Their Time Upon the Stage by Susan Van Kirk

 I was watching the credits of “Les Misérables” this week and the order of the players reminded me of the Shakespearean cliché about the world being a stage. Yes, it’s true that each player has his time and size of role. But even the most obscure part has its function. (Think of all the dead bodies at the end of the revolution or on the battlefield in “Lincoln.”)

What functions do authors have to think about when they create characters in their minds and on their pages?

 

Orson Scott Card, who has written multiple books about the writing craft, mentions that characters can be divided into walk-ons and placeholders, minor characters, and major characters. When drafting a novel, an author has to consider how much time and description to give to each character she creates.

 

The walk-ons and placeholders are part of the background of a story. They have their purposes either in large ensemble groups or in small parts. They come into the book and do their thing, and then they leave. Often, in a movie, such a character is labeled “second man with gun.” In the Sherlock Holmes’ stories the Baker Street Irregulars, a band of street urchins that Holmes relies on for intelligence, is such a group.

 

I’m currently finishing a book of three novellas that brings forward my character, Detective TJ Sweeney. She’s always been a major character, but since Grace Kimball married, TJ hasn’t had as much time on the stage. These three novellas give her center stage. The first story, “Doing Justice, Loving Mercy,” goes back to 1991 when Grace Kimball’s children were young. None of my readers have met those children because this story is a prequel to the series. The series begins in 2011. The children are minor walk-ons and have a role in this story, but I did give them names since they were mentioned in the later novels.

 

The second category, minor characters, helps the plot along, and we learn more about them than the

walk-ons. They have their purposes too, and without them the story wouldn’t work as well or take the turns it takes. In “Two Graves,” the second novella, the setting is TJ Sweeney’s 20^th high school class reunion. TJ’s partner, Jake Williams, and two of the policemen, Jim McGuire and Ted Kessler, are minor characters. But they have a role in making the climax work. They’re given names because they are more than walk-ons but not major characters.

 

A sub-category of minor characters is those who provide comic relief, especially in my Endurance series. Lettisha Kimball, Grace’s former sister-in-law, is always the comic relief. Lettie believes everything she reads in the tabloids, listens to all the gossip around town, and has outrageous opinions. As a minor character, she reflects the views of a small town person, but she also keeps her ears open for what’s happening. She’s an amazing cook, so when she gets mad at TJ Sweeney for something, she cuts off her pie allowance.

 

The major characters are the ones who play the biggest role in novels and films. We get to know them well and want to know their fates. Their lives—and often their point of view—drive the plot. I describe them in detail. We must care about them, however, to stay involved in the story. In the upcoming novella, “The Locket,” Grace Kimball becomes a minor character while Detective TJ Sweeney is the major character, and it’s her view that drives the plot.

 

The next time you read a novel or watch a film, think about the role each character plays, large or small. Each one is necessary to make the plot move forward. Do you read mystery series where characters are sometimes in major roles and sometimes minor?

An Interview With Carol Pouliot

by Grace Topping

 

Murder at the Moulin Rouge

Paris, 1895. When a cancan dancer at the Moulin Rouge falls to her death from the top of one of Montmartre’s highest staircases, the police dismiss it as an accident. But, Madeleine was one of Toulouse-Lautrec’s favorite models, and the artist is certain she was murdered. Enter Depression-era detective Steven Blackwell and 21st-century journalist Olivia Watson who travel back in time to Paris to hunt down the killer. Before long, they learn that a second dancer—a ballerina and favorite model of painter Edgar Degas—has died. Two dancers dead in two weeks. Two artists grieving. Is the killer targeting young dancers, or does this case involve the enigmatic Paris art world?

From the moment Steven and Olivia arrive, Steven is out of his element. The small-town cop has no idea what techniques the French police use in 1895. Worse, he has no official status to investigate murder in one of the world’s largest cities. The sleuths soon discover disturbing secrets at the Paris Ballet. And when Olivia insists on going undercover to visit a suspect’s house alone, Steven fears he’s made the biggest mistake of his life.

Travel back in time with Steven and Olivia, as they enter the back-stabbing world of dance in one of the world’s greatest cities. Murder at the Moulin Rouge is their most daring and dangerous case to date.

 

To read a mystery requires us to suspend disbelief. But when the mystery involves time-traveling sleuths, one of whom lives in 1934 and the other in current day, we can forget about it reflecting reality. We just need to read it for fun. Carol Pouliot joins us at WWK to talk about her Blackwell and Watson time-travel mystery series where her two sleuths cross into each other’s time to solve crimes. 

 

Welcome to Writers Who Kill, Carol.

 

What motivated you to make your detectives time travelers, with one of them a bit ghostly?

