(Sue Grafton and my friend Carol Austin at BookPeople on August 31)

by Gale Albright

When Hopeton Hay of KAZI Book Review (88.7 FM) asked me to help him interview Sue Grafton, I was thrilled.

Then I was nervous.

Sue Grafton is big. William Holden said that to Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard. “You used to be big.” She replied, “I am big. It’s the pictures that got small.”

I digress.

Grafton was big and is still big. She penned a long-lived, successful mystery series that made her heroine, Kinsey Millhone, a household word. In literate households, at any rate. Her California female private eye novels have remained big through 24 novels. And Grafton is still penning them, even though she has only two letters of the alphabet left.

Grafton’s most recent Millhone offering, X, is a slight departure from her usual title strategy. Her first detective novel was A is for Alibi, published in 1982. Soon thereafter came B is for Burglar and C is for Corpse. You get the drift. There is a letter of the alphabet, a verb, and a noun. Now X comes along all by its lonesome. She didn’t call it X is for Xylophone, Xenophobia, Xeriscape, Xerxes, Xerox–nothing. Just X.

I received an advanced reader copy of X to read so I could prep for the interview. Along the way, I tried to figure out intelligent questions to ask.

I found out that legendary crime writer Ross Macdonald of the Lew Archer mystery novels was her inspiration for the alphabet series. I think Ross Macdonald is one of the greatest writers of all time, have read a whole bunch of his books, and believe anyone who likes Ross Macdonald has to be really smart. That gave us something in common, even though I’m not a world-renowned successful professional mystery author. Let’s not quibble.

I was trying to be nonchalant about the interview, but kept asking Hopeton Hay things like, “What should I call her?” Your Worship? Your Honor?

He said to call her “Sue.”

I read X carefully, looking for “x” clues in the manuscript. There were several. I read about Grafton’s life. I typed up questions. Finally, as I drove to the KAZI studio on August 23, I figured I was ready.

Hopeton Hay is a professional. He does interviews all the time. No doubt he sensed I was a bit jittery, so he talked me down in his soothing way. By the time we put on headphones and he called Sue Grafton, I felt reasonably human.

She answered. She was nice and informal and friendly. She didn’t sound like Gloria Swanson. She sounded like a real person. I started to relax, but I kept clutching those questions. This was being taped!

Hopeton asked her a question. Then he turned the microphone toward me. The moment of truth. I opened my mouth and hoped I didn’t sound like Minnie Mouse, a hick, or a wavery-voiced nitwit.

She was gracious. She laughed. She was pleased when I told her X reminded me in some ways of Lew Archer on the search for truth in the dark underbelly of Southern California. We were off to a good start.

I got calmer. I was getting a handle on this thing. Then I ran out of typed questions. And Hopeton kept turning that microphone toward me. I had to go unscripted. I was panic-stricken. Then I started having fun.

By the time the interview was over, I could have gone on longer. I felt like Sue Grafton was a heck of a nice person and a lot of fun to talk to.

Hopeton said the interview went well. He reminded me gently not to mutter “Uh-huh” when people were talking. He said it was a natural thing for people to do in a conversation, but on the radio it’s a bit distracting when the microphone picks it up.

And sure enough, when I heard the tape a week later, on August 30, at one (thankfully brief) point, I heard myself “uh-humming” along enthusiastically while Sue was speaking.

Live and learn. As well as learning not to “uh-huh” on radio, I learned some interesting things from Sue Grafton.

She writes five pages a day. She doesn’t count time she spends writing, just the page count. She says it’s a more accurate way to estimate output than putting a time limit on writing. She keeps writing until she gets those five pages.

She finds index cards “invaluable.” If a section of writing is muddy and difficult, she writes everything down, scene by scene on index cards, spreads them out and finds out where she went wrong.

When she spoke about increasing her male readership, she said men should realize that a book written by a woman about a woman detective is not girly stuff. “These books are not about mascara and pantyhose. It’s about kicking serious butt.”

