted in Books, Business, Editing, Fiction, Genre, Guest, Publishing, Suspense, Thrillers, Writers, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

COUNTING THE I’S

Back in 2009 I received a note from a reader observing that more than half the stories published in EQMM that year employed first-person narration. It wasn’t something I’d noticed, mainly because there are actually several different viewpoints that fall … Continue reading

Posted in Characters, Editing, Fiction, Genre, Magazine, Publishing, Readers | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

“Screaming Blue Murder—Writing For Television” (by Cath Staincliffe)

Cath Staincliffe’s work first appeared in EQMM in January 2016. Her latest EQMM story, “The Rat,” is featured in our current issue, March/April 2017, and a third story will appear in EQMM later this year. The Manchester writer is a founding member … Continue reading

Posted in Business, Characters, Editing, Guest, Police Procedurals, Writers, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

“Making Sense of the Confusion of Tongues” (by Bertil Falk)

Bertil Falk is a Swedish newspaper and TV journalist, an author of mystery fiction, a translator, and a former editor of DAST magazine (a Swedish journal devoted to detective stories, science fiction, and fantasy). His first novel saw print when he was … Continue reading

Posted in Editing, Fiction, Genre, Guest, International, Magazine, Passport, Thrillers, Writers, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

“Mystery and Suspense in Poetry” (by Jackie Sherbow)

There isn’t an author for Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine or Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine who has not corresponded, at some point, with the magazines’ associate editor, Jackie Sherbow. For the past six years, she has been an integral part of the Dell … Continue reading

Posted in Editing, Ellery Queen, Genre, Magazine, Noir, Readers, Writers, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

“I Know Words, the Best Words” (by Harley Mazuk)

Harley Mazuk has contributed four stories in the classical private-eye tradition to EQMM, beginning with his very first professional fiction publication, which appeared in the January 2011 issue of EQMM. Three of the stories, including the first, belong to a … Continue reading

Posted in Editing, Fiction, Genre, Guest, Writers, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

“Collaborative Sleuthing: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Stu Palmer’s and Craig Rice’s Withers/Malone Team-Ups in EQMM” (by Arthur Vidro)

Many EQMM readers will know Arthur Vidro as the contributor of two online stories: “The Ransom of EQMM #1” and “The Mistake on the Cover of EQMM #1.” The latter formed the basis for our 75th Anniversary Contest of 2016. Both … Continue reading

Posted in Business, Characters, Editing, Ellery Queen, Guest, History, Magazine, Publishing, Writers, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

WHAT’S IN A WORD?

As we approach the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, with so much talk in the air of “political correctness,” I thought it timely to re-post a piece I put up on this site on January 22, 2014. —Janet Hutchings This … Continue reading

Posted in Editing, History, Writers, Writing | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment