Thursday Thirteen

1. I learned last night as I was reading the May issue of The Writer that author Phyllis Whitney passed away in February.

2. She was 104.

3. She started publishing in 1941 and was still knocking out books in 1997 - she would have been 93 when that last one was published.

4. Her website calls her books "adult suspense" but I thought of them as Gothic romances.

5. All in all, she published 76 books and hundreds of short stories.

6. Her book Thunder Heights, written in the 1960s, was one of my favorite books, and my inspiration for being a writer, I think.

7. There aren't many "adult suspense" or Gothic romance writers out and about today. Or if there are, I am not aware of them.

8. My other favorite authors of that genre were Victoria Holt and Barbara Michaels. I think Whitney and these other two were giants of the genre.

9. But Whitney remained my favorite and looking at the very long list of books she wrote I think I have read most of the "adult suspense" ones.

10. Whitney also wrote a book called Guide to Fiction Writing, published in 1982.

11. It sits on my "frequently used" bookshelf.

12. Guide to Fiction Writing has some of the best techniques for creating a notebook of characters and describes how to go about writing a book better than any other book I have ever read.

13. And I have read a lot of other books about how to do it.



Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; you can learn more about it here. My other Thursday Thirteens are here.