WHAT’S BEEN GOING ON
CREATING CHARACTERS
I took a lot of care constructing the main character for my detective series. Foremost, I wanted a person who had a complicated background as well as someone who had personal obstacles to overcome. Also, he had to be someone who people might underestimate, a quality that he would use to his advantage.
Taking a shower one morning, the idea of Butch Larson (Fix to his friends) came fully formed in my mind’s eye. He was 4’4” and had dwarfism.
My first step was to learn all I could about the different forms of dwarfism (there are over 400). Each form has its own challenges. After much study, I decided Achondroplasia Dwarfism fit the image I had for Fix. The most common form of dwarfism, Achondroplasia Dwarfism affects bone growth, leading to shortened limbs, but an average sized torso and head.
My next step was to contact members of the Dwarfism community. The. first thing I learned is that the community is large, active, and amazing. After contacting author, advocate, and former LPA (Little Persons of America) Vice President, Angela Muir Van Etten, I was put in contact with two wonderful women who have Achondroplasia Dwarfism and who were willing to be my Beta and sensitivity readers. Through them, Fix became a complete and realistic hero.
Currently, my literary agent is shopping Fix’s first novel, “Toads, Twins, and Tenacity” to several Big Five publishers and their imprints. We’re getting some positive feedback and I’m hoping 2026 will be Fix’s year. I know of two Beta readers that have their fingers crossed.
At the Crossroads
Painting by Elena Velichkova
I came to an unexpected writing crossroads this morning.
While my agent is shopping around my debut novel , I’ve written several short stories. Also, I went back and took a fresh look at a Southern Gothic Horror novel that I wrote several years ago. Since I’d grown in my writing style and execution, it seemed like a good time for a rewrite.
And all was going well until this morning. While taking a shower, an old unfinished mystery novel of mine tapped on the back door of my brain and asked for entry. It was the novel I was working on when I dropped everything and went to work on what would become the novel now on submission.
So, now I’m faced with a decision. Both novels are at about the same level of first draft (Southern Gothic-36,072 words/Historical mystery-37,698 words.
I’m not prone to jumping around on projects. Both are solid stories. However, the mystery was the story where I was living before I got sidetracked.
What to do?
Random Photos from Scream Diego Horror Convention 2025
San Diego Chapter of Horror Writers of America
San Diego Chapter of Horror Writers of America
San Diego Chapter of Horror Writers of America
San Diego Chapter of Horror Writers of America
James Jensen and Jendia Gammon
James Jensen and Beth Accomando
Reading from my story, Checked Out, from the anthology, Dread Coast: Tales of SoCal Horror
Random Photos from Bouchercon 2025 in New Orleans
Full write up coming soon. Until then, enjoy the view.
Dennis K Crosby, my agent Cherry Weiner, and myself with the new anthology, Dread Coast: Tales of SoCal Horror
Trying out new author photo poses at the Saint Louis Cemetery #1 in New Orleans
Wendell Brunious at the Preservation Hall Jazz
mystery/thriller writers in the Second Line parade to the Bouchercon opening ceremony
Jonathan Maberry being interviewed by Dennis K Crosby
S A Cosby speaking about Southern crime fiction along with Ace Atkins, Scott Blackburn, Mark Westmorland, and Henry Wise
My buddy, Shawn Cosby
Dressing up for the Anthony Awards Ceremony at Bouchercon
obligatory Cafe du Monde visit
St. Louis Cathedral at Jackson Square, New Orleans
Andrew Jackson and the St Louis Cathedral
Panel for genre blending featuring: Rachel Howzell Hall, Katayoun Medhat, K T Nguyen, Cynthia Pelayo, Laura Picklesimer, and moderated by my friend, Rebecca Harris
Jazz it up
KING OF ASHES by S A Cosby (review)
Shawn Cosby is the master of Southern Crime Fiction. Additionally, his grasp of the perils of family dynamics played out over generations and tangled up amongst loyalty and betrayal like kudzu vines, could be taught as case studies in a psychology course.