I agree. Kinsey Millhone is into serious sleuthing and butt-kicking, not high fashion. The novels are full of movement, mystery, questions, wry humor, and scary bad guys. If you’re a man and haven’t read the alphabet series, you are in for a treat. You have 24 great books to choose from. I would start with A is for Alibi.

It’s not about G is for Gender. It’s about G is for Great Writing.

Drop by BookPeople for a copy of X

If you want to find out more about Hopeton Hay, go to

https://www.facebook.com/kazibookreview

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When it comes to writers’ conferences, it can be difficult at times to decide which one is best suited for your needs. Considerations regarding schedules, genre, speakers and panels will all come into play. There is one event, however, that stands apart from the rest because it is, by nature, completely different from the traditional writers’ conference experience.

It stands alone because it’s not a writers’ conference at all. I’ve heard it called “Disneyland for crime writers,” and after attending this year, I agree completely.

The Writers’ Police Academy offers extensive hands-on training and education for writers who wish to learn more about all aspects related to forensics and law enforcement. Want to learn how to photograph a crime scene? Learn arson investigation techniques? Chase bad guys? Learn what it’s like to go undercover in New York City? If so, there is no better place for hands-on learning than WPA.

When I arrived in Appleton, Wisconsin on the day of registration, I was greeted by sixty-five degree temperatures (thank you, thank you thank you,) and a lobby filled with other curious crime writers waiting to receive their welcome packets. The event is only one weekend but easily packs an entire week’s worth of events and education. The first evening, after registration, we were treated to Dr. Joe LeFevre’s program on 3D Crime Scene Mapping. As someone who has spent her career in the digital photography field, I was thrilled to learn one of my favorite camera manufacturers, Leica, is also a leader in providing this 3D laser technology. Joe’s program was packed with information and went until after 10pm. I was full of information and exhausted.

The next morning we traveled by bus to the Fox Valley facility. The Fox Valley Technical College Public Safety Training Center hosted this year’s WPA courses, and it truly is a fun park for crime writers. The 75- acre campus houses state of the art simulation technology, laboratories and areas designed for tactical training in all aspects of law enforcement. As I walked through the main building and out the back door, I stepped into a town. Okay, it was a fake town, but it was an impressive fake town. The campus includes a hotel, a couple of houses, a convenience store, a jet (yes, you read that right) and other buildings designed for various training exercises. At one point, a training team of officers enacted a high-speed chase with a suspect and two police cars speeding down the streets behind the buildings so we could witness different methods of police pursuit. We then had the opportunity to ask questions related to their decision-making, tactics and strategies. What an exhilarating way to start the morning!

One of the wonderful but challenging things about attending WPA is that there are several programs available in each session–and all are excellent. This is a problem in that you have some tough choices to make. We were told to pick our top three programs in each time slot because the events fill up quickly. Some programs required an early sign up and an additional (modest) fee, so if you want to try a building breach, a shoot/don’t shoot scenario, called Milo, or the firing range, you had to sign up in advance due to limited spots being available. I was fortunate in that I was able to attend most of my first picks.

John Gilstrap, bestselling author of the Jonathan Grave series, conducted a program on explosives, Bangs and Booms 101, that was equal parts informative and hilarious. Gilstrap’s sense of humor, coupled with his extensive knowledge, made his session one of my WPA favorites. Amanda Thoma, coroner for Green Lake County Coroner’s office, was another top pick with her program From Crime Scene to Autopsy. In addition to her extensive credentials, her approach to her chosen profession was one that demonstrated her enormous enthusiasm, curiosity and respect for her profession. She had the room’s rapt attention from the time she started her session until she ended, and even with several pages of notes, I know we merely scratched the surface.

Nothing takes the place of hands-on experience and nowhere is this more evident than in the field of firearms training. I was fortunate to draw a slot for the pistol shooting range, and going through the firearms training was exhilarating and intimidating. And it turns out that I’m not such a bad shot, either.

