by Paula Gail
Benson
For the second year in a row, author and editor Michael Bracken joined with the Palmetto Chapter of Sisters in Crime and the Southeastern Chapter of the Mystery Writers of America to present a virtual program on writing short mystery fiction. We were delighted to have 189 registrants. Between 65 and 75 attended the sessions live on Saturday and dozens have asked for access to the recording.
The lineup of
speakers and panelists was phenomenal. After resolving a few technical
difficulties, we began with John M. Floyd, author of more than 500 stories that
have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, Ellery Queen’s Mystery
Magazine, Strand Magazine, Best American Mystery Stories, Best Mystery Stories
of the Year, and many other publications. He gave us a primer on plotting,
saying that he began with a plot first, then populated it with interesting
characters.
John recommended
Ronald B. Tobias’ Twenty Master Plots and How to Build Them, which
defined a story as a series of related events. For example, the king died, then
the queen died was a story. However, the king died, then the queen spit on his
grave became a plot, or a series of related events that introduced suspense and
made the story readable and interesting.
He emphasized the
importance of remaining observant because ideas might come from everywhere.
When he was working for IBM, he traveled a great deal. He mentioned two
instances when he encountered information he stored away for possible plots:
(1) not being able to scuba dive within 24 hours before flying, and (2) losing
or gaining a day when crossing the International Date Line.
Following John
Floyd, Michael Bracken moderated a panel of New Voices in Short Mystery
Fiction, consisting of N.M. Cedeño, whose short stories have appeared in
science fiction and mystery publications; LaToya Jovena who writes about the
D.C. suburbs and whose work has appeared in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine
and The Best American Mystery and Suspense; and Tom Milani, who since
2022 has published ten short stories, a novella, and a novel and whose work has
been short-listed for a Derringer Award. N.M. spoke about being runner up for
several of AHMM’s Mysterious Photo contests. She then wrote a full story
which EQMM rejected but was accepted by Analog when her
brother-in-law suggested she submit it there. Latoya emphasized
perseverance—never giving up in spite of the obstacles. Tom mentioned how
helpful his writing critique group had been, particularly for hearing when
something did not seem to work for many readers.
In the last
segment, I moderated a discussion with three wonderful editors: Barb Goffman,
who has won the Agatha, Anthony, Derringer, Macavity, Ellery Queen Readers
Award, and the Short Mystery Fiction Society’s lifetime achievement award as well
as edited or co-edited 15 anthologies; Sandra Murphy, whose stores have
appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine,
and other publications and who has edited 4 anthologies; and Josh Pachter,
author, editor, and translator, who joined us from Morocco. They all emphasized
the importance of following instructions but also being creative in developing
a story to meet the theme. In addition, they gave viewers a lot of good
information about currently pending anthologies and how to find submission
calls.
If you would like to view the recording, connect to the link below by pressing CTRL (control) and clicking on the link:
When prompted, enter the Passcode below.
Passcode: 7Zb@%i5f
Do you write short stories? Why do you enjoy that format?
Thanks for all the work you put into this workshop. I had the best intentions of being there in person, but I'm so glad you recorded it as I ended up with a conflict. Looking forward to listening to the sessions.
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