Florida Writers Groups

If you are a writer living in Florida, you are lucky to have so many writing organizations to join. You need not worry about working in a vacuum. So if you reside near any of these sites, check them out and consider attending a meeting or two. Many of them also hold conferences so be on the lookout for news and announcements that will help you further your writing career.

FL Chapters of RWA

Ancient City Romance Writers
St. Augustine

Central Florida Romance Writers
Orlando

First Coast Romance Writers
Jacksonville

Florida Panhandle Romance Writers
Tallahassee

Florida Romance Writers, Inc.
Miami/Ft. Lauderdale/Palm Beach

Southwest Florida Romance Writers
Naples/Estero/Fort Myers

SpacecoasT Authors Of Romance
Melbourne

Sunshine State Romance Authors
Homosassa

Tampa Area Romance Authors
Tampa

Volusia County Romance Writers
Lake Helen

Florida Writers Groups

Florida Writers Association

Mystery Writers of America, FL Chapter

South Florida Writer’s Association
Miami

Space Coast Writers Guild
Melbourne

Treasure Coast Writers Guild
Fort Pierce

Writer’s Network of South Florida

CSI Investigations

At a recent meeting of MWA Florida, we heard a CSI investigator from North Miami PD speak about her experiences. “Our day begins when yours ends,” she quipped. A beautiful woman who is married with five children, she could be a TV star of her own show. She proceeded to differentiate what’s real and what isn’t from what we see on television. The “CSI Effect” is what people expect from watching these shows, like immediate test results. That isn’t what happens in reality when it might take years. However, these dramas are good for bringing attention to an underfunded field. Private labs might produce quicker results, but she’s not allowed to use them for legal reasons. 

Why doesn’t she drive a Hummer? This is one of the questions she’s been asked. She drives a van because it’s large enough to hold her equipment and has storage space. She never parks in front of a business unless she’s on a case because that would drive customers away.

DNA testing can take months. Florida is number one for the best hits on CODIS (Combined DNA Index System). You must have been arrested to be on this database. In Miami, they have one year from date of entry to make a hit with a suspect. Otherwise, the statute of limitations runs out. Two types of DNA concern them: Mitochondrial and Nuclear. The latter contains a cell’s nucleus and goes back to a single source while the genetic pool is larger for the former type of DNA.

IAFIS (Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System) is fingerprint storage and retrieval. Usually it’s the latent examiner who makes the hit, although this can be subjective. Prints come from people who’ve been arrested. Other sources for prints can be places like jobs that require them, immigration, etc.

Five manners of death exist:

Homicide
Suicide
Accident
Natural (over 80%)
Undetermined

She says investigators specialize in certain areas, and the science and technology are constantly changing. They look for signs of foul play. For example, if you are sick or injured, you may curl on your bed into fetal position. You don’t lie prone in a closet, where a body was found. It was later determined he died from a broken neck. A migrant worker renovating the house was guilty of murder.

With Live Scan, ink isn’t used for fingerprinting. The old method often resulted in operator error—too much or too little ink, not rolling the prints properly. There are 150 points of identification on each finger. Patterns can be a loop, arch, or whorl or a combination therein. Footprints have similar characteristics. Fingerprints develop at 7 months in the womb. Changes may occur with scarring, like musicians who grow calluses. How long do prints remain on the scene? Forever, unless they are removed.

They give every case a name, like the Lemon Case where a guy supposedly fell on his knife when paring fruit. She’ll look in the kitchen, in the garbage for clues. It turned out the man’s girlfriend stabbed him, and friends helped her cover it up. But they neglected to erase the footwear impression where someone had stepped on the knife.

As a mystery writer, it’s important to get the facts straight. We can’t rely on what we watch on TV.

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Disclaimer: These are my notes and they are subject to my interpretation. Any errors are not intentional.

The Evil Mind

Rick David, a licensed Florida mental health therapist for over thirty years, spoke at the Florida Romance Writers monthly meeting in Fort Lauderdale on “Inside the Mind of Evil”. First he differentiated between a sociopath and a psychopath. The sociopath lacks empathy and remorse and is fueled by narcissism. He has feelings of omnipotence and is ego-centric. These people may be criminals but “not all sociopaths are psychopaths.”