Dan Feucht’s program on Bloodstain Pattern Investigation and Techniques was one that allowed attendees the benefit of hands on experience. It was a packed class, but Dan managed the group well, allowing each of us to conduct a couple of lab tests and also taking us through how to determine trajectory based upon various bloodstain patterns. Dr. Katherine Ramsland’s program on Forensic Psychology reminded me that truth is often stranger than fiction, and understanding a person’s motives and “why people do what they do” remains a complicated and fascinating puzzle.

The Crime Scene Photography course, conducted by Dr. Joe LeFevre, provided insight into how this critical role in law enforcement can assist in understanding a crime scene as well as provide valuable tools in understanding the relationship between objects at a scene and how they fit into the larger scenario. Joe took the class through his process of photographing a scene and discussed the techniques currently employed to protect photographic data from being altered or edited in any way. Protecting the chain of custody is paramount in order for the images to be beneficial in a prosecutorial capacity. Joe, a stickler for details and process, patiently answered our litany of questions and took us through an example of how we could photograph a crime scene. Depending upon the particular case, photographing a crime scene can easily take several hours, even going through ten to twelve hours if a death is involved. It is a specialty that requires patience, a disciplined methodology and a dedication to thorough detailed examination.

New York Times bestselling author Allison Brennan had us in stitches sharing her advice on how to get research right in fiction. Her willingness to share how she gleans the key details necessary for her novels was refreshing, and it’s clear that Allison is willing to go down a rabbit hole of research to garner one or two key details for a particular story. One excellent piece of advice she offered related to how to handle an interview with an expert, such as an FBI agent. “Ask smart questions,” she says. “Don’t waste time asking questions whose answers can be found online.” She added that the FBI website, for example, provided a number of excellent resources, so do your homework first before picking up the phone or sending an email.

Karin Slaughter, the #1 internationally best-selling author of the Will Trent series, served as the keynote speaker for the WPA banquet, and she delivered a speech that, were I to try and explain it here, simply wouldn’t do it justice. Her wit is clever and fierce, and her delivery is deadpan and on target. Her speech demonstrated her prowess as a master of the spoken word as well as the written one. And yes, her next book, Pretty Girls, is on my reading list the moment it hits the stands (September 29).

Several authors I met have attended the Writers’ Police Academy more than once, and now that I have had my turn, I understand why. I hope to one day be able to attend WPA again because the hands-on aspect of this program is extremely valuable to those writing mysteries and crime fiction. Truly, there is nothing else like it, which makes it a gem in the field of writers’ conferences.

–Laura Oles

by Gale Albright

It’s early Monday morning. Actually, it’s about 8:30 Saturday night, but I’m working on this blog post ahead of time because I’ve got so much to do to get ready for the big show.

The big show, otherwise known as the book launch for Murder on Wheels, an anthology of crime stories authored by Austin Mystery Writers and friends, will take place at 7 p.m. on Tuesday night, August 11, at BookPeople.

So, pretend it’s early Monday morning and I’m setting the scene for the big show. My main thought right now is not, “Will I read beautifully in front of an audience?” or “Will there be an audience?” or “Do I need to take some crackers and cheese down there?” but should I get a manicure with (sigh) painted fingernails?

I guess Stephen King and David Baldacci don’t worry about manicures before they show up at a book launch, but what about those big-time female authors–Meg Gardiner, Sara Paretsky, Sue Grafton and so forth? I’ll bet no interviewer has ever asked them about their fingernails.

That would probably fall under the category of a sexist question that reporters sometimes ask female politicians. We’ve seen that scenario play out many times on television when dense reporters ask women candidates about their lipstick instead of their foreign policy. So, forget fingernails. One must think about relevance and art and writing routines and other lofty things, not cheese and crackers and nail polish.

