Writing Tips, Workshops, and Inspiration from Bestselling Authors

Join DP Lyle for an informative chat with James L’Etoile, an Outlier instructor, best-selling author, and former Associate Warden, Hostage Negotiator, and Director of California’s State Parole System. Learn what really goes inside prison walls. 📺 WATCH: Outliers YouTube Channel: CRIMINAL MISCHIEF: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLia8l2DJ_EnXVBBYu0gtb1Ijjwkf0f6dn 🎧 LISTEN: Outliers Podcast Series On Your Favorite Outlet: https://www.outlierswritinguniversity.com/shows

When writing a crime story, your antagonist should not be a black and white character—or, as we say in the movie biz, “A Big Heavy”: a one-dimensional, mustache twirling, cackling, maniacal, cardboard cutout-scapegoat.  The best antagonists are “Killers”: layered characters with whom we find ourselves empathizing—maybe even liking to some degree. They could be someone close to you that you thought you knew well. Someone who looks harmless and safe on the outside. Think of tru

Q:     In my story, a police officer is shot while sitting in her patrol car. The assailant fires through the open passenger window, using a.38 caliber S&W. The officer's upper right arm is hit twice. One round lodges in her humerus. A second misses the bone and hits an artery before entering just below her armpit, where it splinters two ribs and punctures a lung. Rounds three, four, and five hit the officer's body armor when she pitches forward. The sixth never leaves the ch

Advice? Every single author's journey is different, just as every single author's working routine and life is different. You may be able to work an hour three days a week, or all day every day, or different hours on different days. There are families in our lives, things that happen. . .but writing is like riding a bike! (In a way) If something happens, you get back on the bike. If you're disrupted in your work or your schedule, you just get back to it. The thing is, never gi