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More About Multiple Genres

June 6, 2015 by in category Pets, Romance & Lots of Suspense by Linda O. Johnston tagged as , , , , ,

My regular blog here at A Slice of Orange on the 6th of last month was about loving multiple genres. I’m going to focus on that once again now.

Why? Well, when you read this, I will most likely be at the California Crime Writers Conference in the Culver City area of L.A. Unsurprisingly, it’s primarily for people who write mysteries, suspense novels, and related subject.

The following weekend will be all about romance writing for me, since I’ll be attending the OCC meeting on Saturday, and the Los Angeles Romance Writers will meet on that Sunday since the following one, its regularly scheduled third Sunday of the month, will be Fathers Day.

So is it any surprise to you that the subject of my upcoming online class hosted by OCC will be… yes, about writing in both of those genres? In fact, I had a special blog posted about it on Tuesday, May 26, here at A Slice of Orange.

The class is called Kiss Me or Kill Me: Writing Cozy Mysteries 101 for Romance Writers. Those who are interested in adding suspense or mystery to their romances without necessarily changing genres should find it interesting, too, as should mystery or suspense writers who’d like to add some romance to their work.

And me? I’ve said for a while that all romances I write contain some element of mystery or suspense, and all mysteries I write generally contain a romantic interest. Aren’t both some of the most fun aspects of life–or at least reading?



Linda O! Johnston


www.LindaOJohnston.com 

 BITE THE BISCUIT, A Barkery & Biscuits Mystery
May 2015

LOST UNDER A LADDER, a Superstition Mystery
LOYAL WOLF, an Alpha Force Harlequin Nocturne
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Kiss Me or Kill Me is coming soon.

May 26, 2015 by in category Events, Pets, Romance & Lots of Suspense by Linda O. Johnston tagged as , , , , ,

What’s that? My online class for OCC, with the alternate name of Writing Cozy Mysteries 101 for Romance Writers. This will be my second time to present it.

The class will run from June 15 through July 12, and my intention is to have fun teaching my students how to have their characters solve murders while falling in love!

Here’s the class description:

All romances contain some suspense: will the hero and heroine resolve conflicts by the end and live happily ever after?

All cozy mysteries contain suspense, too, but do they always involve romance? Not necessarily, but the best ones do! Those romances seldom reach HEA by the end of the book, though. Cozies are usually parts of a series, and the suspense of romance can continue through subsequent books–even though the mysteries in each book must get resolved by the end.

What other similarities and differences are there between romances and cozies? They’ll be addressed in Kiss Me Or Kill Me: Writing Cozy Mysteries 101 for Romance Writers.

The class will also address the basics of writing cozies: choosing a protagonist and deciding how she’ll get involved solving mysteries; choosing a theme for the series; introducing and following through with a love interest—or not; throwing in a corpse or two, plus hiding clues for solving the murders; planning a series; and much more!

There will be online class discussions and writing exercises, too. Kiss Me or Kill Me will also contain enough basics on writing cozies that non-romance writers will learn a lot as well.

So… are you a romance writer who likes mysteries? A mystery writer who likes romance? I’ll be delighted to help you learn how to combine them.

I hope to see you in my class.

Linda O, Johnston

Linda O. Johnston’s first published fiction appeared in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and won the Robert L. Fish Memorial Award for Best First Mystery Short Story of the year. Since then, Linda has published more short stories, plus eighteen romance novels, including the Alpha Force paranormal miniseries for Harlequin Nocturne. Alpha Force is a covert military unit of shapeshifters, and the most recent book in the series is GUARDIAN WOLF.  She has also published three Nocturne Bites e-novellas and is additionally writing a novel for Harlequin Romantic Suspense.

 

Linda is also the author of the Pet Rescue Mystery series from Berkley Prime Crime which debuted in March 2011 with BEAGLEMANIA, followed by THE MORE THE TERRIER and HOUNDS ABOUND. The series centers around Lauren Vancouver, the dedicated administrator of a successful private, no-kill animal shelter who also finds herself having to solve murders. In the Pet Rescue Mysteries, “no-kill” means pets, not people! The Pet Rescue series is a spinoff from Linda’s Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter, nine-book mystery series, also from Berkley Prime Crime. 

Kiss Me or Kill Me is a 4-week online course that begins June 15, 2015 and uses email and Yahoo Groups. The class is open to anyone wishing to participate. The cost is $30.00 per person or, if you are a member of OCCRWA, $20.00 per person. 


