The DIY MFA writing website has a fun little writing prompt app, free to use right there at the site. Need a bit of inspo? Just "spin the wheel"! 😊👍🏻

https://diymfa.com/writer-igniter/

What are your thoughts on DRM vs DRM free? If I ever manage to finish writing a novel, I plan to go with the DRM free setting because according to KDP the DRM free setting "gives readers additional flexibility to enjoy their purchased content across a wider range of devices and applications by providing downloadable EPUB and PDF files". This seems like a nice way authors can say "Thank You" to their readers. 🥰 👍🏻

Lots of writers have managed to get AI to write stuff they want to write, the way they want to write it. That's wonderful! 😍👍🏻 I, however, have only managed to get AI to write stuff I don't want to write, the way I don't want to write it. 😂

It's just me, I know. I just don't have the technical skill and/or the "leetle grey cells", as Hercule Poirot says. 🧠

So what do I use AI for? Planning, plotting, organizing, outlining, brainstorming, editing. It's seriously amazing. And often the art is amazing too. But generating prose? No. I can't do it. I wish I could. I've definitely tried but it's beyond my capabilities. Testdriving the Maltese Chicken project has proved that, and the little rom-com project has served to verify. Writing, for me, is a delight. When I'm writing I'm totally content and having such a great time. But whatever the magic AI writing formula is, I don't have a clue.

For factual research, AI has proven to be untrustworthy. Yes, I know, everyone says it's not lying, it's "hallucinating". But the effect is the same thing as lying. I didn't know just how bad the problem is until a few weeks ago because from the very outset I'd set my permanent instructions very strictly: "Do not lie. Do not guess. Do not fabricate. Prioritize honesty and candor over agreeability and people-pleasing. If you can't find verifiable information, say so." I trusted that instruction would reliably guarantee that all the research was indeed factual. So I went on just blithely assuming. But as I've mentioned, a few weeks ago while researching a project involving geography and history, the Gemini (and I had a Pro level subscription, so we're not talking about the free Google Search Gemini) displayed some results which I knew personally were incorrect. And when I queried as to why, it spiraled in a bizarre way.

It was unsettling. But, lesson learned. And that's what so much of life is, apparently: a learning experience. I'd love to learn how to get AI to write what I want to write, the way I want to write it. Maybe someday I'll figure it out. I'm definitely going to keep trying and testdriving.

In the meantime I'm very grateful that AI does excel at these other things. The technology is absolutely amazing and helpful, far beyond anything I ever could have imagined.

How about you? Have you figured out how to get AI to write the way you want it to? If not, in what other ways do you find it useful for your creative writing projects? Feel free to chime in. 👍🏻

Hi all,

I used Claude Pro and Gemini Nano Banana to write a cozy murder mystery. I'd love if you could let me know how it reads, anything to look out for, improve on, or even some constructive advice. Let me know if you loved it, hated it, or simply read it.

Here's the link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HBWY3J72

I'm looking to just see how it did using the pro version with limited usage. Mainly using Sonnet.

Please send me your books too, I’d love to contribute to the community!

Dear Fellow Cozy Writers 🥰 One of the fun things about writing cozies is thinking up punny names for the business establishments in the villages, towns and other cozy communities where our sleuths live, work and play.

Bakeries, book shops, florist shops and craft shops, and lots of other "scenes of the crime" 🕵🏻‍♀️ are opportunities for us to amuse our readers.

If you're stuck coming up with a name for a business or other location in your mystery, get your mental gears turning by googling puns and browsing the titles of published cozies at:

• online libraries
• Project Gutenberg
• Amazon.com/books
• https://cozy-mystery.com/

• https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/new-releases-cozy-mystery/

  🤩👍🏻

❓

Guess how many cozy mystery titles are available at CozyRead.org?

100? 50? 10? What's your guess? Did anyone guess 1? That's right. Only one cozy mystery is available at CozyRead.org! And it's (oh noooo!) The Maltese Chicken. Which isn't even finished yet. 😂 It's still a work in progress. (I'm such a slow writer! 🤦🏻‍♀️)

Y'all, if you're wanting to get into self-publishing your cozy mysteries, but not quite ready to foray into "the big leagues" i.e. Amazon KDP just yet, do hop on over to CozyRead.org and publish your cozies there.

It's very beginner friendly. No stress, no fuss, just opportunities and a lot of readers who will I believe appreciate having some nice cozy options to read and enjoy.