Psychopathy means mental illness. The psychopath may be a sociopath with a mental illness, usually psychosis in that he’s out of touch with reality or living in a fantasy world of his own creation. All psychopaths are not criminals.   

Killers objectify people and see them as things to bring gain. These psychopathic killers are incapable of meaningful relationships. They lack remorse in their actions. They can be deceitful, impulsive, and glib. Power, control, and fear are their motivators. They are cold and calculating. Many have early behavioral problems as noted below. They can look at you with a steely, predatory stare (or they can be as friendly as the guy next door). Usually they’ll project blame onto others. Killing fills their emotional void, and it may be the only way they can feel anything. Drugs and alcohol are often involved. If anti-social behaviors are mixed in, they may be the loner type, avoiding social contact with others.

Behaviors in children that may be warning signs when taken to the extreme can be testing limits, kids described as difficult or “different”, young people to whom consequences mean nothing. Aggression, bullying, and lying may be evident. A pattern of hurting animals or setting fires may be signals that this person needs intervention. Also, not every serial killer has had an abusive childhood. Even kids from happy families can take a turn to the dark side.

When writing crime fiction or romantic suspense, the writer needs to get inside the mind of evil. These behavioral factors should help you create your villain. Remember that he thinks differently from normal people and rationalizes his internal fantasy. Better we should meet him on the page than on the street.

August Reads

If you’re looking for some new reads, or are just curious about what I’m reading these days, take a look below. Usually I read more than one book at a time. Currently I’m reading the next C.S. Harris historical mystery, another Alex Rider installment, and a historical romance. How many books do you have going at one time? 

SCORPIA by Anthony Horowitz (Teen Spy Fiction)
Fourteen-year-old British agent Alex Rider is ostensibly on vacation in Italy but he’s really following a clue as to how his father died. When he learns the truth, he joins the criminal organization known as Scorpia. He knows they’re trained assassins, but he’s unaware of their terrifying plan to murder millions of London schoolchildren with a secret weapon.  

Bent on personal revenge, Alex returns to England with only one mission: kill the person who shot his father. It’s none other than his former MI6 boss, Mrs. Jones. But then his plans start to go awry, and he ends up fighting for his home turf once again. Scorpia isn’t an organization to be thwarted, though, and they’ve made contingencies in case he betrays them.

This story is another exciting adventure in the rousing Alex Rider series, who’s like a junior James Bond fighting evil on a global scale. The fast-paced action will have you turning pages and rushing out to get the sequel. Pure escapist entertainment!

HOW TO PROPOSE TO A PRINCE by Kathryn Caskie (Historical Romance)
Elizabeth Royle is convinced she’s destined to marry a prince, so when she meets a man claiming to be Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, she knows it’s Fate. Little does she realize that her handsome prince is a decoy. His cousin, Lord Whitevale, is actually the prince, and Sumner—the real Marquess of Whitevale—is posing as the royal to draw assassins away.

Elizabeth falls in love with a man whose duty supposedly dictates he wed Princess Charlotte, possibly her half-sister. She despairs when Sumner seems to care for her but keeps getting pulled away for affairs of state. Should she believe her senses or what others are telling her about his need for a political match? She can’t compete against a royal princess.   

Her association with the prince proves dangerous when a sniper shoots at them. But even though he isn’t meant for her, Elizabeth seeks to protect him. She has to have faith that he’ll find a way back to her as promised.

Secret identity stories are always engaging. Although the reader knows what’s going on, the anticipation is high for when Elizabeth learns the truth. Will she feel betrayed, or will she believe Sumner’s declarations when he says she’s the one who captured his heart?

LOUISA AND THE COUNTRY BACHELOR by Anna Maclean (Historical Mystery)
This is the second Louisa May Alcott mystery where we read about Louisa’s life as a young woman before she became a famous author. Louisa and her family are vacationing with cousins in New Hampshire. Their rural village suffers a tragedy when a young laborer is found dead, pushed down a ravine. His sister believes one of the shopkeepers killed him so as to buy their piece of land by the railroad track, but Louisa isn’t so easily convinced. Their neighbors harbor secrets, and all isn’t what it seems in this sleepy little town. The questions build as she investigates, especially when the local sheriff suspects her close friend of being the murderer. To prove his innocence, Louisa probes into people’s lives, not realizing she’s putting her own safety at stake. Another delightful installment in a charming series.

