Bloody Words 2011 - Cool Canadian Crimes Coming!

BLOODY WORDS PROGRESS REPORT #1

REGISTER NOW!

Registration for Bloody Words 2011 has already reached almost half of our available space, so REGISTER NOW at www.bloodywords2011.com.

Published authors must register no later than March 1 to be considered for a spot on the program. As soon as you have registered, please send a bio between 50-100 words and a black and white head shot to publication@bloodywords2011.com (Pam, at that email, will have the information on size of digital photo to send)

NEW HOTEL RATE!

Hotel Grand Pacific has lowered its Bloody Words conference rate to $179 per night, single or double, plus tax. The rate is good for 3 days before and 3 days after the conference. Only a small block of rooms is reserved. Book early to guarantee your stay at this award-winning hotel on Victoria's Inner Harbour. Don't forget to mention Bloody Words when you make your reservation.

COME EARLY FOR THE ARTHUR ELLIS AWARDS BANQUET!

Join the excitement as the winners of the 2011 Arthur Ellis Awards are announced on Thursday, June 2. The banquet will be held at the Hotel Grand Pacific-another great reason to book early.

THIS IS NOT THE BLOODY WORDS BANQUET; THAT ONE IS SATURDAY NIGHT And IS INCLUDED WITH YOUR REGISTRATION FEE.

For information about the Arthur Ellis Awards Banquet, consult the Crime Writers of Canada website: www.crimewriterscanada.com.

For banquet tickets, email arthur_ellis_banquet@crimewriterscanada.com

FRIDAY LATE NIGHT SPECIAL EVENT!

Another good reason to come early-get your beauty rest on Thursday night so you can stay up for our spine-tingling Friday Late Night Special Event:

MICHAEL SLADE'S SHOCK THEATRE AND GHOST WALK will present a blood-chilling 1940s radio play to put you in the mood for a Ghost Walk to - and reading at - some of Victoria's notorious haunted sites. In the past, SLADE'S SHOCK THEATRE has featured such players as Anne Perry, Diana Gabaldon, Jack Whyte, and Robert McCammon. At Bloody Words, there will be new famous players. Slade's last Ghost Walk was to Poe's Grave in Baltimore at midnight on Friday the 13th for a reading of "THE TELL-TALE HEART" and "THE MONKEY'S PAW." Poe's Graveyard was unlocked twice in the past for midnight events by Vincent Price and Robert (PSYCHO) Bloch. With luck, Bloody Words' Ghouls will conjure its Ghost of Honour - Amor de Cosmos - from beyond the grave.

Plotting for Research and Plotting from Research

Ink was fortunate to have award-winning author Donna Fletcher Crow as our guest speaker on October 14, 2010. Donna's writing career spans 3 decades and covers an impressive range of literary styles from 'Choose Your Adventure' tales in the 1980's through historical mystery and inspirational romance to epic novels of the British Isles. Now she concentrates on mysteries, promoting 'A Very Private Grave'(first of the Monastery Murders), now out in the USA, UK, and Canada, while simultaneously testing the waters of e-books with a different series. Busy lady!

With all those historical novels in her personal backlist, Donna has become an expert at research, specifically pertaining to historical fiction but also to contemporary novels. She was generous with her acquired wisdom, which can be summarized very briefly as: start wide and zoom in, go there in person, and leave room for serendipity.

Simple, you say? The devil, as they say, is in the details.

Start wide: in your background reading, read as broadly and deeply as possible. Look for maps and other illustrations - of clothing, transportation, and buildings - made in the era that interests you. (If you aren't interested in this era, why try to write about it at all?) Find out about the political situation, including any wars or religious movements. Then refine your story idea to take advantage of actual dramatic elements such as elections, riots, unusual weather (such as the winter the Thames River froze), maybe even an assassination/attempt. All these can feed your central conflict and add depth and veracity to your characters. On some books, this phase took years of Donna's part-time focus.