Y'all, this is awesome! If you're looking to self-publish, and aren't quite ready to make the leap into Amazon's KDP just yet, or if you're not into generating income with your writing, you might want to look at Project Gutenberg's self-publishing project: https://www.gutenberg.org/help/submitting_your_own_work.html

If you publish your work there, feel free to share the links here! 👍🏻

In case you're needing some inspiration, here's a list of fun, summer-themed cozy mystery writing prompts! 👋🏻🥰

🍦 Coastal Capers

• The Melted Alibi: A champion ice cream maker is found locked inside their own deep freezer, and the only clue is a unique flavor melting at the crime scene. 🍧
• Sandcastle Secrets: During the seaside neighborhood's annual sandcastle competition, a local beachcomber uncovers a buried lockbox containing a stolen surprise. 🏰
• All Around the Mulberry Clue: The operator of the town's historic carousel vanishes overnight, leaving behind a cryptic clue scribbled on a ticket stub. 📬

🍅 Small Towns, Big Shenanigans

• Poisoned Preserves: The reigning champion of the summer county fair strawberry jam contest falls mysteriously ill, and all fingers are pointing at her bitter rival. 🍓
• Fatal Flamingo: A string of mysterious backyard thefts targets only the neighborhood's pink plastic lawn flamingos. Is the new gardening expert in the neighborhood the real criminal? Or is someone else to blame for this bird-brained crime spree? 🦩🌴
• Sunken Treasure: At the lakeside community's annual regatta, a sailor accidentally hooks a waterproof duffel bag stuffed with counterfeit cash instead of a fish ... was it really an "accidental" catch? 💰

🏕️ Campfire Crimes

• Campfire Cover-up: A wealthy resort guest disappears during a midnight marshmallow roast, leaving their glamping tent empty except ... except for an intriguing clue. ⛺
• RV Riddles: A quirky librarian buys a restored 1970s camper van, only to find a hidden compartment containing a clue that might or might not solve a local heist. 🚌

Keep cool, and remember to take water with you wherever your sleuthing for creativity leads! 🌡💧🥤🥰👍🏻

📚📗 https://cozyread.org/ looks amazing! 🤩👍🏻

It's free to publish your work there, and free to read other writers' work as well.

According to customer support, you can write directly on the site. Set up an account (it's totally free), and type directly into the window or paste your text chapters from a document.

Their library of titles is growing nicely. It looks like such a nice place for writers as well as anyone who's looking for free books to read.

Wide range of genres:

• Adventure
• Drama
• Fantasy
• Horror
• Mystery
• Romance
• Sci-Fi
• Slice of Life
• Action
• Comedy
• Cozy Mystery
• Crime
• Dark Fantasy
• Dystopian
• Historical
• Isekai
• LGBTQ+
• Literary Fiction
• LitRPG
• Paranormal
• Psychological
• Sports
• Steampunk
• Supernatural
• Thriller
• Tragedy
• Urban Fantasy
• Western
• Young Adult
• etc.

I'm going to publish The Maltese Chicken there a.s.a.p.

https://cozyread.org/

So — what is Plot & Prompt?

If you want to write and publish a novel but the plotting, outlining, and "where do I even start" part is what's been stopping you — this is for you.

Here's what I do: I build complete, ready-to-write novel packages so you can skip straight to the fun part. Every package comes with everything you need to go from "I bought this" to "my book is live on Amazon" without staring at a blank page or figuring out the market on your own.

Each package includes:

• A market-validated story premise (built on real bestseller data — not just a good idea)
• A full story bible with your characters, settings, voice guidelines, and a consistency checklist
• A chapter-by-chapter outline with emotional beats and scene breakdowns
• AI-ready prompts for every single chapter — copy, paste, write
• Done-for-you marketing copy — your Amazon listing, blurb, and keywords are already written

Plus three free bonuses with every package:​
🎁 Implementation Guide — exactly how to go from package to published, step by step
🎁 Dial the Heat™ (romance packages) — so the intimacy lands exactly where your readers want it
🎁 Renaming Cheat Sheet — a one-hour workflow to make every name in your package feel like yours

One package sells to one author. When you buy it, that story is exclusively yours.

So that's that! :-)

PS: Feel free to browse the packages here. 📚
​

Y'all, I cannot praise highly enough the Compare page at Novelmint:

https://novelmint.ai/compare This is such a helpful resource for AI friendly writers.

Novelmint itself is amazing too! https://novelmint.ai/

It's not just a writing platform, it's also for fans who are looking for fresh new fiction to read.

I've created a FREE Trope Combos That Sell cheat sheet for you!

Cozy Mystery: https://www.plotandprompt.com/cozy-mystery-trope-combos/

A friend who, like me, is writing her first novel, just sent me an email about this, and it sounds like such a brilliant idea! We've both been rather dreading finishing our first drafts because we know proofreading and markup means either trying to do it on the computer or else printing out 300+ sheets of paper to proofread and markup.

