April 19, 2017

MEETING CALLED TO ORDER AT 6 P.M.

THANK YOU to Laurie who designed the Kissaten advertisement and all those who participated in the event, including Gail Baugniet, Laurie Hanan, Lizbeth Hartz, Katharine Nohr, Dawn Casey, Jenny Delos Santos, Shana & David Jones as well as Quincy Solano.
WEBSITE: Sisters in Crime website is well on its way. Visit: don-vicki.wixsite.com/sistersincrime. We’ll get a simplified domain name as soon as it’s done. It contains this year’s minutes, members, events and photos
EVENTS: We will not be participating in the Hawaii Book & Music fair since we have had 2 events already: Left Coast Conference and Kissaten Book Signing. Anyone interested in the annual Arts and Craft show at Blaisdale this fall? If anyone is are of other/better events, please let us know. We are open for ideas.
SPEAKER for next month’s meeting is not yet known.
CAROL J. CATANZARITI facilitates our sessions for what we learned at Left Coast Crime Convention.
LARRY MILD/RIVETING SUSPENSE is withholding information that the reader wants to know most. - Moderator questions included mentioning one of their books or a character within “Riveting Suspense” context. The panelists seemed to respond about a subject they were intimate with and had knowledgeable about.

Colin Cotterill, a renown British ex-patriot, lives in Thailand on a rural dead end street with native Thais. His social and political issues got him thrown out of Laos.
Dana Stabenow, lives in Alaska and is a great story telling; her novels are torn between living in the modern world and the native cultures. Stabenow’s popularity has a fan base called “Danamaniacs.”
*Sheldon Seigel; a distinguished product of San Francisco and Chicago’s legal world. He manages to stay ahead of his protagonist as well as solve both crime fiction and legal thrillers witj lots of attitude.
Harry Hunsicker is a thriller and award winning mystery author writing about Texas. Hunsicker law enforces, lone heroes. Private investigators help Hunsicker to take down the evil doers.

DAWN CASEY /CREATING CHARACTERS BEYOND AN AUTHOR’S CULTURE

Include gender in culture.
Culture appropriation. Members of a culture become angry with writers and artists who take their culture and use it.
Writers who mention a character is black, but fail to mention
A character is white, causes displeasure.

VICKI WHITE/POLICE FORENSICS – Panelists were Jane Lasswell-Hoff (a medical examiner), Charles Rosenberg (who was the forensic specialist on OJ Simpson case, Arthur Kerns and Michael Spencer.

Discussed the CSI effect and in how TV erroneously get results back much quicker than in reality. ME’s use a grisly humor throughout the day. The actual job can be boring and tedious. In the past Dentists were known to stage fiery crashes and faking their own deaths. One of the speakers, Jane Lasswell-Hoff worked on a case that a state trooper killed his wife, and faked a fiery car crash. A fiery car crash is always a red-flag.
Scientists in Israel have demonstrated that DNA can be fabricated, undermining the credibility of what has been considered the gold standard of proof in criminal cases (article in 2009).
In the past, a medical examiner tried to create a false crime scene. He wrapped duct tape (or wire) around himself and attached a fake bomb to himself in his office. The ME said he’d been attacked.
Evidence collected at a site may appear to be in conflict with the forensics. It is possible the evidence may be improperly collected or planted wrongly. There was a case when someone found a skull on top of a plastic shopping bag, which suggested that the skull was from a recent death. However, the bone was C14 dated, and was found to be 900 years old. There was a simple explanation, but the evidence was in conflict.

KENT REINKER/PLOTTING- There was a wide diversity in the methodology used in plotting. Some outlined one used Scrivener and some knew at the beginning how it was going to turn out at the end.Conclusion: sub-plots are a by-product of interesting characters.

