Friday, March 4, 2011

Sleuthfest

Sponsored by the Florida chapter of Mystery Writers of America, Sleuthfest is a must do event for mystery/thriller/suspense writers at all phases of their career.

Sleuthfest is a conference for writers, not readers. There are workshops that focus on plot, dialog, characterization, research, marketing. A cornucopia of craft honing by people who really know their stuff. Since it’s so hard to take it all in, the MWA volunteers tape every session and make them available to attendees.

The caliber of speakers and attendees is impressive. Dennis Lehane, Meg Gardner, SJ Rozan, Heather Graham, and that’s where the list starts. Too many to identify, for the entire talented roster, you’ll have to visit their website. With this level of talent at your disposal, how can you not improve your craft?

I got in on Thursday afternoon and hit Randy Rawls' talk on storytelling. Where does your book begin? Not the story, the book. Then Neil Plakcy, president of the Florida MWA chapter, gave a presentation on Writing to Avoid Rejection.

SJ Rozan talked about the industry in general, and focused on genre writing and how much it matters to the story. Afterward, I went to a great little burger shop with Neil Plakcy, along with Dan and Dawn Ash.

Enough for now, have to get back to the conference. I will post summaries of each of the topics I attended along with my own observations in subsequent blog entries. Come back often, leave comments. I always enjoy hearing from you.

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