A Curious Statistical Anomaly

Panels started at 10 a.m. this morning but I felt it was more important to search for coffee than to get to the first panel of the day. I figured snoring or nodding off during a panel doesn’t set the right tone of interest in the audience for the panel members. So, off in search of coffee we went. We checked a couple of places that had cappuccinos listed outside but either they had no menu of what drinks they had or no staff manning the counter, or both. So, what’s a person to do but to go to Starbucks — open, with menu and staff. (Why not do the coffee in the hotel? It was those individual coffee thingys with real cups and I saw a couple of those videos on YouTube — you know the ones on hotels and glasses/cups. I forgot to bring my own this time so….).

Peter Heck interviews Guest of Honor Michael Dirda

11 a.m. Guest of Honor Interview: Peter Heck interviews Michael Dirda.
I’ve enjoyed Michael Dirda’s book reviews in the Washington Post for years so I was very excited to get a chance to sit in on this interview. Dirda was an interesting speaker who, once asked a question, would just free-form answers with interesting information and insights.

(I took notes but if anything is wrong it’s my note taking) He talked about his early years as a student and being an erratic high school student. He when to Oberlin College and told them that if they gave him a scholarship he’d change his ways and really study. They did, so he did. However, he felt overwhelmed with the college atmosphere and some of the other students. His father encouraged him to work hard and finish when he thought of dropping out. He spent time in France and eventually moved to Washington, DC to be near his girlfriend (eventual wife).

He talked about how serendipity has often played a role in his landing jobs. He’s written an autobiography of sorts so, for extended detail, check it out. But he told of his first review for the Washington Post. He’d talked to them and didn’t hear anything for months then was asked if he’d review a book. He said yes, and they sent the book by courier. He knew the review should be 250 words but not when it was due so he read the book that night (Friday), then polished and honed the prose, typed it up on really nice paper (paper with the texture/feel/lushness of vellum since he wanted to make a good impression) and sent it to them express on Monday. The WP people were really impressed because they expected it to take two months. He talked to them about doing more reviews and they were so-so about it but then as the meeting was breaking up one of the editors asked about the paper and where he could get it. Dirda said if you give me some more assignments, I could get you a ream. The rest, of course, is history.

In his time at the Washington Post, he often asked people to review books outside their areas of specialties but still related to things they enjoyed. He had an author who did reviews of literature do a review of a book on jazz, since he knew he liked and enjoyed jazz. He tried to break genres. He got into doing the science fiction and fantasy reviews when their SF/F reviewer moved on to another position.

His belief is that if a book is well-written, telling a great story that resonances with the reader, then it is a good book no matter what genre it’s in. Literature more of less transcends genre — they are books that are patterning book for people and genre is irrelevant. The point is that people shouldn’t limit themselves or their reading. Don’t go through life with blinders on. (I add to that thought that you especially shouldn’t go through life with self-imposed blinders on.)

Heck asked about what happens if you don’t like a book. Dirda basically said he doesn’t tend to read books he doesn’t enjoy. He may occasionally give a mixed review but has done very few negative reviews in his career. This topic led to discussing the prevalence of reviewing sites on the internet. One of the ways to get a reputation and readership on the internet is to do negative, snarky reviews. Usually, these are easy to write but don’t do a service to the authors or the readers of the review. Most of the negative reviews that he’s done have been when a well-known author just doesn’t seem to care anymore.

He strongly believes that once people get out of school they should be reading for pleasure. This brought up the point that as a professional reviewer, he does get pleasure from the books he reads but that he seldom gets a chance to read for pleasure. (A distinction that I feel is very important and was happy to hear him talk about as I do a lot of reviewing myself.)

Asked if he reread books, Dirda said that he did. That there are some books that are comfort books either because of the story, the characters, the language, the setting, or combination of these elements. They give comfort to the reader. Some books are reread because at the time of the first reading, you may not have gotten the subtext or full experience of reading it. He talked about a book he read in his teens and reread in his thirties and the on the second reading, he understood that there was so much more that he didn’t get as a teen.

I was so impressed with his talk, that I put in a bid in the silent auction on his books. If I don’t get one, I’ll buy them, but the auction is for the medical fund of SFWA (Science Fiction Writer’s Association). Can’t beat getting what you want while helping others.

