Tag Archive for: Craft

Planning to Enjoy a Year of Writing Craft Programs

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by Paula Gail Benson

Writers are always looking for opportunities to hone their skills. Attending classes is the perfect way to keep advancing and making valuable connections. While in-person programs offer a terrific means to engage in discussion, virtual workshops give some of the same educational possibilities at a more economical cost.

If you are looking for short story courses, check out the past programs presented through Sisters in Crime and 2025 MWA University – Mystery Writers of America.

Additionally, in October, for the second year in a row, author and editor Michael Bracken joined with the Palmetto Chapter of Sisters in Crime and the Southeastern Chapter of the Mystery Writers of America to present a free virtual program on writing short mystery fiction. Called Mystery in the Midlands: Short Mystery Fiction 2025, it featured John M. Floyd explaining how to plot the short story; Michael Bracken moderating a panel of New Voices in Short Mystery Fiction, consisting of N.M. Cedeño, LaToya Jovena, and Tom Milani; and me speaking with three wonderful editors: Barb Goffman, Sandra Murphy, and Josh Pachter. (Plans are in the works to have another free virtual short story program in 2026.)

If you would like to view the recording of Mystery in the Midlands: Short Mystery Fiction 2025, here is how you may access it. Connect to the link below by pressing CTRL (control) and clicking on the link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/iZh6oa8BgBpUUzPDxu1nDwpbbfmq8sWcKe7KT4XdknrONPNVGTaNvsG6X-m3k3HS.OG0O8fzM1XHqDPtt?startTime=1760799152000

When prompted, enter this Passcode: 7Zb@%i5f

For an in-person short story conference, check out Michael Bracken’s ShortCon, which will be held Saturday, June 6, 2026, at Elaine’s Restaurant in Alexandria, Virginia. It provides an excellent forum for learning and networking.

Outliers Writing University (at this link: Write Your Bestseller With Outliers Writing University) was created by Kathleen Antrim and D.P. Lyle to offer three types of online programing. The Online Ongoing Writers Conference provides 2 classes per month for a year, available live and for a limited time by recording. Single classes or workshops may be purchased at Advanced Workshops | Outliers Writing University. Also a 5-class, 10-week Manuscript Boot Camp | Outliers Writing University is offered periodically for small groups to help improve manuscripts and give personalized feedback.

The Mystery Writers of America has presented its University in-person at several locations for years. Now, online classes (see 2024 MWA University – Mystery Writers of America or 2025 MWA University – Mystery Writers of America) are available free of  charge for MWA members and for a cost to nonmembers. MWA also is collaborating with Outliers Writing University to offer programs.

Killer Nashville, the conference started by Clay Stafford, now sponsors Killer Nashville University | Learn, Grow, and Elevate Your Writing (which has a new name, The Balanced Writer). For a monthly or annual subscription, it provides access to speeches, classes, workshops, discussions, and a newsletter.

So, if you are looking for yourself or to gift an author, consider some of these great in-person and online programs. What a terrific way to celebrate writing and the holidays!

What Kind of Writer Am I?

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by Paula Gail Benson

I’ve heard about plotters and pantsers. In Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott commends E.L. Doctorow’s advice that writing is like driving a car and only being able to see as far as your headlights, yet having the ability to complete the trip with that view.

Plotters create a road map. Pantsers have an idea of where they are going and find the path as they take it.

I’m trying to figure out what to call my writing style.

For my latest short story, I started with an idea: what if (I’m a big advocate of “what if” questions—I heard Mary Higgins Clark liked to start that way)—so, what if a former step-father gets a visit from his adult former step-daughter on Father’s Day? She’s terrified because she thinks she might have killed her husband. She goes to her former step-father because he’s the only man she truly trusts.

To help her, the former step-father goes to see if the husband needs medical help. He finds the husband bruised, but alert and with the step-daughter’s biological father. The husband and biological father are concerned the step-daughter has resumed company with those who supported her addiction. Previously, while the step-daughter received treatment for addiction, her mother served as conservator for the step-daughter’s funds. The biological father suggests he’s ready to establish a new conservatorship, with him in charge of the money.