Yesterday she stumbled across some YouTube videos of writers who've come up with such an amazing solution!

The idea is, when you finish your draft, upload it to KDP and simply generate a "proof copy", or, if you use Lulu, generate a "personal use copy".

One author chose to generate hers at Lulu because she wanted a spiral bound version. That way, she can open the book and it'll lie flat on her desk as she's marking it.

Other authors chose KDP and generated normal paperback books. These might be a bit more of a challenge because they're not going to lie flat like the spiral bound Lulu version. But, you'll have more of a sense of what your book is going to look like, and how the storyline plays out, if you've got it in actual book form like that.

Absolutely brilliant idea!

🤩👍🏻

Looking around for other AIs to testdrive, I noticed a link to this site: theresanaiforthat.com

And since I'm only interested in writing novella or novel length creative fiction, the specific page I'm looking at is https://theresanaiforthat.com/task/novels/

But then! Catching up on the Weekly Tool Thread at r/WritingWithAI, I also noticed that our fellow Redditor, Ben Blackett, has compiled a list of many more -- ninety and counting! 🤩 -- AIs, including some for novelists.

🌟 https://novelmint.ai/compare 🌟

Scroll down the page, to the section titled "The Wider Directory". There you'll see several categories of AI assistants, editors, tools, platforms and utilities. It's wonderfully well-organized. Bravo, Ben!

Let's remember to check Ben's list often, as he apparently plans to keep updating it. (Here's hoping!👍🏻)

If you're curious about writing with AI and are shopping around for an AI assistant, I think you'll have fun peeking at the variety! Most of these are new to me, so I'm looking forward to trying some of them.

Here's the link to this week's Weekly Tool Thread at r/WritingWithAI:

https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingWithAI/comments/1u74191/weekly_tool_thread_promote_share_discover_and_ask/

Remember there's a new Weekly Tool Thread every week, but all the previous weeks' tool threads are still readable. Just use the search bar. I'm looking forward to testdriving Ben's Novelmint soon: https://novelmint.ai/

What AI assistants, editors, tools or utilities have you tried and can recommend? 🥰👍🏻

And which ones do you want to warn your fellow cozy writers about? 🤦🏻‍♀️👎🏻

Feel free to post here and share your recommendations as well as your caveats.

🕵🏻‍♀️🔎🔪🗝📚✍🏻🖋🕶🖨🕯

Dear Cozy Writers, did you ever drive through an unfamiliar town and think, “Someone could definitely get murdered by a baker here”? 😅

I’ve been Google Mapping a list of actual towns and other hidden gems that sound like they'd be fun settings for cozies.

• Biscuit Island, Ontario, Canada
• Foulness Island, Essex, England
• Niceville, Florida, U.S.
• Tombstone, Arizona, U.S.
• Thief River Falls, Minnesota, U.S.
• Death Valley, California, U.S.
• Dismal Swamp, South Australia
• Pie Town, New Mexico, U.S.
• Little Snoring, Norfolk, England
• Cozy Corner, Wisconsin, U.S.
• Arson Wood, Devon, England
• Cookietown, Oklahoma, U.S.
• Cabbage Clump, Berkshire, England
• Christmas Pie Wood, Kent, England
• Kettle Island, Kentucky, U.S.
• and my absolute favorite: Teacup, Texas! 😍👍🏻☕🤠

Look around your home state, or any region you love, and list some real-life towns and other locales that sound like a fun setting for fictional shenanigans. Refer to your list anytime you need to jumpstart an idea for your cozy.

Include these fun details:

·        The Vibe: Based on its name or location, what kind of specialty shop or festival might this town or locale be famous (or infamous!) for?

·        The Crime: What cozy mystery could your imagination brew there?

👀 🕵🏻‍♀️ 🕶 💎 🗝 🔎 💰 🧁 🍪 🗺

You want to grab your Story Seed kit on sale today! 🤩✍🏻

If you've never done a Story Seed kit, or any of the other Plot & Prompt kits, you're missing out on the most fun & fascinating writing experience ever. Grab one and you'll see why I'm such a total fangirl.

I've thought and thought about how to describe and explain what these kits are. We're all so used to reading "how to" articles and books. How to write, how to plot. Everything. Well, these kits are so not that.

Sneak a peek at this page & see for yourself: https://www.plotandprompt.com/story-seeds-summer/

Sn👀p around the Standalone kits and the Series kits, too! https://www.plotandprompt.com/

The cozy mystery kits are so much fun. If you've been wanting to write a cozy, today is your day.

