I found a copy of this Revised Edition of Mystery Writer’s Handbook in a thrift store. It was published in 1982 so some of these essays are dated. But many of the essays are still relevant today like John D. MacDonald’s “How a Character Becomes Believable.” I liked Richard Martin Stern’s essay on “Suspense.” Rex Stout tells us “What To Do About a Watson.” Michael Avallone explains “The Narrative Hook.” I found Gregory Mcdonald’s “On Dialogue” thought-provoking. This book was a bargain at a quarter! You can find Mystery WRiter’s Handbook at the usual online booksellers, but I doubt you’ll get it for 25 cents.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Preface, By Lawrence Treat
1. Why Do You Write?
2. Into Something Rich and Strange, By Bruce Cassiday
3. Where Do You Get Your Ideas?
4. Where Do You Get Your Plot? By Fredric Brown
5. How to Achieve Story Structure, By Pauline Bloom
6. Why I Don’t Outline, By Hillary Waugh
7. Plotting from a Situation, By Dana Lyon
8. When and How Do You Write?
9. The Series vs. the Non-Series Detective, By Hillary Waugh
10. Homicide and Other Investigations, By Thomas M. McDade
11. How to Please and Editor, By Eleanor Sullivan
12. How to Make It Authentic, Barbara Frost
13. The Narrative Hook, Michael Avallone
14. How a Character Becomes believable, By John D. MacDonald
15. Deciding on Viewpoint, By Janet Gregory Vermandel
16. What to Do About a Watson, By Rex Stout
17. Suspense, Richard Martin Stern
18. Background and Atomosphere, By Dorothy Salisbury Davis
19. On Dialogue, By Gregory Mcdonald
20. Style, Aaron Marc Stein
21. The Ungentle Art of REvision, By Stanley Ellin
22. Once Over–Not Lightly, By Lawrence Treat
23. Cutting: Surgery or Butchery? By Helen McCloy
24. Avoiding Cliches Like the Plague
25. How Do You Handle Stumbling Blocks?
26. What Do You Mean, “Gothic”? By Phyllis A. Whitney
27. The Softcover Original, By Dan Marlowe
28. The Pleasure of the Short Story, By Edward D. Hoch
29. Writhing the True Crime Story, By William T. Brannon
30. Writing for Television and Movies, By William P. McGivern
31. On Agents, By Bill Pronzini
32. Legal Aspects, By Harold Q. Masur
33. Tricks of the Trade
Index
George, in this age of internet shopping, it’s been years since I heard anyone brag about a thrift-store find. Thanks for a trip down Memory Alley.
A quarter!? That would have been a bargain 30 years ago, let alone now. I thought it sounded familiar but it isn’t on my list. Good find.
Deb, I find fewer and fewer books in thrift stores. But when I find something,good the price is ridiculously low.
Jeff, usually it’s slim pickings at the thrift stores, but sometimes I find a gem.
Great find. I always enjoy a good book-finding story.
Bill, I wish I could find more good books, but the number of books in the thrift stores I frequent is plummeting.
When I used to go book hunting in England with Bob Adey he had the knack of finding gems in the unlikeliest places.
Jeff, I bet a lot of those “unlikelisit places” have vanished.
I bet today’s mystery reader wouldn’t recognize a single contributor in this book.
Beth, sadly you’re right.
Nice find, George. Sadly, Beth is probably right. I’ve seen this book, I think in a library sale, but didn’t buy it though it sounds interesting. If only libraries would KEEP the books.
Rick, I totally agree. I don’t understand why libraries discard perfectly good books!