The Easy Way To Write Crime Fiction That Sells: The Easy Way to Write

By Rob Parnell

Now with a new foreword from veteran cop and private detective, Scott Thrall, who says: "I have been in law enforcement for over 32 years. During my career I have investigated crimes and worked with victims both as a patrol officer and detective. I found the insights into investigation, research and police procedure shared in 'The Easy Way to Write Crime Fiction That Sells' to be spot on."
 

Now you can easily imagine, plan, and then write your own Crime Fiction Novel - and, who knows, perhaps you too can become a bestselling author!

Rob Parnell's brand new master-class on writing crime fiction shows you how.

Have you ever dreamed about writing a sensational bestseller?

If you have, then there's no better place to start than by writing an exciting and page-turning crime thriller. Because, being a crime fiction author means you get respect - and book sales - even Hollywood film deals.

We all love a great detective!

From Sherlock Holmes to Alex Cross, there's something hugely compelling about characters that are driven to solve crimes.

And what better way to become wealthy than by following the clues left by all the great crime fiction authors like James Patterson, Kathy Reichs, Lee Child, Dennis Lehane, Agatha Christie and many others.

Rob Parnell says: "My theory is that investigative detection is really a metaphor for the writer's life."

During the 1930s, when the first crime fiction boom began, writers like Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett wrote about hard-boiled private detectives pursuing clients - and payment - from small grubby offices using nothing but their grit and determination - a clear analogy to the writer's life!

These struggling writers became overnight successes - and their names live on to this day.

In these more sophisticated times, crime detection has become a serious technology based enterprise. We have computers, forensics and FBI profilers.

Instead of petty thugs and roving husbands, we have serial killers, professional hit-men and drug lords that confound the best efforts of law enforcement.

But there's one thing that hasn't changed.

And that's the humanity of the detective - and the writer.

Recently I was at a publishing seminar with some of the biggest publishers on the planet - and here's what they were saying: "Crime Fiction is the Next Big Thing".

My guess is that this conclusion has a lot to do with the release of "The Cuckoo's Calling" by Robert Galbraith (AKA JK Rowling). Publishers were inundated with fantasy manuscripts when Harry Potter was hot. Now, Joanne Rowling is expected to introduce millions of new readers to the crime fiction genre with her latest novel.

Which means crime fiction writers everywhere will benefit!

My guess is you probably need guidance before you start your own crime novel. That's where I come in. I've been teaching creative writing for over a decade to my 100,000+ subscribers. My website, The Easy Way to Write is considered one the top writing sites in the world. In fact, I'm often called "The world's foremost writing guru." (Blush) I've made it my life's work to help writers achieve success.

Here are the modules contained within this book:

Module 1: Setting, Character & Criminality
Module 2: Investigation, Research & Procedure
Module 3: Plotting, Dialog & The 3 Act Structure

• Language: English
• Publisher: R&R Books Film Music
• Release date: May 2, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223991649

Book preview

Why You Should Read This Book

If you're any kind of writer, you'll know that Crime Fiction is hot! Always has been. Always will be. But it's especially hot at the moment!

In any given week of the bestselling fiction charts, crime fiction and thrillers generally occupy around 70% of all new novels. Simply put, when you write a crime based thriller, you put yourself in a different league - that is, a league of books that sell.

If you want to start making money from writing fiction, and perhaps begin a full time writing career, my best advice to you is to try your hand at the crime thriller. In this unique course - as far as I know there are very few books like this out there - I'll show you how to go about creating and writing the genre crime story in a way that will make your writing and author presence stand out.

Traditional publishers already know that crime fiction sells well. And now that JK Rowling has joined the ranks of 'sister in crime' with her Robert Galbraith novel, The Cuckoo's Calling, interest in the crime thriller is set to escalate even more. To add to the fray, Stephen King’s latest novel, Joyland, is a crime thriller.

After you've absorbed the knowledge and advice in this book, you can expect to be able to easily construct your own crime thriller and either send it to publishers or publish it yourself on Amazon or Kindle or both.

Writers live in an exciting time. We can now self publish our work - and sell it - in a way that was impossible just a short while ago. Even just twenty years ago it was highly unlikely that a self published book could hit the bestseller charts. Now that we have Amazon, all that has changed.

You are now in a position to write and publish your work independently of traditional publishers - and attain the success that authors often dream about all their lives.

In my own case, over the last eleven years, I have sold many thousands of books and courses online. Enough to afford me a comfortable living. And this from an inauspicious starting point. In 2001, when I submitted my Easy Way to Write a Novel manuscript, I was told by a New York agent: Rob, nobody needs another writing book. And the self help market is saturated.

Thank heaven I didn't listen.

Since then I have written over 30 books, non fiction and fiction, all of which have done extraordinarily well online and much to the shock and awe of my wife, have also made us pretty wealthy!

This crime fiction writing course came about as a result of my own writing of a crime thriller (due to be published early next year). I studied the genre fanatically - I'm also a big fan - and compiled all the information I could gather into one place - which is now in your hands.

May your journey into the crime fiction novel be long and prosperous.

Keep writing!

Rob Parnell

Foreword

As authors we want three basic things; to be good at our craft, to be read, and to get paid.

To be read and paid we need to write what people want to read.

So, what do people want to read?

In 1934, renowned English crime writer, Dorothy L. Sayers said, Death seems to provide the minds with a greater fund of innocent enjoyment than any other single subject and that statement still seems to hold true today.

Crime fiction is one of the best selling genres and the most borrowed from public libraries.

Why?

I think crime fiction is so popular because of the believability of the events they describe. Heck, these events could easily happen to any of us given the right circumstances.

But, this doesn’t mean that you can simply fire up your computer and start clicking out a mega-seller just because it’s crime fiction.

The people who read crime fiction want a puzzle to solve, a crime to investigate, a mystery to unravel. They want to feel tension, anxiety, and outright fear through the characters’ experience.

They want to pit their sleuthing abilities against the detective, as they race to solve the crime before her. And they chastise themselves when they don’t.

Many crime fiction readers will actually go back through the book looking through the clues again, to see what they missed and where they went astray.

So, you as the author, better not have cheated your reader the clues necessary to realistically solve the crime.

Crime fiction readers are savvy sleuths who are not shy about yelling foul to anything that doesn’t measure up.

If you give your reader anything less, your work will get dumped in the trash with a crippling review.

To write crime fiction that sells requires you to craft settings your reader can live in, characters that they can love... and hate, and a believable crime they can solve.

‘The Easy Way to Write Crime Fiction That Sells’ leads you step by step to build livable settings, develop inspiring characters and craft compelling crimes – all in the first module.

I have been in law enforcement for over 32 years. During my career I have investigated crimes and worked with victims both as a patrol officer