Then we took a break and stopped to talk to people we hadn’t seen in a while. Caught up and blathered on until the paranormal romance panel. We also went back to our room to see if the hotel had managed to do the odor neutralizer thing — nope. So, we sprayed the neutralizer we’d bought again. The smell has changed to a fruity one from the floral one it was earlier — weird.

Girl Meets Monster panel

1 p.m. Girl Meets Monster, Gets Boyfiend: Paranormal Romances. What is paranormal romance? Is it absorbing urban fantasy or is it a completely separate genre? Why is it so popular? Why now? Should it be filed under romance or fantasy?
Panelists: Victoria Janssen (moderator), Traci Castleberry, Maria V. Snyder, and Mindy Klasky.

The first part of the panel they tried to come up with some key items that define the terms and seemed to agree on the following.

Romances are expected to have H.E.A. or Happily Ever After endings. Paranormal Romances also tend to have HEAs. If there is not a happily ever after ending, or no real resolution, it’s probably Urban Fantasy.

In a Paranormal Romance, romance is the key to the story and they usually have a lighter tone and the subplot is the plot that drives the romance. In Urban Fantasy, the fantasy is key and the romance is a subplot and there is usually a darker tone or noir feel. In traditional fantasy there is more emphasis on world building and the setting and language.

Paranormal romances generally have a woman as the main character. Urban fantasy can have either a male or female be the main character.

Discussed the over abundance of vampires as love interests. Some discussion of Dracula being the genesis of the desirability of the monster. Everyone thought Sunshine by Robin McKinley to be a wonderful paranormal romance though it wasn’t marketed as one. They said that they’d like to see more playing with the rules and expectations and the romance with something other than a vampire or werewolf.

We took another break to check our room and spray the odor neutralizer again — now the floral scent is back. The strength is less so I think the odor neutralizer is helping but it doesn’t seem to go away completely. We’ve now heard of at least four rooms with this problem. The hotel is willing to move us but I hate moving once we settle in. I keep hoping they’ll figure out the problem but they don’t use scented cleaners and have no idea what’s causing this. At least it’s not triggering my allergies anymore — it’s just annoying.

Small Press, Big Impacts Panel

4 p.m. Small Press, Big Impact: What is the role of the small press in today’s publishing environment? What can they do that the big ones can’t? How do you start a press and is this just a hobby or can you make a living at it?
Panelists: Sean Wallace, Michael Dirda, Michael Walsh, Lawrence M. Schoen, and John Betancourt.

The upshot of the panel seems to be that you can, if you work hard enough, make a living being a small press — but it’s not easy. Print on Demand (POD) has made a big difference in a small press’ ability to compete.

Amazon.com has also been a help as it gets your books out to the public if the big chains don’t buy copies or carry them in the stores.

One of the definitions of a small press is that they make less than $6 million a year. None of the panelists said they even come close to exceeding that criteria. Most view this 6 million dollar line with a telescope. That one of the hardest things is to get the title out there and to get the word out about the book. It helps to get advance reader copies to the appropriate reviewing venues and Publisher’s Weekly and Kirkus are important. Also, not accepting returns helps to limit your risk.

Ending Stories Panel

5 p.m. Ending Stories: Bang or Whimper. So many short stories start out well but end abruptly or just trail off, leaving the reader to wonder “What was the point?” Why does this happen and how can writers avoid this fate? Is a twist ending a cheat?
Panelists: Dennis Danvers, Barbara Krasnoff, Allen Wold (moderator), Brenda Clough.

There’s a saying: The first chapter sells your book and the last chapter sells your next book.

There was a lot of discussion about ‘change’ being required to have an ending. That a story is about how somebody is confronted with a problem and succeeds or fails and the resolution changes the person (or the reader).

Sometimes the ending may seem to be a bad one if you don’t recognize who the story is about. The Nancy Drew stories aren’t about Nancy Drew, she’s just the catalyst that allows the story/mystery to exist and be solved.

Star Wars has two ending. The first is when Luke rescues Princess Leia and the second is when the Death Star is destroyed. The second couldn’t happen without the first because Leia has the connections needed to make the second happen so it’s really two stories with endings.

A high level story is when you finish a story and you see the world differently. The reader is changed. A bad story is one where you wonder, “Why did I bother to read this?”

If you are writing a story where the climax is not the point, then there is no such thing as a weak ending. If a story is really great you can leave off the end because it’s inevitable from what has gone before — this concept was especially tricky and there was a lot of talk back and forth about not having an ending because it was implied….

We went out with friends to supper to Inkas Empire. The food was very good and reasonably priced. We had a great time getting to know some new people.