NORWAY TO HIDE by Maddy Hunter (Mystery)
This entry in Maddy Hunter’s Passport to Peril series is just as amusing as the other stories in her repertoire. You’ll smile as you read about the antics of tour guide Emily Andrews and her senior citizens on their trip to Scandinavia. The Iowan group is dismayed to be thrown in with a bunch of Floridians, even more so when a guest turns up dead. What secrets is this troupe hiding that they’d kill to keep quiet? Norway to Hide is a humorous tale that will have you chuckling and guessing until the final clue.

WHAT ANGELS FEAR by C.S. Harris (Historical Mystery)
This first title in the Sebastian St. Cyr mystery series will hook you and reel you in. Accused of a heinous rape/murder, Viscount Devlin flees the authorities and takes refuge in 1811 London where he seeks to clear his name. With various allies to help him, he unravels a scheme involving French spies, political intrigue, blackmail, and greed. Evocative setting details will have you believing you’re in fog-shrouded London as you follow the hero’s adventures into disreputable alleyways and slummy inns as he searches for the killer before the man strikes again. Devlin can’t even trust his own family who harbors damaging secrets. At stake is the life of a woman he once loved and who loves him still. Can he unmask the villain, save the Regency, and avoid the hangman’s noose? Once you read this book, you’ll want to find more stories in Harris’s engaging series.

Reinvent or Die

What is the impact of the digital revolution on booksellers, librarians, and authors? A panel at the recent Florida Chapter of MWA meeting addressed this issue.

Panelists were Deborah Sharp, moderator and author of the Mace Bauer mysteries. The latest title in this humorous series is Mama Sees Stars. Other speakers included Joanne Sinchuk, manager and founder of Murder on the Beach Mystery Bookstore and current Director of the IMBA; Barbara Miller, Programs & Exhibits Coordinator from Broward County Library; and Stacy Alesi, who’s in charge of the Authors Live Program at Palm Beach Library and who blogs as the popular Book Bitch.

Stacy, Barbara, Joanne, Deborah and Neil Plakcy

Stacy, Barbara, Joanne, and Deborah

How is the industry evolving?

The speakers began by citing statistics showing the rise of ebooks in market share and in library circulation. For example, Stacy said the circulation at her library in 2009 was 542 ebooks. This increased to 11,855 ebooks in 2011. Ebooks went from 16% of total a/v materials in circulation to 73.8% in 2011. They’re not cutting back on print books in order to gain the funding to buy digital copies, but instead they purchase less audio books and music CDs for the library. Meanwhile, librarians often have to teach people how to download an ebook. Older patrons may not even know how to use a computer.

Barbara said that ebooks supplement, rather than replace, print books. And backlist titles in ebooks are popular.

Joanne remarked that it’s easier for writers to get published now, but the gatekeepers are gone.

They used to be editors and booksellers. This leads to a lack of quality control. “There’s a lot of junk out there. How does a reader plow through this?”

On the good side, 15% more indie bookstores opened last year. How can an independent bookstore survive? “You have to change with the times.” Her store does literary luncheons and runs workshops for writers at their Authors Academy. “We are constantly changing.” Joanne finds less publishers sending authors to the store for book tours, likely due to reduced budgets.

Can a self-published author get into the library?

Stacy said they have a selection policy. A book has to be reviewed in a specific list of journals, such as PW, Library Journal, Booklist, and Kirkus. Baker & Taylor is their main distributor. The Friends of the Library give them funds to buy books not on those lists, and this may include self-published works. Nor can an author donate a book for their collection. Likely it would end up in the Friends of the Library book sale.

Barbara claimed they invite local authors to speak at the library even if their book isn’t on the shelves. Ebooks go through the same selection process and are bought via Overdrive, which doesn’t take self-published works. One of the roadblocks to obtaining more books in digital format is that publishers either increase the price of ebooks, or else they’re not releasing their titles in digital editions.

Joan Johnston, a NY Times bestselling author, pointed out that a writer’s backlist might not be available in ebook because either the publisher doesn’t have the rights or else they offer to pay the author a piddling royalty and the writer refuses.

