Writing PIs in Novels
by Colleen Collins and Shaun Kaufman

How to Write a Dick: A Guide for Writing Fictional Sleuths from a Couple of Real-Life Sleuths
by Colleen Collins and Shaun Kaufman

The private eye genre has come a long way, baby, with new subgenres – from teenage PIs to vampire gumshoes to geriatric sleuths – attracting new readers every year. Although it can be safely said that all fictional sleuths, such as Edgar Allan Poe’s C. Auguste Dupin and Sara Paretsky’s V.I. Warshawski, are thinking machines, depending on their powers of observation, analysis and curiosity, the 21st century has opened up a brave new world of investigative technology, tools and Internet resources that would have made Sherlock Holmes weep with joy.

Unfortunately, most writers are not aware of these state-of-the-art developments that shape today’s professional private dick, which sometimes leave writers floundering with impossible and antiquated devices, characters and methods in stories. Which is why we wrote How to Write a Dick: A Guide for Writing Fictional Sleuths from a Couple of Real-Life Sleuths, whose material we culled from our working a combined 14 years as private investigators (and for one of us, a former lawyer, several decades hiring, training and managing private investigators). As a team, we have taught online classes and presented workshops at writers’ conferences about writing private investigators, and we write the blog Guns, Gams, and Gumshoes on a wide variety of investigative topics. How to Write a Dick isn’t about how to write a novel, but what you need to know to write an authentic, compelling 21st-century sleuth character or story.

2011 Book Blog Tour Schedule, Book Excerpts, and Investigative Blog Posts.

Authors' Bios:

Colleen Collins is a PI by day, a multi-published author by night. Her articles on private investigations have appeared on various sites on the Internet as well as in PI Magazine, Pursuit Magazine, PInow.com and other publications. Her accomplishments as a PI include uncovering bogus identities, locating an abducted child, catching cheating spouses, and taking videos of an injury claimant throwing a burning fastball. A member of the Private Eye Writers of America, Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime and Novelists, Inc., Colleen has written 20 novels for both Harlequin and Dorchester and has spoken at regional and national conferences about writing private eyes in fiction.

Shaun Kaufman has worked in and around the criminal justice field for over 30 years, as a former trial attorney and a current legal investigator. He's published articles in PI Magazine, the Denver Law Review, and authored numerous briefs for the Colorado Court of Appeals, Colorado Supreme Court, and the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. Shaun is a popular speaker at conferences, entertaining and educating writers with his insights and expertise about investigations, crime scenes, gang evidence, how PIs effectively testify in trials, and more. His father always told him to be a writer, not a lawyer.

Praise for How to Write a Dick

“Forget Google and Bing. When you need to research PI work, go to the experts, Colleen Collins and Shaun Kaufman: they live it, they teach it, they write it. How to Write a Dick is the best work of its kind I’ve ever come across because it covers the whole spectrum in an entertaining style that will appeal to layman and lawmen alike. This will be the industry standard for years to come.” - Reed Farrel Coleman, three-time Shamus Award winner for Best PI Novel of the Year and author of Hurt Machine

“How to Write a Dick is a gift to crime fiction authors everywhere, a comprehensive and no-nonsense compendium of information, analysis and thought-provoking writing prompts that will help you create your own 21st century shamus with confidence and class. An absolute must for the library of any PI writer!” - Kelli Stanley, critically acclaimed author of City of Dragons and the Miranda Corbie series

“What every wanna-be sleuth needs: a revolver, a bottle of scotch, a trusty sidekick, and this book.” - Mario Acevedo, author of Werewolf Smackdown

“If you want authenticity in creating a fictional private investigator for your stories, then this is a must-have reference book. Its authors, Colleen and Shaun, are living breathing PIs with years of actual experience in the PI game.” - R.T. Lawton, 25 years on the street as a federal special agent and author of 4 series in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine

“In How to Write a Dick, writers and PIs Colleen Collins and Shaun Kaufman lay out everything a writer needs to know to realistically portray a 21st century private dick. Having taken one of their on-line workshops, I can attest that they can fully explain the life of a real-life private dick versus the erroneous TV stereotype. If you want your fictional PI to behave believably, then this is the reference book for you!” - Beth Groundwater, Best First Novel Agatha Award finalist and author of Deadly Currents, March, 2011