{"id":7965,"date":"2019-05-22T06:37:28","date_gmt":"2019-05-22T10:37:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=7965"},"modified":"2019-05-22T08:57:50","modified_gmt":"2019-05-22T12:57:50","slug":"crimeconn-2019-writers-inspiration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=7965","title":{"rendered":"CrimeCONN 2019: Writers’ Inspiration"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"chalk
(image: pixabay, creative commons license)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a buzz from just being in a room packed with crime\nwriters and hearing topics discussed that consume your waking brain (but are of\nnegligible interest to your kids, your running buddy, and pretty much anyone\nelse). Then there are the ideas the discussion sparks. Oh, for the luxury of\ntime to follow all those ideas to their dramatic conclusion and to absorb into\nmy bones the writing advice provided by panelists Jane Cleland, Steve Liskow,\nand Hallie Ephron.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are 10 ideas and tips that struck me at last Saturday\u2019s CrimeCONN at the beautiful Ferguson Library in Stamford, Connecticut. (Yesterday\u2019s Post: Lawyers, Guns, and Money!<\/a><\/em>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Themes and variations. How a case is investigated and\nhandled in court varies across jurisdictions. Envision a clutch of short\nstories in which similar crimes have very different handling and outcomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. The case of the gentleman prosecutor. When a defendant\u2019s\nmistress was about to be called to testify, the prosecutor let his wife know\nshe might be happier waiting in the hallway. What other courtesies might a\nprosecutor extend? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Is that your best argument? An appellate lawyer advised, \u201cPut\nyour best argument first,\u201d while people are still listening. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. If you\u2019re reading crime fiction to assess the state of\nthe market, \u201cdon\u2019t go back farther than five years.\u201d There was a lot of nodding\nand murmured assent to the notion that Agatha Christie couldn\u2019t get published\ntoday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Coincidences happen in real life all the time. But in\nfiction, forget it. At least, \u201chave no more than one,\u201d advised Hallie Ephron,\nwho for a similar reason nixed twins as a plot device. (We won\u2019t mention that Louise\nPenny based a plot on the Dionne quintuplets<\/em>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. American English is tightly connected to rhythm, said\nSteve Liskow, which is why reading a manuscript aloud exposes problems in the language\nthat are invisible on the page. Readers will stumble over the same awkwardnesses\nyou do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7. No need to write in dialect. In fact, don\u2019t. Mention a\ncharacter\u2019s accent once and use word choice and the rhythms of subsequent\nspeech to reinforce it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

8. Jane Cleland said great heroes are not afraid to act, though\nthe panelists agreed they have a flaw or failing that must be overcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

9. Put the important information at the beginning or end of\na paragraph. Bury your red herrings in the middle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

10. And keynote speaker Peter Blauner repeated advice from legendary\njournalist Pete Hamil: \u201cWhen doing an interview, listen very carefully to the\nlast thing someone says to you.\u201d You\u2019re on your way out the door, your\ninterviewee\u2019s guard is down. This could be the juicy stuff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See you at CrimeCONN 2020!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s a buzz from just being in a room packed with crime writers and hearing topics discussed that consume your waking brain (but are of negligible interest to your kids, your running buddy, and pretty much anyone else). Then there … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4725,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"CrimeCONN 2019: Writers' Inspiration - 10 ideas and tips from the experts","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[62,40,174,185,29],"tags":[492],"class_list":["post-7965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-authors","category-fiction","category-first-draft-blog","category-language","category-writing","tag-writing-tips"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vweisfeld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/8727759029_da83b55058_z.jpg?fit=640%2C480&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2NkiT-24t","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7965"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7965\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7968,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7965\/revisions\/7968"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}