BLOODY WORDS 2011 PROGRESS REPORT #3

June 3-5, 2011 Victoria, BC

We’re excited about the way the Bloody Words program is taking shape. From a Canadian Mystery Trivia game to a session on The Future of Publishing, a three-hour CSI Victoria workshop, and Michael Slade’s Heart-Stopping Shock Theatre and Ghost Walk around the olde city, there’s something for everyone. Take a look at the tentative schedule at the end of this report and tell your friends. You’ll want to stay an extra day or two or five to greet our returning whales, visit a winery, or stroll world-famous Butchart Gardens. Did we mention the special Emily Carr exhibit?

REGISTER!

Registration is fast approaching our limit of 200 attendees. If you know people who intend to come but haven’t registered yet, encourage them to sign up at www.bloodywords2011.com! Banquet includes your choice of delectable BC wild salmon, meat, or vegetarian entree.

BOOK A MANUSCRIPT EVALUATION!

You still have time to have a short story or chapters of a novel critiqued by a published author. Print the form from the website. Submissions must be postmarked by April 15.
Agent interview slots are filled, and so is the waiting list. If you missed out, you can still sign up for a manuscript evaluation.

STAY AT THE CONFERENCE HOTEL!

Luxuriate in the facilities offered by the 5-Star Hotel Grand Pacific. Guests have full access to the Athletic Club with its weight room, yoga/dance studio, and several pools. Or pamper yourself at the Spa. Rooms are still available at the conference rate of $179 plus tax per night. If you need a roommate, contact our Roommate Coordinator through the website.

ORDER T-SHIRTS!

It isn’t too late to order T-shirts! Get our surfing skeleton logo on a black shirt for $20. Email your request with size and quantity to registration@bloodywords.com and pay by cheque or PayPal.

VOLUNTEER!

Local volunteers are working hard to get ready for the conference. If you are coming early and would like to help with last-minute preparations or conference tasks, Volunteer Coordinator Judy Hudson would love to hear from you. See the sign-up sheet on the website.

Bloody Words Progress Report #2

BLOODY WORDS 2011 June 3-5, 2011 Victoria, BC

Bloody Words, Canada's foremost mystery conference for readers and writers, comes to the West Coast for the first time! Join us in Victoria, BC, June 3-5, 2011.

Guests of Honour:

International Guest of Honour: Tess Gerritsen, medical doctor-turned-author of 3 series (romantic suspense, medical thrillers, and the police procedurals made into the TV series Rizzoli and Iles)

Canadian Guest of Honour: Michael Slade, acclaimed author of the Specialx series and other crime/horror novels. Enjoy a blood-chilling 1940s radio play at Michael Slade's Shock Theatre (open to all conference attendees) and his Ghost Walk to some of Victoria's haunted sites (pre-registration required; details to be announced).

Special Guest of Honour: William Deverell, author of award-winning legal thrillers and creator of Street Legal. Deverell will be presented with a lifetime achievement award in recognition of his contributions to Canadian crime writing.

Registration Deadline

Registrations for Bloody Words 2011 already exceed half of our available banquet space, if you haven't signed up yet, REGISTER NOW.

Agent Interviews: Available slots are filling up fast. Act now.

Bony Pete Short Story Contest: Monday Magazine, Victoria's alternative newspaper, will publish the winning entry online, with a lead-in from the print edition. Entries must be postmarked no later than March 1, 2011. complete guidelines.

Manuscript Evaluations: Submissions must be postmarked by April 15, 2011. See the website for details.

Notes to Published Authors:

1. Programming Deadline: Programming is already underway. To be guaranteed consideration, you must register byMarch 1.

2. Bios and pix: If you wish to be on the program, please send a bio of 50-100 words and a black and white head shot (300 dpi, jpg or tiff ) to pam.barnsley@gmail.com NOW. Deadline is March 15.

3. Bumpf: Send 250 books, bookmarks, postcards, pens, other promotional items that will fit easily into goodie bags (no flat sheets) to Kay Stewart, #206-71 Gorge Road West, Victoria, BC V9A 1L9, postmarked no later than May 1. Material sent later may not make it into the bags.

4. Ads: Encourage your publisher to take out an ad in the program book or do it yourself byMarch 31. For information, email John Thornburn, Advertising Director, at chaosconsultants@shaw.ca.

