What’s New at New England Crime Bake

Just back from the 10th annual Crime Bake, a mystery conference for writers and readers held outside of Boston and sponsored by the NE chapters of Sisters in Crime & Mystery Writers of America. Thought I’d share a little report while the whole experience is fresh in my mind.

A panel with several “top guns” emphasized the need for persistence in our profession, as well as a little luck. Guest of Honor Nancy Pickard (The Scent of Rain and Lightning) described herself as a “thirty year overnight success,” and said that although she came along in the early 80’s -- the right time for women in crime fiction (that’s the luck part) -- she realized early on that “somebody has to be published – it might as well be me.”

Barry Eisler (The Detachment), Nancy’s co-honoree, stressed hard work and our need as authors to stay on top of the entire process of publishing. He told many stories about less than stellar covers and/or titles of his books, decisions in which he was denied input and that led him to turn down a lucrative contract in favor of self-publishing. I hope he realized how lucky he was to have his books beside mine at the bookseller’s table…

Michael Palmer (A Heartbeat Away, The Last Surgeon) consistently offered down-to-earth advice that really resonated with me, such as how important it is for writers to care about the characters they create. It made me think of an early version of my first mystery, A House to Die For. I had a smarmy spinal surgeon murdered in the prologue and my agent pointed out that he was a really despicable character. “Is anyone going to care that he died?” he wondered. In later revisions, I made Emerson Phipps more dimensional, making him a volunteer for a relief organization and showing him through the eyes of his sister as a loving uncle.

Frequently these conferences provide not only suggestions “from the experts,” but hard-earned wisdom from writers such as those of us blogging here. I spoke on a panel with three other series writers about setting and how it influences characters and plot. We had a nice crowd for our discussion and fielded many excellent questions from the floor. I came away with tips from the other writers as well as imparting some of my own.

Of course, we all know that writing conferences aren’t all work, work, work…

I was thrilled to discover that Terri Bischoff, Midnight Ink’s Acquisitions Editor, was among the attendees, and she and I enjoyed catching up and talking mysteries. I met the owner of a bookstore in Vermont as well as several local readers who want me at their mystery club. I sold and signed copies of Killer Listing and made many new friends.

And then there is the ball…

This year the event featured “Sleuths, Spies, and Private Eyes,” and it was great fun. I dressed as Jill Masterson, the unfortunately gilded victim from Ian Fleming’s Goldfinger, and was delighted to discover 007 waiting when I exited the elevator. We teamed up as a last-minute entry in the “Partners in Crime” category of the costume contest and captured second place!  (Mrs. Peacock and Mr. Boddy from CLUE beat us out.) Some of you know Nikki Bonnani who hosts the Killer Coffee Club… She came as a chilling Lizbeth Salander, dragon tattoo and all, and won the whole thing.

Dancing in gold lame may be akin to being sprayed with the precious metal, and by the end of the evening, I felt poor Jill’s pain. But I also felt buoyed up by the spirit of the conference: camaraderie, optimism, and sheer love of writing. I’m now back in Maine, hard at work on my manuscript, and using the tips I gleaned from Crime Bake to try and make it better.

Welcome to My World

A recent issue of the Washington Post reports that there's good news about reading, according to the National Endowment for the Arts.

The newspaper says, "For the first time since the NEA began surveying American reading habits in 1982 -- and less than five years after it issued its famously gloomy 'Reading at Risk' report -- the percentage of American adults who report reading 'novels, short stories, poems or plays' has risen instead of declining: from 46.7 percent in 2002 to 50.2 percent in 2008."

That's great news for those of us who write fiction. Or to paraphrase The Beatles, "In times of trouble, a good book will comfort me. Let me read, let me read."

Fiction has always offered the opportunity to escape. For me, growing up in an alcoholic home, books offered the promise that life could get better. Heck, I didn't know that Jane Eyre was fiction! I thought it was a truth, proof that if a plain girl got a good education she could fashion her own future. (At least to an extent.)

And the best books are those that allow a reader to suspend reality, to give over his/her own self, to step into another world so entirely that what happens on the page is happening in the reader's head as well as on paper.

How do we do that? Here are a few ideas:

1. We evoke the five senses. We include sensory detail that helps the reader experience what our characters are feeling. Most easy to overlook, and the most powerful is the sense of...smell. Yep. It's the one sense that will most effectively and accurately evoke a memory. But it's one that writers often skip. Here's a tip from Anne Perry: She goes over her work (doing an editing pass) and consciously looks for places to include the sense of smell.

2. We seek universality. Nancy Pickard gave a wonderful presentation at The Great Manhattan Mystery Conclave where she examined powerful openings. The commonality? Each opening portrayed a univeral experience which acted as a hook for the reader. What constitutes a universal experience? For example, have you ever been taken to task unfairly? Have you ever been curious? Have you ever felt powerless--or alone? These are human conditions which we've all experienced. (And if you haven't, you need a reality check.)

3. We choose our words carefully with our eyes and ears as well as our brains. For example, I could say "the rain hit the window." That's fine. But if I vary the verb and say "the rain splashed the window," I appeal to the reader's eye AND ear. "Splash" with its descending letter "p" (which reminds us that the raindrops run DOWN), and its onomotopoeic sensibility both looks and sounds like the action I'm describing.

4. We make it easy when we can. Jeff Deaver explains that he carefully chooses memorable names for his characters because these monikers make it simpler for readers to remember who is who. So, Lincoln Rhyme is no accident.

How do you invite your reader into your fantasy world?