writing mysteries for fun and profit
Blog of Christian mystery writer Darrell Case
Sunday, August 17, 2014
Thursday, July 31, 2014
Now on audio
David Padgett is an outstanding pastor, best-selling author, motivational speaker, or serial killer. Grace tabernacle is one of the largest churches in the world. As their pastor, David's TV and radio ministry reaches millions. His books regularly top the New York Times best seller list. His internet site generates thousands of hits per day. As a motivational speaker his fee for one lecture is more than most pastors make in a year. He has earned the respect and admiration of the Christian and non-Christian society. His gorgeous wife Anne ministers by his side and his son Robert - the chief associate pastor - is poised to step in as David plans to retire. The future for David and the church seems bright and inviting.
It is all a facade.
Twenty-five years ago, a woman in the college David attended disappeared. Two weeks later, her body was discovered in a shallow grave in the woods behind the campus. For weeks, David was the number one suspect, the case is still open. David is terrified, his past is about to catch up with him; the secret he kept buried over the years as he built his ministry is about to be revealed. He is implicated in the mysterious death of Ellen Ridgeway, a production assistant; and the murder of Linda Darby, a prominent member of his church.
As the investigation continues, David is arrested. Charged with one murder, he becomes the suspect in unsolved murders in each city where he spoke in the past. The secret he protected so carefully is exposed. It seems to David as if everyone including God has turned their back on him. His soul plunges into the dark abyss he feared for so long. Yet God isn't through with David. He is about to bring His servant out of darkness, into His marvelous light.
Sunday, July 27, 2014
Timex
Authors
Many years ago the Timex watch company produced commercials
featuring their timepieces. In these ads a watch would be subjected to
torturous test. Taped to a baseball bat shot through glass or various other
trials. At the end, a camera zoomed in on the watch to prove it was still
running. ‘It took a licking and kept on
ticking’ become the motto for the Timex company.
Some authors are like the watches in these
advertisements. They were rejected criticized and told they had no talent. However
they didn’t listen to the critics. They kept on writing. Today we consider them
among the greatest writers and their works classics.
The difference between these authors and 99 percent of those who put
their words on paper is they didn’t give up. Pure and simple this is the answer
to their success. No hidden secret, no magic formula they didn’t quit. They
became flustered they threw their manuscript away picked it out of the
wastebasket and kept on. They may have given up for a short period ,however
they always returned to the task.
They
wrote, revised and revised again until the book was finished. Some authors took
rejection letters and torn them up stomping them into the ground others shot
them.
Would you consider William Faulkner
unpublishable? What about James Joyce? Jack
London papered his walls with rejections all 600 of them. He kept a running
tally of the ones who turned down his work. Louis L’Amour was rejected 350 times. Later Congress
awarded him a gold medal. John Creasy 774. One hundred and twenty publishers
turned down Chicken Soup for the Soul.C. S. Lewis was turned down 800 times
before his writing was sold.
Only 50 copies of Moby Dick were sold During Herman Melville’s lifetime.
He died in obscurely. Yet today it is considered a .masterpiece
Often discouraged these authors kept going. Today their books are still in print.
How would you like to be the agent or publisher who turned down London
falkenter Steinbeck or Hemmingway? Would
you kick yourself each time you rest the list of best sellers.
Are you a Timex author? Can you take a beating and still come back for
more? When you get knocked down you do get back up? If you do, you have a good
chance of being a success.
Saturday, July 12, 2014
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
One of the greatest gifts God gives to a fiction
writer is an imagination. With it, He enables us to observe shootouts, car chases,
births and deaths. To solve mysteries and relate these events to others. We
weave stories together with the joys and sorrows of life. We experience the
horror of losing a love one. The elation of falling in love, the conflict of
everyday life. We sit at our computer and create new worlds and populate it
with our characters.
Imagination is a wonderful asset. With it, engineers
build bridges connecting cities spanning vast chasms and rivers. Architects
design buildings reaching for the sky. Before a vehicle appears on the showroom
floor, it was in someone’s mind. Without Imagination, we would still be living
by candlelight with our only form of transportation, a horse and buggy.
As writers, we transmit what we see in our minds to
paper or screen. We may go over it a dozen times or more perfecting and clarifying
the story. Some believe they can write the story once and it’s perfect. If you can, you’re very fortunate indeed. For
the rest of us, we labor day and night. We struggle over each word, sentence,
and page. Writing and rewriting until the story flows. Or as some have put it
‘sings’.
Finally the story is told, the book is finished. Then as our final act, we offer our novel to
the reader hoping to connect with their imagination. Thus, we continue the
story we first saw in our mind.
Sunday, June 1, 2014
Adam Wakefield has an ideal
life as pastor of the small church in which he grew up. Then he receives a
telegram inviting him to become pastor of the largest church in Chicago. He
accepts unaware he is playing into the hands of extortionists and murderers. But
God has great plans for Adam. On the train
to Chicago he meets and falls in love with Victoria Winters. Together Adam and
Victoria face a life of ministering, love and danger. writersofvision.com
Read for only $1.99
Read for only $1.99
Friday, May 2, 2014