2nd Annual WSPA Awards

8:30 p.m. Award Ceremony & Party
Celebrated the second annual WSFA Small Press Award and learned this year’s winner. And eat cake.

WSFA Small Press Award Finalists were:

• “Bufo Rex” by Erik Amundsen, Weird Tales, Issue 347.
• “Orm the Beautiful” by Elizabeth Bear, Clarksworld Magazine, January 2007.
• “The Wizard of Macatawa” by Tom Doyle, Paradox, Issue 11.
• “Harry the Crow” by John Kratman, Aeon Speculative Fiction, Issue 12.
• “Mask of the Ferret” by Ken Picks and Alan Loewen, from the book Infinite Space, Infinite God, Twilight Times Books.
• “The Third Bear” by Jeff VanderMeer, Clarksworld Magazine, April 2007.

The Winner of the award this year is:

“The Wizard of Macatawa” by Tom Doyle, Paradox, Issue 11.

Tom Doyle and Paradox magazine, each received an engraved trophy. Tom also received a check for $250.

Gifts for the Guests of Honor

Next the Capclave Guests of Honor were given gifts. WSFA commissioned an artist (Lynn Perkins) to create a work for each guest. Michael Dirda received a painting of a Dodo in a library. Each of the books in the library is one that Dirda has written about and recommended. James Morrow received a painting of his dog (now deceased) in a field with a background of stars and a hint of the rainbow bridge (or so it appears to me). Both seemed very pleased with their paintings.

After Awards Cake and Chit Chat

Next we all had cake and plenty of opportunity to sit and talk with other Capclave attendees. We stayed way too long to talk and enjoy the company of Capclave members more than we should have, considering we had to get this blog post up tonight. So, the photos will be added in tomorrow.

[Hyperion: Pictures are finally in.]

Well, today is the first day of Capclave. Capclave is run by the Washington Science Fiction Association (WSFA) and is held each year in October. For the past several years it’s been in Rockville, MD and before that in Silver Springs, MD. As DC got more and more expensive the convention has had to mover further out to contain costs. We’re in the Hilton on Rockville Pike and within walking distance of lots of eateries — which is a big plus. The metro stop is behind the hotel adding convenience to those who don’t have or don’t want to use a car.

We hustled in order to arrive in time for a 5 p.m. panel on Library Thing. Hyperion was supplying the laptop and internet connection so we had to get here on time.

Capclave Registration

When we arrived we checked in and got our room — it smelled strongly of perfume. When we first opened the door I thought someone had spilled a full bottle of perfume on the rug it was so bad. We checked with the desk and they were going to have housekeeping come and spray some neutralizer. We went to a panel. We came back — it still hit me strongly enough to cause shortness of breath. So, we walked over the the container store and bought some odor neutralizer spray. We’ve now sprayed heavily twice and it’s at least a bit better — I can breathe. Well, do it again in a minute because while I can breathe it triggered a headache. (Not a very happy camper about this. At least two other couples have complained about the perfume smell in their room. Others say they can’t smell anything. I haven’t talked to the guys in the next room but since they’ve been propping their door open when they’re in there, I believe they have the same problem. I’m suspecting a cleaning product of some sort.)

Dealers Room

We peeked into the ConSuite and the Dealers’ Room (which was still being set up). I took some pictures. We were in this hotel last year but they were still doing some construction then. They’re finished and it’s really a nice venue for a convention.

Library Thing Panel

5 p.m. Library Thing
Panelists: C. Alan Loewen, Danny Birt, David Edelman, Lawrence M. Schoen, and Colleen Cahill (moderator).
Basically, Colleen fired up Library Thing and took us on a tour of her favorite features. The authors called up their personal Library Thing pages. There was some discussion about the different use patterns between the authors who are using it to network with readers and get their works noticed and with readers who are just cataloging/reviewing/tagging books that they own and looking for the writers that they read. For authors, Library Thing allows them to list events they will be attending, speaking at, or signing. If you haven’t visited Library Thing, take a look because it’s a very nice resource.

We also checked out Shelfari and GoodReads and some other online resources for cataloging and managing your library, finding things to read or listen to. For a page of useful links on this subject, check out this Capclave page on Electronic Lib/Book Links.