I’m rambling here on Saturday night, preparing to take a shower to wash off biting insects and mosquito repellent from watering the yard in Austin’s summer inferno. It’s like walking out in the desert, complete with hot wind whipping around at 8 p.m. Why do I live here? It’s nice in the winter. Oh, and we need rain, even though we were almost flooded from too much rain in May and June. I live in an unbalanced place.

If you’ve read this far, you might be thinking, where’s the damn mystery stuff? This is just a silly jumble about nail polish, desert winds, crackers, and mosquito repellent.

Yes, you are right. I’m just a wee bit nervous about this incipient maiden book launch. Murder on Wheels has taken up much of our time and energy and creativity for the last couple of years. We’ve gone from a spark of an idea to a traditionally published book to a book launch, complete with booze, a cake–maybe something salty on the side–at BookPeople, where the big boys and girls go when they tour through Austin. It’s exciting. It’s scary. It’s a big deal, this big show.

Sometimes thinking about silly little things takes my mind off the big stuff. Has that ever happened to you? I am also trying to hydrate to prevent heat exhaustion, decide what shoes to wear, make sure everything’s washed, fix my hair and select earrings. I can handle the art and relevance and witty patter just fine. I’m not afraid of audiences. Show me an audience and I will go into an improvisational routine at the drop of a hat. I learned to do that at a tender age when I sang and danced for ladies at my aunt’s beauty shop in East Texas. I was the entertainment and did fancy patter, dance steps, and songs for bubble gum.

But what will they think about my nail polish?

Who are these folks? (clockwise) Kaye George, Laura Oles, Scott Montgomery, Kathy Waller, Gale Albright, Valerie Chandler, Reavis Wortham, Kaye George, Earl Staggs–the eight writers who made Murder on Wheels what it is. And Kaye George is in there twice because it was her idea in the first place.

 

 

 

In the movie, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Harrison Ford is tasked with locating the authentic Holy Grail from a crowded cave filled with imitations. “Choose wisely,” he is counseled by the knight standing beside him. “While the true Grail will bring you life, the false Grail will take it from you.” The knight then glances at a skeleton nearby and adds, “He chose…poorly.”

That’s good advice.

It applies not only to the dangerous deeds surrounding recovering rare artifacts while nefarious foes trail closely behind, it also applies to many more practical aspects of life. For writers, one choice that should be carefully considered is that of a writer’s group. There are countless stories of how an early work, in the wrong hands, can mean a great deal of discouragement and heartache. It can even derail a project indefinitely.

While attending a family wedding this summer, I met a woman who had just finished a draft of a novel, historical fiction, that she had labored over for some time. She had traveled to do the appropriate research, invested a great deal of time deciding how the story should unfold, and persevered until she typed the words ‘The End.’

And then she handed it over to someone she knew.

This man quickly tore her story apart and did so in such a way that it crushed her. She didn’t have the energy to go back to the story and now doubted herself and what she had created. The manuscript sat untouched. The man may have had good intentions or he may have been a self-centered ass. I can’t claim that knowledge. All I could see was the result. Here was a woman with multiple degrees, substantial talent and passion, and now she had put the book aside, seeing the novel as a failure.

We talked though her concerns and it was clear her novel was interesting and unique. My job, I felt, at that point, was to let her know it was completely okay to ignore his ‘advice’ and to trust herself in this process. That can be a tough thing when writers are just starting out in the world. So many are looking for expert advice, that perfect formula to publication, that magic bullet–to the point where we drown out our own voice as the price paid for such counsel. Don’t do it. Don’t trade your vision for someone else’s.

That’s not to say that writers shouldn’t take advice on how to improve a story. Each writer should certainly seek review. What I am saying is that you should choose those people VERY carefully, especially in the beginning stages when you are so emotionally tied to your work and are in a more delicate state. So, find support for your work and get feedback, but be selective as to whom you allow into your inner circle.

