The 33 Worst Mistakes Writers Make About San Francisco

By Lynne Murray

San Francisco is beautiful, some parts of it can be unexpectedly dangerous, and the atmosphere has always been electric with new ideas. Those of us who love the city often have a fierce appetite for information about it and we love to read books set here. The pleasure turns to exasperation when a book or movie set in San Francisco gets the basic details wrong. So I'm sharing some information with other writers to help you to keep your story set in a believable San Francisco.

• Language: English
• Publisher: A Conspiracy of Authors
• Release date: Jul 6, 2012
• ISBN: 9781936507153

Lynne Murray

In 1973, Lynne Murray just happened to take a proofreading job at what was then the largest law firm in San Francisco. Little did she know that the firm would contribute many plot twists and a couple of murder victims to her first mystery, Termination Interview (St. Martin's Press 1988), wherein a personnel director is thrown out a 12th-story window at a huge stuffy law firm. Fascinated with the ins and outs of the law, Lynne found that the big firms needed 24/7 word processing. That was the ideal job for someone who needed to work weird hours to support her fiction writing habit. She has typed every sort of legal document, and transcribed tapes from police interrogations and FBI surveillance to court hearings. Lynne lives in San Francisco. She has had a total of eight novels published and collaborated on a humorous e-book of encouragement for writers.

Book preview

About the Author

Lynne Murray moved to San Francisco in 1968, and she still lives there. She has had a total of six mysteries published, many were set in San Francisco and one reviewer commented that her loving portrayal of the city made it almost a character in the book. She has collaborated on Writer to Writer Reminders, a humorous e-book of encouragement for writers and contributed the 33 Worst Mistakes Writers Make About Courtroom Law.

* My email: [e-mail]

* My website: http://www.lmurray.com/

Table of Contents

The 33 Worst Mistakes Writers Make About San Francisco

About the Author

Dedication

Introduction

Mistake One

Mistake Two

Mistake Three

Mistake Four

Mistake Five

Mistake Six

Mistake Seven

Mistake Eight

Mistake Nine

Mistake Ten

Mistake Eleven

Mistake Twelve

Mistake Thirteen

Mistake Fourteen

Mistake Fifteen

Mistake Sixteen

Mistake Seventeen

Mistake Eighteen

Mistake Nineteen

Mistake Twenty

Mistake Twenty-One

Mistake Twenty-Two

Mistake Twenty-Three

Mistake Twenty-Four

Mistake Twenty-Five

Mistake Twenty-Six

Mistake Twenty-Seven

Mistake Twenty-Eight

Mistake Twenty-Nine

Mistake Thirty

Mistake Thirty-One

Mistake Thirty-Two

Mistake Thirty-Three

Conclusion

Welcome to A Conspiracy of Authors

DEDICATION

To the magnificent seven

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Particular thanks to Jaqueline Girdner for helping me keep my mistakes in order, to Gregory Booi for the blue tourists and to Ann Reasoner for sharing wisdom from years giving walking tours with the City Guide Tours.

Introduction

One of my earliest memories was driving with my parents across something they told me was called the Golden Gate Bridge. I protested that it was orange, not gold at all, but I never forgot the experience. After that I always expected to return to San Francisco. In 1968, I moved here and started a passion that continues to this day. I share my San Francisco obsession with people who live here, many who used to live here and many more who have visited or want to visit.

San Francisco is beautiful, some parts of it can be unexpectedly dangerous, and the atmosphere has always been electric with new ideas. Those of us who love the city often have a fierce appetite for information about it and we love to read books set here. The pleasure turns to exasperation when a book or movie