Tuesday's Links to Writing & Marketing Blog Posts

TOP 10 MISTAKES AUTHORS MAKE WHEN WRITING LEGAL SCENES

By: Rick Acker, Novelist and Attorney

I’ve been writing legal thrillers for ten years and litigating for over twenty.  As you might guess, that means I get lots of questions about how to write legal scenes. Often I’m asked about how to make legal scenes accurate and effective. However, Dennis Kearney did a nice job last month explaining how to do things right when writing legal scenes. I’m here to help you spot things you may be doing wrong—probably because you saw someone else do them wrong in a book or on a TV or movie screen.

Here are the top ten most common mistakes I’ve seen, and I’ll share my thoughts on them: 

1. Screaming, crying, speechifying lawyers who don’t go to jail. It makes great TV: the impassioned advocate giving a stirring impromptu speech as she walks around the courtroom, while the judge impotently pounds his gavel. But it never happens. After about three words, the judge would warn the lawyer. If she didn’t shut up, the judge wouldn’t get flustered and bang away with his gavel. He’d simply turn to the bailiff and tell him to remove the eloquent attorney from the courtroom and take her to the lockup.
2. Surprise witnesses and evidence. Surprise witnesses or evidence is like car crashes: They’re rare, and they generally don’t happen unless someone makes a serious mistake. The reason is simple: discovery. The opposing lawyers get to ask each other all sorts of questions, and only an incompetent lawyer will fail to ask what witnesses the other side plans to put on the stand and what exhibits they plan to put into evidence.

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Read the full article HERE!

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If you missed my writing & marketing tweets and retweets yesterday, here they are again:

1. My 5 Philosophies of Social Media | Jane Friedman http://ow.ly/KZ1Qf
2. Tutorial: Make a Text Mask | PicMonkey Blog http://ow.ly/KZ1W0
3. Top 10 Mistakes Authors Make When Writing Legal Scenes | Live Write Thrive http://ow.ly/KZc8y
4. Writer Unboxed » Four Surprising Benefits to Letting Your Characters Take the Reins http://ow.ly/KZceL
5. Karen Woodward: Part 2: NEED - The Protagonist WANTS Something http://ow.ly/KZcwb
6. Syphoning Nightmare Fuel | Drew Chial http://ow.ly/KZcDg  The Difference Between Dream Logic and Story Logic
7. Dropcards for e-Books: Digital Downloads with a Difference by Shelley Sturgeon — The Book Designer http://ow.ly/KZcK9
8. How to Improve Your Email Marketing With Social Media | Social Media Examiner http://ow.ly/KZcXf
9. Five Tips For Novel Revision – The BIG Picture | C H Griffin http://ow.ly/KZdiG
10. Writability: Fixing the First Page Feature #9 http://ow.ly/KZdu8
11. How the WordPress Philosophy Can Help You Write a Masterpiece http://ow.ly/KZdEG
12. Four Ways to Revitalize the Author Reading « WriterlandWriterland http://ow.ly/KZdSi
13. Writing POV Changes | Linda S. Clare http://ow.ly/KZdXo
14. What the X-Files Revival, Netflix, and Book Promotion Have in Common - Author Marketing Experts, Inc. http://ow.ly/KZe8U
15. KISS -- Keep It Simple, Sweetheart! http://ow.ly/KZei3 How to Write About a Complex Subject in a Simple Way
16. Quit Being A Commodity: How To Get Visibility And Stand Out http://ow.ly/KZeuu
17. Prompts and Writing - Books & Such Literary Management http://ow.ly/KZeHe
18. 7 Tips On Balancing Your Fame And Personal Life - Marketing Tips For Authors http://ow.ly/KZeUN
19. Critics and reviewers and trolls – oh my! - Authors' Blog http://ow.ly/KZKGM

Happy writing and running, Kathy