Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Killer Nashville 2009

I attended my first mystery writers’ conference this weekend. Killer Nashville is a great place to be for writers of any genre who want to study the craft of writing or for anyone who wants a beginner’s insight into the science of forensics.

In some ways, it was very different from a romance writers’ conference or a kid lit conference. I attended panels on surveillance, the legal system, and investigators’ interview techniques. There was a mock crime scene in the hotel boiler room. The conference opened with a presentation of a retelling of a real murder investigation by Lee Lofland, author of the Writer’s Digest book, Police Procedure & Investigation: A Guide For Writers (which I purchased).

Some things were familiar, pitch appointments (with the usual jitters) and workshops by agents, editors, and authors. Two of my favorite panel discussions were on using backstory and setting in your novel. Guest of Honor author, J.A. Jance’s speech was inspiring.

Killer Nashville is a great conference for writers starting their first novel who are primarily interested in learning the craft of writing and for writers with complete manuscripts looking for a home.

For more information on this conference, go to the website for testimonial videos and to sign up for conference news.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm so glad you enjoyed the conference, and I hope to see you again next year. Thank you, too, for picking up a copy of my book.

Please feel free to contact if I can ever be of assistance.

Rae Ann Parker said...

Thank you Lee! The conference was great and your workshops were fantastic.

Anonymous said...

Rae Ann, that sound like a great conference. I think I'm becoming a conference junkie. I want to go to all of them. They get you so pumped about writing. Thanks for sharing.

Kit

Anonymous said...

I hope you'll consider our Writers Police Academy. Here's a couple links to some photos from last year's event. It was a blast!

http://www.leelofland.com/wordpress/?p=3344


http://www.leelofland.com/wordpress/?p=3329

Rae Ann Parker said...

Kit: You are so right. Writers' conferences always give me so many book ideas. The problem is finding the time to write them all, but I guess the good ideas stick and turn into books.

Lee: The Writers Police Academy looks like an amazing program. Definitely something for the wish list. Thank you for the links.