Why Read When You Know the End?

July 21, 2014August 25, 2014 / Austin Mystery Writers / Leave a comment

Whether you’re reading Mystery, Romance, Thriller, or Adventure, the ending is almost always predictable. We hope the bad guy will be caught, the couple that’s at odds with each other will come together, the deadly virus won’t kill everyone on Earth, and the hero will complete his quest.

So why do we read these books? I think it’s because of three things.

We love a good story. I think the human brain is wired for stories. For millennia that’s how we’ve passed down our history, folklore, and myths.
photo by Irish_Eyes

I believe it’s almost like a form of magic or time travel. Our minds are transported to another place. We are immersed in the story and feel for the characters. And if the writing is really good, you get a sense that you know the characters personally. I mean really, how cool is that?

We like the ritual. It can be comforting to know how the story will end. Everyone loves a hero and likes to root for the underdog. (Of course some heroes are anti-heroes. Not very likeable but they get the job done.)
Photo by krosseel

We like coming of age stories and romance because good prevails and we get to believe in true love. It’s also comforting to know that the bad guy will be caught. It’s something to hold onto in an uncertain world.

3. We like the journey and the tingly excitement of uncertainty. We’re in it for the ride. We like to see how the clues will unfold, how the problems will be solved. We’re often surprised with twists and turns, just like on a roller coaster. “Holy moly! Now what’s going to happen?” And, of course, what often keeps us on the edge of our seats is knowing that possibly not all of the characters we’ve come to love will make it to the end. That little bit of uncertainty keeps me turning pages!

So, as with most things in life, it’s the journey, not the destination, that’s important. Hopefully we’ve learned a little something along the way, (maybe a new survival skill!), become reacquainted with an archetype, and been along for a fun ride, twists and turns and all. It’s a magic that keeps us coming back for more.

Posted by VP Chandler

VP Chandler

From Writer to Author

July 16, 2014August 25, 2014 / Austin Mystery Writers / 1 Comment

Are you writing a novel? Hoping someday to be published?

For most of us, writing, revising and polishing a manuscript is the work of many months or even years. But there are a number of things you can start doing right now, while you’re finishing your book, to improve your chances for making the leap from writer to published author.

Study the craft of writing fiction. It’s never-ending. Read books, take classes, attend workshops and conferences, explore the internet.

Here’s a list of some of my favorite books on writing:

The Art of War for Writers, by James Scott Bell
Characters & Viewpoint, by Orson Scott Card
Immediate Fiction, by Jerry Cleaver
How to Write a Damn Good Novel, by James N. Frey
The Art of Fiction, by John Gardner
Writing Mysteries (MWA), Sue Grafton, ed.
On Writing, by Stephen King
Bird by Bird, by Annie Lamott
The First Five Pages, by Noah Lukeman
Manuscript Makeover, by Elizabeth Lyon
Writing the Breakout Novel (or The Fire in Fiction), by Donald Maass
Story, by Robert McKee
Don’t Murder Your Mystery, by Chris Riorden
Techniques of the Selling Writer, by Dwight Swain
Description, by Monica Wood
Beginnings, Middles, and Ends, by Nancy Kress

Classes and workshops are available in the Austin area from UT Informal Classes, Writer’s League of Texas, and Sisters in Crime. Margie Lawson offers intense online courses and excellent lectures for download.

A good list of resources for writers can be found on Kimberly Giarratano’s website (Kim is the author if a great YA book called Grunge Gods and Graveyards).

Join the writing community, locally, nationally, and online. It’s worth the investment to join associations like Sisters in Crime, Writer’s League, Romance Writers of America, and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. Make friends at those classes, conferences, workshops!

Find a crit group or critique partner: You need beta-readers who are writers, not just friends and family. But be careful to work only with people who help and support you. Walk away from negativity. Learn to give and receive feedback. Sisters in Crime recently gave a great workshop on etiquette for critique groups–you can read about it in next month’s SinC newsletter, Hotshots.

Enter contests: Writer’s League, Houston Writer’s Guild, Southwest Writers, RWA, and even Amazon all have annual contests. If the judging is good, you’ll win! 😉

Read in and out of your genre, but especially in your genre. Some say you need to read 300 books published in the last five years in your genre! That’s a tall order. I can’t say I’ve done it.

