When I was traveling this summer I listened to books on CDs. I am fond of mysteries, but I didn't find any that were satisfactory. Two weeks ago, I tried another and found it wanting, too. The author wrote dialog that rambled on for no discernible reason. The murderer showed up in the final chapters with no real clues. The author had best selling mysteries so I thought I should try another of her books, thinking perhaps it was the reader that was bothering me, but the second book was worse. The heroine was cloyingly sweet. All the characters were one dimensional. The dialog was so bad that I skipped from chapter to chapter, finding the plot was moved in the first couple of pages and the rest could be skipped. I finally stopped listening to the CD and took out the paper book instead, hoping it would be better in print. It wasn't.
When I returned the book to the library I was beginning to think about a mystery I wrote two or three years ago during National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). I thought it had a better plot and more interesting characters. I e-mailed Wade in Arkansas. He had read it back then and though he said he knew "whodunnit" by the third chapter, he liked it and said I should go ahead with it.
I re-read it this afternoon and have decided I can repair some of the problems in the next two weeks. I'll devote the rest of October to it. I figure I can at least write a less dreadful novel than the best selling author.
Then I can devote November to the other novel.
***
Meanwhile, at Black Coffee Fiction, http://blackcoffeefiction.blogspot.com Bettyann Moore has posted her latest story, about hearing and gambling.
Wade has ordered the galleys of our latest collection. I'll have the proof copy in another week. I hope to have the mystery finished before it arrives. One thing at a time.
When I returned the book to the library I was beginning to think about a mystery I wrote two or three years ago during National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). I thought it had a better plot and more interesting characters. I e-mailed Wade in Arkansas. He had read it back then and though he said he knew "whodunnit" by the third chapter, he liked it and said I should go ahead with it.
I re-read it this afternoon and have decided I can repair some of the problems in the next two weeks. I'll devote the rest of October to it. I figure I can at least write a less dreadful novel than the best selling author.
Then I can devote November to the other novel.
***
Meanwhile, at Black Coffee Fiction, http://blackcoffeefiction.blogspot.com Bettyann Moore has posted her latest story, about hearing and gambling.
Wade has ordered the galleys of our latest collection. I'll have the proof copy in another week. I hope to have the mystery finished before it arrives. One thing at a time.
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