Joanne has taken to charging self-published authors a fee to do a booksigning at her store. It’s not an uncommon policy. There has to be some sort of filter, she says.

Donna Marie Mergenhagen, proprietor of Well Read Books in Fort Lauderdale, said she won’t stock books for a signing but instead sells them from the author’s stock on consignment. She’s found that indie booksellers are acting as the gatekeepers these days. If a self-published book has errors, she will not recommend it to her customers.

Another author suggested booksellers ask the self-published writer, “Who’s your editor?” before accepting their work to read. This would help weed out the bad stuff.

What about collaborative efforts?

Libraries may order books from local bookstores for an event. That way, the Friends make money if they buy the book at a discount and sell it at full price. The bookstore hands out flyers to help advertise the event, while the author shares the responsibility for publicity and for bringing in their fans. An article in the local newspaper helps draw attention to events. Announcements on Facebook can also attract readers.

A brief discussion ensued about signings with ebooks but the technology, while present, isn’t widely used yet. Plus what is the psychology of getting a book signed? Is it to meet the author in person? To make a connection? Will this meaningful interaction be the same with a digitally signed copy?

Joanne surveyed her customers as to how they decide what ebook to buy. Answers were:

1. It’s their favorite author in the print world

2. They go to B&N and browse the shelves then order the ebook

3. They read independent reviews, not the ones on Amazon

4. Word-of-mouth recommendations from friends

Then Joanne posed this question for you to answer:

What do you see as the bookseller’s role going forward in relation to authors?

The Road to Mystery Trivia

The Road to Mystery Trivia with Kathleen Kaska

Kathleen Kaska is the author the Classic Triviography mystery series, which includes The Sherlock Holmes Triviography and Quiz Book, The Alfred Hitchcock Triviography and Quiz Book, and The Agatha Christie Triviography and Quiz. All three books have just been reissued in by LL-Publications. Kathleen also writes the award-winning Sydney Lockhart mystery series set in the 1950s. Her first two mysteries, Murder at the Arlington and Murder at the Luther, were selected as bonus-books for the Pulpwood Queen Book Group, the largest book group in the country.

From Trivia to Sydney

The road from mystery trivia to Sydney Lockhart meandered, hill-climbed, and detoured. Good detours. Not linear, and with a mind of their own.

I started assembling mystery trivia to learn that craft by dissecting the work of master mystery writers Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle; and suspense filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock. I also wanted to offer something different to catch the eyes of a publisher. The trivia book idea came to me when I read an article in a writers’ magazine about the popularity of those books. The second Stephen King trivia book had just been published as well as one on Clint Eastwood and the Seinfeld TV show. Gazing up at my complete collection of Agatha Christie mysteries on my bookshelf, a cerebral light blub went on. Three months later I completed a proposal and two months after that, I had an agent. He sold the Christie trivia book in short order, and it was followed by my Alfred Hitchcock trivia book (The 100thanniversary of Hitch’s birth was right around the corner. Timing is everything.) Later came my Sherlock Holmes trivia book.             

         
Was I ready to plot my own mystery? I tried hard, attempted an outline, played around with a few settings, and worked on character development. But I couldn’t seem to create anything that resonated. Although aware of the basic plotting formula, I had a difficult time pulling things together. Focusing on what I enjoyed the most, writing travel and outdoor articles, I soon landed a staff-writer position at a local fitness and outdoor adventure magazine. Then after a couple of short-story contest awards and some nice reviews on my trivia books, it was time again to refocus.

Starting a plot outline caused an immediate knot to form in my stomach. What was the problem? I’d done outlines for my trivia books and lengthy articles, but for my first mystery? It wasn’t happening. Then my old “pal” Stephen King came to my rescue again. His “seat of the pants” method of plotting gave me a brand new perspective. Characters seemed to walk into my life and tell me their stories. All I had to do was listen. And write.

Sydney Lockhart introduced herself to me on the long drive from the Arlington Hotel in Hot Springs, Arkansas to my then-home in Austin, Texas. By the time I pulled into the driveway, I had gotten to know Sydney very well. The first hotel-setting was in place, and when I started to write, the story flowed fast and furious. I’m now on book number four, and Sydney hasn’t stopped talking.

