Diary of Being a Writer; Week 202

Crime and Thriller Writing is fun.

I love doing writing courses.
It really is the best fun.
Not only do you get to learn, but you get to meet other writers.
It is invaluable.
Finding others who think like you do or, even better, think nothing like you do but share your passion for creating stories and characters out of thin air is fun.
And it ignites your own creativity.
Talking to other writers sparks ideas and conversations. Plot points suddenly appear while discussing characters. Characters appear while discussing POV(points of view).
And all the while, you are honing your craft and keeping it exciting and fresh for yourself.
I am currently doing a Crime and Thriller Writing course, and last night we covered POV. I had just done a class dedicated to this a few weeks ago. Did that mean I was bored or too advanced for today’s lesson? Not in the slightest. Different perspectives were put forward by a different tutor. Aspects of POV in relation to Crime and Thriller novels in particular, which are different to other genres were covered.
The only courses I will no longer be doing are the ‘How to Query An Agent’ courses. And I wouldn’t necessarily recommend those as there are so many fantastic free written resources on this subject. My advice would be to read some of the advice online, write an excellent query and then get someone to look over it, improve it some more, and be focused and persistent.
The other thing I enjoy about doing these courses is the homework. I know that when I read, I should be analysing and thinking about what the author is doing but to be honest, I just enjoy getting lost in the story. By doing a course like this and having a particular aspect to focus on each week, I will go back and read bits of the books on my shelves to check things out. I read 20 opening chapters last week to see how various crime writers set up their books. This week, I will look at more to see how they introduce their characters. I hope none of them has their MC(main character) look in a mirror and then describe what they see.
As for my book, Bloody Dawn at The Duke or whatever title it will eventually have, no progress as yet, but my agent checked in and said to expect some notes soon.
I also got a professional headshot done, and I am glad I did. I think the results will be much less embarrassing than a selfie, and hopefully, it will be…