Begin thinking about your brand (Google that!), your website, and (maybe) your blog. I believe that a good photo is an important investment—especially for those of us who are habitually camera-shy. So much of the book business is conducted online. You need a face.

Use social media like Facebook and Twitter to support your writing. Don’t wait until your book comes out to start. Remember that agents and publishers—and eventually your fans—will Google you.

Start preparing now to step out as the next hot best-selling debut AUTHOR!

Elizabeth Buhmann is the author of Lay Death at Her Door.

The One Question that Changed My Approach to Writing

July 12, 2014August 25, 2014 / Austin Mystery Writers / 2 Comments

By Laura Oles

What’s the answer?

While attending a recent Writer’s League of Texas course, Karleen Koen, the talented historical novelist and our instructor, asked a question so simple yet so important, it changed my approach to writing.

“What is the one thing you wish you had known earlier about writing?”

After sitting silently with the question for a few minutes, the answer came to me, and its appearance brought with it contrasting pangs of relief and sadness.

“I wish I had understood earlier the importance of touching my project every day.”

Like many working on a novel (or two), I have several legitimate reasons for not connecting with my work each day. We’re all juggling jobs, kids (who play a maddening number of sports!), community activities and the daily grind of household chores. We have a hundred reasons why we can’t get to our novel in progress, and these are darn good reasons, too.

But…

These excuses offer little comfort when we realize our page count remains in the same stuck location each week. I know– I’ve been there–carrying the disappointment of wanting to create and yet unable to figure out how to fit it into my daily routine. I struggle with this issue and I’m a working writer in the photographic industry, so I do write each day.

I write a lot.

But not fiction.

And therein lies the problem.

I would lump my writing time into the same space, not realizing that fiction writing and nonfiction writing each needed to have a distinct time slot, a specific area in my mind and in my day. My client work always takes priority, because it has to, but I would then fail to figure out how to protect a separate space for fiction.

Jerry Seinfeld, when asked in an interview about he managed to write so much material in a short period of time, stated that it’s not how much you write but how often. I think this advice stretches across all forms of writing. It’s better to touch your project for fifteen minutes than not at all because each tiny effort creates a modicum of momentum, and momentum is a powerful force in getting to THE END.

I can’t profess my mastery of this skill because, although I’ve been far better at fitting in fiction, I still have off days (sometimes several in a row) and it takes me longer to find that groove. Once I find it, I am more resolved to keep going. And then real life intervenes once again.

For me, smaller steps are best. When I have ideas of cranking out 2,000 words in a stretch, I set myself up for failure. Some random event will conspire to cut into my writing time so that finishing 500 words feels like a failure. My goal for the remainder of the year is to be small but consistent in my efforts, and I mark an X on my calendar for each day that I’ve worked on my fiction. Seeing those Xs add up is a cheap trick to help me keep that momentum. I’ll take whatever I can get during those days when kids are going all directions and work is piling up. I remind myself that small steps matter, they all add up to a finished draft. I know because I’ve done it.

What about you? How do you make time to write when daily life seems destined to keep you from creating?

When Books Were Love

June 30, 2014August 25, 2014 / Austin Mystery Writers / 4 Comments

by Gale Albright

Aunt Marjorie Nell was a big fan of mine.

That’s why I figure she may have embellished stories about my alleged brilliance when I was a tot. She taught me to read when I was just three years old, because I told her “I want to read like you do, Jaumie.”

She was thirteen years old when I was born and she spent every minute away from school taking care of me. She was the only one I allowed to wash my hair (without squalling), and apparently, teach me to read.

I don’t know if I was really that young when I learned to read. I think Aunt Marjorie gave me too much credit, but I learned early and fast. I loved words. All kinds of words. I talked them, sang them, heard them on the radio. I found them in conversations and I found them in books.

Books were magic. Books were love. Books meant I was sitting on Jaumie’s lap while she read to me with her gentle East Texas twang. They took me to magic, foreign places while I was cuddled and safe with my biggest fan.

When I got big enough to read books by myself, I rode my bicycle to the Carnegie Library in Tyler, Texas. I loved the smell of the library. There was a sun-dappled holiness about the place. People spoke in hushed whispers as light streamed through the windows, illuminating the ivy plants perched on the windowsills.

