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.