You keep a-using that word...I do not think it means what you think it means...

Okay, so there is apparently something in the transatlantic water today. Zoe Sharp over at Murderati is blogging about getting some of the minor details correct (and we crime writers can have some interesting details we need to discover). Thing is, I was reading a book not half an hour after I first saw that post that had a very tiny little detail wrong. It is so inconsequential that it almost didn't even need to be there, but it had that niggling effect that shot the writer's cred on this one teensy issue.

Thing is, I happen to respect this writer a hell of a lot, and I really don't know if someone at the publisher changed it, or if the writer just got confuzzed for a minute. And I genuinely want to avoid being *that guy*.

You know the one. The guy who neener-neeners because he found an infinitesimal little error and wants to try the patience of someone genuinely more talented, because he knows that's the closest he could ever get to a published work.

THAT guy.

I'm not that guy. I don't ever want to be that guy. I genuinely want to be helpful, especially since I have such a high opinion of this writer and I kinda want to thank him/her for such a great read (don't worry Zoe, I brought you up because of your post only...it isn't your book).

So, is there a really nice, helpful way to broach this subject in an email or letter, or should I just keep my big mouth shut and mind my own business?

"Doc, I'll get enough sleep when I'm dead."

I've been told by several authors that one of the greatest compliments you can give them is to let them know their book cost you a night of sleep. Think about how much that must mean to them. The story and characters were so engaging that you literally couldn't put the book down.

Lately I've had a couple of those. I let Zoe Sharp know that her FIRST DROP had me dragging the next day. I emailed Michelle Gagnon to let her know my students could tell I hadn't slept a week because of BONEYARD. Though I haven't told him yet, Brett Battles owes my in-laws an apology, because I was a weary, miserable jackass for a wedding we attended because of THE CLEANER.

And Marcus Sakey? Yeah, my students would like to know why my handwriting is so tough to read on the work I gave back last week. I'm sending all of their complaints to you buddy. (If any of you haven't read THE BLADE ITSELF, you need to. Today. Now if possible.)

I can only hope my stories will one day do the same (and I'll gleefully apologize to anyone who has such a "complaint" about any of them).

So spill it. What books have cost you a night of repose? Which authors had you looking for an injection of adrenaline the next day to keep you awake at the wheel?

And, did you contact them to tell them? If not, you might want to think about that. It's been my experience that authors are very friendly and really cool when they find out their book was too good for you to put down. And why wouldn't you want to spread good feelings like that around?

Originally posted October 13, 2008: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, some variation of all three???

I've recently seen a lot of different people blogging about genre. For me, this focuses on mystery/suspense/thriller. The other day, Nathan Bransford blogged about his definition of each, and it got me thinking...what would my current WIP be?

See, based on Mr. Bransford's definitions, my work would kind of cover two of the three. It's got action (has to, or it would put me to sleep, and I'm writing it!).

It also has more than one mystery. So is it a mystery, or a thriller?

Well, what would you call some of Patterson's early Alex Cross works?

What about Jeffery Deaver's stuff, like Garden of Beasts or The Sleeping Doll?

How about Crais's The Watchmen, or Zoe Sharp's Charlie Fox novels, or Brett Battles's Quinn novels, or fellow North Carolinian J.D. Rhoades's Jack Keller series?

Yes, I realize it's incredibly egotistical to bring up these names in conjunction with my own unpublished stuff, but these are the people I idolize. I think you have to look at your work and try to see it next to the top caliber authors out there. So you know what? I would call most all of these mystery/thrillers. And that's my WIP as well (unless/until an agent tells me otherwise, that is).

What about you? Does your work cross more than one genre or subgenre? Have a romantic suspense, or a mystery/sci-fi?