Books—their touch, their smell, their heft–meant I was immersed a safe, happy place where you could fly to the moon; go on adventures with Freddy, the talking pig; witness the struggles of Black Beauty; go on the run with Tom Canty down the mean streets of Tudor London; and travel with Doctor Dolittle.

Fast-forward about a million years or Time Marches On.

My lifetime love affair with books turned me into a true Luddite, scoffing at electronic readers, literally clasping hard copies of books to my heaving bosom, filled with the sweetness of self-righteous indignation. I swore, repeatedly, that never would any &%$*# electronic reading device darken my door (you get my drift).

Until I listened to Mindy Reed speak about containers versus content.

Ms. Reed was the featured speaker at the June 8 Sisters in Crime: Heart of Texas program on current publishing trends. The meeting place was Recycled Reads, a part of the Austin Public Library. Recycled Reads keeps books and other materials out of landfills once libraries have weeded them from their shelves. It is part of Austin’s Zero Waste Initiative.

Ms. Reed, Recycled Reads manager, librarian, editor, and co-proprietor of The Authors’ Assistant, said readers have had a “romance with the book. There’s a romantic connection with books–we love them. But you can’t love all of the many donations of bestsellers that go out of style.”

The store recycles between twelve and fifteen tons of material a month. It has recycled 865 tons in the six years since its inception. How, you may ask, do we get so many recycled books?

According to Ms. Read, look to the New York Times bestseller list. Publishers strong-arm book stores to pre-order books. The list is based on the numbers of pre-orders sent out to stores. Some are sold. Many others are remaindered, resulting in a colossal waste of resources. These publishing practices make a negative impact on the environment. It is a bad, old-fashioned distribution mode for books

Ms. Read pointed to a display of plastic cups, glasses, coffee cups, etc. assembled on a table in front of the audience. “If you are thirsty, you want water. You don’t care if you get it from a fountain, bottle, or glass. They all contain water that will quench your thirst. Think of that when you talk about the rise of the digital age in publishing. Does all of that need to be put in this type of container? It’s about content as opposed to container.”

I do have a romance with the book. The sight, feel, and smell of books trigger endorphins, for all I know. I associate them with escape, peace, and happiness.

E-readers don’t exercise that special magic, but they do have what kept me coming back to books all those years ago. The stories. Or, as Mindy said, content versus container.

I thought I would never give in, but I have decided (one of these days soon) to buy an e-reader. Can e-books help save the planet by making less waste for us to pour into landfills? Yes. Is that important? Yes.

I don’t feel romantic about e-readers, but, when you’re thirsty, do you care if you drink your water from a crystal goblet, bucket, dipper, or paper cup? The first priority is to get some water. Or some words.

If using e-readers will help save the planet, I can do my part by giving back some love to the universe instead of extra trash.

Where Do You Find Hope?

June 23, 2014September 21, 2016 / Austin Mystery Writers / 3 Comments

Posted by Kathy Waller

*****

“This isn’t a kindergarten for amateur writers. I’m sorry, Mr Kipling, but you just don’t know how to use the English language.” ~ Rejection from the editor of the San Francisco Examiner to Rudyard Kipling

*****

What makes a successful writer?

Aside from a working knowledge of the language and a certain amount of talent, answers generally include persistence, organization, initiative, professionalism, practice, vision, confidence, tolerance for criticism and rejection, vision, confidence, self-discipline, resilience, motivation, creativity, empathy, patience, courage, flexibility . . . Well, it’s a long list.

But Ralph Keyes, in The Writers’ Book of Hope, says aspiring writers need two basic things: a knowledge of how the publishing industry works, and hope.

Publishing has changed considerably since Keyes’ book was published just over ten years ago, and the Internet has made it easier to find what beginning writers want to know.

Hope is a different matter. There’s plenty of pessimism and discouragement out there. Where does a writer seeking publication acquire hope?

In my experience, much of it comes from other writers.

Last month I spent a Saturday morning in a class sponsored by the Writers’ League of Texas and taught by novelist Karleen Koen. I first met Karleen three years ago, when she taught at the WLT Summer Writing Retreat, and I’ll see her again at the WLT retreat this August. Last month’s class was a “sneak peek” at the August class: “The Damned Rough Draft: Reframing and Reimagining Your Novel in Its Beginning Stages.”

