2authors blog--The official blog of the award-winning writing team, V. and D. Povall.

Hello Readers! We hope everyone had a relaxing and restoring holiday. Ours was just lovely. We scrapped the turkey and stuffing this year, trading it for Valencia Paella. Steak, shrimp, sausage, and chicken. So good! We're less than two months away from the release of our next novel, An Educated Death, which takes us into the murder mystery genre. Although to be fair, we've made solving a mystery a major theme and plot point for each of our novels. It's the mysteries we love.  Since we've been dwelling in the murder mystery genre recently, we've focused our blogs on the topic. Over the holiday, we revisited an old classic sitting on our shelf and decided we should write about it. We ripped through it in two days.  It was John D. Macdonald's "A Tan and Sandy Silence".  Now, before you go off complaining that we've become a little too obsessed with Mr. Macdonald, consider this blurb we found on the back of the novel: To diggers a thousand years from ...

"I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and the new." -Ralph Waldo Emerson Hello readers! And Happy Thanksgiving to you! Gratitude is on our minds today, as we get ready to celebrate Thanksgiving with those near and dear to us. We have so much to be grateful for! It's important to practice expressing gratitude--and not just on Thanksgiving. If you can cultivate an attitude of gratitude, you'll be much happier. That's not us being preachy, it's just a fact--something we all need to remember. "Gratitude is riches. Complaint is poverty." - Doris Day We have a lot to be grateful for. We were lucky enough to participate in the Write On, Oceanside festival last weekend, and had a fantastic time. We're grateful for the organizers and attendees that we got to meet and visit with. Being an author is usually pretty solitary, so these events where we can connect with readers are much appreciated. Thanks to everyone who bought ...

Hello Readers! We're back with another mystery-related blog. Mysteries are on our minds as our next novel (which is a murder mystery) gets ready for release.  Today we're going to take a look at the people that populate those stories. In the realm of mystery novels, the significance of well-developed characters cannot be overstated. They serve as the beating heart of the narrative, guiding readers through the (hopefully) intricate web of clues, motives, and suspense. And it all starts with the investigator.  A compelling detective protagonist becomes the reader's guide, inviting them to unravel the mystery alongside the investigator. They are the lens through which readers experience the story. Often, these detectives share certain key characteristics like a sharp intellect, keen observational skills, and an innate ability to connect disparate pieces of information. Think of Holmes' eccentricity, or Poirot's fastidiousness, or Miss Marple's astute understanding ...

Hello Readers! Taking a brief break from exploring the murder mystery genre from different angles to share some good news.  We've been selected to participate in the Write On, Oceanside festival on Saturday, November 18th! Happy dancing ensues The festival is put on by the Oceanside Cultural Arts Association and Oceanside Public Library, with the goal of celebrating and inspiring local authors. Over the past few years, the festival has become one of the largest literary fairs in the country.  The Oceanside Cultural Arts Association states its mission is "to broaden the cultural, artistic, and performing arts in Oceanside and the surrounding communities." The mission statement continues, "We are project-oriented and use all proceeds from our annual events to provide scholarships to graduating high school seniors from north county San Diego pursuing artistic and performing arts degrees, and to produce more quality events in the city of Oceanside. Through these endeavor...

Hello Readers! As we get closer and closer to the publication of our own mystery novel , we've been exploring the genre in our blogs--writing about Agatha Christie , John D. Macdonald , and the qualities of what makes a good murder mystery .  This week we're writing about one of the most famous detectives in the murder mystery genre, Sam Spade. Don't call him Sammy Sam Spade was created by the great noir writer Dashiell Hammett (whose first name was actually Samuel). He first appeared in 'The Maltese Falcon', which started as a magazine serial but was eventually published as a novel because of its massive popularity. Hammett was an incredibly interesting human being who fought in BOTH World Wars, was blacklisted during the Red Scare, and shared a thirty-year relationship with Lillian Hellman.  Described as looking like a blond devil, Spade was strong and cynical, able to handle himself in any situation, and always the smartest guy in the room. His cynicism made him ...