 

I've never thought of any of my characters as ghosts. I based the series on a theory that Ei​nstein had. He believed there was no such thing as past, present, or future but that all time happened simultaneously. He also thought time could fold over if conditions were right. That's what happened to my two main characters, Steven and Olivia, in the beginning of the first book in the series, Doorway to Murder. They've been catching glimpses of each other across a doorway for several days when, finally, Olivia speaks up and asks Steven if he's real. That leads to their discussion of what's happening to them and to each of them proving to the other that they actually do live in the time they say they do. Steven lives in 1934 and Olivia shares the same house 80 years later in 2014. I write the books as dual time periods that happen at the same time. 

When 21^st century journalist Olivia discovers that Steven’s ghost is inhabiting her house, she is shocked, but doubly so when she finds herself able to travel to his 1930’s time. What has been the greatest challenge you face writing about characters who can travel to different times and places? 

 

In the beginning, it wasn't difficult but as I continue to write the series, Steven and Olivia have gotten used to a lot of things in each other's time. Because of their jobs, he stays in the 1930s most of the time and she does most of the traveling into his time. I chose to write it that way because I'm more interested in writing historical rather than contemporary fiction. 

 

Coming back to your question, although it's a series, I write each book as though it were a standalone so someone can pick up any book and enjoy it. In each subsequent novel, I make sure that I explain enough of Steven and Olivia's backstory so the reader understands their situation. What's tricky is that, as the series progresses, Olivia spends more and more time outside the house in the 1930s and has gotten used to most aspects of life there. She's no longer surprised at things she sees and hears. I have to constantly remember to put in little notes that let the reader know it makes sense that she's used to certain things, and that she even uses some of the slang expressions popular at that time. 

 

Olivia and Steven live in times eighty years apart. How does Olivia account for her absence when she is with Steven in his time? Is Steven able to travel to Olivia’s time?  

 

Olivia doesn't need to account for her absence because she lives alone. She has already told her two best friends about Steven and the time traveling, and she owns her own business—a research agency. She has an answering machine in her home office and uses email to stay in touch with clients. When she needs to physically meet with a client, she is able to do that. She spends enough time in the 21st century to get her research done and turn in the projects that her clients have requested. Steven rarely leaves the house in her time, but when he has it's been on an evening or weekend. They get together inside the house in both her time and his most evenings. As a single man living alone, he doesn't have anyone to answer to either. He's home enough evenings during the week and on weekends to answer the phone in case of an emergency at work. (He's a cop.) 

Is there anyone else besides Olivia and Steven that know about their ability to travel to each other’s time and beyond? 

 

Olivia talked with her two best friends after seeing Steven several nights and after realizing she wasn't in danger. She didn't know what was going on and was afraid she might be ill. They discussed possibilities of what might be happening. When she discovered that Steven was real, she explained everything to them. 

 

Steven and Olivia ended up telling his partner in RSVP to Murder. I can't tell you why because it would ruin part of the story for people who have not read it yet. 

 

In Murder at the Moulin Rouge, what was it about 1895 Paris that drew you to setting a mystery there and then? Could it have been your journey on the Orient Express? 

 

Ha! I'd like to say yes because that trip was amazing. But it was an extra that I added in after I began writing the first draft.  

Murder at the Moulin Rouge was actually the first of my five novels where I followed the advice "write what you know." I taught French for 34 years, and incorporated art and history into my classes. I've always enjoyed the novels of Balzac, which take place in the 1800s, and I love impressionist paintings. I knew I wanted to write a book that involved Steven's late mother, Evangéline, an artist from Paris. I took all those things, did the math, and came up with a year when it made sense in terms of Evangéline's age and when Toulouse-Lautrec and Degas would have been in Paris. That's how I came up with 1895. 

 

Olivia and Steven enter the world of famous painters and dancers to solve murders. As visitors, what pulled them into investigating those murders? 

 

It turns out that Steven's mother was also a time traveler, something he never knew. She appears in his house on Christmas Eve and tells him she needs him to go to Paris. She explains why, and he is intrigued. It also happens to be approaching the one-year anniversary of her unexpected and devastating death. Steven is still having trouble getting over that, and he realizes that he has a chance of a lifetime to spend a week or so with her even though she is a young woman and not the older mother that he knew. Olivia is a free spirit and adventurous. She's always ready for anything. She doesn't hesitate a second before she says yes, she will go with him. 

After years of teaching and running your own business, what motivated you to write crime fiction?  

 

I had been retired about five years and wanted a mental challenge. At the time, I had a subscription to Victoria magazine, which had a monthly feature article called Chimes, a memoir. I had a treasured memory that I still could see as clearly as though it had been yesterday. I thought my memory would be suitable for that feature. When I sat down to write it, an incredible feeling of satisfaction and joy washed over me. I knew at that moment I had to spend the rest of my life writing. 