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Website: http://www..kathleenkaska.com

Blog: http://www.kathleenkaskawrites.blogspot.com

BOOK BLURBS

Sherlock Holmes: “Kathleen Kaska has put together a wonderful mind teaser for all Sherlock Holmes aficionados. She covers it all—stories, books, the media—with lots of questions, puzzles, and trivia facts. No true Sherlockian will want to miss this grand Triviography and Quiz Book.”—Michael R. Pitts, author of Famous Detectives I, II, and III, and co-author of The Great Detective Pictures.

Agatha Christie: “Kathleen Kaska covers every aspect of the Queen of Crime’s life and career in The Agatha Christie Triviography and Quiz Book. She has packed an astonishing number of quotes, characters, plots, settings, biographical details, and pure fun into these quizzes. As Poirot might say, your “little grey cells will get the exercise!”

This book, fiendishly clever and remarkably researched, is pure gold for fans of Agatha Christie.” —Kate Stine, publisher Mystery Scene Magazine

Sherlock Holmes: A must for any fan of filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock and movie history. The quizzes are fun and challenging – and the surrounding text provides a wealth of information on the life/work of the revered filmmaker. A real treat for pop culture enthusiasts!—James Robert Parish, author of The Hollywood Book of Scandals

BUY Link: http://www.ll-publications.com/triviography.html

Writing Southern Mysteries

Malice Domestic Conference: Writing Southern Mysteries

Saturday morning at the Malice Domestic conference in Bethesda began with a New Authors Breakfast wherein two dozen newly published authors spoke briefly about their works. It was a great way to get to know these newbies and to discover interesting reads.

Writers’ conferences are often more about networking than attending workshops, but I did manage to attend three sessions. One of them was for writers by “The Poison Lady” on how to kill people using alcohol. I won’t be repeating that information here, but I’ll tell you about the other two panels for fans.

Early in the day, I greeted Dana Cameron, Charlaine Harris, Ellen Byerrum, Joanna Campbell Slan, and Neil Plakcy, among other writer friends. Besides Neil, Joanna and myself, Elaine Viets and Deborah Sharp were present from Florida MWA. We discussed marketing ideas and met new readers. I was able to display my promo materials in the hospitality suite, peruse the silent auction items, and greet booksellers in the dealers’ room.

Nancy Cohen and Dana Cameron

Live Auction

Ellen Byerrum and Hank Phillippi Ryan

Southern Mysteries Panelists

The first workshop I attended was on Southern Mysteries. Panelists were Sandra Parshall, moderator, whose mysteries are set in Virginia. Lisa Wysocky sets her series around horses. Erika Chase’s books are set in Alabama. Leann Sweeney’s cat mysteries take place in South Carolina. Christy Fifield’s haunted shop series is located in Florida. And Miranda James (aka Dean James) writes about a male librarian in Mississippi. Following are the questions posed by the moderator. Disclaimer: These interpretations are based on my notes and the paraphrasing is accurate to the best of my ability.

What is your personal connection to the South?

Miranda grew up in Mississippi in generations of farmers. He moved to Houston and went to grad school and became a librarian. Christy married a Southerner whose family comes from Alabama. Leann went to where her husband’s job took them to Texas and hopes to move to South Carolina someday. Erika loves horses and was captivated by Southern culture. Lisa moved to the South and also loves horses. “Characters in the South are wonderful fodder for mysteries.”

What is special about the South?

Leann: “What’s so wonderful about the South is there are all these secrets.” People are very polite and courteous, and they use indirect routes of speech as opposed to Northerners who say what they mean. Miranda: People in the South beat around the bush when speaking. “How many of you know the two meanings of ‘Bless your heart’?” It’s all in how you say it. Lisa: “History in the South is so much more fascinating than in the North.” Erika: “The word southern conjures the imagination, as in southern lady or southern gentleman.”

Tell us about your settings.

Lisa’s books are set in Tennessee where “many eccentric people live.” Christy’s stories are set in a small Florida town dependent on tourism. She loves the Florida Panhandle. Sandra’s mysteries take place in Virginia, while Miranda’s are set in Mississippi. Leann favors South Carolina, and Erika’s stories are centered in Alabama. Quite a variety!

