I continue to race around as I get everything done before leaving for RT. As I run here and there, dropping almost everything I touch, I thought I’d fill you in on the author panel I attended on Saturday. The topic was MEN, MAYHEM & MYSTERY. The speakers were male mystery/suspense writers - Ken Kuhlken, Gene Riehl, Alan Russell, Jim Tenunto, Bob Wade and Terry Watkins. I must say, they were a pretty entertaining bunch of guys. Funny with loads of good advice. Some highlights I remember in my current brain-scrambled state:

*They all made a distinction between romance and sex - smart boys. They talked about how they could write a sex scene but that writing an unfolding romance was really hard.

*All but one talked about including romance of some sort in their writing and pointed out that it added a level of richness and realism.

*They talked about the difficulty in writing female characters and the constant problem of maintaining a balance between incompetent and too competent - ie, making them human and not overblown stereotypes.

*One author, Terry Watkins, wrote for the soon-to-close Silhouette Bombshell line. He has sold to Harlequin’s GOLD EAGLE imprint. Honestly, the line did not ring a bell with me at all. Had to look it up. If you’re wondering, they’re men’s action adventure books.

*On writing, they all said a universal truth: Anyone can write an opening. It’s the ability to write the rest of the book that separates the authors from the wanabees.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 24th, 2007 at 9:07 am and is filed under About Authors, About Books, About Writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.