Zoom in: Donna likes to write the opening chapter or two to get her essential characters and conflicts in place before plotting in detail. Then she writes a summary of the rest of the book, aiming for four pages on the theory that, if she can't explain her story in that space, she doesn't know it well enough yet. Now Donna can list of exactly what she still needs to know and start tracking down specific sources: rare books, places to be visited, people to interview. Make email contacts and set up phone or in-person appointments.

Interviews: Know what you need to know but keep an open mind and leave plenty of time. The experts you consult may have unexpected stores of useful information that will only come out when their passion for their subject overrides their polite short answers to specific questions.

On-site research: Let the site suggest the plot elements where possible; if there's a bridge, might someone fall or be thrown off it? Listen to local gossip (yes, eavesdrop in coffee shops); not only will you taste the dialect and cadence of regional speech, you never know when a chance tale of someone's grandmother will provide a spark for your fictive dream.

Buy books. Especially local histories and guidebooks that may not be widely available.

Take photos. In this digital age, you can play an on-location slide show on your screen while you're writing the relevant scene. Note with your senses, not sight alone. If you're writing in a local setting, you may think you know all you need about an area but it's still a good idea to visit the key locations. See how they look and feel in different weather, different seasons. Let your characters feel the squishy mud underfoot in springtime or the crush the rattling leaves in fall or breathe frostily in the desolate industrial area on a winter's night.

When you write, relive all those sensory inputs and realistic details through the viewpoint character. Don't try to cram in all your research. Concentrate on producing a single vivid impression in each scene. The more fully immersed you and your plot are in the place, time, political and social setting of your characters, the more real the fictive dream becomes for you the writer and for the eventual reader.

Some spare handouts will be available at the November meeting. For more information on Donna's books and her other interests, visit her website



Jayne Barnard

Income Tax Tips for Writers (Beginner and Pro)

Questions about your income tax? What can a writer deduct? The Mystery Writers Ink presentation for January is "Income Tax Tips for Writers."

Sandra Fitzpatrick will discuss income tax for writers. Gearing up for tax season, it is important to know how to calculate your writing income and what deductions you can make. What records are necessary to support your income tax return? Bring your tax questions.

Thursday, January 13th

From 7 - 9 p.m.
Owl's Nest Books in Britannia Plaza

Elbow Drive and 49th Avenue SW, Calgary
(Note: the doors open at 6:45p.m.)

About Sandra Fitzpatrick

Sandra Fitzpatrick has been doing taxes professionally since 2006, for clients who have small businesses like writing and acting. Her goal is to minimize taxes and run simulations to assist in tax planning. Sandy is a writer who has written five novels, three novellas and a pile of short stories. She has published several stories. Her current project is a novella dealing with human exploration of the galaxy and encountering planetary deities who do like to get involved.

About Mystery Writers Ink

MWI supports aspiring and emerging mystery writers in Calgary. Annual membership is $25.00.

Drop-in fee of $5.00 for non-members.

For more information, please contact: info@mysterywritersink.com

Pizza for Mayor at the Old Y

Mystery Writers Ink is a member of the Old Y, which is co-hosting the Pizza for Mayor event 4:00-6:00 Friday, October 1, at 223 12th Ave SW. Candidates will be there with their favourite pizza from their favourite pizza places. You can talk to the candidates, sample their selections, and mull over which one (candidate or pizza) impresses you the most. RSVP to 403-536-9044 or info@pizzaformayor.com by Sept. 23 so they can order enough pizza.

My Journey Through the Editing Process - Part Two

In May, INK member, Susan Calder, signed her first book publishing contract for her mystery novel A Deadly Fall. She spent the summer editing the manuscript. Here is Part Two of My Journey Through the Editing Process.

On Tuesday, August 24th, I finished the major edits for my novel A Deadly Fall and e-mailed the revised manuscript to my editor, Frances Thorsen. She will read the novel in one swoop for overall effect and send me any further comments. Then, it's off to the copy editor. After the copy edit is done, I'll have a couple of weeks to proof-read the final version before the book goes to press.

