3:37 / Interview with Derek Wheeless / Mixed Miscellany Summer Series

For debut author Derek Wheeless, writing is a fun journey of discovery. He’s planted into a niche with his YA noir novel We Planned a Murder, Sam Spade-style, the angsty detective re-invented as a teenager.

Timings

• 1:25 Story structure entering life
• 2:15 Derek’s novel, a YA noir; growing as a writer as the novel grws
• 5:20 Verbosity vs. tight writing: the reason picture books are difficult to write
• 6:50 Using a developmental editor
• 9:18 His current work-in-progress follows the mystery style of Nick and Nora Charles; balancing two protagonists
• 11:50 Outlining; plotter vs. pantster vs. puzzler
• 13:53 Novel construction
• 15:41 Hard part of writing
• 18:30 Finding guidance with a developmental editor; finding the right editor
• 23:27 A writing mistake
• 25:38 Developing reader magnets
• 26:50 Maintaining productivity
• 30:00 Designing a cover and branding a series
• 32:04 Writing books simultaneously
• 34:20 Avoiding contemporary slang and references
• 36:05 Casts of characters, the old Dell map backs, and lists of clues
• 39:50 Writing: the journey of discovery
• 42:25 Closing

 

LINKS

www.DerekDWheeless.com

The direct link to the book in 3 formats on Amazon is https://www.amazon.com/We-Planned-Murder-Murder-Suspects-ebook/dp/B09W8M13SJ/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1649875459&sr=8-2

We Planned a Murder was reviewed in a recent issue of Publisher’s Weekly. Here’s the link: https://www.digitalpw.com/digitalpw/20220704/MobilePagedReplica.action?pm=2&folio=74#pg76

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