Suffolk Mystery Authors' Festival

After my romance writers' meeting yesterday, I headed over to the Suffolk Mystery Author's Festival. Featured authors were Ellery Adams, Mollie Cox Bryan, best-selling author Mary Burton, Erika Chase, VIcki Delany, Annie Knox, Joyce and Jim Lavene, Linda O. Johnston, Amanda Lee, Maggie Sefton, and LynDee Walker. I was disappointed that my friend, Jayne Ormerod, wasn't there, especially when I realized that all the authors there, with the exception of Mary Burton, were writers of cozy mysteries, just like Jayne.

One of the authors called cozy mysteries, "Death wrapped up with a bow." Mary Burton, who sometimes refers to herself as "Scary Mary," was quick to point out that her work is much darker and more violent than the other authors' work. Her category is romantic suspense.

I arrived too late for the workshops and readings, but I got a chance to meet authors at the book signing. I also listened to the evening's moderated panel discussion, where I gleaned some information that was useful to me as a new author.

An apiring writer from the audience asked for advice because she starts books with lots of enthusiasm for her initial ideas but winds up hating all her characters a few chapters into the book. Then she feels compelled to stop writing it. The panelists said authors often feel "trapped in the soggy middle" of their book. It's common to be excited about the start, and authors need to be excited about the end (or nobody else will), but problems in the middle are common. Their advice was to keep at it. Throw some twist into the plot, do something unexpected, and see what that does for the characters. Free yourself from the outline, from order, make your character do the one thing s/he would never, ever do. Write the end and then go back and figure out how to get there, or make the characters say something out loud. The characters might be too much in their own heads.

E-Books and social media have totally changed writing and publishing in the last few years. If you self-publish, don't do it on the cheap. It's a considerable investment of time and money to do it right. At least pay for professional editing and an exciting, professional book cover.

While listening to the panel discussion, I also took time to work on my own novel, "Dancing Under the Stars." Since the introductory speeches and panel discussion took about two hours, I got quite a bit written. I smiled wide when someone asked the published authors how they found time to write. While the various authors' specfic answers varied, I think the general answer is that you just make time.