Capclave Consuite

Next we visited the consuite had a short sit-down to check the schedule and speak with friends. And wait for the 7 p.m. panel. The Consuite is fairly large this year and set up with tables that seat about six each and then can be moved so you can have some nice seating groups. We checked back in after we ate at 9:30 and people had broken out the games (Parcheesi, Mahjongg). Others were just talking and having a good time catching up on what’s been happening to friends they only see at Capclave each year.

Manga and Graphic Novel Panel

7 p.m. Manga & Graphic Novel. What can these combinations of visual and print do differently from traditional films and print? What are some of the best examples and what makes them good? What SF works are being adapted and which ones should be?
Panelists: Lawrence M. Schoen, Steve Stiles, Drew Bittner (moderator), and Lawrence Watt-Evans.
This panel was extremely interesting, lively, and informative. All of the panelists were knowledgeable about comics, manga, and graphic novels.

Steve Stiles read some excerpts from an article he wrote about manga called “Manga-mania”. (I’m now trying to remember what he said so if any of this is wrong it’s me not him). Comics tradition began in Japan in 1862 when they used woodcuts to do their own version of Japan Punch. In 1947, the Might Atom was born and later became/transformed/turned into Astro Boy. Currently there are about 1 billion manga a year.

Manga are made for reading on commutes. For picking up and putting down and find your place easily. The chapters are short, usually about eight pages.

The panel agreed that the people who create the comics are usually science fiction and fantasy fans but unfortunately those who buy them are usually only interested in superhero beating people up or being beaten up. So, there’s not much science fiction and fantasy in American comics.

Comics usually come out monthly. While comics can tell a story over several issues and complete it they usually never end. At the end of the story the hero is still alive and ready to go on another adventure. Graphic novels on the other hand do come to an end — they’re a closed story.

They also talked about how now-a-days, the cutting edge comics are online, and usually free. The comic artists make their money in various ways by advertisements on their sites, by publishing collections of their comics, or from donations. Some artists actually support themselves this way.  The entry cost for doing comics online is very low and the problem is that the entry cost is very low.

Some of the online comics recommended by the panel were: Girl Genius, Schlock Mercenary, A Miracle of Science, and xkcd. Surprisingly I was at least familiar with the names of all of these even if I don’t regularly read them all.

Lawrence Watt-Evans said that he has links to the web comics that he enjoys on his LiveJournal. (Sorry, I couldn’t find the link).

By now it’s 8 p.m. and I haven’t eaten since breakfast, so we go in search of food and odor neutralizer. I’ve pretty much covered the convention so far and am ready to sleep. Tomorrow is day two and the programming doesn’t start until 10 a.m.

A few nights ago we watched Stargate Continuum and the night after we watched all the special features and then the movie with the commentary. I get a lot out of listening to the commentary by the director and whoever else they have. But they commented on the music and how important it was to have the right musical cues in the film. They also mentioned recutting one scene to remove the dialogue because the music was more important, at that point, than the dialogue.

Tonight we had Finding Nemo on as sort of background noise, but you know how that goes; something catches your eye and then you’re watching it. Paying more attention to the musical cues, I just loved the Psycho theme whenever the name Darla came up — it sets you up to know Darla is not going to be good for Nemo.

I’ve noticed that often in movies certain characters will have a theme song. In Pride & Prejudice, the A&E version, each of the major characters has a musical cue that lets you know that the character is now appearing. Lady Catherine de Bourge has her own theme that lets you know by the heaviness of the notes that she’s not a woman you want to cross.

In most movies, you don’t even notice the music, it just is there in the background and it plays with your emotions and your response to what you are seeing. Now that I listen for it I can tell that I’m being emotionally played with by the music in the movies. Most of us just watch the film and never really key into how the music adds to the reactions we have to the characters, the scene, or the overall story.

That got me to thinking about what soundtrack would my life have if it had a sound track. I’ve been kicking the idea around for a while and don’t really know what would fit. Sometimes I think blues or jazz would fit me as an enduring theme but then there are the times that Ode to Joy or just the sound of spoons falling down a stone well would work depending on whether I feel broken or really just overflowing with joy and happiness. Most of the time I think the sounds of nature fit me best — wind in leaves, birds chirping, waves washing up on a shore, gentle rain, thunderstorms, or hard rain — depending on my moods.

I haven’t decided on my soundtrack. Do you have a soundtrack you think would be the distillation of your life?

I just finished watching the third and final presidential debate. As far as I’m concerned Obama won it again. It seems, based on the early polling, that most of the people who watched thought Obama won also. He won overall and then on several of the other questions they asked.

