Accidental Mystery Writer: Kim Fay

Welcome to the California Crime Writers Conference Blogtail Party! Hope you'll join us in June in Culver City, CA.

Kim Fay: Accidental Mystery Writer

I am an accidental mystery writer.

My debut novel was published in 2012, and the marketing people sold it as literary, adventure, historical … everything but mystery. Then, out of the blue, it was nominated for an Edgar Award for Best First Novel. Voila! The Map of Lost Memories became a mystery, and I was swept into a world I hadn’t known existed: the world of mystery writers.

Obviously, I knew that people wrote mysteries. I became a writer to follow in the footsteps of Carolyn Keene. But I didn’t know the depth and breadth of the world that mystery writers inhabited until the Genre Fairy tapped me on the shoulder with her magic wand, sprinkled fairy dust over me and declared, “You are no longer this. You are now that. Enjoy!”

It’s hard to explain how I felt. It was as if I’d been waiting all my life to become that without knowing it. But once I did know it, I followed the Genre Fairy’s advice and enjoyed my little heart out. I joined Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime, attended the Edgar awards and Bouchercon. But my first true understanding of the new world I’d become a part of happened at the 2013 California Crime Writers Conference.

By this time The Map of Lost Memories had been out almost a year, and I knew that I wanted to write a more traditional mystery as well as incorporate mystery elements into my novel-in-progress. So I focused on the craft and forensic sections of the conference. I learned tips on plotting based on screenplay structure. I learned that I did not have the stomach to write about infanticide. I learned that plot is important, but it’s the characters that make or break a mystery. I listened with great respect to Sue Grafton and Elizabeth George, I met the creator of Columbo (wow!), I met two fans (super flattering!), I discovered that writing a mystery is not an easy thing to do, and most importantly, I made friends.

More supportive and buoyant than any other group of writers I’ve met, mystery writers are also the most serious. By serious I do not mean snooty. I mean committed and passionate. It’s this commitment and passion that make them so generous and inclusive. This is something I continue to rediscover at every meeting, reading and conference I attend, but I will always have a soft spot for CCWC because it was here that I realized that it wasn’t an accident. It had taken me a while, but I was finally where I belonged all along.

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Kim Fay was born in Seattle and raised throughout the small towns of Washington State. After working as a bookseller for more than five years at the Elliott Bay Book Company, she moved to Vietnam in the mid-1990s. She lived in Saigon for four years and have been traveling regularly to Southeast Asia for more than twenty. Kim is the author of the historical novel The Map of Lost Memories, a 2013 Edgar Award finalist for Best First Novel by an American Author, and the food memoir Communion: A Culinary Journey Through Vietnam, winner of the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards’ Best Asian Cuisine Book in the United States. She is also the creator/​editor of the To Asia With Love guidebook series.

Register now for CCWC, June 6-7, 2015

  

CCWC, My Trade Show by Laurie Stevens

Many of my best resources as an author have come from my fellow authors: publishing information, promotional opportunities, and much more. The California Crime Writers Conference is where I network, discover new resources, plus have the added bonus of making new friends with whom I have so much in common.

CCWC is like my trade show. From learning that noir protagonists usually always fail from their weaknesses to examining a crime scene recreated by the actual investigator, attending the CCWC allowed me to be immersed in my trade. The crime scene re-creation last year was incredibly interesting because, although the actual detective and coroner were present, they let the conference attendees “solve” the case. Imagine a large room with two “dead bodies” and various clues positioned in key locations. The law enforcement personnel gave us some background on the case and then told us to decipher what had happened. They assured us that the real-life clues were replicated in the room. So there we were, taking notes and observing each item, wondering which one would be pivotal to solving the crime. Was it the door that was locked from the inside? Was it the position of the murder weapon on the floor? Was it the location of the victim’s belongings? What a fascinating workshop--with the real investigators standing by and watching us with some amusement. Because it was a murder case with a twist, I was thrilled to have “solved” it successfully. Apparently, many of my fellow mystery writers were also thrilled, (which means, perhaps, that we are all in the right business).

The reason the crime scene workshop made an even bigger impact on me was because the detective showed the surveillance video from the actual crime scene. That part was so eerie and profound because we could see both the real suspect and the victim -- people, not characters in a book. We, attendees, were able to witness the crime play out. I have to say it put an entirely different spin on the session, and it touched all of us in attendance.

Because my suspense series leans heavily toward psychology and forensics, the time I spent in that particular session side-by-side with the investigators was invaluable. There was such a dichotomy, from playing pretend investigator to watching a real human imploding on a video. The whole experience was something I won’t forget.

With all that said, the most important benefit I took away from the CCWC was affirmation. Writing is a very solitary profession. When you surround yourself with people who think like you and who are working toward similar goals, you realize you are part of one very special community. It made me happy to be a part of it and that is why I won’t be missing CCWC 2015.

Laurie Stevens is the author of the award-winning psychological-suspense Gabriel McRay series. To learn more about Laurie, visit her website at www.lauriestevensbooks.com

Why You Should Attend a Writers' Conference: Patricia Smiley

Sue Grafton, Hank Phillipi Ryan,
Patricia Smiley & Elizabeth George
Photo Credit: Robin Templeton

Sometimes I think I've heard everything there is to say about writing and the publishing business but, of course, I¹m always wrong because things change. That¹s why you should consider attending a writers¹ conference. Mystery fan conventions are fun, because you get to attend panels, listen to your favorite authors wax poetic, get books signed and hang out in the bar, people watching. However, if you¹re serious about writing and you want to learn nitty-gritty tips to inspire your process, or about the latest trends in the publishing business from editors and agents, you need CCWC.

