San Francisco is like no other place on earth. If you set your story here, you're guaranteed to have a colorful backdrop and an appealing atmosphere. But don't get the details wrong or your story will lose momentum.

Don't be the writer who sings, "I lost my plot in San Francisco!"

The sights, sounds and quirky little streets of the City by the Bay have inspired affection from generations of visitors and residents. Get it right and you can really make the San Francisco setting work for you. Get it your San Francisco details wrong with things that could never happen in San Francisco or even streets that could never intersect and your readers may leave you as cold as the fog on a February night in the middle of the Bay.

Keep the Reader Turning Pages. The 33 Worst Mistakes Writers Make About San Francisco can help you get the mix right and add that local flavor as hot and tangy as the sauce on Leon's BBQ ribs.

The 33 Worst Mistakes Writers Make About San Francisco covers the basics you need to set your story in a believable San Francisco. Plus links to virtually get the lay of the land (hills and all) and explore the diverse cast of characters that populate the City by the Bay.

For example:

Who calls the city "Frisco" and who never will? Mistake Two explains how saying that one little word at the wrong time and place can get you arrested.

Mistake Twenty-Four describes how knowing the neighborhoods in San Francisco can give your story authentic color and how most books and movies miss out on showing the real details.

What about swimming in the Bay, can you really Escape from Alcatraz? Read Mistake Thirty-Three to find out who swims in the Bay and when and where, and what your character should wear if he or she ends up in the water.

I've lived in San Francisco for forty years and I love it when a book evokes the atmosphere of the city. But I want the writer to get the details right. In The 33 Worst Mistakes Writers Make About San Francisco I've included links for things that change often, such as Bridges and traffic.

How can you give your story a genuine San Francisco atmosphere without throwing in the obvious tourist attractions? Residents often sigh and shake their heads when a writer has the characters in a story detour several miles to cross the Golden Gate Bridge or take a cable car down a street that doesn't even have a bus line.

In The 33 Worst Mistakes Writers Make About San Francisco you'll discover:

• What sound says "San Francisco" to residents and former residents more than any other? Mistake Twenty-Two gives you the answer. Hint, it's not a cable car bell.
• What one thing should you carry at all times in case of earthquakes? (Mistake Six explains.)
• Where in San Francisco can you set your story that is authentic, colorful without being over-used? Check out Mistake Twenty-Four.
  

"ONLY IN SAN FRANCISCO" is a popular expression in the city. Read The 33 Worst Mistakes Writers Make About San Francisco to get a sense of that famous diversity. Only in San Francisco, a city with a traditionally strong military and conservative presence (see Mistakes Nineteen and Twenty-Five), could a transvestite, Sister Boom Boom, run for the Board of Supervisors listing her occupation as "Nun of the Above," and get 23,000 votes. (Mistake Twenty-One describes how this can happen.)

FIND OUT some things that happen almost everywhere else that NEVER HAPPEN IN SAN FRANCISCO. (The season commonly known as "summer" is a good example, as explained in Mistake Eighteen.)

DO YOU THINK YOU KNOW THE REAL SAN FRANCISCO? Most of the mistakes I see writers make when they set a story in the city arise out of taking a surface view or neglecting to check details that drive local people crazy when a writer gets them wrong. I provide some quick and easy guides as to how the streets and hills work (Mistakes Seventeen and Twenty). The 33 Worst Mistakes Writers Make About San Francisco provides you with that essential information--and more.

I've crammed 40 years of San Francisco atmosphere into 31 pages. Let me show you some little-known corners of the city, who hangs out there and what you need to know to about why. The 33 Worst Mistakes Writers Make About San Francisco was written to help you keep your story as fresh as same-day Sourdough bread and just as likely to give a rush of nostalgia to readers anxious to revisit San Francisco in book form.

That's why you should own The 33 Worst Mistakes Writers Make About San Francisco today (in fact, you can be reading it in as little as 5 minutes from now!).

About The Author

In 1973, Lynne Murray just happened to take a proofreading job at what was then the largest law firm in San Francisco. Little did she know that the firm would contribute many plot twists and a couple of murder victims to her first mystery, Termination Interview (St. Martin’s Press 1988), wherein a personnel director is thrown out a 12th-story window at a huge stuffy law firm. Fascinated with the ins and outs of the law, Lynne found that the big firms needed 24/7 word processing. That was the ideal job for someone who needed to work weird hours to support her fiction writing habit. She has typed every sort of legal document, and transcribed tapes from police interrogations and FBI surveillance to court hearings. Lynne lives in San Francisco. She has had a total of six mysteries published and collaborated on a humorous e-book of encouragement for writers.