It was clear throughout that Obama was calm, cool, collected and very presidential. He didn’t get rattled even when McCain attacked him. Obama even took the high ground when asked if he thought Palin was qualified to be President — unlike McCain who attacked Biden as being unqualified to be President.

For those of you who didn’t watch the debate, parts of it or even all of the debate will probably be up on YouTube very soon. One of the things that I notice listening to the pundits after the debate is how our personal filters affect what we see and hear. It seems that unless a candidate says what you want them to, then they didn’t say anything substantive — this isn’t really a party thing but a people thing. I’m sure I’m as guilty as the next person of allowing my filters to affect what I hear and see. Some people said Obama was aloof and cold while McCain was open with his thoughts on his face, then some said McCain seemed ill-at-ease, tense, or at times angry while Obama was calm and collected. Each viewer needs to decide for themselves what they saw. I understand that some stations didn’t show the split screens so that you could see both candidates — watching the one answering the question and the other reacting to what was said. To me that was the key in this debate–watching the reactions of the candidates to each other.

Now, while the debates didn’t change my vote — it did confirm that I’d made the right choice. We get to vote on November 4th. I hope every citizen of this country will take their citizenship seriously and vote in the election. Democracies are only as good as the people who make it up and the responsibility they take to fulfill their part of the bargain. We need to serious consider the candidates and decide who will be best, not for the short term or for our party but for America right now. This country is in dire straits and we need a leader who can help us solve these problems and set us up for the future. For me, that’s Obama because I don’t believe we can stand four more years of the policies that have gotten us into the morass of economic problems we currently face. We need change, and frankly — while he talks of being a maverick, I haven’t heard McCain say one thing that he would do differently than what is being done now.

The image at the top of the post — Independence Day. A great science fiction movie where aliens invade the Earth and the US helps to coordinate an attack that save us. The President (Bill Pullman) in that movie faces some hard decisions and realizes that he’s made some mistakes. Even thought the country is being destroyed, he keeps his values and moral compass and tries to rectify his errors and do what’s best for all the citizens and the world. The speech before the big battle is very emotional and stays with you. So if you haven’t seen it — take a look. Amazingly enough Hollywood has given us some strong presidential role models (along with the ones I hope never to see in real life).

We overslept a bit after the late night. By the time we got back from dinner and into our room it was not that late but by the time we caught up on email, finished the afternoon blog post, did some work stuff that had to get done — well, it was late. So, the upshot is we’ve missed the 8:30 panel. There were only two of them today.

However, we’ve got everything packed and the first load is headed out to the car. Once we get the rest of our stuff into the car and check out we’ll be headed to the American Guest of Honor (Laura Lippman) Interview. She’ll be interviewed by Michael Koryta and I’m looking forward to it. There is one panel running opposite the interview — but I figured you’d rather hear about the interview. We’ve missed the other interviews this weekend. That’s one of the problems with conventions, you’re always making choices. There’s usually three or four great things to do during each time period so you’re always having to evaluate what you want to get out of a convention and then picking the one thing you can do per time slot.

After the convention, since all the electronics will be packed we’ll be finishing up this post when we get home. That means we might not have it in until much later — or much, much, much later — this evening. But we will get it in today.

I also wanted to mention because I’ve totally forgotten that in case you didn’t notice, all the panels are song titles. Each of the panels in the program book are listed along with the band that played it. For example, today’s morning panels were: Call Me When You’re Sober (Buddha Lounge Ensemble) and
Beginnings (Chicago). The panel opposite the Laura Lippman interview is A Town called Malice by The Jam. It was an interesting thing to do and got me to try to remember the songs.

Okay, back to write up the Laura Lippman interview.

10:00 a.m. American Guest of Honor Interview — Laura Lippman

First up the room was packed. Just about every seat was taken. There were people lined up along the walls and at the back of the room. I got standing space in the back and when I couldn’t take standing anymore, I sat on the floor. At least, I had the wall as back support — other people were not as lucky. So, for most of the interview I could hear fine but didn’t see anything/anyone except right around the well I was sitting in.

Laura Lippman first talked about her childhood. She said when she was 13, she had the body of an 18 year old. Since she was a very naive 13, she didn’t understand when men were hitting on here or what it was they wanted — but it did make her very uncomfortable. She talked of being propositioned from cars on her walk home from school and how it got her upset.