5. Books: Dead Write Books, our conference dealer, will bring in books of published authors who are on the program. Self-published authors can arrange for Dead Write to handle your books. For queries, email whitedwarf@deadwrite.com.

Hotel Reservations: The conference block at Hotel Grand Pacific is already fully booked. However, the hotel will continue to accept BloodyWords bookings at the conference rate ($179 per night, single or double, plus tax) as long as non-harbourside rooms are available. Don't forget to mention BloodyWords when you make your reservation.

Arthur Ellis Awards Banquet June 2: the Hotel Grand Pacific. Come early and see the show. For information, consult the Crime Writers of Canada website: www.crimewriterscanada.com. For banquet tickets, email arthur_ellis_banquet@crimewriterscanada.com beginning April 1.

Kay Stewart and Lou Allin, Co-Chairs

Getting the Most out of your Critique Group

Getting the Most out of your Critique Group
By Vicki Delany

Oct. 2010

Whenever I'm asked by aspiring or beginning writers for some advice on getting published, I always say the most important thing is to be sure that you have someone else read and critique your work before you consider it finished. Not only do you want to make sure your manuscript is as free of spelling and grammar and punctuation errors as possible (and this is very important) you need another set of eyes to spot potential problems.

It's simply not possible to edit your own work. By the time you've revised it for the tenth time, you're no longer seeing what's on the page, but what you THINK is on the page. The author is a poor judge of use of motivation - YOU the author know why your character is acting in such a way, but have you explained it to the reader? Same for backstory. YOU know the backstory, but have you sufficiently explained what led up to these events, or alternately have you so flooded the book with unnecessary detail it's slowing down the plot?

One of the best and most reliable ways to get good, productive, useful criticism on your work is to join a critique group.

Be careful when setting up or joining a critique group. You don't want anyone who's nasty or mean or jealous of better writers. All criticism should be offered with the intent of making the work BETTER not running it and the author down.

I'd advise against joining an online critique group. If you don't know them personally, how can you trust their advice? Bad critiquing is potentially very dangerous.

Here are some general guidelines for what works as I see it:

The group members should be on the same level more or less. If you're a serious writer with the intent of seriously producing a book (or short stories) and sending it out for publication, then you want to be joined with others of like mind.

Each member of your group should have some understanding of the basic concepts of creative writing (unless you are all rank amateurs starting out together, and then you might need an instructor). Your time's important: you don't want to have to explain how to use tense properly or what it means to show not tell.

Do not join a group with writers whose work you don't respect. If you think that so-and-so can't write a word worth a darn do you want her giving you advice on your writing?

Don't defend your work to the group. It's all right to explain "that will come later", but if you have to defend the story, it isn't standing up on its own. You won't be able to discuss what you really meant with your readers. I know of groups in which it's a rule that the person being critiqued isn't allowed to speak.

Don't waste everyone's time on work that you haven't done to the best of your ability. If you're experimenting, trying to find out if something works, that's fine. Perhaps explain right up that you're not sure about this and looking for input.

Your job is not to rewrite anyone else's work. First of all it's patronizing, but do you really want parts of your book to have been written by someone else? Make suggestions, yes. Suggest a change of words, or rephrasing. But rewriting? No.

A critique group is about give and take. You need to be committed to your group to the best of your time and ability. Are you yourself able to give constructive criticism? Do you know why something works in a book or doesn't? Can you explain your thoughts?

Every member of your group must be prepared to critique every other member's work. If you end up with someone who sends chapters to every meeting, but doesn't seem to have the time to read anyone else's, ask her or him to leave. (Having said that, of course, cut them a bit of slack once in a while.)

If you write faster than your group can read, select what you think needs work. Don't let your ego take over and find yourself giving what you think is the best of your work to your group. They are there to criticise, not to praise.

When you're looking for a group, or thinking of forming one, think about what suits your style best. There are many, many different types of groups, the only rule is: join one!

With a nod and thanks to the members of my critique group: Dorothy McIntosh, Jane Burfield, Madeleine Harris-Callway, Donna Carrick, Cheryl Freedman.

Vicki's newest book, NEGATIVE IMAGE, was published by Poisoned Pen Press in November 2010. If you'd like to read the first two chapters, please go to: www.vickidelany.com. Most of Vicki's books are available in Kindle and other electronic formats as well as hardcover and trade paperback, large print and audio. Vicki blogs about the writing life at One Woman Crime Wave