I’m not the only one of Karleen’s students who keeps coming back for one more course. She’s a good teacher. What she knows, she shares. She also acknowledges both the highs and the lows of her own writing life. (The title of this year’s class–“The Damned Rough Draft”–is evidence of her empathy with students.)

Karleen doesn’t promise the people sitting in her classes will become novelists, but she makes the possibility come alive. She is generous. She offers hope.

Who are other hope-givers?

Members of Austin Mystery Writers, and similar groups, who read and critique thirty to fifty pages every week. Beta readers, who go through entire manuscripts–hundreds of pages–to offer criticism. Strangers who read blog posts and Like or Reblog or Tweet or leave comments. All readers who tell the truth–both positive and negative–in a way that says, “I believe in you. Keep writing.”

It’s your turn now, writers: Who gives you hope?

Writing to Music

June 16, 2014August 25, 2014 / vpchandler / 4 Comments

I think the writing process fascinates writers and non-writers alike. There seem to more questions asked of writers about it than anything else. “Where do you get your ideas? Do you have a writing schedule? Do you have a special workspace?”

When writers congregate over the communal coffeepot, we talk about these things too.

One of the questions I like to ask is, “Do you listen to music when you write?”

I asked file3551243435174 this on Facebook and Twitter the other day and here are some of the responses I got. I was curious to see what the answers would be, and if they were similar for writers within the same genre.

Mystery/Thriller –

Gale Albright – I don’t listen to anything if I can help it. I prefer quiet when I’m writing. I am writing EVA in a definite time period, the Great Depression in East Texas in the early thirties. I have thought that maybe I should get some music (probably from the library) of popular songs played on the radio during the Depression, plus old-time church music, etc. I could listen to set the mood. I don’t know if I could write with it on. I haven’t done it, so I could try it as an experiment.

Steve Freeman – Not usually. If I do, though, it has to be instrumental or it’s too disruptive. I usually listen to Hans Zimmer.

Fiction:

Brianna Soloski – I have a play list of songs I never get tired of hearing. As for type…Billy Joel, Carly Rae, Jepsen, Train, and more.

Romance:

Michelle Hughes: If it wasn’t summer I would. Right now I get to listen to screaming. LOL

History –

Jeff Kerr – No

Historical Fiction –

Jeri Westerson – Yup. I like to listen to medieval music or soundtracks to medieval-themed movies while I write… Some of the worst movies have produced some great soundtracks.

Kim Bullock – I have to have silence. This is not always easy to come by.

Fantasy/Sci-fi –

Tonia Marie Harris – I listen to certain music when I’m writing or revising. For my current book, I’ve found myself listening to … post-industrial like Tool or Portishead, but I like classical pieces like Lakme’s The Flower Duet….Living in a tiny house with three kids, three animals, and babysitting full-time, playing music on low helps me focus, rather than detract from my work.

Vaughn Roycroft – Three words. Dead Can Dance.

JC Cassels – I listen when percolating. I use music to set the mood… I bought some royalty free soundtrack music that I listen to while plotting. It helps with pacing the action scenes.

Marta Pelrine-Bacon – Often, but not always. I listen to music appropriate for what I’m writing as if the scene is a movie.

Freelance/Essays/Other –

Katherine Wolbrink- Never. I find it way too distracting. But I have the attention span of a toddler, so…

Patrick Thunstrom – …I listen to trance, techno, metal, or some form of rock, with the occasional foray into classical. I have a “get pumped” list that is fun.

Joel B. Matuszczak – I write about things that happened to me, so I often listen to the music that I listened to during whatever phase of my life that I’m writing about. My taste in music, like the rest of my life, has changed a lot over the years…

Roberta Schirado – Instrumental jazz. The beat seems to focus my attention.

Kit Frazier – Yes, and sometimes I have a movie playing in the background…

I used to listen to movie soundtracks while writing. I found I couldn’t listen to anything with lyrics, especially if I was writing dialogue. I even created a personalized station on Pandora I named, Music for Writing. It’s composed of movie/video game soundtracks. Most are by Hans Zimmer (I love HZ!). It’s great for setting the mood when I’m thinking and plotting tension and action. When I’m thinking about my Texas historical fiction, I listen to the soundtrack to Lonesome Dove. It works for me every time. But once I sit down to write, I have to turn it all off. I’ve found I need to focus on the words and I already have too many other things swirling around my head.