In talking about books and reading, she mentioned that her mother was a children’s librarian so of course, Laura read all the Newbury winners. She remembers she learned about banned books when she found Valley of the Dolls hidden in the linen closet. She said that if more people told young readers that they absolutely couldn’t read books and locked them away then those books would be the ones they went after to read. She says some books that are classics, she never read because people kept telling her they were good for her. She heard that Lolita was a dirty book. She managed to score a copy and read it but couldn’t figure out what made it so bad. She said later she found it that it was bad because of the sex. She read it again every few years until she finally found the sex. The interviewer asked how old she was then and she quipped “35”. She said that she learned a lot from Lolita because of the writing style of saying a lot without telling you explicitly what you’re being told.

Moving on, she talked about her love for Baltimore. The chance she had to be on the Official Poe Watch on Poe’s birthday. The watch looks for the person who leaves the three roses and the half bottle of Cognac on his grave each year. One of the things she learned is that the watch is not so much there to find out who the person is but to make sure no one interferes with that person. (I think this is great because it would take the magic out of it to know exactly who it is that does this each year.) Laura said that by now this is the third person who has taken on the responsibility to deliver the roses and cognac. This delivery will be in one of her books but only tangentially to the story and not as a central element.

She talked of the differences between city and suburban life and their apparent and real safety. She believes that the suburbs are much scarier than the city. Both have crime but you expect it in the city and there is the illusion of safety in the suburbs.

She talked about life as a journalist and reporter. Her experiences and some of the stories she worked on. She seems to have worked on a lot of stories dealing with young people who have committed crimes. She talked about young criminals and the justice system. She’s happier as a writer than as a journalists — and says she learned more writing skills in creative writing classes than in journalism classes.

All too soon the time was up. We headed to our car and home. Others went on to the awards ceremony. Hopefully, the Anthony Award Winners will be on line soon. But I put in the link so you can find them easily.

We had a wonderful time at Bouchercon. Indianappolis, Indiana will be the site of Bouchercon 2009.

As I said, we missed the first panel this afternoon because we didn’t check the schedule closely enough. So tip to the convention goer, don’t assume anything about a schedule — always check the times.

Dark Side of the Moon panel

3 p.m. Dark Side of the Moon: How crime fiction reveals the darkness of human emotions.
Panelists: Jane Cleland, Bruce Cook, John Billheimer (moderator), Troy Cook, Carolyn Hart, and Sheila York.

The first question was what makes a book dark. The first and best answer that everyone sort of played off of was hopelessness. Hopelessness means there’s no order coming out of the chaos. There’s no redemption. There’s only despair.

There’s darkness and light in everyone. No one is irredeemably evil or totally good. We’re all a mix and the darkness of a book is where we focus. Everyone is shades of grey and while that makes better characters, it also means that each of us has a capability for evil. It’s the temptation and whether we resist or take responsibility for our actions that determine the darkness of the character or of the book. (Also, the darkness of the book is related to just how high the body count is and how much hopelessness or despair is a major theme.)

Murder is often by a family member or friend, so the size of the town or city, or where it is located has little to do with murder. Cozies are supposedly less violent and dark but Carolyn Hart mentioned (and I’m totally paraphrasing here) that in one of Agatha Christie’s book a woman is poisoned while with her family. The woman knows she’s dying from poison and her whole family is there but she doesn’t know who is killing her. When you think about it, there is nothing, absolutely nothing, cozy about that.

A weird fact brought up was that the number one cause of death among pregnant women is murder. So, family, not some stranger, is usually the murderer.

People are not totally good or evil but we are capable of being good or evil.

Blue Turns to Grey panel

4:30 p.m. Blue Turns to Grey: Writing in more than one genre.
Panelists: James O. Born, Oline Cogdill (moderator), John Lutz, John Maddox Roberts, Richard Thompson.

All the panelists agreed that breaking out and writing something different once in a while helps to bring a freshness to your work when you return to the series or genre that you write in.

All books are mysteries in some way. So, it’s the trappings and setting that change when you change genres but not the essential elements of telling a story. As long as the story has human characters you will have mysteries.

That’s pretty much it for today. We’re going to a party and then out to dinner. Tomorrow is the last day of the convention.

We got up early again to make the 8:30 a.m. panel. I can already tell these early mornings and late nights combined are taking their toll. The function rooms were particularly warm this morning which just made being tired even worse — as exciting and interesting as the panels we sat in this morning were — well, it was just difficult to concentrate and take notes. So, today’s panel descriptions may not be as extensive as they were yesterday. I’ll try to do better this afternoon. I’ve put on a short sleeved shirt, splashed cold water in my face and will have some more caffeine.

