Write 2014 Desert Sleuths Writing Conference - Part One
I thought I would post a few of my notes from the Desert Sleuths chapter of Sisters in Crime, Write 2014 conference. It was a great day of speakers and networking and I can't wait for the next one!
The topic of this conference was Mastering Crime Fiction: A Whodunit How-to.
The morning was kicked off by the delightful Catriona McPherson who spoke about creating characters who breathe. Catriona told us she lets go of her characters so that they can breathe. She asked those of us who were fans of the television series, Sex and the City who we would prefer to be with - Aiden or Mr. Big. Although Aiden was a sweet and loving boyfriend to Carrie the majority of the audience picked Mr. Big. His character had layers and captured our interest and ultimately Carrie's heart.
Catriona pointed out how a character's flaws don't make the character real to the reader but rather the author's voice. When you are writing do your characters jump off the page? Do you want to sit and have a cup of coffee or a glass of wine and get to know them better? Most importantly whether they are good guys or bad, will your reader want to give up her free time to spend with them?
Strong characters have personality and some of these traits can be shown by the character's actions or even by what other characters say or do with respect to to character. For example, if you are driving down the freeway and pass a police officer's cruiser parked on the side of the road, do you automatically check your speed and maybe keep one eye on your rear view mirror? Let's take it one step further. Let's say you are walking out of a store with your purchases and the store alarm goes off. You stop and turn around to see a security officer walking quickly towards you. Would you react one way of the person is a short, overweight elderly woman versus a gigantic mountain of a man with his hand on his stun gun? Of course!
Let's take this a step further and put two women into this situation.
Sally: "Oh heavens, that security guard scared the heck out of me. I thought maybe I had accidentally put something in my purse without paying for it."
Darla: "Makes me remember the time you and I were twelve and we didn't have enough money for candy. I thought it would be cool to steal that bag of M&M's and sure enough we got caught."
Sally: "Don't remind me. I still have nightmares about that."
Darla: "I remember that you took responsibility for it to protect me. You knew I would get in a lot more trouble from my father than you would from your parents. I'll never forget how you stood up for me."
Right away Darla is telling us about Sally and the kind of person she is. We didn't need Sally to tell us herself but we found out through their dialogue. You may have friends like that in your life and those few sentences may have given you a connection to Sally.
My next post will talk about what author Timothy Hallinan discussed and how I've already put his suggestions into action.
Happy trails,
Leslie
The topic of this conference was Mastering Crime Fiction: A Whodunit How-to.
The morning was kicked off by the delightful Catriona McPherson who spoke about creating characters who breathe. Catriona told us she lets go of her characters so that they can breathe. She asked those of us who were fans of the television series, Sex and the City who we would prefer to be with - Aiden or Mr. Big. Although Aiden was a sweet and loving boyfriend to Carrie the majority of the audience picked Mr. Big. His character had layers and captured our interest and ultimately Carrie's heart.
Catriona pointed out how a character's flaws don't make the character real to the reader but rather the author's voice. When you are writing do your characters jump off the page? Do you want to sit and have a cup of coffee or a glass of wine and get to know them better? Most importantly whether they are good guys or bad, will your reader want to give up her free time to spend with them?
Strong characters have personality and some of these traits can be shown by the character's actions or even by what other characters say or do with respect to to character. For example, if you are driving down the freeway and pass a police officer's cruiser parked on the side of the road, do you automatically check your speed and maybe keep one eye on your rear view mirror? Let's take it one step further. Let's say you are walking out of a store with your purchases and the store alarm goes off. You stop and turn around to see a security officer walking quickly towards you. Would you react one way of the person is a short, overweight elderly woman versus a gigantic mountain of a man with his hand on his stun gun? Of course!
Let's take this a step further and put two women into this situation.
Sally: "Oh heavens, that security guard scared the heck out of me. I thought maybe I had accidentally put something in my purse without paying for it."
Darla: "Makes me remember the time you and I were twelve and we didn't have enough money for candy. I thought it would be cool to steal that bag of M&M's and sure enough we got caught."
Sally: "Don't remind me. I still have nightmares about that."
Darla: "I remember that you took responsibility for it to protect me. You knew I would get in a lot more trouble from my father than you would from your parents. I'll never forget how you stood up for me."
Right away Darla is telling us about Sally and the kind of person she is. We didn't need Sally to tell us herself but we found out through their dialogue. You may have friends like that in your life and those few sentences may have given you a connection to Sally.
My next post will talk about what author Timothy Hallinan discussed and how I've already put his suggestions into action.
Happy trails,
Leslie
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