In KING OF ASHES, Roman Curruthers, an Atlanta financial wizard, thinks he's escaped his dying hometown of Jefferson Run. But like Michael Corleone in The Godfather, just when he thinks he is out, he gets pulled back in. When his father ends up in a coma after a suspicious auto accident, Roman comes home to help his younger sister at the family's crematorium. Things deteriorate when he learns his addict younger brother, Dante, is in debt to local gangsters after losing a load of drugs he was trying to sell. Roman hopes his talent at making quick big bucks for his clients will be enough to placate the thugs as he tries to get his brother out of debt while also dealing with the surfacing of secrets of how and why his mother disappeared.
As with many of Cosby's stories, there are no true innocents. Instead of good and evil, like the ashes of the crematorium, everything is gray and gritty. There will be a sort of justice. However, it will be bitter and costly. King of Ashes cements S.A. Cosby as one of the best crime writers of his generation.
The Latest Installment of A DEATH AT THE WALDORF is live
Latest Achille Poirot installment:
In the latest chapter of, A DEATH AT THE WALDORF, Achille Poirot, visits the murder scene and begins his investigation.
Catch up with all of the latest intrigue at my Substack. It’s under the Paid Subscription area. For the price of a cup of coffee per month, you can access the whole serialized novel and be transported to 1930s NYC.
My other Substack stories and ramblings can be accessed for free. Help support a struggling writer. Thank you!
https://jamesjensen2.substack.com/p/a-death-at-the-waldorf-dad
WRITING IS EXERCISE
Every morning, I get up at 4:45 am to exercise. No, really. I take the dog out to pee. I make a cup of coffee, and I sit down at my writing desk to exercise for the next hour.
That’s right. WRITING IS EXERCISE!
Just as with sports like baseball, tennis, or swimming, repetition of an activity makes you better. With each session, your skills sharpen, your reflexes quicken, and your endurance increases. You get better because you’re improving your body.
Every writing session, I’m learning something new about myself as a writer as I learn more about my writing. Years have been spent, sweating over verb usage, POV, punctuation, and endless trips online for synonyms, spell checks, and word origins.
The result is that my writing muscles grow stronger with every session. I’m a much stronger storyteller than I was five years ago. I can dash out a flash fiction in a morning, a short story in a week, and a novel….well that still takes time. A novel is a marathon. However, I don’t get winded during those 90k runs anymore. I set the pace and keep on trucking.
Lastly, to stretch the writing as exercise metaphor a bit further, after each writing session, I feel better. I might be tired. But it’s a good tired. And like physical exercise, if I miss a session, I feel guilty. If I decide to sleep in instead of get up to write, I’m grumpy all day. Only sitting down to write again brings me that writer’s high back.
So, I invite all writers out there to join me tomorrow morning for an hour of exercise. Try it for a week. Let me know how you feel.
A DEATH AT THE WALDORF is now live.
The first chapter of my mystery novel, A DEATH AT THE WALDORF: an Achille Poirot Mystery, is now live on Substack.
#writing #mystery #detective #ArtDeco
#NYC
https://jamesjensen2.substack.com/p/a-death-at-the-waldorf
Serialized Novel Available To My Substack Subscribers
Starting Sunday (6/29/25), I will be posting chapters of my mystery novel, “A Death at the Waldorf: an Achille Poirot Mystery”, for my paid subscribers on my Substack. Each week, a new chapter will be uploaded.
Mentioned in the Agatha Christie novel, The Big Four, the character of Achille Poirot was the twin brother of the famous detective, Hercule Poirot. Although Hercule later said it was actually himself in a disguise, I have created a world where this fabulous twin actually exists.
Come with me to New York City in the 1930s. We’ll dine at the newly opened Waldorf Astoria as well as the soul food kitchens of Hell’s Kitchen. There will be glamour and intrigue. However, there will also be murder.
Please consider subscribing. It starts pretty cheap at $5/month. You’ll be buying a writer a cup of coffee and providing invaluable encouragement. For my free subscribers, don’t fret. There will still be plenty of free content in my Writer’s Ramblings.
https://substack.com/@jamesjensen2