Category Archives: About Writing

Why A Writer Should Be Thankful!

Posted on November 23, 2016 by James J. Murray, Fiction Writer

Here in the United States it’s Thanksgiving time—Thursday, November 24th to be exact—and it’s a day of fantastic food feasts, with the bonus of a long holiday weekend ahead. More importantly, it’s a time to reflect on what makes our … Continue reading →

Posted in A Holiday Wish, A Writer's Thanksgiving Blog, About James J. Murray, About Writing, Being Thankful Every Day, Being Thankful For Your Life, Blog Trends, Blog Writers, Blogging, Developing Writing Skills, Fiction Based on Facts, Fiction Based on Real Life, Fiction Writing - A Believable Lie, Growing As A Writer, Happy Thanksgiving Blog, Holiday Cheer, James J. Murray Blog, Learning the Art of Writing, Life Skills, Murder Mayhem and Medicine, Prescription For Murder Blog, Special Perks of Being A Writer, Thankful For Being A Writer, Why A Writer Should Be Thankful!, Writing As A Special and Rewarding Career | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Lying for a Living!

Posted on October 26, 2016 by James J. Murray, Fiction Writer

FICTION => A Believable Lie -> Taking a small bit of truth or fact and evolving that into a web of deceit, dishonesty or lethal acts (at least in my novels). That’s what we do as fiction writers. We lie … Continue reading →

Posted in A How To Blog on Murder Plot Ideas, About James J. Murray, About Writing, All About Writing, Blog Writers, Blogging, Characteristics of Killing, Creating Emotional Drama in a Murder Scene, Creating Interesting Fiction Characters, Developing Better Writing Skills, Facts About Lying, Fiction Writing - A Believable Lie, How Dishonesty Can Escalate, How Lying Affects The Brain, James J. Murray Blog, Life Skills, Lying and Brain Activity, Murder Mayhem and Medicine, Neuroscience, Neuroscience and Murder, New Blog, Plot Ideas and Where They Come From, Practice Makes Perfect, Prescription For Murder Blog, Studies on Lying, The Act of Lying, The Art of Writing, The Psychology of Murder, The Science of Murder, Writing Skills, Writing Techniques | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

WRITING vs RUNNING

Posted on October 19, 2016 by James J. Murray, Fiction Writer

This month I’m running two marathon races. When I mention that fact to people who don’t run, they usually ask, “Why?” I’m not completely sure of the answer! Maybe the simple truth is that it’s because I can and I love … Continue reading →

Posted in About James J. Murray, About Running, About Writing, Achieving Writing Perfection, All About Writing, Being Thankful For Your Life, Better Fiction Writing, Blog Writers, Blogging, Character Development Techniques, Connecting With Your Reader, Create a Better You, Developing a Writing Career, Developing Better Life Skills, Developing Better Writing Skills, Developing Running Skills, Developing Technologies, How to Create a Better Life, James J. Murray Blog, Learning the Art of Writing, Murder Mayhem and Medicine, New Blog, Practice Makes Perfect, Prescription For Murder Blog, Preventing Human Errors, Published Novel by James J Murray, Skills to Create a Better Life, The Art of Storytelling, The Art of Writing, Training for a Running Race, Writing Skills, Writing Skills and Running Skills, Writing Techniques | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

It’s Called “The Practice of Pharmacy”

Posted on October 12, 2016 by James J. Murray, Fiction Writer

I blog about dark and sinister subjects—the perfect drug as a murder weapon, ten ways to create a bloodless murder, and zombie invasions—to name a few. I appreciate your enthusiastic responses and certainly your readership. Today, however, I’d like to … Continue reading →

Posted in A How To Blog on Murder Plot Ideas, A How To Blog on Murder Weapons, About James J. Murray, About Writing, Achieving Perfection, Achieving Writing Perfection, All About Writing, Better Fiction Writing, Blog Writers, Blogging, Developing a Writing Career, Developing Better Writing Skills, Developing Writing Skills, James J. Murray Blog, Learning the Art of Writing, Mastering Your Craft, Murder Mayhem and Medicine, New Blog, New Life Goals, Patient Therapy Outcomes, Pharmacy/Pharmaceuticals, Practice Makes Perfect, Practicing Your Profession, Prescription For Murder Blog, Preventing Human Errors, Skills to Create a Better Life, The Pharmacy Profession, The Practice of Pharmacy, Writing Skills | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Foods Can Kill