 

Do your characters arrive in your brain fully formed, or do they gradually reveal themselves as you write?  

 

I thought of Steven first, and he arrived fully formed. I knew him as though he had been in my life forever. I knew his worst fears and greatest desires. I did add two interests for him based on those that my grandfather had. Steven was born in 1901 and my grandfather in 1900, so they would have been contemporaries. I knew giving Steven an interest in cars and baseball was accurate for a man at that time. I wanted a partner-in-crime for Steven, so I created Olivia. I made her someone who was very much his opposite, yet I gave her traits that would allow them to get along. As for the other characters—victims, suspects, killers—I create them before I write the rough draft, although they all evolve as I'm writing that particular mystery. There have been a couple of unexpected characters who popped up fully formed as I was writing my first draft. That's always a lot of fun! 

How was your journey to publication? A smooth road or one filled with potholes?  

 

My journey to publication was not pretty. Ha! I had no idea what I was doing at first and thought I was supposed to get an agent. I queried several people. Most of them loved the story idea but said the manuscript still needed work. I had no idea what that meant so I continued working on it without really improving it for a couple of years. When I finally joined Sisters in Crime, I started to learn the craft and made the improvements that I needed to. I met Marni Graff at one of our chapter meetings and learned about the author co-op she is involved with. That group ultimately published my first book, Doorway to Murder. I always knew I wanted a traditional publisher so I continued sending out query letters but to publishers this time not agents. Finally, after a year, I signed a contract with Level Best Books. I'm still with them. I will say that I found it extremely difficult and stressful to send out a query letter and not hear anything for months...or ever! This business isn't for the faint of heart.

 

What is the most valuable thing you’ve learned since you started writing?  

 

When I began writing, I had a very romantic idea of a writer—someone who sits alone in a particular setting writing day after day. Sort of like the classic writer in a Paris attic. The reality is we don't write in a bubble. The most valuable thing that I learned is that we need other people—writers who understand what we're going through at all the different and challenging stages of writing a book and getting it published, as well as people who can answer questions, whether it's about publishing or poison. The most wonderful thing that has happened to me since I became a published author is the incredible friendships I've made. It can be hard later in life to meet people who think and feel the way you do about things. I treasure the beautiful friendships I've made along the way.   

Where do you plan to take Olivia and Steven next? 

I'm working on book six right now, Death Moved In. It's 1935, and Steven and Olivia are back home in Knightsbridge, a small town in central New York near the Mohawk River and the Adirondack mountains. A local businessman is murdered in his bed while he sleeps one night. This is going to be a difficult case for Steven. At first, there are too many suspects. Then it seems that everyone with a motive did not have opportunity and everyone with opportunity had no motive. There are going to be seven books in my series so I'm also laying more groundwork for the end of the series. 

 

Thank you, Carol.

Finding Mystery Novel Ideas in Everyday Life:

 A Guest Post by Kim Harrington

One of the questions writers hear most often is, “Where do you get your ideas?” People are often surprised when I tell them that many of mine came from my real life. Which, admittedly, sounds a little alarming, since I write mysteries.

But the moments that have inspired my books weren’t dramatic crimes or terrifying experiences. They were small, everyday occurrences that most people would forget by the end of the day. But if you keep your writer hat on, you can spin everyday happenings into a compelling mystery.

My YA novel FORGET ME (written as K.A. Harrington, Putnam, 2014) grew out of a glitch on a social media site. One day, I uploaded a photo, and the site’s facial recognition feature tagged someone else. The two people happened to look a lot alike. Without wearing my writer hat, I would have just laughed it off, fixed the tag, and moved on. Instead, my writer brain went to work imagining all the ways this could have gone incredibly wrong. Then I played a writer’s favorite game: what if. What if you were uploading the photo of someone who had passed away? And what if the website tagged him with someone else’s name? Someone who looked exactly like him but was very much alive. Suddenly, a harmless technical error became the seed of an entire thriller.

Another YA novel THE DEAD AND BURIED (Scholastic, 2013) started with a newspaper article. I’d always wanted to try my hand at a haunted house novel, but I wanted a fresh spin. One day I read an article in the real estate section about “stigmatized properties” (murder houses) and how they can be great bargains for families looking to trade up to a nicer town or a bigger house. So I thought, instead of a crumbling Victorian home, what if my haunted house was an ordinary suburban McMansion that a family purchased to get into a more upscale town? And what if the ghost wasn’t centuries old, but the victim of a recent murder? And the ghost would haunt my main character until she figured out who amongst her friends at school was the killer? One newspaper article became the seed of my idea that blended a modern ghost story with a murder mystery.

