I’ve heard many writers say that setting is just the place where your story happens. In a literal sense, this is true. Every character I dream up needs a place to lay their head at night, a place to fight for, and a place to fight with other people. But I’ve always thought setting should do more than provide a bed (or as in many of my novels, a sleeping bag) for my characters. I wrote the first several drafts of Crevice before visiting the … [Read more...]
Portrait of a Hero – FINN CARSON
Perhaps not in all genres of fiction but certainly when it pertains to romance, the portrait of the characters holds an inevitable importance. Having an attractive hero or heroine doesn't mean that you've created some super-human hunk or otherworldly goddess, but rather that they hold a certain appeal to their match in the story. Swoony me, he so dreamy ;) Attraction! Sometimes it's obvious, other times it's inexplicable, but it often … [Read more...]
Denise Wallace Reveals Her Discussion With the Prosecutor From Her Father’s Trial
Near the end of the trial in Daddy's Little Secret, I pulled the prosecutor, Marc Shiner, aside and confessed something about my father that I had never divulged to anyone. We were of opposing views from that point on. "Every little girl thinks her father's scary," he had told me, but I had not told him a story from when I had been a little girl--I had told him one from when I had been nineteen. Shiner had listened to me and assessed the … [Read more...]
Janice Boekhoff Gives the Quid Pro Quills Blog a Behind-the Scenes Look at CREVICE
Janice Boekhoff, author of WildBlue's upcoming romantic suspense novel CREVICE, was featured on the Quid Pro Quills blog on July 22nd. Janice gives a behind-the-scenes look at the inspiration and story that lead to the creation of CREVICE. Check out the full article here: https://quidproquills.com/ "A few years ago, I was watching a TV show that had a segment on the Lost Dutchman gold mine located somewhere in the Superstition Mountains of … [Read more...]
Suspense Author Janice Boekhoff: Are Writing and Storytelling the Same Thing?
All of us who write love to pour our words onto the page in new and different ways. We strive to get just the right image, just the right tone, just the right nuance. But are these efforts in vain? Has anyone ever recommended a book because of the tone? Sometimes when I get book recommendations from friends, this is what it sounds like: Friend: You’ve got to read this book by so-and-so (name withheld because I don’t want to get sued … [Read more...]
Author Denise Wallace on the Power of Visualization In Accomplishing Your Goals
After a rough day at the picture car company when a film industry worker had threatened to bring a gas can and set the place on fire, I went home and thought to myself, "This can't be all there is to life." Working fifty hours a week at a place where they threw chairs and humiliated anyone who had figured out a way to get a job in Hollywood was hardly living the dream. It was actually more like the film, Swimming With the Sharks, starring Kevin … [Read more...]
Jury Verdict Is In; $28.1 Million Goes to the Wrongfully Convicted Beatrice 6
A federal civil rights jury in Nebraska has dinged Gage County, Sheriff's Corporal Burt Searcey, deputy/psychologist Wayne Price and the estate of late sheriff Jerry DeWitt to the tune of more than $28 million - for reckless misconduct involving the nation's largest-ever wrongful conviction case - 6 wrongful convictions in a lone murder. The terrible plight of the Beatrice 6 was the subject of my recent book for WildBlue Press titled, "FAILURE … [Read more...]
Denise Wallace Discusses Her Efforts To Overcome Impatience When Writing
Without a doubt, I used to be one of the most impatient people on the planet. I'm serious; I really was. Just to give an example: If I had a dinner date with the president and got hungry on the way, I'd stop somewhere and grab a burger. It's ridiculous, I know. And though I had the discipline to burn the extra calories, I was well aware that this was not a virtue, especially if I wanted to be a writer. That's why when I wanted to … [Read more...]
Author Denise Wallace Offers Six Step-By-Step Tips for Writing a True Crime Book
So, you have fallen in love with the scintillating world of true crime? The psychological profiles of killers and the investigative processes of detectives have enthralled you and left you hungry for more. You have read dozens and dozens of true crime books (make SURE you do this) and taken writing classes to learn the craft, and now you want to write one of your own. But where do you start? Step 1 First of all, you should start by … [Read more...]
Readers: John Ferak’s True Crime Book FAILURE OF JUSTICE Is A Must Read
FAILURE OF JUSTICE marks my fourth non-fiction book and third with publisher WildBlue Press of Colorado. It's the true story of America's biggest modern miscarriage of justice. And it's not your ordinary true crime story at all. It's much more. It's about the death penalty. It's about fixing a broken justice system. It's about fairness and redemption. It's about rebuilding your life - in this case six lives - after a horribly misguided police and … [Read more...]
