Characters *do* speak to you

Interesting. While I was writing a scene for the second in the Wolfe series, I introduced a character. And as I was writing, it came to me what the personality of this person would be. And how that personality would influence the plot line. All that from a couple of sentences. Amazing!

Mystery v. Thriller

As this is my first mystery (Wolfe: Murder on Campus), I'm learning as I go. One difference (IMHO) is that the dialog and characters are way more important than in a thriller. Of course, this may signal that I'll never write a good novel in either genre. We'll see, won't we. Check out what may be a curious mix of both (Fear of Heights) at my web site www.pfstubbs.com.

Plot, Plot, Plot

Dialog has to advance plot - right? I'm OK with dialog, but stitching it all together into a plot (or sub-plot) is not easy. [Got to just keep writing. Don't edit; just write]

Dialog! More Dialog!

It seems as though Wolfe: Murder is nothing but dialog. That's something new for me. The plot is advanced by the interaction among/ between characters. Still getting used to that. Lots of scenes. Just have to write and figure it out later.