by
Paula Gail Benson
For
the past two years, the Palmetto Chapter of Sisters in Crime and the Southeast
Chapter of Mystery Writers of America (SEMWA) have successfully partnered to
present Mystery in the Midlands, a mid-summer conference for crime fiction
readers and writers held in Columbia, South Carolina. We’ve been able to secure
Elaine Viets and Nancy Pickard as previous guests of honor as well as master
classes and panels featuring regional authors. In addition, we’ve had a silent
auction to benefit the Palmetto Project’s My First Books, an affiliate of Dolly
Parton’s Imagination Library that provides free books for children from birth
to age five.
This
year, we were really looking forward to our third program because Charlaine
Harris had agreed to be our guest of honor. We’d scouted out a new, larger venue
that had promised to advertise the event on its marquee and we’d planned to add
a ghost tour to the schedule.
Then,
in March, we were confronted with the Covid 19 shutdown. What were our options?
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| Preparing for Mystery in the Midlands Photo by MA Monnin |
After
seeing the success of Murder and Mayhem being converted from an in person to an
online event and with excellent counsel from Debra Goldstein, President of
SEMWA, and agreement from our program committee, we began learning about how to
go virtual. We contacted Charlaine Harris to ask if she would be willing to be
our online guest of honor and she answered “yes” within minutes. We were on our
way!
The
key became how to structure the program. We decided to follow Charlaine’s own
achievements in short stories, paranormal, and transferring story from page to
screen. Following our tradition of naming the panels for Columbia’s reputation
as “Famously Hot,” we called them: Slip into Some Shorts (short stories),
Spectres Rather than Heat Mirages (paranormals), and Pages Burning Their Way to
the Screen.
By
going to a virtual conference on Saturday, July 25, 2020, we were fortunate to
be able to ask authors to participate who might have found it difficult to attend
in Columbia. They came to us from New England, Virginia, North Carolina,
Mississippi, Texas, and Oregon.
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| Clockwise from upper right: Dana Kaye, John Floyd, Tara Laskowski, and Art Taylor Photo by Kathryn Kathryn Prater Bomey, shared by Tara Laskowski |
Our
short story panel, all nominees and/or recipients of the Agatha, Anthony,
Edgar, Macavity, and Thriller, were distinguished both as authors and editors
and their advice was invaluable. John Floyd suggested that submitted stories
might have an advantage for selection if they were shorter in length, contained
humor, and had dialogue. Tara Laskowski said she began a story when she heard a
character speaking because “if I hear the voice, I can get that person in
trouble.” (John indicated that he always began with plot.) Art Taylor found
short stories great vehicles for experimenting with different structures. All three
authors gave a template (preferred terminology over “rules”) for approaching a
short story: (1) start with a change in circumstances (John); (2) only hint at
backstory (Art) or reveal it through dialogue (John); and (3) leave more open
at the end (Tara).
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| Dana Kaye and Charlaine Harris Photo by Tara Laskowski |
Charlaine
Harris gave the keynote, which she called Mystery Writers are Always Hot!
“Because they are,” she told the listeners. Her most remembered line was “your
responsibility is the written word.” She gave some really important advice: (1)
dare yourself to do what you find uncomfortable; (2) the real detective work of
writing is finding the kink in the hose and fixing it; (3) take the challenge
of writing the book in your heart rather than the one you’ve read before; and
(4) writers are peers so don’t get caught up in competition. She graciously
took questions. By the end of the session, the comments in the chat line
indicated that the audience wanted to package Charlaine’s infectious laughter
and enthusiastic inspiration for future encouragement.
The
talented paranormal panel featured Alexia Gordon (who writes about a musician
confronting an Irish ghost), Toni L.P. Kelner (whose protagonist, Sid, is a
skeleton), and Gigi Pandian (whose alchemist Zoe is aided by a living
gargoyle). Toni pointed out both actual and paranormal writing centered on
world-building. She found herself fascinated by motive and tried to use it in
different ways with each work. Alexia advocated finding a writing method that
worked and sticking with it. She created rules for how the paranormal elements operated
and always made sure that the detective had to solve the crime instead of the
ghost mysteriously providing the answer. Gigi spoke about how looking at story
structure through the screenwriting or cinematic process had been helpful to her,
but admitted despite planning before writing, she was wrong about the bad guy
every time.
In
the third panel, Dana Cameron, Jeffrey Deaver, and Charlaine Harris discussed
their experiences in seeing their novels converted to the screen. They each had
interesting anecdotes about contractual situations and experiences on the set.
They agreed that series or movies based on novels became great advertising for
the authors’ writing. Jeffrey said he had been influenced as much by movies as
books so his work was cinematic in structure. Charlaine found her life had been
enriched by televised versions of her books, which placed her in unique
situations she otherwise would not have known.
Dana
Kaye expertly moderated the panels, dealing effortlessly with technical
glitches. At one point when Charlaine could not hear her questions, Dana wrote
them out on a large white board, which Charlaine could see, but not the
audience. The only reason I know is that Dana showed the board to Debra
Goldstein and me during a break.
BTW,
if you ever need a partner in crime (or crime fiction programing) seek out
Debra Goldstein. She is truly an asset and fount of wisdom.
We’re
particularly delighted that, with support from our sponsoring organizations,
our chapters could offer Mystery in the Midlands free of charge. We’re over the
moon that we’ve had more than 900 register to view the program or see its
replays.
Thank
you so much to all our wonderful speakers and viewers!
If
you would like to see the virtual Mystery in the Midlands, here’s a link to
access the program:
