March 29 – The last panel today, Burning Love: The Sex Panel, played to a full house…as you might expect. Panelists included Holly West (moderator), Lou Berney, Rhys Bowen, James Ziskin, and Lori Rader-Day. The questions focused on whether sex scenes are needed in books, writing fight scenes, writing implied …
March 29 – The third panel today, Unique Protagonists, continues the progression on the craft of writing. The panelists were Dharma Kelleher (moderator), Susanna Calkins, Shaun Harris, D.R. Ransdell, and Helen Smith. Each author introduced their unique protagonist, creating three-dimensional characters, and bringing their character to life. Any mistakes are …
March 29 – It seemed fitting to follow a panel of thriller writers with a panel about Writing Villains. The panel members were Bharti Kirchner (moderator), Hilary Davidson, Meg Gardiner, David Housewright, and Kim Moritsugu. Questions focused on the villain as a bad guy or as a sometimes “good” bad …
Last night, I had the pleasure of hearing David Dow speak about his debut thriller, Confessions of an Innocent Man, at The Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale, AZ. David, an attorney, lives in Houston and is an expert in death penalty law. He has represented more than 100 death-row inmates during …
March 29 – Today’s second session was The Thriller Panel, consisting of Eileen Rendahl (moderator), Mike Befeler, Puja Guha, Glen Erik Hamilton, and S.J. Rozan (from left to right above). Questions focused on story setting, character vs. plot and which comes first, taking liberties with the intersection of fact and …
March 29 – It occurred to me this morning that I should pick up the pace on these Left Coast Crime posts, or I will still be writing when next year’s conference in San Diego begins. I’ll see what I can do. This is the report on Friday’s first panel, …
March 28 – I continued to focus on the craft of writing by attending the session titled Creating Three-Dimensional Characters, the final panel for today. The panelists were Priscilla Paton (moderator), J.D. Allen, David Corbett, Sherry Harris, and C.J. Verburg. The questions focused on the character development process, the creation …
March 28 – I decided early on to concentrate on panels dealing with the craft of writing, so Ways to Publish, seemed like something I should attend. The panelists were R.P. Dahlke (moderator), Anne Louise Bannon, Cathy Ace, Anne Barton, Robert Downs, and Russell Hill (who mentioned he was approaching …
March 28 – As you can tell, my plan to provide panel updates on a daily basis has fallen by the wayside. I’ll try to get back on track as soon as I can. Following the two earlier panels today, I attended an early afternoon session titled Law Enforcement Professionals. …
March 28 – Following early registration and an optional writing workshop last night, the first full day of the conference began today. Panels, scheduled in 45-minute sessions with a 30-minute break between each session, started at noon. I selected two, Researching the Perfect Crime and What I Wish I Had …