So there you have it, a totally unscientific survey of a few writers and their music/writing habits. My conclusions? I guess it depends more on the individual’s personality and not the genre. That and, I feel old because I don’t know who some of these groups are or even the type of music!

Thank you to my writing friends who answered my questions and let me use their answers.

VP Chandler

Classic Summer Reads

June 9, 2014August 17, 2015 / Austin Mystery Writers / 2 Comments

Love the summer, and it’s finally here! Summer means sun block, sassy water and a good book. To me a great summer read (or poolside or hammock book) has a dreamy setting, romance, suspense, mystery and adventure. I like substance, too—I don’t want a light, forgettable story, but one that will stick with me for a while and challenge me.

On just such a bay in Cornwall, Rebecca De Winter drowned.

Sometimes I browse the bestseller lists for the latest beach book, but I like to read the best of the past, too. Here’s a short list of classic summer reads. Two are extremely famous and two are relatively obscure. The latter two are free for your Kindle!

Rebecca, Daphne Du Maurier’s 1938 Gothic romance, is an archetypal suspense novel with all the right ingredients. Manderley is probably the most famous mansion in all of fiction, and Maxim de Winter is the perfect brooding, rich, handsome romantic hero with a mysterious and tragic past. The climax is a real nail-biter. If you’ve already read Rebecca (like a few million other people), you can try the less well-known Progress of Julius, also a great beach read.

Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov, ignited a firestorm when it was first published in the US in 1958. The subject is controversial, the style is highly subjective, and the book is often listed as one of the best English-language novels of the 20^th century—if not one of the best novels ever written in any language, period.

Youth, by Joseph Conrad

Summer is a novella by the great American author Edith Wharton. First published in 1917, it starts out with all the promise of a fine and atmospheric romance: a young girl living in a remote New England village meets a mysterious young man from the larger world. A romance follows, but it bears no resemblance to the modern genre. Rather, it is a stark, unflinching work of literary genius that will haunt you.

Youth, by Joseph Conrad, is also a novella. Just 70 pages, it will carry you off on a desperate and epic voyage through storms and vast emptiness at sea. Sail from London to Bangkok on the barque Judea—Do or Die! Just reading it is a magnificent adventure, and it’s short enough to finish in a single summer afternoon.

Enjoy the sunny weather! And don’t forget to take a good book with you to the beach.

Elizabeth Buhmann is the author of Lay Death at Her Door, a mystery/suspense novel about an old murder that comes unsolved when the man who was convicted of it is exonerated.

A Good Time Was Had by All

June 2, 2014August 25, 2014 / Austin Mystery Writers / 5 Comments

By Gale Albright

There was much happiness on display at the tenth annual Barbara Burnett Smith Aspiring Writers Event (BBSAWE) on May 18 at Recycled Reads in Austin. People were talking, laughing, eating, exchanging e-mail addresses and phone numbers, eating, reading out loud, giving gifts, taking pictures–did I say eating?

The BBSAWE was created in the spring of 2005, after the tragic death of Ms. Smith, who was a published cozy mystery author. She was past president (International 1999-2000) of Sisters in Crime and was known for her helpfulness to other writers. Dynamic, energetic, and talented, her loss was greatly mourned by her family and the Austin writing community. To honor her memory, the Barbara Burnett Smith Mentoring Authors Foundation was dedicated in her honor to support and provide a mentoring community for aspiring mystery writers.

Every year Sisters in Crime: Heart of Texas chapter calls for submissions of the first 500 words of a mystery story or novel from unpublished authors. The aspiring writers are then matched up with published mystery authors for mentoring.

This tenth BBSAWE was a joyous occasion. Six mentors and seven aspiring writers were introduced to the audience. The writers read aloud the synopses and first 500 words of their submissions. We were treated to a diverse and imaginative display of literary talent.

W.D. Smith, son of Barbara Burnett Smith and head of her foundation, presented certificates to mentors and aspiring writers, as well as copies of his mother’s mystery novels. Russ Hall, prolific mystery writer and all-around Sisters in Crime volunteer, spoke about mentoring, calling on his long-term experience at the job.