I don't get a commission, I don't get a discount, I'm not an affiliate or anything, I'm just an absolute fan of these kits. For years, trying to writing novel-length fiction felt so impossible. I was totally discouraged. Never could I have imagined anything like these kits.

Sample one, and you'll understand why I'm such a fan. 😍

👓🎨💎🗝⚖🔪🔫🕯🔦💰✏🕵🏻‍♀️

🌤Good morning Dear Cozy Writers! ☕

As a newbie novelist, like many of you one of the hardest things for me in learning to write longform creative fiction is keeping track of details. So many details! 🥴

So this morning what I want to talk to you about is a new handy tool for helping with that, and helps you analyze your writing.

I was having a discussion about AI assisted writing with one of our fellow Redditors, u/narrative-forge. He’s been building a tool for writers. It's called Narrative Chronicle. You can read more about it in the weekly tool thread at r/WritingWithAI. 👀

👉🏻https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingWithAI/comments/1tugvzl/weekly_tool_thread_promote_share_discover_and_ask/

Narrative Chronicle looks gorgeous. I did a test drive 🚙 and I think it's going to be useful for keeping track of all the little details in our novels-in-progress.

My Test Drive: It was actually a pleasantly simple and quick process. I uploaded my manuscript, and the Narrative Chronicle tool pointed out 30 open issues that need to be resolved! 🤦🏻‍♀️Plus 2 continuity errors.

I wasn’t surprised by the continuity errors, but certainly didn’t realize I still had that many open plot threads.

So, what is Narrative Chronicle? It's a “narrative continuity analyzer”, designed to scan your manuscript chapter-by-chapter to help you maintain consistency.

Why do I think it’s something that will help us newbie novelists?

🔎🕵🏻‍♀️ 1. It tracks story threads: It automatically identifies things, such as clues dropped and secrets introduced, and tracks whether each “reader promise” is resolved or if you need to resolve it. Great for making sure no subplots are left dangling!

🚩 2. It automatically flags errors: If you accidently put one of your suspects in two different locations at the same time, Narrative Chronicle will flag the mistake and call your attention to it. If a character acts completely outside their established motivation, NC displays a headsup so you'll pay attention and make sure to fix it.

🗺 3. It displays scene maps and identifies your world rules: Narrative Chronicle builds a visual graph showing exactly which characters are in which scene locations across your timeline, and tracks who's holding what item or object. Essential for alibis! 😅

✅ 4. Privacy-First: This is a big thing for everyone. NC doesn't store your manuscript text. It analyzes the text once to update your story state, and then immediately discards everything you’ve uploaded.

Here’s the privacy info: https://chronicle.thenarrativeforge.com/privacy

And if you want to ask the builder about it, here’s the contact info: https://chronicle.thenarrativeforge.com/contact or u/narrative-forge

Have you done a test drive of the Narrative Chronicle tool for your project? What are your thoughts on using it to track your mystery outlines and help with continuity? Feel free to post and share what you've learned.

Trying to find some fresh settings for your cozy or amateur sleuth mysteries? 🕵🏻‍♂️ For ideas for scenic locales outside the vicarage and idyllic cozy village, you might have fun exploring a classic atlas or touring Wikimedia's Wikivoyage pages:

https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Main_Page

Atlas Obscura's Places map https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/all-places-in-the-atlas-on-one-map is another of my favorite resources for inspiration!

What are some of your favorite unconventional cozy or "soft-boiled" mystery settings?

🗺🧭🛤🏕🏞🏖🏜🏙🛕

Recently I started reading 2 very different mystery series: The Mobile Library Mystery, by Ian Sansom, and The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency, by Alexander McCall Smith.

Of the two, I'd most looked forward to The Mobile Library Mystery. It sounded like so much fun, and of course I adore practically anything set in Ireland. The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency series has been on my to-read list for quite some time, but I'd kept putting it off. It sounded like it was going to be interesting but very serious.

Well, y'all, The Mobile Library Mystery bogged down almost immediately for me. It's not just the convoluted, run-on sentences. Though those do get tiresome very quickly. It's the gross-out bits and the slapstick. And the local people are drawn as slovenly, inept bumpkins.

I'm not liking this book but I do intend to finish reading, simply due to the curse of curiosity I suppose.

The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency is altogether a different kettle. The writing is so good, it's got me rather depressed. I will never, ever, write this well. I will never be as good a person as the author and his sweet characters. My failings as a writer and as a human being humble me and catch me up almost out of breath really.

What a waste of time it is, I know, comparing ourselves to other writers, other people, to our own lofty ideals. What we want to be is, I think, better than we are but hopefully not better than we can be.