Posted on August 24, 2016 by James J. Murray, Fiction Writer

I often write about poisons and toxins that kill, but what better way to kill someone than with a substance that’s lethal but not so easy to detect. Such scenes make for good fiction reading, but a devastating reality is … Continue reading →

Posted in A How To Blog on Murder Plot Ideas, A Non-Murder Plot, About James J. Murray, About Medications/Pharmacy, About Murder, About Writing, Blog Writers, Blogging, Bloodless Death Scene Writing, Characteristics of Killing, Children and Food Allergies, Common Food Allergies, Deadly Food, Designing Murder Plots, Developing Effective and Compelling Fictional Heroes, Dramatic Murder Weapons, Food Allergies on the Rise, Foods and Lethal Allergic Responses, Foods That Kill, Foods Used For Murder, How to Choose a Murder Weapon for a Plot Idea, How To Write A BloodLess Murder Scene, Ideas for Murder Scenes, Interesting Murder Weapons, James J. Murray Blog, Lethal Agents and Murder, Lethal Food Allergies, Lethal Substances Used For Murder, Murder Mayhem and Medicine, Murder Weapons Discussed, Murder With Food, New Blog, New Methods of Murder, New Methods To Kill Characters in Your Novel, Nutrition and Murder, Peanut Allergies, Peanut Oil as a Poison, Plotting Murder Scenes, Prescription For Murder Blog, Severe Allergies Used For Murder, Severe Food Allergies, The Art of Writing, the perfect murder weapon, Tools for Murder, Unique Murder Plots, Unique Murder Weapons, Ways to Murder, Writing Dramatic Murder Scenes | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Got Milk or Brucellosis?

Posted on July 20, 2016 by James J. Murray, Fiction Writer

I’ve often blogged about biological weapons—both those used in the past and those with potential for use in your new thriller plots. The world’s population has certainly been victim to biological warfare in the past. In 184 BC, Hannibal’s warriors … Continue reading →

Posted in A How To Blog on Murder Plot Ideas, A How To Blog on Murder Weapons, About James J. Murray, About Medications/Pharmacy, About Murder, About Writing, All About Murder, Biological Poisons, Biological Warfare, Biological Warfare Treatments, Biological Weapons, Bioterrorism, Blog About Poisons in Fiction Writing, Blog Writers, Blogging, Bloodless Death Scene Writing, Bloodless Death Scenes, Brucellosis, Brucellosis - A Biological Weapon, Chemical Poisons, Chemical Weapons Discussions, Chemicals Used For Murder, Choosing How a Character Should Die in a Story, Deadly Food, Deciding How to Kill Off a Character in a Novel, Designing Murder Plots, Developing Storyline Ideas, Dramatic Murder Weapons, Food Source Poisons, Foods That Kill, Foods Used For Murder, How to Choose a Murder Weapon for a Plot Idea, How To Write A BloodLess Murder Scene, Ideas for Murder Scenes, Instruments of Death, Interesting Murder Weapons, James J. Murray Blog, Killing a Villain in a Novel, Killing Off Characters in Writing, Killing Off Characters in Your Novel, Killing With Lethal Microbes, Lethal Agents and Murder, Lethal Biologicals, Methods of Murder, Microbes Used To Murder, Murder Mayhem and Medicine, Murder Weapons Discussed, Murder With Food, Neurotoxin Poisons, New Blog, New Methods of Murder, New Methods To Kill Characters in Your Novel, Plotting Interesting Murder Scenes, Plotting Murder Scenes, Prescription For Murder Blog, Preventing Human Brucellosis, The Science of Murder, Tools of Murder, Unique Murder Plots, Unique Murder Weapons, Ways to Murder, Writing Dramatic Murder Scenes, Zoonotic Infections | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Conspiracy Theory Heart Attacks

Posted on June 29, 2016 by James J. Murray, Fiction Writer

In previous blogs (here and here) I’ve discussed how to construct a murder plot using a drug or medical device that could mimic a heart attack that would be virtually undetectable as a murder—the so-called perfect murder weapon! But there … Continue reading →