Some ideas don’t become books right away. When my son was small, we used a baby monitor during naps. One day, I heard an adult’s voice coming through it. I raced upstairs, but no one was in his room. I eventually realized our neighbors had brought their new baby home and were using the same type of baby monitor, which was causing cross-talk. First, I got rid of that baby monitor! Then, I wrote in my idea notebook, “Rear Window meets a baby monitor.” I had no idea where I’d use it. Years later, while brainstorming the second book in my middle grade SLEUTH OR DARE series (Scholastic, 2012), I searched through the notebook and found the entry. Within minutes, I had a plot about kids babysitting who overhear something suspicious on a baby monitor. The idea had simply been waiting for the right story.

Most recently, my debut adult mystery, A KILLER FOR CHRISTMAS (Crooked Lane Books, 9/22/26) was inspired by a conversation with my husband. One night, I told him I was heading upstairs to watch TV in bed. He asked, “What is it tonight? A Hallmark Christmas movie or a murder show? Because it’s always one or the other.” I laughed and said, “If only there were a cozy Christmas town, a romance…and a serial killer.” We both laughed, and then my writer brain lit up. And I knew exactly what I wanted to work on next.

Notice that none of these stories began with earth-shattering events. They started with a social media glitch, a newspaper article, a faulty baby monitor, and an offhand conversation.

That's the wonderful thing about writing mysteries: ideas are everywhere. The trick isn't waiting for something extraordinary to happen. It's paying attention to the ordinary. Keep your writer hat on. Stay curious. Ask "What if?" every chance you get.

You never know which seemingly insignificant moment will become your next novel.

Have you ever had a small, everyday moment spark a story idea?

 Kim Harrington is the author of A Killer for Christmas, her debut adult mystery from Crooked Lane Books. She is also known for her teen novels Clarity, Perception, The Dead and Buried, and Forget Me, as well as books for younger readers including Revenge of the Red Club, the Sleuth or Dare series, and Gamer Squad series. Her books have been published in ten countries. She lives in Massachusetts with her family and never leaves the house without a book. She has an MBA but would rather plot twists than business plans. When not writing, she's most likely reading or dreaming about her next vacation. Visit her on the web at https://kimharringtonbooks.com/ or on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/kimharringtonauthor/

 

Decorations by Nancy L. Eady

 Five days after the official beginning of fall, the state of Alabama is taking a deep breath. The temperature has finally condescended to inch below ninety degrees for a high, and we are loving it. Even the dogs have an extra spring in their step. Two of them opted to bake in the yard for about a half hour today before they wanted back in, which hasn’t happened since spring. 

Fall and Halloween decorations are slowly appearing around town. However, no one is displaying real carved pumpkins yet. Even with our present fall temperatures, there is not a real pumpkin that has a chance of making it the 33 or 34 days left until Halloween in good shape. 

Fall wreaths and fall colors are popular decorations; they add a pop of color to landscaping that has been devoid of flowers since spring, unless you live in a house with enough shade to grow azaleas. Spring is our big time for azaleas, but an increasing number of varieties bloom in the fall as well. Seeing the fall azalea blooms feels serendipitous; a little wink from the weather to remind us that, yes, we are in the South, and yes, the temperature has stayed too high for too long, but fall will arrive. 

With Halloween decorations, I enjoy houses that go all out with a non-scary motif. Homeowners do lots of neat things with skeletons. Examples include skeletons sitting around campfires, toasting s’mores; skeletons in beach chairs toasting passersby with their beer of choice; and skeletons sitting on pool floaties in the front yard, waving. I also enjoy the houses in ritzy, sedate neighborhoods that decide to “do” Halloween. I’m not sure the sedate neighbors enjoy it that much, but I do. 

Sadly, I have not yet trekked into the garage to find our box of Halloween decorations. I suspect it's hidden among the stacks of the other boxes that have yet to be unpacked. Our Halloween stuff is for indoor decoration. I have a few fall outdoor decorations, but maybe it is time for me to expand into the outdoor Halloween business. 

Or maybe I’ll just continue to enjoy everyone else’s Halloween decorations while imagining all the added spaces those decorations create for hiding bodies and committing crimes for me to write about. 

Has fall started where you are yet? Do you decorate for fall, or Halloween, or both? 

Mystery in the Midlands Goes Short 2026!

by Paula Gail Benson

For the past few years, The Southeast Chapter of the Mystery Writers of America and the Palmetto Chapter of Sisters in Crime have teamed with Michael Bracken to organize a FREE half-day program on the craft and business of writing mystery short stories. This year, mark your calendars for Saturday, October 10, from 11:15 am ET (10:15 CT/9:15 MT/8:15 PT) to join us again for a great day of information from some true experts in the field. We’ll start out with Joseph S. Walker talking about structure; followed by a panel of Ashley-Ruth M. Bernier, Carla Damron, and Art Taylor—all of whom have created larger works out of connected shorter stories; and finally editors Alex Mattingly, Katy Munger, and Roger Nokes talking about how to make sure your submissions are noticed and accepted.