How do you deal with darker issues?

Lisa approached the theme of child neglect with humor so that the humor balances the darkness. Erika doesn’t deal with any Gothic themes beyond murder. She says secrets from the past affect her characters, who help each other through them. Leann says her editor helps her balance the light and the dark. “Secrets are dangerous, and I want the reader to feel that tension throughout the book.” She often deals with dysfunctional family issues.

Christy has a main character who is a ghost. Another character is the ghost’s acquaintance, and their relationship goes back to a more turbulent time in history. She indicates how racial relationships in the South are still a fact of life there. It’s tough to balance those elements with the lightness of a cozy. Miranda likes to make the reader forget about their problems when reading his books. So he aims for a balance between real southern issues and a lighter mystery.

How do you include accents?

Miranda offers colloquial expressions and rhythm of speech instead of heavily accented speech which can be distracting to the reader. She says to be aware that certain words may be used differently. For example, do the people in a locale say cellar or basement? Erika says the flavor of interactions is more important than the words themselves.

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Later that afternoon, I was on a panel called Living with the Seven Deadly Sins: Mysteries as Modern Morality Plays. Moderated by Art Taylor, our panel included R. J. Hartlick, Carolyn Hart, Tracy Kiely, Margaret Maron, and myself. I discussed the value of relationships among the characters in a mystery and how that’s the focus of my stories. We joined other afternoon panelists at a booksigning later.

Lisa Wysocky, Maggie Toussaint, Nancy Cohen

Nancy and Tracy Kiely

Lorna Barrett and Nancy Cohen

Nancy Cohen and Jacqueline Corcoran

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Saturday night, we attended the Agatha Awards Banquet. I didn’t take pix here, too many people, and it was a long evening.

Coming Next: The New Nick and Noras: Mixing Romance and Murder

Sleuthfest: Part 1

SleuthFest Orlando 2012

I had a great time at Sleuthfest held in Orlando this year. Attendance was fabulous and everyone was friendly and eager to make new friends. The Royal Plaza worked out fine, just minutes from Downtown Disney. Aside from speaking on three panels, I attended several sessions that I will describe for you here. Day 1 began on Thursday with a special fee and workshops for aspiring authors. You could also sign up for evening events, but since we have a condo in the area, I didn’t partake of the dinner opportunities except for the final night. So beginning on Friday, here is a summary of what I learned. Any errors in interpretation or transcription are mine.

Registration Desk

THE PLOT THICKENS with Keith Thomson, Elizabeth Hand, Chris Grabenstein (moderator), Michael Wiley, Maris Soule, and John Gilstrap.

Chris uses a paradigm for screenwriters. Consider a two hour movie. Plot Point 1 is where a twist turns the film in another direction. It occurs about 30 minutes in. Act 2 is midway, at 60 minutes. Then there’s another Plot Twist at 90 minutes. He used Sister Act with Whoopie Goldberg as an example. She’s a nightclub singer who confronts her lover only to witness him getting killed by the Mob. The FBI puts her into witness protection at a convent, which is Plot Point 1. During the first half, she hates the place and wants to leave. Midway, she goes out with the nuns and has a good time. Act 2, Part 2—She’s making the best of her situation and teaching the nuns to sing in the choir. This section ends with Plot Point 2: The mobsters see her on TV. Act 3 is a chase scene where the thugs are after her. For a 50,000 word book, the plot points would come at 12,500, 25,000, and 37,500 and then a final twist at the end.

John outlines the beginning, middle, and end. He includes character development in his plotting. Changes to main characters occur slowly over the course of a multi-book canvas. In a hostage rescue tale, the kidnap victim might be the one who has a full story arc. The bad guys also need to be well motivated. What do they want? What do they have to hide? What’s at stake in the big picture?

Keith says to “concentrate on one or two fundamentals.” Get a character up a tree and then figure out how to get him down.

Michael writes a PI series set in Chicago. He devises strong beginnings and endings. Michael explained three types of plot:

1. Take two seemingly unrelated story threads and weave them together.

2. Have historical and present day dimensions that relate to each other later on.

3. Go from Point A to Point Z without any secondary story. A hostage situation or a bomb about to explode would go here. This is often the choice for thrillers.