“In life, you will realize there is a role for everyone you meet. Some will test you, some will use you, some will love you, and some will teach you. But the ones who are truly important are the ones who bring out the best in you. They are the rare and amazing people who remind you why it’s worth it. I’m not telling you it’s going to be easy. I’m telling you it’s going to be worth it.”

After readings were completed and gifts awarded, we adjourned to enjoy a bountiful feast of fresh fruit, raw vegetables with dip, lovely finger sandwiches and wraps, crackers, cheese, and hand-crafted desserts.

It was inspiring to see people socializing after the program, doing the aforementioned laughing, talking, conferring, and eating. Writers were networking and making plans to start critique groups.

The event took several months of work and planning to put together, but to echo Russ Hall, it was worth it. I’m looking forward to the eleventh annual BBSAWE.

Following is a list of mentors, aspiring writers and their biographies:

Elizabeth Buhmann mentored Sue Cleveland and Dixie Evatt for Shrouded.

Elizabeth Buhmann is originally from Virginia and lived several years abroad while growing up. She graduated magna cum laude from SmithCollege, Northampton, Massachusetts, and has a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Pittsburgh. For twenty years she worked for the Texas Attorney General as a researcher and writer on criminal justice and crime victim issues. Her first novel, Lay Death at Her Door, (Red Adept Publishing) reached the Amazon Top 100 bestseller list (paid Kindle) in 2013. She is currently working on her new mystery, A Monster in the Garden. Elizabeth now lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband, dog and two chickens. She is an avid gardener, loves murder mysteries, and has a black sash in Tai Chi.

Sue Cleveland was born in a hunting lodge in England. She is a widely traveled writer and award-winning artist. A member of SCBWI, Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime and Writers’ League of Texas, Sue is eagerly awaiting the publication of her short story, “Decoy,” in Minerva Rising Literary Journal. She hopes to find a home for several manuscripts: Shrouded, which she wrote with Dixie Evatt, and two middle-grade mysteries.

Dixie Evatt has more than 35 years professional experience in news reporting and public relations, including experience in political and government affairs. Dr. Evatt also taught at Syracuse University, Baylor University and The University of Texas at Austin. Her academic publications include a book about communication practices of small enterprises called Thinking Big. Staying Small. Although they’ve yet to be published, she and her writing partner, Sue Cleveland, have completed two mysteries and are working on a third. One takes place in Egypt, one in Italy and another in the Southwest. They make it a point to travel to each location for research.

Susan Rogers Cooper mentored Lindsay Carlson for The Origami Murders.

Susan Rogers Cooper has been a published mystery writer since 1988 and has had a total of 26 books published. She’s garnered rave reviews and was nominated for an Edgar. Her newest E.J. Pugh mystery, Gone in a Flash, is available now, and a new Milt Kovak will be out in the fall, entitled Countdown. Her back list is now being uploaded to e-books.

Lindsay Carlson currently splits her time between being a legal drug dealer (aka pharmacist) and a writer. In her “free time,” she feeds her fortune cookie addiction and collects books to add to her to-read pile, which currently is taller than she is.

Helen Ginger mentored Shelby O’Neill for Truth or Dare.

Helen Ginger is an author, freelance editor, and book consultant. Her first fiction book, Angel Sometimes, won a USA Best Book Award and her new mystery, Dismembering the Past, is coming out soon. Actively involved in the writing community, Helen was the Executive Director of the Writers’ League of Texas from 2003-2005. Currently, she serves as a Committee Chair for the Texas Book Festival. In February of 2012, Helen took over as the Coordinator of Story Circle Network’s Editorial Services.

Shelby O’Neill is a writer and editor who lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband and their two pets. Her first novel is currently a quarter-finalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest, and she is hard at work on her second book, a teen cyber-stalking mystery.

Jan Grape mentored Jane Shaughness for The Invisible Detective.

Former owner of Mysteries & More bookstore in Austin, Texas, Anthony and Macavity Award-winner Jan Grape’s first mystery novel Austin City Blue was nominated for best first novel at Bouchercon 2002. Dark Blue Death is the second in her Zoe Barrow mystery series set in Austin about a female police officer. Found Dead in Texas is Jan’s first short story collection. She wrote a stand-alone called What Doesn’t Kill You and co-edited two anthologies with R. Barry Flowers, American Crime Writers League, Murder Here Murder There and Murder Past Murder Present and has a short story in each. She is currently finalizing her books for Kindle and Nook.