Frances and I began our editing journey in June. I may be one if the few Calgarians who didn't mind our summer of less-than-wonderful weather. I rarely longed for the outdoors as I tapped away at my desk, editing my manuscript chapter by chapter.

Frances divided the novel into chunks of ten chapters. Using the Track Changes feature of WORD, she e-mailed me her suggested changes and comments one or two chapters at a time. I replied with my agreements or counter-suggestions or further comments. She'd volley back her replies. We'd keep going with this until we more or less reached a consensus for that chapter(s), at the same time moving forward with edits to the rest of the story. When chapters 1-10 were done, we worked on 11-20. My original novel had 33 chapters. It now has 32. We cut most of Chapter 20 and combined the remnants with a new small scene and the former chapter 21 to create one long chapter that seems to work.

Overall, I'd say Frances and I were in agreement about the story's major points. She understood all of my characters the way I did; we saw the story arc the same way. We sometimes differed on smaller points, such as word choices and punctuation. I deferred in cases where I wasn't sure what was right or felt her change wouldn't make a significant difference. These were relatively easy matters in terms of work load. More time consuming was writing new scenes and figuring out how to handle the effects of a deleted character and subplot.

Frances also raised questions I hadn't considered. These led us both to research such things as cell phone call tracing, Calgary transit schedules and criminal code terms.

When we were done, my task was to re-assemble the edited chapters into a new whole. This was harder than I'd expected due to my poor organization system. I also felt a need to read the novel through once again to check for errors due to the changes we'd made: references left in that should no longer be there, details inadvertently removed with the deleted character or subplot and extra spaces, double periods and crossed out letters left behind from the Track Changes.

Between the additions and deletions, the edited manuscript is about 6,000 words less than my original. I believe it's more focused and interesting to readers.

Now I get a brief rest before plunging into the next book. On September 9th, TouchWood publisher, Ruth Linka, has arranged a conference call with Frances and me to discuss future novels in the mystery series. I'm almost glad I had to wait three years to find a publisher, as this gave me time to write and revise a sequel. I feel a step ahead, rather than panicked about facing the blank page. As a result of this editing experience, I'd like to do another revision before sending the sequel to Ruth and Frances. Meanwhile, I'm mulling ideas for novel number three.

I had to push myself to make the September 1st target for the edits in the midst of my summer activities: hiking, visitors and short trips. The push has paid off. The day after I sent Frances the edited manuscript, Ruth Linka contacted me. A mystery novel scheduled for spring 2011 had to be postponed. Frances told her the editing has gone well. How would I feel about moving my fall 2011 publication date forward six months to spring 2011, possibly March?

I feel excited and scared. March isn't so far away. This book is really going to happen.

For Part One of this series, see Susan's previous post.

Learning Opportunities

Gail Bowen: Writer-in-Residence for Calgary Public Library from September through November, 2010. She will evaluate manuscript pages and consult with you on your writing’s strengths and weaknesses.Get your submission in early to ensure her schedule doesn't fill up.

September 25: Chris Roerden, author of “Don’t Murder Your Mystery” and “Don’t Sabotage Your Submission,” offers a full-day workshop, “Learn What Editors Want,” at the Greenwood Inn, Calgary. Sponsored by ARWA.

Online Class: Starts September 29. Crime author Kris Neri teaches “Committing the Perfect Crime: Writing Your First Mystery” online for 10 weeks through UCLA Extension Writers’ Program

Gail Bowen: Welcome Reception and Book Launch at the Library

Gail Bowen is the Writer in Residence at the Calgary Public Library this fall, which will please mystery writers and readers alike.

The library is holding a reception to welcome Gail and to launch her newest Joanne Kilbourn mystery, The Nesting Dolls. Everyone is welcome at this reception and launch, which is scheduled for 2:00-3:30 on Saturday, Sept. 11, at Memorial Park Library, 1221 2nd St. SW.