Taking Care of Business Panel

8:30 a.m. Taking Care of Business: The business of publishing.
Panelists: Madeira James (moderator), David Hale Smith, Maggie Griffin, Ben LeRoy, Sarah Weinman, and Scott Miller.

This panel was a mix of agents, publishers, a bookstore owner, and a reviewer. They discussed, among other topics, the future of crime fiction. Basically, the technology is changing so fast that it’s difficult to predict where things are going. There is a belief that ebooks will become a bigger part of the culture. Some mentioned an author who yesterday had a person come up and tell him that she was so impressed with his talk on the panel that she’d used her Kindle to buy his books during the panel. The consensus was that storytelling is an important part of our makeup and no matter how much the technology changes there will still be stories to be told and people who want to hear/read/watch those stories.

Each panelist was asked to recommend two books that they thought were exceptional. Unfortunately, not everyone was clear enough to get the title and I sure as heck didn’t get the author names for all of them — so, I’m going to list what I have (I hadn’t read any of the recommended books and I’ll be looking them up but here’s what I got):

• The Art of Breaking Glass by Matthew Hall (Grand Central Publishing)
• Black and White by Lewis Shiner (Subterranean Press)
• The Kind One by Tom Epperson (Five Star Mystery Series)
• author Jonathan Tropper — I didn’t catch the title and he has quite a few books out.
• The Hit by Jere Hoar (NAL Trade)
• Red Jungle is the book title, unfortunately I didn’t catch the author’s name and there are several books of this title that it might be. If you know which one they meant let me know and I’ll change this entry. [NOTE: Thanks to Maggie, I now know the author is Kent Harrington.]
• Land of a Hundred Wonders by Lesley Kagen (NAL Trade)
• Severance Package by Duane Swierczynski (St. Martin’s Minotaur)
• Reed Colman was mentioned but I didn’t get a book title for this author either.

The panelists also said to follow the instructions on the agent’s or publisher’s website/book entry or whatever — exactly. Don’t deviate from what they ask for. Follow the guidelines (this has come up on many panels so take it to heart). Use the agent’s/publisher’s name — make sure to get it right. Don’t over hype your book. Be business like in your query letter and compare it to other books they’ve published or that they’ve represented. Do your homework.

Smooth Criminal panel

10:00 a.m. Smooth Criminal: Making the bad guys likable.
Panelists: Sandra Ruttan (moderator), Craig McDonald, F. Paul Wilson, Blake Crouch, and Brett Battles.

There was general agreement that if the bad guy had a code, readers could more readily accept him/her. You don’t necessarily need to agree with the code of behavior, or understand it, but if they bad guy has one, they become more human. The difference between a bad guy and an evil guy is the code they follow.

Another phrase that stood out to me: A hero is only as ‘good’ as the villain the hero is up against. It seems that lately the hero is getting darker as the opponent is getting darker. In real life we’re all shades of grey and in books, it is the shades of grey that add interest to the characters.

Psycho Killer panel

11:30 a.m. Psycho Killer: Why…so fascinated by serial killers?
Panelists: Brian Lindesmith (moderator), Alan Jacobson, Mark Billingham, Jonathan Hayes, and Michelle Gagnon.

People/readers can understand killing for money or in passion — they may not think it justified, but they can understand how it happens. However, serial killers usually stalk and kill total strangers for reasons that are totally unknown, and usually unknowable — which makes them fascinating.

The serial killer is not motiveless, it just isn’t a motive that most of us would understand — at the core the motive usually reduces to a sexual one. Female serial killers are very rare — the audience of mostly women (about 75%) seemed to think it was because they seldom get caught, other than the black widow type killers

The problem of writing about serial killers is that the victims and their families usually get lost in the story as the bodies mount up. They come on for a paragraph or two for set up and then end up on a slab. The victims should make more of a connection to the readers since they are victims and the serial killer is NOT a hero or even an anti-hero. The victims are important because they’ve lost their lives. Compassion for the victims and their families is very important.

And no panel on serial killers seems to end without a mention of Dexter. Dexter is a serial killer who goes after those people who got away with their crimes. He represents vigilante justice which has a long history in the US and most people have mixed feelings about. Dexter taps into those mixed feelings — after all, he only kills bad guys.

