Read Don't Murder Your Mystery: 24 Fiction-Writing Techniques to Save Your Manuscript from Turning Up D.O.A. by Chris Roerden Online

Don't Murder Your Mystery: 24 Fiction-Writing Techniques to Save Your Manuscript from Turning Up D.O.A. Reviews

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  Richard Derus 2019-12-03 17:55

  Rating: 4* of fiveHow incredibly useful this is! Simple, relatable, useful, informative, and valuable. Such a great find, I want anyone who wants to write mysteries to buy it.
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  Jan 2019-11-08 19:09

  What a truly excellent book. I Only started to look for some theoretical support on writing when my first book was almost finished, but it helped me a great deal to improve what I had. We all have our own writing style but it never hurts to learn from others. And this is the best book on writing books I have seen yet.
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  Raine Baushke 2019-11-29 17:13

  This helped my writing immensely. I've read parts of it several times.
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  Anne 2019-11-27 16:51

  An excellent guide for murder mystery authors (or anybody else). This is essentially the same content as Don't Murder Your Submission, so you don't need both. Humorous writing makes it fun as well as informative. I first checked this out at my local library. I liked it so much I bought a copy.
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  Ethan 2019-12-01 18:00

  This is a great book for would-be writers of any genre, though Roerden focuses on mysteries in particular. Roerden has been an editor for some three decades (or something like that) and it shows. The tone is light and lively, and the examples of good and bad writing are excellent. It's a great reference, and highlights a lot of cringeworthy writing habits.Something to note: this may not be the best book for someone with an unfinished draft. The advice is meant for those who are in the middle of their second or third draft and trying to polish a finished work. Trying to apply Roerden's internal editor to a first draft may end up giving you writer's block.
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  Richard Risch 2019-11-22 18:55

  There are books that are pure trash (see my review on "Crush It"), and then there are books that are pure gold. "Don't Murder Your Mystery" is pure gold! What this book is about and very well demonstrates is how to vastly improve your fictional writing skills. For both the novice wanna-be writer as well-recognized and published author, it will improve and enhance your manuscript. This book reaps my highest accolades with clean-cut examples of both bad and good writing techniques along with detail explanations. This book is well worth the money and reading over-and-over again.
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  Gale Borger 2019-12-07 14:07

  Nice job, Chris! Anyone who says you can't learn new tricks, or be reminded about what's really important about writing had better get new reading glasses because they missed the point of this book.Though geared toward the mystery genre, good writing is good writing, and Roerden speaks to everyone in this book.
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  Felicia 2019-11-20 16:07

  This is a very well put together guide for writing mysteries. It has a lot of good information that would be applicable to any fiction writing. I found the quotes and literary references from other mystery writers to be very helpful - plus it gave me a bunch of new authors to explore.
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  Nina 2019-12-09 14:03

  Some really good writing advice from a seasoned editor. Don't let the "mystery" part scare you off if you're writing in a different genre, most of the techniques apply to any kind of fiction writing.Most helpful if you've finished your manuscript and start self-editing.
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  Jordan McCollum 2019-12-02 19:51

  Obviously some of these issues are a little basic, and none of them are handled extensively, great treatment of 24 classic problems even experienced writers can have--and some unique solutions that really work.
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  Kathryn 2019-11-22 16:46

  This is quickly becoming a bible of do's and don'ts for the mystery writer. The dreaded "information dump"--egad!--of which I am often guilty of writing. I'm reading this book and going back through my manuscript and stomping out all of (well, most of) the offending sections!
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  Catherine 2019-11-09 17:50

  I checked this out from the library twice before deciding I will need a copy on my bookshelf. The short chapters give you rapid-fire advice with plenty of examples. This is the sort of how-to-write book you can go back to again and again.
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  Kym McNabney 2019-11-15 14:08

  Good read, packed with information for new writers.
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  Amy 2019-12-04 17:04

  The first 3/4 of this book was interesting and then it bogged down. It read a bit like a spiced up textbook.
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  Gigi 2019-11-26 13:02

  Rereading this very helpful editing book. This is the book that helped me move from the passive to the active voice.
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  Diane Lewis 2019-11-28 19:05

  This is an excellent resource for a beginning fiction writer.
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  Tom Hooker 2019-11-19 21:07

  This "how-to" book is designed for mystery writers and wannabes, but contains useful information for any writer of fiction.
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  Marva 2019-11-11 17:51

  Good guide to any fiction writing with a couple of things more useful to the mystery writer.