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Janet Elizabeth Lynn and Will Zeilinger Featured Authors

May 7, 2022 by in category Apples & Oranges by Marianne H. Donley, Featured Author of the Month, Partners in Crime by Janet Elizabeth Lynn & Will Zeilinger tagged as , , , , ,

Janet Elizabeth Lynn was born in Queens and raised in Long Island, New York. She is the author of murder mysteries, cozy mysteries and with her husband Will Zeilinger, 1950s hard-boiled detective mysteries.

Will Zeilinger has lived and traveled the world and has been writing for over ten years. His novels range from mystery to romantic comedy and those 1950s hard-boiled detective mysteries with his wife Janet.

Partners in Crime

Together Janet and Will write the Skylar Drake Mystery Series. These hard-boiled tales are based in old Hollywood in 1955. They have an E-book How it Began: The Skylar Drake Mysteries available from Smashwords.

Their world travels have sparked several ideas for murder and crime stories. In their next adventure, they will team up using the penname E.J. Williams for a new mystery series set in the 1960s. Their first novel in the International Crime Files, Stone Pub is in the works.

Chatting With Authors

In addition to writing novels, Janet and Will have a YouTube Channel, Chatting with Authors featuring informal Zoom interviews with authors of various genres. We encourage readers to check out all their videos.

This creative couple lives in Southern California . . . and yes, they are still married, and they even blog together at The Married Authors.

The Skylar Drake Mystery Series

SLICK DEAL

Buy now!
SLICK DEAL

GAME TOWN

Buy now!
GAME TOWN

STRANGE MARKINGS

Buy now!
STRANGE MARKINGS

SLIVERS OF GLASS

Buy now!
SLIVERS OF GLASS

DESERT ICE

Buy now!
DESERT ICE
STONE PUB: An Exercise in Deception
0 0 Read more

Janet Elizabeth Lynn and Will Zeilinger Featured Authors

May 1, 2022 by in category Apples & Oranges by Marianne H. Donley, Featured Author of the Month, Partners in Crime by Janet Elizabeth Lynn & Will Zeilinger tagged as , , , , ,

Janet Elizabeth Lynn was born in Queens and raised in Long Island, New York. She is the author of murder mysteries, cozy mysteries and with her husband Will Zeilinger, 1950s hard-boiled detective mysteries.

Will Zeilinger has lived and traveled the world and has been writing for over ten years. His novels range from mystery to romantic comedy and those 1950s hard-boiled detective mysteries with his wife Janet.

Partners in Crime

Together Janet and Will write the Skylar Drake Mystery Series. These hard-boiled tales are based in old Hollywood in 1955. They have an E-book How it Began: The Skylar Drake Mysteries available from Smashwords.

Their world travels have sparked several ideas for murder and crime stories. In their next adventure, they will team up using the penname E.J. Williams for a new mystery series set in the 1960s. Their first novel in the International Crime Files, Stone Pub is in the works.

Chatting With Authors

In addition to writing novels, Janet and Will have a YouTube Channel, Chatting with Authors featuring informal Zoom interviews with authors of various genres. We encourage readers to check out all their videos.

This creative couple lives in Southern California . . . and yes, they are still married, and they even blog together at The Married Authors.

The Skylar Drake Mystery Series

SLICK DEAL

Buy now!
SLICK DEAL

GAME TOWN

Buy now!
GAME TOWN

STRANGE MARKINGS

Buy now!
STRANGE MARKINGS

SLIVERS OF GLASS

Buy now!
SLIVERS OF GLASS

DESERT ICE

Buy now!
DESERT ICE
STONE PUB: An Exercise in Deception
0 0 Read more

Casting Your Story by Will Zeilinger

November 3, 2021 by in category Partners in Crime by Janet Elizabeth Lynn & Will Zeilinger tagged as , , , , ,

You’ve heard of “casting directors” in the world of film, TV, and advertising.

I was an art director for ads and commercials, and selecting the proper models or actors for a job was key to the success of each project. Likewise, as an author, you are the casting director for your story, and casting the right characters is crucial to keeping the reader interested.

If you have the casting correct, any two characters can be put in a scene together and keep the reader interested. This requires that each character is already interesting on their own and that they have an opinion about every other character. They don’t have to say anything about the others, but they can have an internal view that will affect their behavior toward the other members of the cast.

Each character should have a purpose in the story. If not, then they aren’t needed. They can interact with each other independently or confront one another through the main protagonist.

The types of character can vary, but in Joseph Campbell’s “The Hero’s Journey,” he identifies eight archetypes. You can vary these to fit your needs.

1The Hero Your protagonist
2The Mentor The one your protagonist goes to for advice
3The Ally The BFF or loyal friend
4The Herald The one who tells the protagonist they must change
5The Trickster Can function as comedy relief or goof (i.e., Gilligan)
6The Shapeshifter Not who you or the protagonist thinks they are
7The Guardian Tries to discourage the protagonist (to play it safe)
8The ShadowThe opposite of the protagonist – evil?

Think about the age, ethnicity, gender, education, and socio-economic background of each one. Are they a proper fit? Are they believable?

In the end, each of the character types I’ve mentioned have a unique of your plot and the rest of the cast. Consider the extent to which they interact, and consider using some aspects of the types above. Each character has the ability to move the story along.  You don’t necessarily need all of these types, but you are the author, so use who you need. You can even write a story with only one character.

