On My Own by Jennifer J. Chow

 

All my speaking events after the launch of my Sassy Cat Mystery Series in March 2020 have been in partnership with others. I’ve either co-presented, been interviewed by someone, or participated in a group discussion. I don’t mind. I’m not particularly comfortable at solo speaking.

 

The opportunities to do virtual events in the Zoom-heavy world we live in are plentiful. A lot of speaking engagements no longer require travel—only a working webcam. When I received an invitation to appear at the Writer's Digest Mystery & Thriller Virtual Conference, I jumped at the chance. The only catch was that I needed to conduct a webinar . . . on my own.

 

I agreed because I’ve been wanting to say “yes” more in my life. I’ve decided I need to be more proactive in general and push myself toward growth.

What does it take to prepare for an hour-long presentation? Apparently, a lot. Here’s a behind-the-scenes peek:

 

·         Title: First off, there needs to be a snappy title. I wanted my webinar to both capture the content involved and the mystery writing element of the conference. After brainstorming with Robert Lee Brewer at Writer’s Digest, we came up with “Solving the Mystery of Authentic Characters and Relationships.”

·         Content: It’s been a long time since I’ve made visual slides, but I threw myself into revisiting PowerPoint and trying out Google Slides. (I ended up going with the former.) In the presentation, I wanted to provide writing tips but also tie these to concrete examples. I read through recent novels to pick books that would exemplify different techniques and contacted each author involved to get their permission to summarize certain scenes. (On a positive side note: I also had fun taking some Bookstagram-like photos with these novels.)

·         Tech check: There are a lot of webinar programs out there. The one used for the conference was GoToWebinar, a platform I wasn’t familiar with. Thank goodness for Sue Johnson, who helped me to troubleshoot in the week before the virtual event. It turned out that I had to set up a variety of permissions for my computer to allow access to the webcam, files, etc.

·          Presentation Time: I triple-checked to make sure my slides worked. Having a cup of water nearby was also helpful. It’s amazing how dry your throat can get while talking. At the end, I also did a Q&A session, which I imagined felt much like doing improv. (While answering questions, I tried to stare at the camera lens, to create some sense of eye contact with the audience.)

The result of my first solo speaking event? I think it went pretty well. A few people even paid me compliments at the end of the session. Also, importantly to me, I left with a greater sense of confidence.

 

What kind of bold move have you made?

 

Writers Who Kill by A. M. Potter

Thank you, Writers Who Kill, for inviting me to your blog. Writers who kill? That’s me. Don’t call the FBI or, in my case, the RCMP. I’m a Canuck. All right. Now, why do we do it, why do we kill people? The reasons are personal, of course, and individual. Fear not, I’m not going to delve into the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders). You don’t want to look inside my mind. Just ask my wife. So, forget about me.

Let’s look at things from the reader’s side of the knife. That’s what really matters: why readers read, not why authors write. I’m not referring to sales and book marketing mantras – find your tribe, expand your SM footprint, etc - although the marketing gurus say everything hinges on sales. A lot does, I’ll admit. However, more universally, everything hinges on readers, including those who borrow from libraries or share your work twenty times. 

Why do readers read writers who kill? Why do so many people read crime/mystery fiction? Why do so many watch crime/mystery creations? Think contemporary cozies, historical ones, true crime, CSI spinoffs, law and order procedurals, etc. I’m not complaining. It’s great. We crime writers have a large audience. I’d say the number of crime/mystery novels published annually is second only to that of romance novels.

Why are crime/mystery stories such a big part of our current cultural milieu? People must get something out of the genre.

Of course, there’s the voyeur element. “Look, he's bloodier than buffalo guts.” “Hey, her head’s half there. That incision looks like shark teeth.” 

Secondly, crime fiction can transport the reader to another world. A good author pushes readers’ boundaries, nudging them toward an existence far removed from their own.

Thirdly, crime fiction can have a social or even ethical underpinning. Personally, I like to embed – very deeply, I don’t preach to readers – an ethical conundrum in my stories. In my first novel, Bay of Blood, a world-renowned painter is not murdered because of envy or money – the usual tropes – but because of past failings, shall we say. In my current work-in-progress, the main murderee is killed because of his renunciation of money, his anti-greed. My novels are police procedurals. They deliver detective work, forensic skill, and plenty of dead ends and red herrings. The reader rides a wave of doubt as they try to identify the perps. That’s what crime readers want: a challenging ride, an intricate yet plausible mind teaser. Yet, at the same time, they can find a deeply buried ethical message. For me, all novels - even whodunits - should have an existential core.

I’m not a psychologist or mind reader. However, I’m going to take a stab at answering why people find murder mysteries so fascinating. Violent unexpected death is horrendous. People cannot or do not want to face it directly. One way of handling murder, one way of coming to terms with the worst of all human crimes, is to watch someone solve it. “Look, they caught the bastard.”

Perhaps crime fiction is soothing. It conquers evil, and somehow puts the world in a positive light. Good guys win, bad guys go to jail. On the flip side, I could be barking up the wrong tree. Maybe people just want blood and guts.

***

A.M. Potter writes detective fiction, which he calls North Noir, aka Canuck Noir. You know what he says? “Leave your Scandinavian Noir in the sauna. It’s time for North Noir.” On the bio side, he grew up in Nova Scotia and Boston. He's traveled the world, working dozens of jobs. Like any good detective, he knows both sides of the thin blue line. He's used numerous aliases (for non-nefarious purposes, of course). You’ll have to take his word on that.

Author of the Detective Eva Naslund Series | First book: Bay of Blood, Black Opal Books, March 2019

ampnorthnoir.com