It was an interesting discussion and issues were raised that are worth thinking about.

After the panel, we broke for lunch.  But first, we took another turn through the Dealers’ Room. I was looking to pick up a few books that were mentioned in the panels and check out the authors that we’d just heard from but didn’t find what I’d been looking for. (Hmmmm. Maybe I need a Kindle. Actually, I probably do but I’m waiting for the second generation and the features that I want in an ebook reader.)

I just noticed we’re already missing the first panel of the afternoon. Usually lunch break has been an hour and a half and today — surprise — it’s only an hour and I didn’t pay attention. a definite sign of too little coffee in the blood stream.

[Hyperion: Or in my case as of late, too much blood in my caffeine stream]

Something a bit different. Don’t know how long it’s been there in the lobby, but I just noticed the Bouchercon logo of Charmed to Death is displayed on the lobby floor in red light. It may take me a while to wake up to my surroundings but I get there eventually. Since, I spotted it right off this afternoon on our way out of the hotel, I can only imagine that it was the previous lack of caffeine that has now been rectified that did it.

I forgot to mention that when we were at the Wolfsbane and Mistletoe panel this morning, they had some Christmas ornaments to give out to the attendees. We managed to get one before they ran out. This was quite appropriate since the theme is werewolves at Christmas. I’ll certainly think of this book when we put the ornament on our tree this December.

We missed the 1:30 p.m. panel. So, instead went to the Dealers’ Room again. This time I really took my time looking at all the books. I was fun looking at all the covers of books that I read in ARC form without the covers. It was also appalling to see just how many books I wanted to buy. Now I must figure out which ones I really can’t do without because I don’t know when I’ll get to read anything since my TBR (to be read) pile is now several piles and a couple of boxes. I slip these books in between the books that I read for review.  When I get the chance, I’ll either review them in the appropriate zine, here on the blog, or on Amazon, or a combination of these venues. Too many books, not enough time.

Time is Tight Panel

3:00 p.m. Time Is Tight: Keeping the plot moving.
Panelists: D.H. Dublin, Robert Ellis, Nancy-Stephanie Stone (moderator), David Hewson, P.D. Martin, Pick Mofina.
Most of the panelists said they write their stories in contemporary time. The reason is because it’s a bit easier since, if they use forensics and other plot devices that require a lot of research, at least they don’t need to also research the historical era of the book, because they’re living it. However, it does bring up the problem that technology changes so fast that sometimes by the time of publication it could be out of date.

Panelists discussed the pros and cons of 1st person and 3rd person. 3rd person give more scope in relaying information but 1st person, especially 1st person present tense, gives much more immediacy.

Most panelists say they play with time to up the tension and move the plot forward. However, most consider their story to take place over anywhere between 3-4 days or 3-6 weeks. Time, one said, is a movement or a journey, and books are also a journey, and time moves the plot along.

Power of Goodbye Panel

4:30 p.m. The Power of Goodbye: Why endings are important.
Panelists: Brent Ghelfi, David Ellis, Harlan Corben, Susan Dunlap, Mike Lawson, Jamie Agnew (moderator)

Statements that resonated with me:

• End doesn’t have to be a surprise but it does need to be satisfying.
• Ending also has to be fair for the reader. It shouldn’t be a cheat or a rabbit out of the hat.

Some of the authors start with the ending and then begin at the beginning and the whole thing drives to the end. Others know the beginning and the end — the trick is to connect the two.

Harlan Coben said (and I’m paraphrasing) that many people say that mysteries are puzzles but he doesn’t get it, because puzzles give you the picture on the box, and no one puts a puzzle together and doesn’t figure out what it is until the last piece goes it. He sees mysteries as a camera — you first see the object as fuzzy and gradually you get it to come into focus. As you write you’re refining the focus to get to the end.

Then they talked about series. Some thought that series books have a shelf life. In that you can only have a character have so many life changing cathartic experiences before the character is either mad or unrealistic.

The difference between an amateur and profession is that the amateur is “everyone”. It’s the average person who takes that wrong step and ends up in the middle of something they can’t handle. The plot puts them in a situation outside of their comfort zone.

That’s it for tonight. The Shamus Awards dinner is tonight but unfortunately we’re not able to go. I’m hoping that they’ll have the winners on their web-blog soon.

[Hyperion: This was done last night, but someone forgot to hit the publish button.  I must now go and absolve my guilt by purchasing Gayle coffee.]