Category Archives: A Writer’s Psyche

Tips on Writing That First Novel – and All That Follow (Part 3)

Posted on September 30, 2020 by James J. Murray, Fiction Writer

This is my final installment (Part 3) of my three-part series on a recent talk and interview I did recently about my latest thriller novel release. As I’ve mentioned previously, my local writers’ group—The San Antonio Writers Guild—invited me to … Continue reading →

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Tips on Writing That First Novel – and All That Follow (Part 2)

Posted on September 23, 2020 by James J. Murray, Fiction Writer

This is Part 2 of my three-part installment on a recent talk and interview about my latest novel release. As I mentioned last week, my local writers’ group—The San Antonio Writers Guild—invited me to be the guest speaker at their … Continue reading →

Posted in A How To Blog on Murder Plot Ideas, A How To Blog on Murder Weapons, A Murder Mystery Novel, a New Horror/Thriller Novel, A New Novel By James J. Murray, A New Psychological Thriller Release, A New Thriller Novel, A Thriller Novel, A Writer's Psyche, About James J. Murray, About Murder, About Writing, Blog Writers, Blogging, Bloodless Death Scenes, Chemical Poisons, Designer Drug Deaths, Designer Poisons Used For Murder, Designing Murder Plots, Developing Story Plots, Developing Storyline Ideas, Developing Writing Skills, Dramatic Murder Weapons, Fiction Based on Facts, Fiction Based on Real Life, Fiction Writing - A Believable Lie, Fictional Character Development, Ideas for Murder Scenes, James J. Murray's LETHAL MEDICINE Novel, James J. Murray's THE SERIAL CHEMIST, Lethal Medicine Thriller Novel, Lethal Medicine-The Novel, Murder Mayhem and Medicine, Murder Mystery Novel, New Blog, New Book Is Published, New Book Release, New Publication, New Thriller, New Thriller To Download, Plotting Interesting Murder Scenes, Plotting Murder Scenes, Prescription For Murder Blog, The Art of Storytelling, The Art of Writing, The Psychology of Murder, The Science of Murder, The Serial Chemist, The Serial Chemist - A Psychological Thriller Novel | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Tips on Writing That First Novel – and All That Follow (Part 1)

Posted on September 16, 2020 by James J. Murray, Fiction Writer

Recently, I was the guest speaker at the monthly meeting of my local writers’ group—The San Antonio Writers Guild—and they asked me to speak about the process of writing a novel, how I choose the plots for my novels, and … Continue reading →

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Living in a Novel

Posted on June 17, 2020 by James J. Murray, Fiction Writer

This year of 2020 held such great promise for me, as it did for so many others, when BOOM—what happened? Life, with all its uncertainties, challenges and unexpected surprises, threw us a new curve ball. The novel coronavirus pandemic, commonly … Continue reading →

Posted in A Murder Mystery Novel, A New Novel By James J. Murray, A Thriller Novel, A Writer's Psyche, A Year To Remember, About James J. Murray, About Writing, All About Writing, Blog Trends, Blog Writers, Blogging, Developing Story Arcs, Developing Story Plots, Developing Storyline Ideas, Events of The Year 2020, James J. Murray Blog, Murder Mayhem and Medicine, New Blog, Pandemic 2020, Plot Ideas and Where They Come From, Prescription For Murder Blog | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Using DNA To An Author’s Advantage

Posted on August 23, 2018 by James J. Murray, Fiction Writer

It’s been some time since I’ve posted a new blog. What can I say—life gets in the way! It’s amazing how getting into and out of the habit of writing can happen so easily. I’ve decided to get back into … Continue reading →

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Commas, Em Dashes, and Ellipses—Their Proper Use!

Posted on September 13, 2017 by James J. Murray, Fiction Writer

In a recent blog, I discussed how to properly use the three types of dashes in writing. Today, I’d like to further the discussion on punctuation marks, namely those used specifically to clarify or to emphasize a point. They are … Continue reading →

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Self Defense 101 (Part 2)

Posted on August 2, 2017 by James J. Murray, Fiction Writer

Last week I wrote a blog on various self-defense techniques, and I detailed the top seven to protect oneself from an assault. Possibly a character in one of your upcoming storylines will need such skills. I know I’ve considered using … Continue reading →

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Self Defense 101 (Part 1)

Posted on July 26, 2017 by James J. Murray, Fiction Writer

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a blog on how to write a bloodless death scene. It detailed some interesting assault techniques, both physical and by chemical means, to incapacitate and likely kill a character whose demise is a … Continue reading →

Posted in A How To Blog on Murder Plot Ideas, A How To Blog on Murder Weapons, A Writer's Psyche, About James J. Murray, About Murder, About Writing, Accuracy in Editing, Accuracy in Writing, Achieving Writing Perfection, All About Murder, All About Writing, Blog Writers, Blogging, Bloodless Death Scene Writing, Bloodless Death Scenes, Characteristics of Killing, Characteristics of Murder, Deciding How to Kill Off a Character in a Novel, Deciding What Types of Fictional Characters Fit Into Your Plot, Defining Murder, Designing Murder Plots, Developing Better Writing Skills, Developing Story Plots, Developing Storyline Ideas, Developing Writing Skills, Evidence Free Murder, Fiction Based on Facts, Fiction Based on Real Life, Fiction Writing - A Believable Lie, How to Choose a Murder Weapon for a Plot Idea, How To Write A BloodLess Murder Scene, Ideas for Murder Scenes, Instruments of Death, James J. Murray Blog, Murder Mayhem and Medicine, New Blog, New Methods of Murder, New Methods To Kill Characters in Your Novel, Plot Development, Plot Ideas and Where They Come From, Plotting Interesting Murder Scenes, Plotting Murder Scenes, Prescription For Murder Blog, Self Defense Ideas, Self Defense Lessons, Story Development, The Art of Storytelling, The Art of Writing, the perfect murder weapon, The Psychology of Murder, The Science of Murder, Ways To Kill, Ways to Murder, Writing Death Scenes, Writing Dramatic Murder Scenes | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

How To Write a Bloodless Death Scene

Posted on July 12, 2017 by James J. Murray, Fiction Writer

The storylines of the novels I write often call for one or more of the characters to be murdered. That’s simple enough when you write murder mysteries—you shoot or stab the person, or use a dozen other ways to kill … Continue reading →

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So, You’ve Published a Novel! Now What?

Posted on June 7, 2017 by James J. Murray, Fiction Writer

This is the question that many authors ask themselves each time one of their masterpieces goes to market. The writing, the editing, the cover art, the re-editing, the intensity to detail and all the other tasks of getting a manuscript … Continue reading →

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