Publishing- There are a great lot of publishers who are not part of the big five, subspecialize in particular genres.
Two panelist owned Poison Pen Press. A lot discussed was from their point of view.
Publishers must be able to deal with all methods of publishing: E-publication, paper publishing and audiobooks, which is a big topic nowadays.
Stressed the importance of appropriate editing.
Vicki said her publisher vanished without notice. She said it is very important to find out about the publisher before you deal with them. Do your research before you sign up with a publisher.CAROL J. CATANZARITI/SHORT STORIES - Compression is essential. It’s a slice of life; not a whole shebang. This allows the writer to punch emotion. TIPS:
Connect title to the essence of the story
Employ the character arc (build the arc with a twist at the end)
Emotion is key and secondary to plot
Short stories to read: >> Derringer Awards (short mystery fiction in varied lengths)>> Recommended short stories to read for the mystery short story
“The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien
“Blown Up” by Julio Cortazar
“Monkey Justice” by Patti Abbott
“Peaches” by Todd Robinson

10. GAIL BAUGNIET / SPECIALIZED POLICE WORK - “A Different Kind of Cop”

Ellen Kurshner –a police psychologist: wrote a non-fiction “I Love a Cop.” Part deals with suicide - written for families with cops. Also wrote a fiction novel about cop suicide called “Burying Ben.” Felt it easier to write a fiction, but found it was harder to hold a reader’s attention with fiction. Cops are most affected by child abuse, which is what they want to discuss when they come to see her. The psychologist cannot react to what is said – it inevitably causes cops to stop talking to her, as they respond to the responsibility of protecting others. Says she jokes, smokes and laughs more than most psychologists.
Doc Macomber - a retired Special Ops Military: writes about an Air Force investigator, Jack Vu, who is also Vietnamese. He does a great lot of research. Met a fascinating military person who spoke six languages and also spy work. Researching with this man, helped him to develop his protagonist. Also mentioned working with someone part of the Black Hawk Down mission.
Patricia Smiley LAPD- volunteer reservist police officer studied characterization under Elizabeth George. She visited a police station, that led to a 16 year career with the LAPD. She says she bends the rules in writing, but stays authentic to police investigation characterization. She is also careful writing about gun safety as well as taste-testing “white powder” which is found on surfaces.
Lisa Preston- a fire department paramedic & city police officer: enjoys writing about horses in Washington State. Has written non-fiction ivolving horses, cats and dogs along with some fiction. She is more interested in people and character than law enforcement. Actually prefers the extremes of a situation and how people may respond.

11. LIZBETH HARTZ /ROMANCE AND CRIME COLLIDE: DESIRE, DREAD AND HOT SEX - only three panelists: AJ Llewellyn, Tanya Plank and me (Lizbeth) Moderator was Ellen Byron.

Tanya Plank –a New York criminal appeals attorney and former ballroom dancer. She writes more romance than sex.
AJ Llewellyn published over 250 day eratic romance novels. Born in Australia - lives in LA. Writes male-male –romance and intrigue. First series of phantom love set in Hawaii. Most novels are phantom lover with strong mystery elements and also pharanormal. Her lead is a hula dancer and Kahuna. Believes mystery comes first with strong story line, keeping readers interest. Both important, but over years sex has become less important. When asked reason for writing male-male romance-said her publisher asked her to, because it would sell. She has a lot of gay friends who she borrowed from. All of her mysteries are from reality, based on some actual crime

12. LAURIE HANAN/WRITING ABOUT HAWAII - Three points about pidgin.

1. She’s the only one who writpes pidgin. Everyone agrees pidgin adds local color. It needs to be readable. Readers have never heard pidgin. She works hard to make the pidgin understandable.
2. To give reader a sense about what it’s like to live in Hawaii. Use smell, sounds, sights, a lot of culture, history. The place should be almost like a character in the book.
3. The location should have a real effect on the story and character. The characters act the way they act because of the place they are in. Writing about Hawaii…to make sure the place affects the character.

13. ROSEMARY MILD/ANATOMY OF VIOLENCE - Dr. John Burley said, “If you want to kill someone, put them in the hospital early in July because that’s when the new interns start.”

14.. DENNIS KEATING /MARKETPLACE –Important to package yourself and your work. The fad now is one or two words for the title.