The California Crime Writers Conference is a biennial, two-day event that began in 1995 as a one-day symposium organized by Sisters in Crime/Los Angeles. In 2007, the conference partnered with the Southern California chapter of Mystery Writers of America to become the even bigger and more comprehensive CCWC. 

As 2012-2013 president of SinC/LA, I co-chaired CCWC 2013, which featured keynote speakers Elizabeth George and Sue Grafton. The inspirational luncheon speeches given by these two authors were worth the price of admission. In addition, attendees chose from a variety of workshops in four tracks (Craft, Business, Law Enforcement/Forensics and Nuts and Bolts) lead by bestselling authors, law enforcement and forensic experts, plus top agents and editors. The feedback from attendees was overwhelmingly positive. One award-winning author told me the conference featured the best law enforcement/forensic track she had ever seen in all her years of attending conferences. 

CCWC 2015 is shaping up to be another winner. This year, I¹m co-chairing the Law Enforcement and Forensics track, which will include: homicide detectives, an FBI special agent/firearms trainer, a forensic entomologist, an expert on serial killers in the medical field, a forensic psychiatrist, just to name a few. Too often writers collect information about forensics and law enforcement from TV and film. Unfortunately, many of those ³facts² are fiction. CCWC allows a writer to learn firsthand from experts who will share knowledge and answer questions about how detectives approach a crime scene, what kind of firearm a fictional character might use and why, how insect activity reveals clues about a death, how a serial killer thinks and how to avoid mistakes when writing about forensic science. 

But for me, the most compelling reason to attend a writers' conference is for the opportunity to network with fellow attendees. Writing is a solitary pursuit. Writers need to charge their batteries by basking in shared experiences. Whether you¹re looking for an agent, a critique group, an independent copy editor or just some conversation with fellow scribblers, join us at CCWC this June. Invest in yourself. Register. Learn. Share. Succeed. You deserve it.

Patricia Smiley is the bestselling author of the Tucker Sinclair mystery series. Her short fiction has appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine and Two of the Deadliest, an anthology edited by Elizabeth George. Patty served as co-chair of the 2013 California Crime Writer¹s Conference and is co-chair of the Forensics Track for CCWC 2015. For more information, visit www.patriciasmiley.com .

Welcome to the CCWC Blogtail Party!

It's Friday afternoon, and time for a Blogtail!! Join the party every Friday right here until the California Crime Writers Conference ( June 6 & 7). Participants, faculty members, panelists, and special guests will post about CCWC. Here's the first post from writer and co-chair Craig Faustus Buck.

Craig Faustus Buck reminisces about CCWC 2013... 

There are many advantages to being one of the organizers of a writers conference, but rarely among them is the chance to attend more than a few of the entertaining, informational panels and workshops. Not only do we organizers have to pay to attend the conference, but our duties often cause us to miss out on most of the meat and potatoes. Because of this, at breakfast time on the second morning of the California Crime Writers Conference 2013, instead of meeting, greeting and eating, I was searching for a cable to connect a presenter's laptop to a video projector.

Twenty minutes later, having ascertained that the early sessions of my two tracks were in progress and running smoothly, I finally wandered into the banquet room for my much-needed morning coffee, praying that the hotel had not yet removed the remains of the continental breakfast. The room seated three hundred, but at the moment, there was only one other person there, enjoying a cup of tea as she glanced through the conference program. It was Elizabeth George.

Elizabeth George and Craig Faustus Buck

I grabbed a cup of coffee and a bagel and asked if I might join her. We had met once before, but that was at a large and noisy dinner so we'd had little chance to talk. This morning I had her all to myself. About fifteen minutes later another late riser joined us and the three of us had a lovely time talking about books and pets and how unusual it was for a keynote speaker to have the luxury of sitting around chatting with conference attendees.

It would take a miracle to find oneself in a similar situation at Bouchercon, but these sorts of opportunities are what make CCWC unique among crime writer conferences. This fabled intimacy is no accident. CCWC is capped at only two hundred attendees for this very purpose. 

In 2013, the conference turned away dozens of tardy would-be registerees because we sold out early. Two hundred slots. Period. Compare that to Left Coast Crime with 500 to 1,200 attendees, or to Bouchercon with 1,800 to 2,500. The size of most writers conventions is determined by the size of their venues. There's no doubt that the Mardi Gras feel of a huge convention can be invigorating, and you're bound to run into everyone you ever met in the crime writing community. 

But sometimes you want to have a real conversation about your writing with someone who understands. Sometimes you want the attendance of a workshop or a panel to be small enough to allow time for all of your questions to be answered.  Sometimes you want to relax in the bar with friends and new acquaintances, not spend half your time jockeying to place your order. CCWC is for writers who want to live and breathe writing for a weekend. It's a place  to talk writing with other writers (and be able to hear them). Or to explore changing industry trends with editors, publishers and agents. It's a writer's master class on steroids.

Early registrations are well ahead of where they were last time around. At the rate we're going, we'll sell out for sure. If CCWC is your cup of tea, fill your plate before the buffet is closed.