For more information and to register go to http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclassJune15.html        
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Loving Multiple Genres

May 6, 2015 by in category Pets, Romance & Lots of Suspense by Linda O. Johnston tagged as , , , , ,
 

Those of you who know me also know that I write in multiple genres, which currently include paranormal romance, romantic suspense and cozy mysteries.  And I’m not the only one!

 
Last weekend I attended Malice Domestic, an annual conference held in Bethesda, Maryland, for readers and writers of cozy mysteries.  It was delightful, as always.  I was on a panel about pets in mysteries, and also participated in Malice Go Round, where readers sit at tables while authors, two at a time, sit down with them and get to talk about their work for two minutes apiece.  Exhausting, but fun!  That was in addition to parties and hanging around at the reception area talking with people and more.
 
One of the fun things I also got to do was to meet with several of the people who will be fellow panelists with me at July’s RWA National Conference!  Yes, we’re all attending both kinds of conferences this year.  Our RWA panel topic will be From White Collar to Red Herring, and we’ll be talking about our non-writing professional experiences not only for plotting, but also for managing our writing careers.
 
Come see us if you’re at RWA National this year!
 
Linda

 
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Linda O! Johnston
www.LindaOJohnston.comBITE THE BISCUIT, A Barkery & Biscuits Mystery
May 2015
LOST UNDER A LADDER, a Superstition Mystery
LOYAL WOLF, an Alpha Force Harlequin Nocturne

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Our Next OCC Meeting

February 6, 2013 by in category Pets, Romance & Lots of Suspense by Linda O. Johnston tagged as , , , , ,

Our February OCC meeting is next Saturday. I’m really looking forward to it–as usual. But my reasons are a little different from why I’m usually filled with anticipation.

First, there’ll be a drawing for me to provide a critique of someone’s first chapter. I always enjoy doing things like that–contributing a little bit, I hope, to encouraging someone to keep on writing.

And then there’s our program. Our all-day speaker is Patrick Brown, the Author Program Manager for Goodreads, and he will be talking about how to promote your wok on Goodreads. I need that! I’ve been a member of Goodreads for a while but haven’t adequately utilized it. I did give one book away on Goodreads once, and I receive emails on updates about people who’ve friended me on Goodreads, but I know that there are a lot of aspects of the site that I’ve never used, or have used incorrectly.

Yes, I’m one of those people who use social media, but only a few things like a page on Facebook–the “friend” kind, not the “like” kind. I blog a lot, weekly on Killer Hobbies and monthly here at A Slice of Orange. This month, I’m also starting to blog on the 18th of each month at Killer Characters–or at least my characters are. Plus, I’m currently doing a lot of guest blogs to help promote my two new releases. And I post now and then on a wonderful blog that’s run by some delightful and talented OCC members: Writers In The Storm.
But I don’t tweet, since I’m sure I’d spend too much time on Twitter. Goodreads, if I knew how to use it better, might be another good resource, though, so I’m really looking forward to learning more.

How about you? Do you participate in Goodreads? Will you be at this month’s meeting?

By the way, there won’t be a PAW meeting this month, and I usually look forward to them a lot, too. But there’s always March…

O? —
Linda O! Johnston
LindaOJohnston.com
OODLES OF POODLES, February 2013
Berkley Prime Crime
UNDERCOVER WOLF, February 2013
Harlequin Nocturne

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Thanks, OCC

June 6, 2012 by in category Pets, Romance & Lots of Suspense by Linda O. Johnston tagged as , , ,


OCC is the Orange County Chapter of Romance Writers of America. We’re romance writers. But some of us also are mystery writers. Writers of romantic suspense. Both.
I’m always delighted to attend OCC meetings, but I’m especially looking forward to the one next weekend. Why? It’ll be chock full of excellent research info for those of us who are mystery and suspense writers as well as romance authors.

First, I see that Debra Holland is giving a morning workshop on “Creating Fighting and
Self-Defense Scenes.” That should be fascinating. The chapter’s published authors are even forgoing a Published Authors Workshop that morning to be able to attend Debra’s presentation.

And then, in the afternoon, our guest speaker Dennis Kee, a weapons expert, will present a program on “Don’t Blame the Gun, Blame the Writer.” It sounds as if it’ll be full of excellent information on weapons.

I had thought I’d be out of town next weekend, but fortunately my plans changed. I’ll be there! See you all soon–and I’m really looking forward to the June OCC meeting.

Linda O. Johnston
http://www.lindaojohnston.com/
http://www.killerhobbies.blogspot.com/
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