I feel that our group, Austin Mystery Writers, is a true treasure in that each one of us sincerely wants the others to succeed. We offer critiques, suggestions and opinions regarding each work in progress, but we do it in a way that is respectful and helpful. We will debate ideas, ask questions and then decide how to use that input. Sometimes we apply it to our stories and sometimes we ignore it. The choice is ours and is supported by the others at the table.

A critique group can be an important part of a writer’s life and I encourage each writer to find her own small trusted tribe to give feedback. Yes, you need to have some thick skin because your project needs work. It falls down in places and you need others to point those areas out so you can address them and improve the story. The key is to be deliberate as to who will be part of your inner circle, especially in the early stages. They will help toughen your hide, to take criticism graciously and to use it for its best purpose. They won’t tear your work down to feed their own egos. Instead, they will chip away at the weak spots so you your story’s foundation will be stronger.

Choose wisely.

And if you choose poorly, don’t be afraid to start over and choose again. Trust yourself to find your tribe. Because you will.

–Laura Oles 

The term “unreliable narrator” has been circulating widely (and sometimes pretty loosely) since Wayne Booth published The Rhetoric of Fiction, in 1961. The idea is superficially paradoxical: Our only access to a fictional world is through the eyes of the narrator. How can we know better than to believe what the narrator says?

In a way, we can’t. We have to accept the “facts” of a story as given. Generally, the unreliability has to do with interpretations and conclusions. The recipe for the unreliable narrator is to present observable actions and dialogue, then have the narrator interpret them, either in dialogue or in thought.

In The Turn of the Screw, for example, the “facts” of the story, as given to us by the governess-narrator, are that the governess sees the ghost of the dead man Quinn, while the housekeeper and the children say they don’t see him. Is the narrator delusional?

She says not. She asks us to believe that the children are lying and the ghost is deliberately not appearing to the housekeeper. She bases her beliefs on very subtle cues. It is impossible not to question her inference (and her sanity)—but who knows? Maybe she’s right!

Lesley Kagen’s narrator, ten-year-old Sally, in Whistling in the Dark, is unreliable because she’s young. When she hears that her daddy is a lush, she looks the word up in the dictionary and concludes, endearingly, that he is luxurious—like chocolate cake. A gap opens between Sally’s understanding and ours.

Kagan’s novel has a thrilling premise: this unprotected child has suspicions about adults at a time when a child-killer is on the loose in her town. Her innocence makes her vulnerable, and we are all the more fearful for her because of that.

Narrators are characters, and like anybody else, they may be naïve, biased, forgetful, irrational or downright insane. Any one of these traits can make the narrator the kind of person whose perception you might second-guess.

The narrator of The Girl on the Train is an alcoholic, and that compromises her credibility as a narrator. Sometimes she can’t remember what she’s done. And sometimes she is so overwhelmed by self-loathing that she cannot perceive others clearly. Here again, the narrator’s flawed perception ramps up the sense of danger.

In some of the best mysteries, the narrator (or viewpoint character) is unreliable in yet another sense—the detective is obtuse! If the author “plays fair” in a mystery, the solution is revealed in clues before the detective figures it out. The reader has a chance to solve the mystery.

The detective, though otherwise portrayed as smart and observant, draws false conclusions along the way, spins false theories, suspects one wrong person after another, until that light bulb moment when the mystery is solved. The reader, thus distracted, doesn’t see the solution before the revelation at the end. You could make a case that mystery works best when the narrator is unreliable but the reader doesn’t know it.

I was actually surprised when the main character of my own book was first labeled an unreliable narrator. She lies to other characters, so it’s fair to call her a liar, but she never once lies to the reader in narration.

She does, however, keep a momentous secret hidden throughout the entire book, while parading it in front of the reader’s eyes. The trick for her was to set up the reader’s assumptions, then to remain silent. For me the challenge was to play fair (and I did).

Elizabeth Buhmann is the Author of Lay Death at Her Door. An old mystery comes unsolved when the man who was convicted of it is exonerated.