While the easiest way to build characterization and personality in your protagonist (main character) is to surround them with people they must interact with, if you isolate your protagonist, then developing depth and interest becomes a challenge. 

Take the film, Castaway featuring Tom Hanks. He’s stuck on an island, alone, for four years. Writing a story featuring one character is an excellent exercise in character development. When writing a story like this, here are two things to remember, but this holds true for any type of story you tackle.

1. Your reader needs to care about your character

You must give the character a reason for the reader to care about what they do or what happens to them. As in a fully populated story, your main character doesn’t have to be “good” for the reader to care about them. Villains are just as interesting as heroes.

2. Have a conflict

Conflict kickstarts the story plot. Without conflict or a problem to solve, there’s no plot and no story. How your protagonist reacts to the conflict helps the reader to guess what they’ll do or not do next.

Here’s a tip I use to cast my stories:

I like to clip photos of different people and use them as my casting catalog when developing a story. I can always look at their faces and consider how they’ll look or what other characters think of them. If your casting doesn’t seem to be working, you can always re-cast a character.

Have fun. You’re the Director.


Some Book by Will Zeilinger and Janet Elizabeth Lynn

SLICK DEAL

Buy now!
SLICK DEAL

GAME TOWN

Buy now!
GAME TOWN

STRANGE MARKINGS

Buy now!
STRANGE MARKINGS

SLIVERS OF GLASS

Buy now!
SLIVERS OF GLASS

DESERT ICE

Buy now!
DESERT ICE
STONE PUB: An Exercise in Deception

0 0 Read more

Vintage 1960 TV Theme Music

September 3, 2021 by in category Partners in Crime by Janet Elizabeth Lynn & Will Zeilinger, Starting a Novel Series with a Partner by E. J. Williams tagged as , , , , ,

The 1960s began a new era of television programs. Broadcasting transitioned from black/white to color. Lighthearted sitcoms/comedies were the most-watched shows. But as the decade progressed people became socially conscious. Memorable theme songs/ lyrics defined the shows.

Here are just a few of those memorable theme songs in alphabetical order:

Hogan’s Hero’s
1965 to 1971
CBS
by Jerry Fielding 

I Dream of Jeanie
1965-1970
CBS
by Hugo Montenegro

Mission Impossible
1966-1971
CBS
by Lalo Schifrin

My Three Sons
1960 to 1970
ABC
by Frank De Vo

The Addams Family
1964 to 1966
ABC
by Vic Mizzy

The Andy Griffith Show
1960 to 1968
CBS
by Earle Hagen

The Avengers
1966 to 1969
CBS
by Laurie Johnson

The Beverly Hillbillies 
1962-1971
CBS
by Paul Henning

The Courtship of Eddies Father
1969 to 1972 
ABC
by Harry Nilsson

The Twilight Zone
1959 to1964
CBS
by Bernard Herrmann


Some of Janet and Will’s Books


SLICK DEAL

Buy now!
SLICK DEAL

GAME TOWN

Buy now!
GAME TOWN

STRANGE MARKINGS

Buy now!
STRANGE MARKINGS

SLIVERS OF GLASS

Buy now!
SLIVERS OF GLASS

DESERT ICE

Buy now!
DESERT ICE
STONE PUB: An Exercise in Deception

0 0 Read more

Chatting with Authors by Will Zeilinger & Janet Elizabeth Lynn

June 3, 2021 by in category Partners in Crime by Janet Elizabeth Lynn & Will Zeilinger tagged as , , , ,

Published authors Will Zeilinger and Janet Elizabeth Lynn had been writing individually until they got together and wrote the Skylar Drake Mystery Series. These hard-boiled tales are based in old Hollywood of 1955. Janet has published seven mystery novels and Will has three plus a couple of short stories. Their world travels have sparked several ideas for murder and crime stories. This creative couple is married and live in Southern California.

In 2020, Will and Janet created “Chatting With Authors.” This channel features informal interviews with authors of varied genres, produced via Zoom, and aired every Friday. Below are some of the chats from the past year.


Sheila Lowe, a real-life forensic handwriting expert, has appeared in countless forensic TV and radio shows, newspaper and magazine articles, and blogs. Her Amazon number one best-selling series, The Forensic Handwriting psychological suspense books, features Claudia Rose. Sheila’s new Beyond the Veil Series is paranormal suspense about a young woman who reluctantly communicates with dead people.


Listen to Judge Debra H. Goldstein, Author of the Sarah Blair Mystery series, Should Have Played Poker, and the IPPY Award-winning Maze in Blue. She’ll describe how her short stories and novels became finalists for several awards.


Fantasy readers will enjoy hearing from Christopher Ochs, author of Pindlebryth of Lenland. He tells about his collection of the mirthful macabre in If I Can’t Sleep, You Can’t Sleep. His short stories have been published in several anthologies and were finalists for several awards.


Carol L. Wright tells us how she escaped a career in law and academia to write Mysteries and More. She created the Gracie McIntyre Mysteries where justice always prevails. Her short stories have appeared in several literary journals and anthologies.

Hope you enjoyed these interviews. To hear more interviews go to Chatting with Authors.


The Skylar Drake Mystery Series

SLIVERS OF GLASS

Buy now!
SLIVERS OF GLASS

STRANGE MARKINGS

Buy now!
STRANGE MARKINGS

DESERT ICE

Buy now!
DESERT ICE

SLICK DEAL

Buy now!
SLICK DEAL

GAME TOWN

Buy now!
GAME TOWN

0 0 Read more

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