by Rebecca Copeland | Mar 15, 2023 | Mystery Fiction
“In all things, it is the beginnings and the endings that are the most interesting.” Or, so wrote Japan’s famed medieval poet-monk Yoshida Kenkō (1283–1350). Kenkō illustrated this bit of aesthetic wisdom with advice on how to appreciate a romantic affair. The... 
by Rebecca Copeland | Mar 1, 2023 | Mystery Fiction
Editing a manuscript can be painful. You have to be willing to cut passages that you have labored over for days, sometimes longer. Some great writer equated this process to “murdering your darlings.” You’ll hear some attribute this quotation to Ernest Hemingway.... 
by Rebecca Copeland | Feb 15, 2023 | Mystery Fiction
I continue with the series of scenes that were edited out of The Kimono Tattoo. The edits always improved the narrative flow, dramatically. Narrative timing is a skill I am still learning. In the early stages of writing The Kimono Tattoo, I understood that readers... 
by Rebecca Copeland | Feb 1, 2023 | Mystery Fiction
Here’s another scene from The Kimono Tattoo draft that ended up on the cutting room floor. Again, we have reference to Hiratsuka Raichō, but also to a controversial feminist painter, an ancient Japanese legend, and the politics of protest in postwar Japan. Why... 
by Rebecca Copeland | Jan 18, 2023 | Mystery Fiction
We are very interested in reviewing the full manuscript of The Kimono Tattoo. The word count is a little too long though. Would you be willing to edit your book down to get closer to 100k words? When I first sent Melissa Carrigee of Brother Mockingbird Publishers my...
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