Jane Shaughness retired from the University of Texas at Austin in 2013 where she had worked for almost thirty years in the areas of student affairs, architecture, and most recently, compliance and ethics. Last fall, after giving herself six months of “free” time in which she entirely overscheduled herself with volunteer work, Jane began to work seriously on her mystery novel. In addition to writing fiction, Jane enjoys writing for her blog “55 AND COUNTING . . .” where she highlights free events in Austin of interest to the literary autodidact. Jane lives in Hyde Park with her husband, her two dogs, Jake and Champion, and her cat Pumpkin.

Russ Hall mentored Alex Ferraro for Ramona.

Russ Hall is author of more than a dozen books and co-author of numerous other books, as well as short stories and articles. He has been an editor for major publishing companies, ranging from Harper & Row (now HarperCollins), Simon & Schuster, to Pearson. He lives in Lago Vista, where he hikes, fishes, and tends a herd of deer that visit daily to peep in the office window and help with the writing.

Alex Ferraro was born in Denver, Colorado. At the age of five, he stole a horse and rode to Texas, where he has lived ever since. In 2011, he graduated from The University of Texas at Austin with a dual degree in business and drinking. When he isn’t writing or watching entirely too much TV, he performs standup comedy in and around Austin. He also co-hosts a podcast about writing called Do the Write Thing, which can be found on iTunes and at WriteThingPodcast.com

Caroline Shearer mentored Eileen Dew for Invisible in Austin.

Caroline A. Shearer is the creator of Absolute Love Publishing. A bestselling author, Caroline’s popular books include, Dead End Date, the first book in the Adventures of a Lightworker metaphysical mystery series. In addition to her own projects, she founded Spirited Press, an assisted self-publishing imprint that operates under the umbrella of Absolute Love Publishing. Spirited Press supports authors in sharing their own messages with the world.

Eileen Dew is a former English teacher who writes about mother-daughter relationships which are unique and yet the same, regardless of the time or the location.

Writing is often a solitary endeavor. Working alone for long stretches of time can take a toll on us and on our work. We spend too much time chatting with our imaginary friends and not enough time with our real ones.

This is one of the reasons I believe attending a writers’ conference is so important. When you spend stretches of time in your own imagination, plotting where your perp should hide a body or debating how your protagonist will emerge victorious from her latest dilemma, it’s important to get out among others who share your love and frustration for the craft that is crime fiction

Malice Domestic 2014 was my choice this year, in part, because I had attended in 2013 and found the people enthusiastic and welcoming. I also wanted to cheer on our friend and Austin Mystery Writers member, Kaye George, who was nominated for an Agatha for her novel Death in the Time of Ice. While I have attended a few other conferences over the years, Malice Domestic is the first one that I attended that brings together both readers and writers. Many of the panels were directed toward reader questions, although I gleaned important tips designed to help me improve my craft as well. Overall, the experience focused more on the shared love of mysteries and the opportunity to discuss the many facets of why we love this genre.

We are members of the same tribe.

The conference sessions ranged in topics from the role of outsiders in mysteries to how to
balance murder and humor and mysteries to mysteries set on different continents. Perhaps one of my favorite sessions was Dr. Max Houck’s Crime Lab Gab. A favorite from last year’s Malice Domestic, he returned this year to share more insight into his daily life as the director of D.C.’s Department of Forensic Sciences. With a sense of humor twisted perfectly to fit the rest of us in the room, Houck provided an inside peek into what it’s like to oversee cases ranging from food poisoning to contagious diseases to the realities of processing a crime scene.

It ain’t pretty, people.

Dr. Houck tells us “your house is far cleaner than you know. However dirty you think your home is, it isn’t. It’s just fine.” He then shares a story of walking through the front door of a crime scene to find a hoarder’s home filled with piles of trash. And a body.

And farm animals.

Yes, farm animals in the living room.

So, ignore the dusting this week. You’re good.