All you have to do is register using the link below:

Registration link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/H7AkECfcQB-9Ej98_UX2DQ

Here’s the schedule with panelists’ biographies:

11:15 am Welcome Michael Bracken and Paula Gail Benson

11:30 am -12:25 pm Some Loose Thoughts on Tight Structures

Joseph S. Walker is an Edgar-nominated author of short mystery fiction and the current President of the Short Mystery Fiction Society. His first collection, Crime Scenes, was published by Level Best Books in March 2026.

12:30 - 1:25 pm Short Stories as Building Blocks

Moderator: Paula Gail Benson

Ashley-Ruth M. Bernier’s short fiction has appeared in many publications, including Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2023, and has earned an Agatha Award and nominations for the Derringer and Anthony Awards. Originally from St. Thomas, USVI, Ashley-Ruth now lives in North Carolina. Her first novel-length work, a novel-in-stories called The Bush Tea Murder, was published by Crooked Lane Books in 2026.

Carla Damron is an award-winning novelist and short story writer who uses fiction to examine social justice issues like human trafficking and mental illness. A retired social worker, she lives with her husband in South Carolina and teaches writing classes on Writers.com.

Art Taylor is the Edgar Award-winning author of two collections and of the novel in stories On the Road with Del & Louise, winner of the Agatha Award for Best First Novel. He is a professor of English at George Mason University.

1:30 - 2:25 pm Editors Reveal All

Moderator: Michael Bracken

Alex Mattingly is the editor of Cold Caller Magazine, and his stories have appeared in PANK, North American Review, Shotgun Honey, Tough, Rock and a Hard Place, and other publications. Writing as Craig Francis Coates, his story “Grendel” was selected for Best American Mystery and Suspense 2025.

Katy Munger is the co-editor of the neo noir literary journal Dark Yonder and has edited numerous short story anthologies in her role as a senior editor for Thalia Press. She is also the author of 18 mystery novels and was a book reviewer for the Washington Post’s Book World.

Roger Nokes is the Editor-in-Chief at Rock and a Hard Place Press. He writes fiction under the pseudonym Stanton McCaffrey. His short stories have been featured in Dog Named Dog Magazine, Tough, Reckon Review, Dark Yonder, Mystery Tribune, Vautrin, Shotgun Honey, and more. He has published two novels: Into the Ocea; and Neighborhood of Dead Ends. His short story, “Will I See The Birds When I Am Gone,” was featured in The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2024.

2:25 - 2:30 pm Final Questions and Comments

We hope you’ll join us on Saturday, October 10. 

Editing: The Writer’s Seven-Layer Salad

By Kait Carson

Seven-Layer Salad

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup sour cream

2 tsps apple cider vinegar

1 cup frozen peas, defrosted and drained

1 head chopped iceberg lettuce

1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1 cup cooked and chopped thick-cut center-cut bacon

3 or 4 hard-cooked eggs, cut in quarters lengthwise

1 cup halved grape tomatoes

¼ cup shredded Parmesan cheese

¼ cup snipped scallion tops

Stir together mayonnaise, sour cream, and apple cider vinegar to make the dressing.

Evenly layer lettuce, cheddar cheese, peas, bacon, eggs, tomatoes, and Parmesan in a pretty glass salad bowl. Top with scallion tops.

Serve unmixed with the dressing on the side.

Don’t like something? No worries, change it up to your taste.

Those of you who follow me know I’ve been in edit mode with my novel, No Return, for the past year. Yep, not a typo. I think Leo Tolstoy wrote War and Peace in less time. Not really, rumor has it that Tolstoy took six years to write and edit his book, and some say it went through fifteen revisions. Not much over the course of six years, but when you stop to realize every iteration needed to be handwritten…well. My hand hurts. So does my head, but I understand Tolstoy’s handwriting was just as illegible as mine, which makes me feel a little better.

What took so long, you might ask? Last August I submitted the manuscript to a traditional publisher who rejected the novel in October with a lovely critique and offered to reconsider the book after editing. Yes, rejection stings, but this rejection offered a ray of hope. Besides, when I considered the suggestions, I realized the editor was one hundred percent correct, and thus began the editing saga.

