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Anyone interested in writing a mystery should join Mystery Writers of
America (www.mysterywriters.org).
This organization offers many valuable publications and services, including
a mentoring program through which the novice writer submits pages
from his/her novel for an experienced writer to critique. I was lucky;
Linda Fairstein read and commented on pages from my novel. Fairstein, who
led Manhattan’s Sex Crimes Prosecutions for 25 years, catapulted into
prominence with her first novel, Final Jeopardy, 1994. Fairstein’s
books feature Alexandra Cooper, her alter ego, and Fairstein gives the word
“authoritative” new meaning when she writes about the kinds of crime her
department prosecuted. (To learn more about her books, see
www.lindafairstein.com.) Fairstein gave me a number of helpful hints,
including the following:
One very minor change is
one that was suggested to me early on when I created a similar problem in a
manuscript. Too many characters are named using the letter “D,” and it’s
quite confusing to the reader. You’ve got Dinah, Dolly, Debbie Diamondstein,
Donna Sue, and the three surnames in D, D, D, and W—all of which you spell
out and use. I found myself going back to reread and remind myself who they
were…Dinah and Dolly may be carved in stone—but with a keystroke you can
change a couple of the others.
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