Leslie Keller Books

On the eve of breast cancer awareness month I am thinking about the old saying - write what you know. As a breast cancer survivor with two others in my family (sadly as I lost one of my sistesr in January to this disease), this is something I know.  I know what it is to be a survivor myself as well as a family member to someone with the disease. Does that mean I should write about it? When I was first diagnosed I didn't talk about it at all.  I didn't want people to know I was "sick".  I didn't want sympathy.  I wanted to kick its butt, move on with my life and never think about it again. Ha, that was a silly notion. Just past my one year anniversary I walked the Komen 3-day 60 mile walk.  To say it changed my life is an understatement.  Cancer didn't change me but sharing it did.  I talked about my cancer and learned about other people's experiences.  Months of training and then a very concentrated three days of ...

Whether you write with an outline, or simply let the words flow without a plan, it's important to know the purpose of a scene. You need to ask yourself if this sentence, dialogue or paragraph advances the action or if it's only filler. For discussion, let's say your story is a mystery. When you read it aloud do you find instances where your character rambles on about something completely unrelated to the plot? Does your protagonist have dialogue with the grocery store clerk that doesn't lead to the conclusion of the mystery? If two characters are driving is there a purpose in their destination? You should ask yourself these questions.  Why does the character say or do this? What will he/she gain by this action? How does my character accomplish his goal of resolving the mystery? Does this scene move the character closer towards a resolution? If the answers are negative then you may need to review whether that piece can be removed. Even though it's tempting to h...

My house is too small. The kids are everywhere. I don't have a space I can call my own and lock the door.  Every time I try to write the phone rings or the television volume is turned up. It's too hot to sit outside and write. It's too cold to sit outside and write. Wouldn't we all love the perfect space to write? I know I definitely would. I've previously written about how hard it can be for me to focus. I can't work in my office because whenever I'm in that room I think about my "other" work and can't focus on writing. I tried writing in bed but that was very uncomfortable. I considered setting up the guest bedroom as another office but discarded that plan when I checked out the space. I inspected the dining room as a possibility but that is too close to my partner's music room. There is no way I can concentrate while he's practicing electric guitar! Despite all the hurdles I finally wound up in the kitchen. You might think this...

A summer monsoon getting ready to burst in the preserve.  Since Menu for Murder features an Arizona monsoon I thought it would be appropriate to include this photo. Happy Trails, Leslie

In my final installment from the Desert Sleuths, Write 2014 writing conference I will review what our last speaker covered in Mastering Crime Fiction:  A Whodunit How-To. Author Tim Hallinan discussed "Where Do I Go From Here:  Getting to the finish line".  You've been writing and working on your novel for what seems like an eternity.  How do you finish?  Or do you ever really finish - that must be the topic of another post! Tim tells us to first write what we love to read.  I think this is good advice and common sense.  I can't imagine trying to write something that I wouldn't enjoy reading myself.  After all I am going to read my own work about one million times before someone else sees it.  I better like the genre at least. Tim also reiterated what the other speakers discussed: 1.  Make a place that I can write without interruption. 2.  Make a commitment to write every day or at least on a schedule you can stick to. 3. ...

This is part three of my notes from the Desert Sleuths chapter of Sisters in Crime, Write 2014 conference in Phoenix, Arizona The third speaker of the day was author Graham Brown.  Graham has written his own novels and also co-writes with Clive Cussler, an Arizona resident. Graham topic in the Mastering Crime Fiction:  A Whodunit How-to was "Why, Your Plot the Heart of the Story". Graham claims to be a seat of the pants writer.  He doesn't outline his story but prefers to have a general idea of where he's going.  He cautions against having an outline of what you expect to happen and then trying to force the characters to follow that path.  Instead allow your characters to lead you in the direction that suits them.  The plot is what happens and allows your characters to shine and to be real.  You find out who someone is when things happen.  Does the cold, withdrawn mother suddenly become a protector when her child is threatened?  Does ...