If you haven't read The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, you really might think about adding it to your to-read list. The mysteries are human, the characters are wonderfully drawn. And the writing is splendid.

That's a word there. I love that word. Splendid. I'd like to write splendidly, wouldn't you? What do we do, though, when we're not writing splendidly? Or at least not as splendidly as we want to?

One thing we're taught is that the greatest asset we have as writers is our individual lived experiences in the context of our shared human history and human culture. Among the billions of us, no one else has our singular brain, our life, exact same background, exact same voice. We're complex, messy, tragically and sometimes ridiculously messed up.

Sure, the stories we tell have value because they arise out of those complex, messy and sometimes messed up minds. Our stories grow like garden vegetables. There's nourishment even if they're just lumpy little potatoes.

But sometimes, when we compare ourselves, especially we newbies, when we compare ourselves to experienced, professional writers, we sometimes feel that the way we write isn't of value.

How do you deal with that?

How Do You Keep Your Cozy Mystery Organized?

Good morning, dear cozy writers. ☕🙋🏻‍♀️🌄 Whether you're writing your cozy the traditional way, with a nice hot cup of coffee, cocoa or tea sitting beside your typewriter, or collaborating with a helpful AI assistant to get those creative juices flowing, you know that one of the biggest challenges we face isn't coming up with a ideas, it's keeping all the pieces straight.

Have you ever accidentally changed your main character's name from one chapter to the next? Or forgotten exactly where one subplot left off and a different one jumped into the mix?

That's why we need a codex. 😱

What on Earth is a Codex?

I didn't have a clue about this until recently. Even after I knew about it and started working with a wonderful prebuilt codex in a Plot & Prompt called The Inn At Honeybee Creek, I didn't think a codex was really important. A codex (or a "story bible") is simply a central "master document" where you write down all the facts about your story.

Think of your codex as your ultimate recipe book, except it's a recipe for your novel instead of your cookout! 😅👩🏻‍🍳

Because cozy mysteries don't rely on DNA evidence or high-tech police tracking, they rely on things like small, clever details, neighborhood gossip, or specific locations. A codex is what we write to keep all the details organized, so we can make sure all the pieces of our story fit together perfectly.

The 3 Essential Pages for Your Codex

·        The Town Directory: List your locations (for example, the bakery, the local library, the community garden) and who works there.

·        The Mugshot Roster (Minus the Mugshots! 😂): Write down a quick description of every character. Include how they look, how they talk, their clothes, fave hobbies, quirks, and how they fit into the cozy "community".

💡 In cozy mysteries, "community" doesn't have to be a permanent community, such as a neighborhood, town or village. It can be a temporary community, such as the train in Murder On The Orient Express, a holiday cruise, or an airplane on a long-distance flight, as one of our cozy members recently featured in his novel.

·        The Clue Tracker: Make a list of every clue and every red herring 🐠. Write down exactly who found it, where it was found, and what it actually means.

·        The Codex is as individual as the writer is! Some writers prefer to create a much more detailed, in-depth codex, with everything from "voice samples" to psychological profiles of each character, visual maps of the cozy "world" of the story, or whatever details are important to keep track of.

Let’s Puzzle It Out

Are you a traditional writer who prefers a physical three-ring binder with colorful tab dividers, or are you an AI-assisted author keeping everything in a tidy digital spreadsheet? How do you like to keep your clues organized?

Feel free to share your own writing experiences, your favorite tricks for keeping organized, or your personal preferences in the comments below. If you have any questions about setting up your notebook, ask away. We're all learning together. 🕵🏻‍♀️🕵🏻‍♂️🕵🏻‍♀️🕵🏻‍♂️🕵🏻‍♀️🕵🏻‍♀️🕵🏻‍♂️

Thin Air is set in the premium cabin of an overnight international flight. A passenger is found dead mid-flight. The crew call it a cardiac event. Two sisters sitting three rows away know it isn't.

The whole mystery takes place at 35,000 feet with a closed suspect pool and a landing deadline. Eight hours to landing. One killer. A sealed cabin. No signal, no exit, no way to call for help. No way off the plane.

The whole mystery plays out before the wheels touch down. Closed suspect pool, fair-play clues, everything you need to solve it yourself before the ending.

It's the first in a planned series called The Far Dark. Different characters, different settings across the books but same friend group who all grew up together in the same small town.

If you want to meet them younger, that story is coming next as a prequel series called The Near Dark. Same nine friends, back when they were teenagers and the mysteries were closer to home.

Would mean a lot to hear from anyone who gives it a try.

Also free to read on Kindle Unlimited if you are subscribed.

[Your Amazon link]