He sets up his conflict within the first few pages rather than choosing to build it slowly. Within the first fifty pages, the reader may suspect who is the bad guy but then doubts are raised with twists and turns. Two-thirds of the way through, there’s a crisis followed by a chase. At the end is a final twist, so the bad guy might turn out to be someone else.

Elizabeth comes from a playwriting background. “Everything should come from character.” She doesn’t outline. She’ll create a memorable character and follow that character wherever he goes. She’s drawn to disturbing landscapes. “What could possibly go wrong here?” Find a place where things can happen and then put your character there. A cascade of reactions follows. Elizabeth may have two endings in mind and not know until she gets there which way the character will go. That brings an element of surprise to the story.

Maris, an art major and teacher, says “You pick up plotting from the act of having read.” She began her career in romance writing and had to write synopses as a sales tool. So she knows the beginning and end but the “middle can become the hairy thing.” She recommends Debra Dixon’s book on GMC: Goal, Motivation & Conflict and Christopher Vogler’s The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structures for Writers.

Chris recommends Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting by Robert McKee. If a scene starts positive, he says, it should end negative—and vice versa.

FAMILY TIES with Hank Phillippi Ryan (moderator), Julie Compton, Reed Farrel Coleman, Patricia Gussin, Donna Andrews, and Nancy J. Cohen.

I participated on this panel. We discussed the importance of family ties in our mysteries, and I added how this factor motivates the characters in my romances as well. It doesn’t matter if the story is set in modern day times, a historical setting, or outer space. Family is what matters to our protagonists.

Our stories center around relationships. In the mystery/suspense genre, the focus may be on the criminal’s background and what made him the way he is, the victim’s family and how the crime affects them, or the relationships among the suspects. Plus, giving your sleuth a dynamic relationship with family and friends will round her out and make her more real.

Vicki Landis, Gregg Brickman, Ann Meier, the Boa Ladies selling raffle tickets.

Coming Next: Bestselling Author Jeffery Deaver’s Luncheon Speech

Crime Writers Research

While researching my mysteries, I often need information that you can’t go around asking friends. Things like, what kind of poison will kill someone right away and is easily obtainable? How can I stage a crime scene by hanging to make it look like a suicide? What would tip off the cops that it’s foul play? Or, if a detective becomes a suspect in a murder case, is he removed from action? Often I need specific answers to help me set my scenes with as much authenticity as possible.         

Fortunately, mystery writers have a range of resources available besides your friendly cop on the local force. These are some of the sites where you can get this type of concrete information. Check out the links; they’ll lead you to more informational websites and blogs. Others are listserves you can join. Once you’re on the loop, throw out whatever question you need answered. Chances are someone will be qualified to respond.

Please share here which places you find useful in your crime scene research. And good hunting!

Crime Scene Writers at Yahoo Groups, http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/crimescenewriter
To subscribe: crimescenewriter-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

In Reference to Murder, http://www.inreferencetomurder.com/

Lee Lofland, veteran police investigator, http://www.leelofland.com/wordpress/

Mystery Writers of America, http://www.mysterywriters.org/

The Writers Forensic Blog by D.P. Lyle, MD, http://writersforensicsblog.wordpress.com/

Sisters in Crime, http://www.sistersincrime.org/

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All commenters during my February blog tour will be entered into a drawing for signed copies of Perish by Pedicure and Killer Knots. Only three more days  to enter! Be sure to stop by:

Tuesday, February 28, Killer Characters, Topic: Hair Care Q&A with Marla Shore!

Marla Shore Tells All

Hairdresser and sleuth Marla Shore is speaking today over at Dru’s Book Musings. If you’re wondering how the heroine of my Bad Hair Day Mysteries manages to juggle wedding plans, solving another murder, and running a salon, check out what she says. And if you leave a comment, you’ll be entered into a prize drawing for a free copy of “Wicked” Women Whodunit.

I’m also blogging today over at the Kill Zone on Post-Book Blues if you get a chance to hop over there, too.

Please remember to share these links with your Twitter and Facebook friends!

Happy Thanksgiving!