Somewhere around the six-month timeframe, it occurred to me that editing is very like constructing a seven-layer salad:

•  First layer, outline if you are so inclined, or sit, stay, and write if you’re not.
•  Second layer, let the story marinate, and take a day or two and read the manuscript in its entirety. Any longer and you risk losing sight of the sequence of events and might miss the ever dreaded plot holes.
• Third layer, annotate every chapter, note if it needs to stay, move, undergo revision, or, heaven forbid, deletion. Because I write mysteries, while I’m in this phase, I list red herrings, the characters they affect, clues, the chapter each is resolved, and which suspect the clue or red herring clears or condemns. This is also where I add, delete, or combine characters. 
• Fourth layer, make the necessary revisions, construct a solution timeline. 
• Fifth Layer, reread the manuscript for continuity.
• Sixth layer, find and resolve overused words and phrases.
• Seventh layer, read one last time, make any necessary changes.
• Crunch topping, Submit.

I’m finishing up the seventh layer now and anticipate moving to the crunchy topping this week. I’ll let you know if we get to crack open that champagne bottle in my wine cooler, or open a bottle of Writer’s Tears when I hear. Wish me luck!

Kait Carson writes the Hayden Kent Mysteries, set in the Fabulous Florida Keys, and is at work on a new mystery series set in her adopted state of Maine. Her short fiction has been nationally published in the True Confessions magazines and in Woman’s World. Kait’s short story, “Gutted, Filleted, and Fried”, appeared in the Silver Falchion Award-nominated Guppy Anthology Hook, Line, and Sinker. Her nonfiction essay was included in the Agatha Award-winning book Writing the Cozy Mystery. She is a former President of the Guppy Chapter of Sisters in Crime, and a current member of Sisters in Crime and Guppies. Check out her webpage at www.kaitcarson.com and while you’re there, sign up for her monthly newsletter.

 

Learning About the Short Mystery Fiction Community

by Paula Gail Benson

For the past few years, I’ve had the privilege of working with Michael Bracken to organize a virtual online conference dedicated to writing short mystery fiction. We are excitedly anticipating our next installment, Mystery in the Midlands Goes Short 2026, to take place on Saturday, October 10, beginning at 11:15 am ET and concluding at 2:30 pm ET. The lineup of speakers features some truly fascinating short story authors and editors.

We hope you’ll be able to join us or watch the recording of the program. It’s free of charge! Just register at this following link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/H7AkECfcQB-9Ej98_UX2DQ

To give you a better chance to get to know some of our presenters, I asked them to respond to a question or two or more. We had a quick turn-around time for responses and not everyone had time to answer everything, but what they did have to say gives true insight into the short mystery fiction community.

1. Were you intimidated by writing short or naturally drawn to it?

Art Taylor

Art Taylor: I’ve always been drawn toward short fiction, largely because of having read so much of it in my formative years, both within the genre—I subscribed to Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine as early as junior high, during a school subscription drive!—and without, reading and studying Poe, Chekhov, Hemingway, O’Connor, Welty, and so many more in high school. It’s a form that seems a good fit for how I work.

Ashley-Ruth M. Bernier: I used to find the form very intimidating, actually! There's so much more pressure on the short story author to make sure a piece is tight, connected, and meaningful. Ever since I was a teenager, I'd "write long", meaning that I always had a novel-length work on my mind. Once I had kids, though, I didn't have the time to write anything long anymore, and I found that writing short stories was actually a lot more fun than I thought it would be BECAUSE of the challenge of making them tight, connected, and meaningful.

Carla Damron: I was intimidated! A short story is a very small canvas. The writing must be much leaner than in novels.

Joseph S. Walker

Joseph S. Walker: I was naturally drawn to writing short. I seem to have a short story brain; every time I start planning what I might do in a novel, I immediately start feeling like I'm just unnecessarily padding things. I think what appeals to me is the focus and intensity of a good short story. You're not getting a vast panorama. You're getting a close-up of a very limited scope of action, and your job as a writer is to convince the reader that this little sliver of space and time is important and engaging.

Katy Munger: I was naturally drawn to it for two reasons. One is my ADHD, which includes a lack of patience for delayed gratification. 😊 The other is that I outline my novels very extensively, with each scene getting a thorough synopsis before I dive in and write. I think this love of framing a pivotal event in very few words carried over into short stories, especially when I started reading at Noir at the Bar. I found that people responded much better to a fully fleshed out story with a plot structure compared to reading a section from a longer work.

Michael Bracken: I started writing professionally when I was a teenager, and I was too young to be intimidated by anything. So, I wrote everything, trying to find my place in the literary ecosystem. I wrote every length from one-sentence fillers to full-length novels. Ultimately, though, I settled into short stories, and have found my greatest writing success with them, with more than 1,300 sales across multiple genres. The past dozen years or so, I have written more crime fiction than anything else and now, when I have a story idea, it almost always fits into one of the crime fiction subgenres.

