Adding Diverse Characters in Crime Writing: José H. Bográn, Wednesday May 11, 7 pm EDT

Conjuring characters out of thin air is right up any author’s alley because creativity is a trait associated with writing. The challenge nowadays is that the characters not only have to be relatable and believable, they also must be diverse. How to overcome cookie-cutter or cardboard characters is just as important as not over stepping into appropriation of voice. José H. Bográn says, “Let me show you how I did it.”

José H. Bográn is an internationally published author of novels, short stories, and scripts for film, plays, and television. His genre of choice is thrillers, but he likes to throw in a twist of romance into the mix. Although he’s the son of a journalist, he ironically prefers to write fiction rather than fact. As well as writing and teaching, he is also Assistant Editor to The Big Thrill (magazine of the International Thriller Writers) and Vice President of the Short Mystery Fiction Society. He currently lives with his family in Honduras.

Police Procedurals—Telling Stories from the Other Side of the Tape: Art Pitman, Wednesday April 13, 7:00 pm EDT

As a retired police officer who enjoys reading and writing police procedurals, Art will explore some of the challenges and opportunities for authors in this distinct genre of mystery fiction. During his presentation he will discuss:
• What is a police procedural? Resources/Constraints for your main character.
• Challenges: Can accuracy be a bad thing? Details that move the story forward, details that do not.
• Opportunities: Lots of conflict to write about! Bad guys, lawyers, co-workers, witnesses, supervisors, bureaucracy, “stress” (see Dr. Kevin Gilmartin – hypervigilance).

Art Pittman is a member of Capital Crime Writers, with a passion for reading and writing mystery fiction. He has a law degree and has retired from law enforcement after 32 years of service. During his career he worked on homicide files, conducted internal investigations, performed traffic duties, protected prime ministers, attended domestic disputes, and participated in drug raids. And, during a brief secondment, he worked for Alberta Justice as a prosecutor for traffic and criminal cases. As his final job in law enforcement, he served as a full-time adjudicator for appeals of discipline and discharge cases involving police officers. Throughout his career Art gave presentations on search and seizure, investigative techniques, police leadership, and police misconduct. Art has written scripts for training videos on the law of search and seizure and published an article on proceeds of crime investigations in the Criminal Law Quarterly. He now enjoys teaching as a guest lecturer at the Canadian Police College, and writing short story mysteries (unpublished) with a focus on police procedurals. He currently lives with his wife in Ottawa.

Check out his mystery writing website at aepittman.ca.

Indie Publishing—A Fun Adventure or Evil Torture? Madona Skaff and Mike Martin. Wednesday, March 9, 7:00 p.m. EST

Self or Indie Publishing is growing in popularity among authors. With so many publishing platforms available, how do you choose one? Should you do print, or e-books, or both? How much time and money are you willing to invest on the road to success? And what does success mean to you? Our speakers at this session will explain how they did it.

Madona Skaff is the author of the Naya Investigates series, about a young woman disabled by multiple sclerosis who turns sleuth to solve crimes. The series started with Journey of a Thousand Steps (2015) and continued with Death by Association (2020); Skaff is currently working on book three. In the meantime she published a standalone science fiction thriller, Shifting Trust, in September 2021.

Her first Indie experience occurred when she published a science fiction novel for a friend who had passed away. A Handful of Earths, by Sansoucy Kathenor, chronicles the adventures of scientists from parallel Earths, who use borrowed technology to explore the Multiverse.

Mike Martin is the author of the award-winning Sgt. Windflower Mystery series set in beautiful Grand Bank, Newfoundland. There will be 12 books in this light mystery series with the publication of Dangerous Waters in May 2022. Darkest Before the Dawn won the 2019 Bony Blithe Light Mystery Award. He is Past Chair of the Board of Crime Writers of Canada, a national organization promoting Canadian crime and mystery writers. He’s also a member of the Newfoundland Writers’ Guild, Ottawa Independent Writers, and Capital Crime Writers.

Capital Crime Writers is grateful to local publisher Renaissance Press for allowing us to use their Zoom account for our meetings.

Writing Historical Fiction: Iona Whishaw – Wednesday, February 9, 7:00 p.m. EST

Iona Whishaw writes a popular mystery series set in BC, taking place just after World War II. She says “This presentation will be about the few basic principles of historical writing that I use to write the Lane Winslow mysteries. I will discuss how much research and what to do with it, how to use language to support the historical atmosphere, and understanding what your characters can know and how they move through their physical environment. I will also share a couple of useful resources. I will include a discussion about the thorny issue of writing about things that are completely politically incorrect today, but might have been common in the time period being written about.”

Whishaw grew up in Canada, Arizona and Mexico. With an MFA from UBC, she’s published short fiction, poetry, and children’s literature. She is the winner of the 2021 Bony Bythe Light Mystery Award and a nominee for the Lefty Award. Her latest mystery, A Lethal Lesson, was released in April 2021. Her next, Framed in Fire, 10th in the Lane Winslow series, will be out in the spring of 2022. A passion for history and her family’s WW2 intelligence work inform the spirit of her period novels.

Whishaw lives in Vancouver. Check out her website for more about her and her books.

Building Character: Leslie Budewitz – Wednesday, January 12, 7 pm

The heart of every story is the characters. No matter what type of fiction you’re writing – crime fiction, romance, women’s fiction, or mainstream novels – the best plots flow from the characters. Even in a mystery or a thriller, where the plot is critical to the success of the story, the characters are the key. When someone tells you about a book they read, they don’t say “it’s about a bomb … .” They say “it’s about a guy who … .” And when readers fall for series, they remember the characters as much as the individual plots – sometimes more. This program will look at several ways to dive into your characters, and discover what makes them tick.

