Killer Nashville 2010

I attended my first writers conference this past weekend.  Killer Nashville is a writers conference geared primarily to writers of mysteries and suspense/thrillers.  There was a big mix of writers that write in genres that touch mystery, but might not be considered strictly mystery.   

Honestly, talking about genre with a writer can sometimes be as confusing as figuring out if a musician fits into country, rock, folk, Americana, etc.  There are some obvious examples of each, but there are also plenty of examples that defy easy classification.

It’s hard for me to adequately judge Killer Nashville because I don’t have anything to judge it against.  However, I do know that it was well worth the $150 cost of admission I paid. 

I wish I could tell you that I now know exactly the direction my writing should take and that I’ll be able to pump out a novel in no time.  In fact, just the opposite is true.  I’m farther away from completing a novel now, but it actually is a good thing.  The reason I say that is because things I learned at the conference made me realize that the approach I am taking is not the best.  For instance, the novel I am currently working on is really two novels, not one.  I’m trying to cramb too much into it.  Also, my protagonist is not fleshed out well enough yet.  I need to know more about him. 

So it’s back to the drawing board.  But the good news is that I’m going back to the drawing board with a better idea of how to approach the novel than I had just three days ago.  In a way, it’s a short term pain for a long term gain.

The keynote speaker at the conference was Jeffrey Deaver, author of the Lincoln Rymes series of suspense thrillers.  He is also author of an upcoming installment in the James Bond series.  He was recently contacted by the estate of the late Ian Fleming and was asked to write the next James Bond novel.  Very Cool.

During his presentation, Deaver gave the nine steps he goes through to write a novel.  I thought it was fascinating how he does it.  I also was a little surprised how different his approach is compared to many authors I am familar with.  I’ll share Deaver’s approach in my next post.

I also came away with some suggestions on how to make a living as a writer and how to write and market short stories.  I’ll include that information in upcoming posts as well.  This whole week will be devoted to lessons I learned from Killer Nashville.  Stay tuned…