Craig Terlson's Blog

The brown strips of panelling made the room look more like someone’s basement drinking room than a bar. On entering, he’d expected to see a Lazy Boy and a plaid ottoman shoved in the corner— instead, worn out tables were filled with circle fossils as memories of beers gone past. A jukebox sat sentinel-like in the corner, but it must have stopped working, as a ghetto blaster played the local yokel station with a too loud DJ interrupted by ads for tractors and other farm equipment. The radio play...

Something a bit different for this week's woo-blog. As a dad-writer type, you may have guessed that some of my progeny would also have that writing gene (apples falling not far from trees and all that.)

So today, here is a a guest post from my daughter and writer/actor/artist Reba Terlson. Among other things Reba and I have collaborated on and produced plays for my city's Fringe Festival.

Like her pop, she's a creative sort - here in this post, she's writing about what it's like to create in the t...

  “Mandy Miller’s debut mystery, States of Grace, races at the speed of light from the first page to the last.”
 - Amazon review 

I'm launching something new on the woo-blog: author interviews. (Insert your own woohoo here!)

As a writer, I’ve really enjoyed being interviewed, and I read a lot of interviews, always curious about other writer’s process. In the upcoming months, I’ll be looking at the work of some writers I know, and some recent discoveries.

I’m going to kick off the series with Mand...

What's the deal indeed? I know I talk about him a lot, including at this blog. But I thought today was a good day to write about how his work influences mine—but also to celebrate the release of his new novel, Moon Lake, which drops today - and I can't wait to dig into it!

It certainly feels like Joe Lansdale is getting more (deserved) attention these days. The three seasons of Hap and Leonard on Sundance TV were critically acclaimed, and his recent publications with the high-level press Mulhol...

I am one of those writers that writes best to music. I started doing this during the writing of my first novel, Correction Line. Maybe because I'm such a film geek, but I heard soundtracks playing during the writing of certain scenes. Still, I think there's more to it... something to do with the rhythm of language. But more on that in a bit.

I remember writing a scene in CL where a character feels the full brunt of an explosion, is sent through the air, and is knocked unconscious. I wanted some...

Okay, okay, I chickened out on the headline - but I'm gonna go out on a writerly limb and say, yeah, the idea of genre fiction is bullshit. (Kind of)

Yes, I get it... how can an agent sell your work if it doesn't solidly sit in one genre? How can a publisher publish it? Where's a bookstore supposed to shelve it? What do you tell the person who finds out you are a writer when they ask what kind of books do you write? (Usually on a plane, or a line-up at the DMV.)
How about what you tell your mo--

I've always enjoyed writing dialogue - this came home to me when I co-wrote and produced three plays with my daughter (in the pre-Covid, let's go see some live theatre days). As a writer, there's nothing quite like the buzz of sitting in the back row on opening night snd hearing actors say those lines, and then having the audience respond (hopefully).

I've been told by reviewers that I have an ear for dialogue - which is a very nice compliment. Although, people in fiction really don't talk lik...

Covers are hard - we all know that, right? Even great book designers like Chip Kidd know that. How do you capture what's in a book, and at the same time intrigue a buyer to pick it up (you know, like in one of those actual stores)? Oh, and make it beautiful, too.
Just to add - I've learned a lot from Kidd in this regard. I use his work (and Ted Talks) to inspire my design students... and myself.

Even though my day job is graphic designer, I have found that book covers are amongst the most challeng...

I think there should be a whole sub-genre of books that contain poker... maybe there is, I recently read an article listing 114 different genres of novels, including crime-fiction for dogs. Ok, I might have made that one up, but I could see it.

I digress.

I've always enjoyed books and movies that have a great poker scene in them. Cinncinatti Kid with its downer ending, or Clint dealing out cards before he blows away the bad guy in For a Few Dollars More. It makes for great cinema (ohhh, cinema, p...

If you follow me on social media, or here at the 'hoo (which is a name I just made up), you know there's a new Luke Fischer coming. And man, it's been a long wait. I'm very excited to share this new book, like a kid on Xmas Eve excited... because lately, it seems that readers are starting to get this Luke Fischer guy.

A recent review said this:
There’s plenty of humour, many opinions on coffee, beer and breakfast options as well as some absolutely kicking fight scenes.
...Through numerous confront...