2. Do you have a favorite short crime fiction author? Have you met that person and what was it like?

Ashley-Ruth M. Bernier

Art Taylor: I admire so many short mystery and suspense writers, but shouting out even one or two would leave out too many more—I can’t do it! But looking back further, there are several writers whose work I keep coming back to as guidance and inspiration: Daphne du Maurier, Stanley Ellin, and Ruth Rendell. Never met any of them—and would’ve been too intimidated even if I had the opportunity!

Ashley-Ruth M. Bernier: They say not to meet your heroes, but I've met a few of them, both online and in person, and they're all lovely.

Joseph S. Walker:I can't say I have a single favorite; there are just too many writers who excel at the form, including a lot working now. In terms of inspiration, though, I don't see how anyone can touch Edward D. Hoch. There's a reason the Short Mystery Fiction Society's lifetime achievement award is named in his honor. Nobody will ever do anything to match his run of having a story in every single issue of Ellery Queen for more than thirty-four years. What makes it all the more astonishing is that all of his stories are smart, entertaining, quality pieces of work. He set the bar we should all be aiming for. It's one of my great regrets that my own writing career started a few years too late to meet him.

Katy Munger: As an editor, I feel like it would be inappropriate for me to name a favorite current author, although there are definitely a handful who make my day when they send a new story in for me to consider. All I can tell you is that I grew up reading a steady diet of Flannery O'Connor, Carson McCullers, and Shirley Jackson. It shows. I love dark stories, but I prefer dark stories about human nature rather than supernatural events or creatures.

3. From whose POV do you write: protagonist, villain, or observer?

Art Taylor: Ooh! All of the above at different times. That’s part of the beauty of the short story—the ability to experiment, to try different things, and to break free of any sense of brand or limitation. “Observer” strikes me in some ways as the most interesting and most underused or under-appreciated: the effect of a crime on a witness or a bystander, their decisions on how to handle what they’ve seen…. that’s ripe for plot development and fertile emotional territory too.

Ashley-Ruth M. Bernier: I mostly write mysteries from the sleuth's point of view, but when I write a straight-up crime story, it's usually from the villain's point of view. I usually write in first-person or close third, so I've never really experimented with writing from an observer's POV. I like to get as close as I can to the main character's thoughts.

Katy Munger

Katy Munger: I tend to write from the view of the protagonist because it's such a great way to convey who that character is and their past. When a reader really gets to know and appreciate (not necessarily like) a protagonist, I find they are more invested in the story and stick with the whole series.

4. Fill in the blank: "If I had to do without ___________, I would find it incredibly difficult to write short stories."

Art Taylor: Thesaurus. Finding just the right word is key to economy and efficiency in your prose. 

Ashley-Ruth M. Bernier: "the mystery-writing community and my support network". The mystery writing community is incredibly generous, helpful, and supportive, and I've made lots of writer friends and gained many wonderful opportunities because of it. My support network at home, like my husband and helpful kids, gives me time to write and grace when I need to focus on a project.

Katy Munger: My computer. Multiple revisions are your friend! With a short story, it is all about cutting, then cutting, then cutting some more. Sometimes I play a trick on myself: when I have to take those final passes at cutting yet more of my words, I save the longer version and tell myself I will publish a collection one day of the longer versions. I haven't done that yet, of course, but I may one day.

5. Is writing short mystery fiction a diversion or a career?

Art Taylor: Are there alternatives to “diversion” and “career”? Affliction, albatross, burden, curse…? (See: I’m using my thesaurus right now…)

Ashley-Ruth M. Bernier: I consider it part of my identity, at this point. It's something I'm incredibly proud of doing. I intend to continue to give it my best and see where it takes me. 

Carla Damron

Carla Damron: A diversion. I love to explore short stories when I'm between larger projects. Or when I'm stuck and need a break (I often "break up" with my novels). I'll explore short form fiction to keep my creative juices flowing.

Joseph S. Walker: In financial terms, sadly, it's a diversion. In today's marketplace, it's hard to see how anyone could make a reasonable living from short mystery fiction. It's all a matter of how you look at things, though. I do other things for money, but as far as I'm concerned, my vocation is as a writer, and this is the kind of writing I love to do. It may not pay the bills, but it's the work I'm proudest of, the work I hope I'll be remembered for.

Katy Munger: I believe it is a very necessary tool to sustain a career in mystery fiction. Writers these days, who have grown up watching visual mediums, write using way too much description and way too many adjectives. A short story forces you to focus on what is critical and essential in a story. It helps you learn to write without including excess information and unnecessary description. Even if you never intend to publish short stories, if you are a crime fiction writer, you should still be writing them -- if only for the exercise of using the written medium to its fullest advantage (which is leaving some things up to the reader, so they can fill in the blanks left in your story with their own experience and imagination).