Leslie Budewitz blends her passion for food, great mysteries, and the Northwest in two cozy mystery series, the Spice Shop mysteries, set in Seattle’s Pike Place Market, and the Food Lovers’ Village mysteries, set in NW Montana. She made her suspense debut in April 2021 with Bitterroot Lake, written as Alicia Beckman. Leslie is the winner of three Agatha Awards—2013 Best First Novel for Death Al Dente, the first Food Lovers’ Village mystery; 2011 Best Nonfiction, and 2018 Best Short Story, for “All God’s Sparrows,” her first historical fiction. Her work has also won or been nominated for Derringer, Anthony, and Macavity awards. A current board member of Mystery Writers of America and a past president of Sisters in Crime, she lives in NW Montana.

Creativity: Shaking up the Particles: Alan Bradley – Wednesday, December 8, 7 pm.

The creator of the unforgettable Flavia de Luce has agreed to share insights and experiences from his writing life. Flavia, the eleven-year-old amateur sleuth who first delighted readers in The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie in 2009, has now appeared in ten bestselling novels set in post-war England.

Alan Bradley grew up in Cobourg, Ontario. After a long career in radio and television broadcasting (including eight years in the glorious Ottawa Valley) he took early retirement to write a mystery novel. After nearly thirty years, he’s still at it.

He’ll be joining us from the Isle of Man (graciously accommodating our 7 pm meeting time, which is midnight for him.) See more about him and his books at his website.

How to Write a Mystery Series: Lois Winston – November 10, 2021 at 7:00 pm

Writing a mystery series is quite different from writing a stand-alone mystery—and much more challenging. For that reason, planning is everything. No author wants to cut a series short when sales are brisk and readers are clamoring for more books, but if you don’t plan well, you may find your characters and/or your basic concept have a finite life. The speaker will offer twelve steps to follow to create an ongoing mystery series that will continue for as many years as you want to keep writing it.

Lois Winston, a USA Today and Amazon Bestselling author, writes the critically acclaimed Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery Series, currently at ten novels and three novellas. You can find out more on her website.

Forensic Psychiatry & Crime Fiction: Myths: Susan Hatters Friedman, MD – October 13 at 7:00 pm.

Hannibal Lecter is by far the most recognizable forensic psychiatrist in crime fiction. But he is the exception, rather than the rule, in my field. As a forensic psychiatrist who loves reading mysteries, I am often yanked out of otherwise amazing stories because of simple things about my field that writers get wrong, that research could easily correct. In this talk, I will address these myths and misunderstandings.

Susan Hatters Friedman, MD is a forensic and perinatal psychiatrist. She has practiced in forensic hospitals, general hospitals, court clinics, community mental health centers, and correctional facilities, and has worked as a forensic psychiatrist both in the US and New Zealand. Dr. Friedman is currently the President-elect of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law (AAPL). She received the American Psychiatric Association’s Manfred Guttmacher Award for editing the book Family Murder: Pathologies of Love and Hate. She has published more than 100 articles. Her research has primarily focused on the interface of maternal mental health and forensic psychiatry, including notably child murder by mothers.

Adding Humour and Heart to Your Writing: Ellen Byron – September 8 at 7:00 pm

In this workshop, bestselling mystery author and screenwriter Ellen Byron shares fifteen-plus easy-to-implement tips and workshop exercises on how to find and mine the funny in any manuscript, culled from years of writing sitcoms. In addition, Ellen takes a look at how to balance humour with heart and when the right choice is not to be funny.

Ellen Byron is the Agatha Award-winning author of the Cajun Country Mysteries. The USA Today bestselling series has also won multiple Best Humorous Mystery Lefty awards from the Left Coast Crime conference. She also writes The Catering Hall Mysteries (under the pen name Maria DiRico), and will launch the Vintage Cookbook Mysteries (as Ellen) in June 2022.

Her TV credits include Wings, Just Shoot Me, and Fairly OddParents. She’s written over 200 national magazine articles, and her published plays include the award-winning Graceland. She also worked as a cater-waiter for the legendary Martha Stewart, a credit she never tires of sharing.

A native New Yorker who attended Tulane University, Ellen lives in Los Angeles with her husband, daughter, and rescue chi mix, Pogo. She still misses her hometown – and still drives like a New York cabbie.

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Capital Crime Writers is grateful to local publisher Renaissance Press for allowing us to use their Zoom account for our meetings.

My Journey of Passion: Debra Goldstein – April 14 at 7:00 pm

Debra Goldstein sums up her journey in a phrase: “How I traded in my lifetime judicial appointment to follow my passion to write.” She always wanted to be a writer, but her father advised her to have a practical career, so she applied to law school instead. By age 36 she’d become a federal judge, one of the youngest in the US. But she still longed to write—so she started to write crime fiction in hours she could carve out from her judicial career and raising a family. When she started getting novels and stories published,  she had to decide whether she could keep on following both paths or had to choose between them.

Judge Debra H. Goldstein writes Kensington’s Sarah Blair mystery series (Three Treats TooMany, Two Bites Too Many, One Taste Too Many). She also authored Should HavePlayed Poker and IPPY Award winning Maze in Blue. Her short stories and novels have been named as Agatha, Anthony, Derringer, and Silver Falchion finalists. Debra serves on the national board of Mystery Writers of America and is president of SEMWA. She previously was on Sisters in Crime’s national board and president of SinC’s Guppy Chapter. Find out more about Debra at https://www.DebraHGoldstein.com .