Posted in A How To Blog on Murder Plot Ideas, A How To Blog on Murder Weapons, About James J. Murray, About Medications/Pharmacy, About Murder, About Writing, Aggregate Anaphylaxis, Blog Writers, Blogging, Bloodless Death Scene Writing, Calcium Gluconate and Heart Attacks, Calcium Gluconate and Murder, Chemical Poisons, Chemicals Used For Murder, Designer Drug Deaths, Designing Murder Plots, Dramatic Murder Weapons, Drugs Used to Murder, Electrolyte Imbalances and Heart Attacks, 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, Killing Off Characters in Writing, Lethal Agents and Murder, Lethal Chemicals in Murder Mysteries, Murder Mayhem and Medicine, Murder Weapons Discussed, New Blog, New Methods of Murder, New Methods To Kill Characters in Your Novel, Pharmacy/Pharmaceuticals, Plotting Murder Scenes, Prescription For Murder Blog, The Art of Storytelling, the perfect murder weapon, The Science of Murder, Tools of Murder, Unique Murder Plots, Unique Murder Weapons, Ways to Murder, Writing Death Scenes | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

TOXIDROMES: Wet vs Dry Symptoms

Posted on June 15, 2016 by James J. Murray, Fiction Writer

In last week’s blog, I introduced the concept of toxidromes—defined as a group of specific symptoms and clues which medical examiners use to identify the specific substance used to poison a victim. In that blog, I discussed two of the … Continue reading →

Posted in A How To Blog on Murder Plot Ideas, A How To Blog on Murder Weapons, About James J. Murray, About Murder, About Writing, Achieving Writing Perfection, All About Murder, Anticholinergic Toxidromes, Blog Writers, Blogging, Bloodless Death Scene Writing, Chemical Poisons, Chemical Weapons Discussions, Chemicals Used For Murder, Cholinergic Toxidromes, Deadly Poisons Discussed, Designer Poisons Used For Murder, Designing Murder Plots, Developing Story Plots, Developing Storyline Ideas, Developing Writing Skills, Difficult to Solve Murders, Dramatic Murder Weapons, Drugs Used For Murder, How to Choose a Murder Weapon for a Plot Idea, Ideas for Murder Scenes, Instruments of Death, Interesting Murder Weapons, James J. Murray Blog, Killing Off Characters in Writing, Lethal Anticholinergic Drug Symptoms, Lethal Chemical Poisons, Lethal Chemicals in Murder Mysteries, Lethal Cholinergic Drug Symptoms, Methods of Murder, Murder Mayhem and Medicine, Murder Weapons, Murder Weapons Discussed, Murder With Drugs, New Blog, New Methods of Murder, Pharmacy/Pharmaceuticals, Poisons and Murder, Poisons Used For Murder, Prescription For Murder Blog, The Science of Murder, The Writings of James J. Murray, Tools of Fiction Writing, Tools of Murder, Toxidromes and Murder, Toxidromes and Murder Mysteries, Toxidromes in Murder Mysteries, Toxidromes to Identify a Poison, Toxidromes to Solve Murders, Unique Lethal Compounds, Unique Murder Plots, Unique Murder Weapons, Ways to Murder, Writing Death Scenes, Writing Dramatic Murder Scenes | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Sleepless In Hong Kong . . .

Posted on May 4, 2016 by James J. Murray, Fiction Writer

Today I’m going to set aside my pen (or I should say my typing fingers) and turn over my blog to an author friend of mine. I met Seumus Gallacher online several years ago as we both struggled to promote … Continue reading →

Posted in A Guest Blog, About James J. Murray, About Seumus Gallacher, About Writing, Kindness and Mindfulness, Murder Mayhem and Medicine, New Blog, Prescription For Murder Blog, Seumus Gallagher Blog, Sleepless in Hong Kong Blog | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Practicing Your Profession

Posted on April 6, 2016 by James J. Murray, Fiction Writer

For much of my life I was a practicing pharmacist. Each day I would draw on my professional experience and use every tidbit of education to make appropriate clinical decisions. Like so many other professionals, I was doing the work … Continue reading →

Posted in 000 Hour Rule, About James J. Murray, About Writing, Accuracy in Writing, Achieving Perfection, Achieving Writing Perfection, All About Writing, Almost Dead, Better Fiction Writing, Blog Writers, Blogging, Developing Writing Skills, James J. Murray Blog, Lethal Medicine-The Novel, Mastering Your Craft, Practice Makes Perfect, Practicing Your Profession, Prescription For Murder Blog, The Art of Storytelling, The Art of Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments