Jennifer Lyon


Wednesday, April 6th, 2022
Don’t Blog the Crime or You’ll Do the Time!

I just saw an article about a romance author on trial for the murder of her husband. The article related that the judge in her case had ruled that her blog titled, “How to Murder Your Husband” could not introduced in the trial. (Link to the article here).

I swear, we just can’t make this stuff up. I mean if we write a story with a killer who wrote a blog about how to kill first — we’d get reviews saying no one is that stupid.

Real life can be weirder than fiction.

Now I don’t know if this author is truly guilty, but that headline sure grabbed my attention. And here’s why: We don’t see our own flaws and often can’t even recognize our own mistakes, like blogging about a murder then actually doing it. But we can sure see those mistakes in others! And we can often see them more clearly in fictional characters as they live out their lives on the pages. I could actually write a villain that’s so arrogant, he or she’d be sure they could convince the jury that they would never write a blog like that if they were going to kill their spouse, and therefore he or she had to be innocent. They’d be convincing too, and even the reader would wonder…was that true? Were the police and D.A. wrong?

Or was that person truly a killer that thought he was smarter than everyone else? The reader would hopefully begin to see how that killer is manipulating other’s emotions and influencing their thinking and ultimately their decision.

That’s what makes fiction so compelling; we can mirror both the good and the bad of mankind. We can show how rational people are swayed by con artists and killers, or how the day is saved by a smarter and more prepared prosecutor or maybe an average juror who rises to the challenge of sticking to the facts. We can show it all, and because it’s fiction, readers will follow along without the defensiveness and preconceived ideas that often comes into play in real people. Or in a romance, we can show the power of love even to the skeptic if the story is compelling enough.

I love fiction. I like nonfiction too. But the power of story can transcend our defenses to teach us so many things about ourselves and those around us.

Circling back to the original point of this article, if I ever had a criminal intent, I sure hope I’m smart enough not to write a blog about it first, LOL! But I might write a character who does…because fictional characters can be as fascinating and flawed as real people!

9 comments to “Don’t Blog the Crime or You’ll Do the Time!”

  1. B.E. Sanderson
    April 6th, 2022 at 5:33 am · Link

    A long time ago, I watched a true-crime thing about a guy who made a movie… or wrote a script, I can’t remember which… about a murder and then killed someone in the same fashion. Derp. I’ve joked with Hubs that he can’t die under suspicious circumstances because, writing what I write, I’d go to jail for sure.

    I think you’d write awesome crime novels, if you were so inclined. No pressure. ;o)



  2. Silver James
    April 6th, 2022 at 8:27 am · Link

    Uhm….well…okay then. I’ll go read the article after I comment because I want to know if the author is named. I know several who a) would be arrogant enought to do that and b) could actually commit murder.

    Stormy was here for dinner last night and he wanted to watch Angry Birds cartoons. There is no dialogue, just noises that occasionally sound like words. At one point he wanted to know what the bird said and LG reminded him that the start of each cartoon states “No Dialogue.” Stormy stares at him a moment and says, “Oh, yeah. It’s just fiction.” 🤣🤣🤣🤣

    It’s just fiction until real life mimics it. ;) Now, off to read the article! Oh! And I remember that case with the screenwriter but not the actual details.



  3. Silver James
    April 6th, 2022 at 10:34 am · Link

    OMG! I DO know her!!!! (Well, slightly, anyway.) Crazysauce!



  4. Jenn
    April 6th, 2022 at 11:57 am · Link

    B.E., it’s it crazy? All of us writers might have to worry if our spouse dies mysteriously, LOL. But humans do the craziest stuff.

    I love crime novels (suspense and thrillers are my fave), and have had ideas, but life an physical issues are a real roadblock, so we’ll see.

    I had a bet with myself that you’d seen something similar in either your research or crimes shows you watch. I win :-)



  5. Jenn
    April 6th, 2022 at 12:09 pm · Link

    Silver, seriously??? I looked her up and the name was vaguely familiar, but I think it’s because I read about her arrest awhile ago. But you know here, huh???? So many questions, but I won’t ask because you don’t need to be inadvertently dragged into this case.

    And like you, I’ve met a few authors who were very arrogant and a few more who don’t live in the zipcode of reality. We do get to meeting interesting people, LOL

    I’ve never seen angry birds, and now I’m wondering how it’s engaging without dialogue?? But Stormy’s comment was priceless! That kid is so smart!



  6. Viki S.
    April 6th, 2022 at 3:09 pm · Link

    I saw this on the news the other day and was just baffled. I could not get over anyone being that stupid. But you know, every time you turn around you can be shocked by people and their craziness.

    I saw that your area is going to be super hot again. Sure hope it doesn’t ruin Maggie and your walks.

    Are you feeling any better?

    Got my hair done by the new person yesterday and she did match the color perfectly. She cuts different than DIL so I’ll have to figure that out :).

    Hope you have a great afternoon.



  7. Jenn
    April 6th, 2022 at 3:23 pm · Link

    Viki, is it wrong that the article made me laugh and roll my eyes? If she’s guilty, and this was the best plan she could come up with, then her plotting skills need some work :-) But I’m not laughing at the murder part. That’s just horrible and sad.

    Very hot. We only walk in the mornings around 7am when it’s this hot. Maggie and I can’t take it. But it’s going to cool off again next week.

    I did yoga find this morning, so we’ll see how I feel this evening. It’s two issues: My neck which I may need to follow up on just as a precaution. And tendonitis in my left arm/elbow, which doesn’t actually hurt doing yoga, just when I pick something up using a pincher grasp. A shot will help that, but I’m giving it a chance to heal up on it’s own first.

    Hope your day is going well!

    Matching your hair color is excellent. I hope the cut works too, but you’ll have to see how it goes over the next week or two.



  8. Silver James
    April 6th, 2022 at 5:44 pm · Link

    We met one time at an RWA conference. She had at least one book published way back in the day with my first publisher and it was at the publisher’s meet-n-greet. I should have said I was acquainted with her more than “knowing” her. I remember her because I had a high school friend with the same last name and as she’d gone to college in Texas was curious if they were related. It’s a weird world!

    As for Angry Birds, it’s short little vignettes basically based on the video game. The birds make semi-birdie noises with inflections and the piggies make nonsense noises. LG and I were chuckling way more than we wanted to! Anyway, I think it was on Netflix? Or one of the streaming channels, anyway. Do NOT share them with Turbo. Just sayin’… LOLOL



  9. Jennifer Lyon Apodaca
    April 7th, 2022 at 4:07 pm · Link

    Silver, it definitely is a weird world!

    I can relate to laughing more than I wanted to at Turbo’s shows :-) And I’ll take your advice to not introduce him to Angry Birds!



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