Recently, the Professor leading the creative writing department at Pace University wrote to say that she was using one of my true crime stories (Act
of Murder) as the sample text in the offered course, “How To Write Mysteries and True Crime”. Such an honor!
I fired off enough copies to cover the students taking the class with these tips:
TIPS:
1. You can’t have too much dialogue
2. You CAN have too much descriptive
3. SHOW don’t TELL. For example: Instead of writing: (telling) Stella walked across the busy street, dodging cars. (SHOWING) Holding up her hand, her badge tucked in her palm, Stella skipped to the other side, between the parked cars jammed to a standstill on the busy street . “Whad’ya waiting for, Jack?” She taunted her partner.
4. Be certain your forensics are accurate.
I once called an ME to ask how long traces of Vanilla Wafers and grape soda
would remain in the stomach. (Angel of Murder) I didn’t trust what i found online. He was kind enough to take my call.
5. Your deceased victim is a character in your story. They should be as interesting as the other characters. At the least, they should have a life story.
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