Houck also discusses the prickly issue of DNA as it is used in fiction and on television. Unlike contemporary TV shows that produce forensic DNA results quicker than a fashion model denounces dessert, the reality is that the average DNA turnaround time is 78 days. That’s right–over two months. This is due mostly to backlogs, with crime labs working at 200% or higher capacity. So, Houck advises that it’s fine to play with the timeline when it comes to referring to DNA in fiction but he pleads with us to put in the effort to make it feel authentic. He also tipped his hat to Jan Burke, who he feels is one of the most accurate authors handling the topic of forensic science.

One of Houck’s most compelling comments still sticks in my mind. “Anybody will do anything to anyone, given the right conditions.” It was a cautionary comment, a reminder that his experience has taught him that even the most virtuous among us might be pushed over the edge, given the Perfect Storm of circumstances. It is certainly the launching point for many a mystery and an observation with brutal reality at its core.

It is in these sessions, and with other passionate mystery lovers, that writers can find inspiration and an opportunity to explore the many “what ifs” of a project with others who have their own work in progress. This camaraderie should not be underestimated; many a ‘stuck’ writer has found a story resolution in a hallway conversation at Malice Domestic with another writer. We are all Ping-Pong balls, bouncing ideas and character motivations off one another.

Community is at the heart of this conference. It is the red thread that binds the attendees and authors together, a shared love for figuring out “who did it and why.” It is commiserating over dinner to suss out why a certain plot point isn’t working out and to share with others why we love writing, why we hate it and why we simply can’t do anything else.

Sometimes you have to venture out behind your desk to find your tribe. It can be a challenge to make the time, but make the time. Juggle what you need to and live in chaos for a bit to make it happen.

Your people are waiting for you.

–Laura Oles

Much Ado About Malice Domestic 2014

May 26, 2014August 25, 2014 / Austin Mystery Writers / 6 Comments

Whispers of Memories

May 14, 2014May 14, 2014 / vpchandler / 2 Comments

I recently took a trip to Huntsville, Texas, and everything I saw at every turn stirred up old memories.

– Right behind the hotel where I stayed was the apartment complex where my cousins had lived. A few blocks away was a second place they lived.

– I passed a street of good friends of many years. They hosted a wedding shower for me.

– I passed the fancy restaurant where my grandmother lived for a while when she was a child. I remember that when she told us, we had no idea!

– I saw the nursing home where my other grandmother spent her last years.

All of this within a short drive just to get a burger! My mother’s family has been in the Huntsville area since the mid 1800’s so we have a lot of stories. A couple of my favorites:

– Sam Houston was a friend of the family. He used to come and visit.

– My great-grandfather was sheriff for a while and lived in the jail.

Neither of my parents grew up there, but my father moved there after my parents got divorced. He was offered a job at Sam Houston State University as a Criminal Justice professor. So I have a personal connection to the place through my mother and my father.

Besides the personal connections, there is something that draws me to the place. Maybe it’s something about the vines growing in the pines, maybe it’s because I love history and old things, maybe it’s because of my “writer brain”, but when I pass old houses, I imagine children playing and grannies rocking while shelling peas. I love browsing through the old stores. I sometimes look at what they’re selling, though I’m more likely to be looking at the tin ceilings and wondering what the original store was.

The history of a place just calls out to me. I look at the red leather seats in the booth at a diner and remember when not everyone was welcome as a customer. I look at the young, happy families and wonder if they hear or feel the negative things that happened. Can they even imagine it? I pass the prison walls and know the prison has been there since 1849. Lots of famous and infamous people have been in those walls.

At the university I think of my great great aunts who attended when it was a Sam Houston Normal School. We’ve had a graduate from there in every generation. My grandmother went to kindergarten at Old Main, which has since burned down.

I think about my father when I sit on the bench outside the CJ building that’s dedicated to him. There’s a plaque with his name on it. He used to sit outside and smoke and talk to students. Inside the building there’s a big picture of him. Next to it are plaques with names of students who have received scholarships named after him.

Sometimes when I’m in town, I visit the cemetery. I look up my folks and browse around. Yep, some people like museums, I like cemeteries. When you’re looking at someone’s headstone, you see when they were born and when they died. You can see if they were married or had children buried with them. So many stories untold.

It’s all a bit overwhelming for me at times. But I guess it’s no surprise that I like to write historical fiction. For me the place is full of mystery, history, conflicts, love, death and birth. Those piney woods have a lot of secrets.

Do you have a place that calls to you?

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