Develop an elevator pitch. Who are you? Do it in one sentence.
Bookmarks are very good for marketing.
There was one bookmark where there was a bullet on the top of the card.
Amazon is the only game in town. Barnes and Noble do not accept self-published works.
Covers are important. The cover is about you and your book.
The packaging should show consistency.

15 KATHARINE NOHR/SPEED DATING -Prepare a snappy, engaging two-minute pitch to present at each table.

Talk excitedly about books. Don’t memorize speech. Try not to rely on notes- you’ll lose their interest when you read them.
Reading your pitch doesn’t produce energy.
Hand out book marks.
Have a command in your voice.
Requires a loud voice, stamina and strong bladder.
Don’t use same pitch for different venues/speed dating verses new author breakfast
Remember this is 100% marketing.
Be enthusiastic; if you aren’t then why should readers be.

16. MICHAEL LITTLE/OVERALL -Writers talking about their books and telling stories of themselves. Panelists are great story tellers -excellent and inspirational. Each narrative contributes a square to a large quilt. Each square is different, reflecting the writer’s experience and style.

Writers write. Writers also talk. It’s all about narrative.
Writers write their stories. Then they tell stories about the stories. It’s all about narrative.
Writing sharpens the speaking, and speaking sharpens the writing.
Talking about a new story often precedes the writing of that story.
It’s planning out loud.
All panels - People talking about their expertise, whether it’s about wine, wine country, horses, police, psychology. Everyone had their own thing.

17. GAY GALE/OVERALL -270 fans at the convention and 170 authors

Don’t be afraid to try something new.
Thank you Katharine for Speed Dating & to all those who haven’t been on or moderated a panel before.
I appreciate your support even though a lot of you didn’t know what a conference was until you recently attended one.
Thank you to team Rosemary and Larry setting up panels, Kent who ran the silent auction and raised a $1,000; Gail our Hotel Concierge, Vicki with special events, RoseMary with the hospitality room.
It takes a village to raise a child and it takes a core group to run a conference like that.
There were no particular change from everything that was offered at this LCC compared to the other conventions.
Rely on your colleagues who said they would help and they stepped up like no body else’s business. It’s not a solitaire thing writing, marketing and sharing talents.
Asked everyone: “Think of your most favorite moment that you haven’t mentioned yet. Share something special that made you smile. “
Gay- hotel room was four times bigger than my own apartment. It was huge and amazing.
Rosemary Mild- Lisa Preston sat with us. She read about us in the program. She was overcome about my daughter Miriam. In one of her books, she had a main character on an airplane. She put a Miriam type of character next to her protagonist.
Carol-Friday night my evening plans fell through and my husband couldn’t join me so I went to the mystery party as the last result. And, I had so much fun at that party! It was a Blast!
Katharine-This was a special conference. The event that stood out was the reader/author connection, took 4 ladies to the Japan Village in Ala Moana. We had a lovely time-they all said it was the best event of the convention.
Gail – I felt very very special. I was very honored to be asked to present leis at the opening ceremony.
Vicki- as special events director I had the opportunityfor a one on one with Dana Stabenow, Laurie King, Colin Cotterill and Faye and Jonathan Kellerman. To be able to meet and interact with them was a thrill. I was able to go from panel to panel. I met a lady, whose a new author to be.
Doris – Everything was really great!
Larry Mild – I made friends with Colin Cotterill, who was terrific.
Liz- I was in the audience listening to people talk and Ellen Kirshner asked “What is the leading cause of deaths in police officers?” I had the answer, but someone else also did to. She then got a book, but I also got a free book because Gail Baugniet heard me.
Kent- I loved being the auction chief. Everyone who bought the ticket, I got to interact with. Great to meet people and getting to know them. At the banquet, I ended up next to Jonathan Kellerman. We had much in common and had a great conversation. I would ask question: WHAT GOOD BOOK HAVE YOU READ LATELY? One year every single person I asked said “Hunger Games.”
Dawn- The Anatomy of Violence was great!