Surprise, Reverse, Reveal!

The title of this post is novelist Joseph Finder's chief words of advice to writers.  Surprise, Reverse, Reveal. Finder was guest of honor at the eleventh annual New England Crimebake.  WTF, you ask is that?  It's a New England crime writing conference held every year in the Boston area over Veteran's Day weekend.  The fun starts Friday with six master classes taught by veteran New England crime writers.  Then there's some drinking (after all, we're writers!) and a pizza party followed by a couple of seminars and a movie, in this case, a film based on Finder's High Crimes.  More drinking.

Saturday a.m. comes breakfast, caloric energy for the panels on writing and forensics.  We cover a broad range of topics, such as female stereotypes in fiction, true crime,  traditional mysteries, the "dark side," agents and editors (on site and available for 5 minute pitches). We have parties sponsored by Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America.  BTW, when I booked tour of the Norfolk County Jail for Sisters in Crime, you should have seen the eyebrows shoot up and the quizzical faces. Sisters in Crime?  Ho. ho. ho.

Saturday afternoon wrapped up with panels about setting, esp. New England, and how to write short stories.  Then comes the cocktail party (more boozing) and the Banquet and Costume Party, Femmes Fatales and Lady Killers.

On Sunday, the revelers drag themselves to a big fortifying breakfast, and two forensics presentations and a final panels on plotting, whereby the panelists come up with a serviceable plot in a short time amid much laughter.

Oh yes, books!  Did I mention books? We have a bookseller and the panelists will sign them.  The books, not the bookseller!  I've barely touched on the good writing info and the fun.  And the drinking.  It's amazing how people who sit in front of a screen or a yellow pad and write all day can get out on the dance floor and boogie.

I'll post photos when Significant Other has a chance to remove the omnipresent "red eyes" and email them to me.  Yours truly made a pretty good pitch and got dynamite suggestions for improvements to her manuscript which she is busily making this week.  Manuscript critiques are available from established writers. We have it all.

At home, this morning,  there's a huge ugly mess of programs, papers, books and even bookmarks to sort through as well as two days of mail and nine newspapers.   As there was no food in the house, we had popped over to the Longhorn after watching the Pats win.  Nice leftovers of prime rib and barbecued ribs for lunch.  My own chicken parm for dinner.  O.K., the diet starts tomorrow.  After walking the length of the hotel about 50 times, this may not be as necessarily as one would imagine. The conference hotel, the Dedham Hilton has been the scene of the "Crimebake" for several years and they know the drill and do an excellent job.

I sold a couple copies of World of Mirrors out of the trunk of my car, metaphorically speaking, and reconnected with writers from past Bakes.

So people, no matter WHAT you are writing, remember:  surprise, reverse, reveal!

Grapeshot 

How To Get the Most Out of The New England Crimebake Mystery Conference

From the Crimebake committee: 

Welcome to Crime Bake

Top Ten Ways to Get the Most from Your Conference

#1. Be Prepared. Make a list of your goals, outlining what you’d like to achieve while you are here: Talk Kansas and Kalifornia with Guests of Honor Nancy Pickard and Barry Eisler, talk art and artistic thievery with Anthony Amore, pitch Terri Bischoff your charming Maine lobstah cozy, etc. Get ready to make the most of every hour!

#2. Do Your Homework. Read the program. Know which sessions you’d like to attend, and why. Study the panelists and their bios—note the agents who represent your sub-genre, the authors who write the dialogue, plot, character, etc., you came here to master.

#3. Make Friends. A stranger at Crime Bake is just a friend/agent/editor you haven’t met/pitched/flattered yet. Introduce yourself to everyone hanging at the bar, sitting next to you at the panels, lurking around in a trench coat at the Banquet. Anyone with a Crime Bake badge is fair game.

#4. Participate! There’s a time for discretion—and this is not it. Ask questions during the Q&A at every panel; sign up for a pitch session with an agent (if you’ve got no particular project to pitch, ask a market-related question); network big-time at Breakfast with the Authors.

#5. Meet Everyone. (And we mean everyone, living, published, and unpublished.) Don’t be shy. This bears repeating: Don’t be shy. Approach anyone and everyone you ever wanted to meet: Ask Hallie Ephron about Hollywood’s take on her thriller; treat John Willig to a martini (the bar is where the agents and editors hang out—truly, madly, deeply); buy Michael Palmer’s novel and chat him up while he signs it. If you really are shy, grab the nearest Crime Bake staffer and wrangle an intro.

#6. Ask for Assistance. The conference and hotel staffers are here to help you—whether you need an introduction or a blanket, a last-minute pitch session (because you’ve finally gathered your courage) or a cab to the nearby new mall, Legacy Place (but why shop when you can buy John Willig a martini?).

#7. Keep an Open Mind. The agent you pitched doesn’t do paranormal cat mysteries—or does cozies and just signed one too much like yours. The author spelled your mother’s name wrong when s/he signed the book you hoped to give her for Christmas. You spilled a drink all over that agent you were wooing at the cocktail party. Whatever happens—good, bad, or contractual—remember that this is a learning experience and rejection is an inevitable part of the process. Nothing worth spilling blood over—except on the page.

#8. Go for Blood, Er, Broke. This is a jam-packed weekend—don’t miss out on anything. Spring for a master class, stay up late in the bar, dance the night away Saturday night. This is an immersion experience: Immerse yourself in the writing dream. You can sleep when you’re published.

#9. Buy Books! Buying books for your favorite Crime Bake authors to sign is not just fun, it’s another smart way to network. Buy them early (that is, before the given author’s panel) so you don’t have to stand in line so long. Remember: Someday we’ll be buying yours.

#10. Stay in Touch. Exchange business cards and e-mails, join MWA and SinC, form your own writers’ group. Set yourself up for a great year of writing, networking, and publishing…until next year’s spectacular 11th Annual New England Crime Bake!