All the good things have an end. Ten Rules To Write Noir was fun, but it couldn't run for a hundred weeks. Shit, not even twenty. You would have remembered it as that decent thing that lasted too long. From the end of April to the 1st of July, it changed the blog quite a bit. New readers, a change in target audience and a change in my reading agenda also. Dead End Follies finally found the crowd I was looking for. Intellectuals, zealot readers and smut peddlers. I'm comfortable with that.
I learned a lot of things about noir during that time also. For once, it has rules. Maybe not TEN rules, but it has a few rules. If your P.I is smart, handsome and virtuous despite being an alcoholic, you might be doing hardboiled. If you decide to let your protagonist win, you're writing a thriller or a straight crime novel. Noir is about losers, violent and depraved protagonist and if by any chance they win, the cost will be so high, they'll have wished they lost. The good gets punished and the bad win, just like in real life. That, unless you're willing to sacrifice. I love that genre. I'm still not sure I belong, but I love every drop of it.
There are many people that made Ten Rules To Write Noir a better experience and I want to personally take them.
-Every writer who took time from their busy schedule to write their rules. Thank you Neil, Keith, Aaron, Paul, Christa, John, Nate, Charlie, Sara and Allan. You've all taught me a lot.
-Special thanks to Allan Guthrie, who not only contributed with his rules, but also gave me a list of people I should talk to. Sir, you are the most generous person I have met in this business yet and you are a sleepless machine.
-Thanks to Stacia Decker, who let me pester the shit out of her clients and who Retweeted the rules almost every week. It's a small gesture but it helped a lot.
-Thanks to everybody else who retweeted and hit the share button on Facebook. Heath Lowrance, Steve Weddle, Brenna, Fiona Johnson, Thomas Pluck. Sorry if I forgot some, but you are all awesome.
-Also thank you to Megan Abbott, Scott Phillips, Matthew McBride and Lawrence Block who turned down by offer, but with great class. Not everybody did. I appreciate your kindness and it fueled my fandom.