Michael Bracken

Michael Bracken: Writing short mystery fiction is a career, though not as lucrative a one as I might wish. I have taken my love of short fiction beyond just writing short stories by editing  a crime fiction magazine, helping edit another, and editing many anthologies. I’ve also established ShortCon, helped organize Mystery in the Midlands’s annual conference, and  given presentations about writing, editing, and publishing short crime fiction. So, in a way, writing short mystery fiction has become more than a career; it’s become a lifestyle!

To hear more about the craft and business of writing short mystery fiction, join us on Saturday, October 10, 11:15 am ET/10:15 am CT/9:15 am MT/8: 15 am PT for

Mystery in the Midlands Goes Short 2026!

PRESENTED BY: the Southeast Chapter of the Mystery Writers of America, the Palmetto Chapter of Sisters in Crime, and Michael Bracken

COST: FREE just register at the link below

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/H7AkECfcQB-9Ej98_UX2DQ

Yes, if you can’t attend in person, the program will be recorded.

Program Schedule

11:15 am Welcome—Michael Bracken and Paula Gail Benson

11:30 am -12:25 pm Some Loose Thoughts on Tight Structures—Joseph S. Walker

12:30 - 1:25 pm Short Stories as Building Blocks

Ashley-Ruth M. Bernier; Carla Damron; Art Taylor; and moderator, Paula Gail Benson

1:30 - 2:25 pm Editors Reveal All

Alex Mattingly; Katy Munger; Roger Nokes; and moderator, Michael Bracken

2:25 - 2:30 pm Final Questions and Comments

The Very British Art of Eccentricity by Connie Berry

 

The perfect sleuth?

Recently, there’ve been a bunch of British crime shows featuring eccentric, atypical, and/or neurodivergent sleuths. Professor T is one of the best in my opinion. The fabulous Ben Miller plays Professor Jasper Tempest, lecturer at the Cambridge Institute of Criminology. Thanks to his strictly regimented routines, his OCD and germaphobia are under semi-control—until he gets pulled into actual criminal investigations. My husband and I started watching the series when it first appeared on PBS in 2021. He wasn’t a fan then, but when we went back to the show this summer, we both got hooked, and binge-watched every episode.

The perfect setting?

If you want to watch, read about, or write about eccentrics, you couldn’t choose a better setting than the British Isles where eccentrics are not only tolerated but celebrated. The phrase “an embarrassment of riches” comes to mind. Think Hercule Poirot and Sherlock Holmes. The image at the top of the page shows the nineteenth-century eccentric Mad Jack Mytton arriving at a dinner party riding his pet bear. He also once tried to cure his hiccups by setting his shirt on fire and dressed up as a highwayman to terrify the guests he’d invited to dine with him. As George Santayana, the philosopher, poet, and novelist, wrote, “England is the paradise of individuality, eccentricity, heresy, anomalies, hobbies and humors.” No wonder they show up on our small screens.

Where do I find them?

Here are a few other contemporary British series with eccentric or atypical protagonists:

·       Ludwig features a reclusive puzzle designer who impersonates his twin brother, a high-ranking police detective, after he mysteriously disappears.

·       Dept. Q follows an emotionally damaged detective who runs cold-case investigations from a basement.

·       McDonald & Dodd pairs a quiet, eccentric, detail-oriented detective sergeant with a super-charged Detective Chief Inspector.

·       Death Valley stars an eccentric actor who played a detective on TV and gets pulled into real-life murder investigations.

·       Patience presents an autistic police archivist who helps solve murder cases in York, England.

     With these quirky protagonists in mind, I’ve been thinking about how to create believable, interesting, and atypical characters that capture the reader’s imagination. This is a topic I’ve been considering for some time. My webinar, Fears, Flaw, Failings, and Foibles: Creating Characters Your Readers Will Love (Or Love to Hate) explores ways to use complexity and universal human frailty as we construct the characters who populate our novels. Lately, my thinking has taken a step further.

But is anyone actually typical? 

Come to think of it, no. Each person is unique. We all have gifts. We all have eccentricities—some evident to others, some private. Mine include buying way too many red lipsticks while searching for the equivalent of the holy grail that will be the perfect shade and will last all day while remaining comfortably hydrating. Does such a wonder exist? Probably not, but I keep searching. I also iron sheets; search eBay for a particular soap pad that was discontinued ten years ago (hope springs eternal); insist on using a bar of soap to its final sliver and then etching it on top of the new bar. And I line up silverware precisely.

Five questions to ask

Here are five questions you might ask your own quirky and memorable fictional characters:

    1. What do you buy too much of—and why?

    2. How long would you search online for a certain discontinued item?

    3. What is the one object from the past you always wish you’d kept?

    4. Do you have any secret rituals?

    5. What is one thing you can do easily that others find difficult or impossible?

How would your current protagonist answer these questions? How would you?

How might you think outside the box to create charmingly eccentric characters that stand out in a crowd?