Maine Crime Wave 2015
Not quite a month ago, I fed my little Bean at quarter to five in the morning then hopped in the car and headed to Portland for a day of crime.
I'm pretty excited to have this kind of a writing conference in Maine. Even though it takes me almost 3 hours drive either way, it's worth it. The Maine Crime Wave is great place to meet other crime fiction writers at all levels and people in the business of publishing and selling books.
There were the usual mix of panels and workshops.
Paul Doiron, Gayle Lynds and Lea Wait opened the morning panels with a discussion about the realities of research. The most interesting thing I took home was that if in doubt take it out of the realm of reality. It's better to make a fictional town than to describe a real town incorrectly. If readers can check up on it, make sure you facts are right otherwise you risk losing credibility.
I attended Barbara Ross's workshop on revising your manuscript. If you don't follow the Maine Crime Writers blogs, it's well worth it to check out her posts about book promotion and publicists. She presented a great overview of her process without toting it as the only way to revise. I actually loved her process and did something similar with Wolf Creek. I'd reverted to my old ways with Safe Word only to hit a wall. Ross's workshop gave me a frame work for revision and pointed me in the right direction to get unstuck.
The second workshop I attended was run by Jim Hayman about designing believable heroes, victims and villains. I was a little disappointed in this workshop. Although Jim presented a great list of questions that authors should consider when getting to know their characters, the session was basically him telling us how he answered each question for his characters.
Lunch break was short for me. Besides pumping every three hours, I also signed up for a 15 minutes with an agent. I've been struggling with query letters that haven't even gotten a nibble. I met with Ann Collette for a critique of a potential query letter for Safe Word. She was brutally honest and a hoot at the same time. I loved it. She set me straight on where I was going wrong with my summary. I was writing a book jacket summary instead of a short synopsis. Well worth shelling out the extra money to meet with her.
In the afternoon Kathy Lynn Emerson, Sarah Graves and Al Lamanda spoke about writing series. It was an interesting discussion about consistency, traps and writing a stand alone versus a series. Although some stand alones can turn into series if there is demand and the desire in the author to write more.
In the last session of the day, Chris Holm, Ann Collette, Barbara Kelly and Barbara Ross spoke about other aspects of writing as a career. I can only dream of one day being good enough to make it a career. But it's clear that writing the book and getting it published are just the beginning if you want to be paid for another.
New this year were social gatherings the Friday before, including 2 minute readings. I'm sorry to have missed those. Maybe next year when the Bean can travel more easily.
My goal this year was to be more social. I brought business cards with me and used them as conversation pieces. Not that it's hard to talk with people with a passion for writing about crime. What surprised me the most was that every author comes to their story with a unique background. I met a yoga practitioner writing about crime, people with a love of steampunk, an artist who wrote, and so many more. Everyone has their own history and their own interests that they bring to their writing.
A big thank you to Joshua Bodwell, MWPA's executive director. He arranged for me to have space to pump in private. Kudos!
Can't wait until next year. Now to write/edit/revise... get something done between working, commuting and baby pacifying.