Who should the step-father believe—his step-daughter or her husband and biological father? What should he do?

At this point, I’m not sure where the story is going, only that the step-daughter has confessed to hitting her husband with a candlestick her mother gave her as a wedding gift and that the husband and biological father are determined to control the step-daughter.

The step-father takes a long route home, figuring the biological father might have him tailed. He sees evidence of someone following him. The step-daughter doesn’t answer the phone and when he gets home, he finds she’s gone. With reluctance, he calls his ex-wife and learns she did not support her daughter’s marriage. He goes to visit the ex-wife, who gives him some potential leads for locating the daughter. Notice, the ex-wife is depending upon him to do the legwork, just as she did during the marriage.

As I’ve followed this meandering trail, I’ve figured out more about the characters I’ve met and made myself hone-in on why the husband and biological father are intent on finding the step-daughter. I’ve made myself focus on the premise of the story and the theme it will convey.

Each day, I’ve written my way forward in a notebook, setting out the steps and leaving room to fill in the details as I type up my notes. I see places to make connections and endeavor to add seamlessly to the story.

When I started, I wasn’t sure about the end. Now I have an inkling of what that might be, but it’s still subject to change.

Am I a combination, plotter and pantser—plantser? The hand-written notes seem like a form of plotting, but in fact, I’m just following where the characters lead me. What happens next? Set up the scene and I’ll sketch it out as you (the characters) live it.

Recently, listening to a talk by best-selling romantic comedy author Katherine Center (her latest novel is The Rom-Commers), a member of the audience asked if the characters spoke to her. Center replied no, but the characters let her watch as they took their journey.

I think I may resemble that remark. What do you think? Am I depending upon the headlights in a vehicle driven by my characters?

New Year’s Resolution: Read a Short Story a Day

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by Paula Gail Benson

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope it has been healthy, comfortable, and prosperous for all.

Barb Goffman

If you are still considering resolutions and have any interest in short story craft, may I suggest a recommendation by well-known, award winning writer and editor Barb Goffman? Why not read a short story a day? Debra H. Goldstein has already made an excellent suggestion to get started: the Guppy Chapter of Sisters in Crime’s latest anthology, Hook, Line, and Sinker. In addition, there are plenty of online and periodic publications to choose from, all featuring outstanding authors. Many of the Sisters in Crime Chapters have organized and released anthologies to showcase their members and give newer authors a chance not only for a writing credit, but also to learn how to promote their work.

Even if you are not interested in writing the short form, seeing how it is put together can help you strengthen skills for longer efforts. With a short story, characters, setting, and mood must be established quickly, in only a few carefully chosen words. It has to be wrapped up concisely, without leaving loose ends or unsatisfied questions. Those elements are important for novellas and novels, too. Figuring out how to develop a story and keep a reader engaged is a primary focus for shorts.

If you are interested in writing short stories, please consider the Bethlehem Writers Roundtable’s Annual Short Story Contest. This year, submissions must include a holiday element, from Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day. They must be 2000 words or less and submitted as provided in the description of rules. An entry fee of $15 is required for each submission. The top awards are: First Place, $200 and publication in the Bethlehem Writers Group’s anthology Season’s Readings; Second Place, $100 and publication in the Bethlehem Writers Group’s online quarterly, the Bethlehem Writers Roundtable; and Third Place, $50 and publication in the Bethlehem Writers Roundtable.

Maybe the best news about the contest is that this year’s celebrity judge is Barb Goffman. Here’s a link with an interview where Barb talks about the most appealing aspect of writing short stories, how her careers as a journalist and lawyer have influenced her writing, what some of the most frequent mistakes she sees writers make, and what’s her best advice for submitting to an anthology or contest.

Start you New Year right: reading and writing shorts!

A Story is Feelings

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by Sparkle Abbey

One of the many advantages of a
writing team is that you always have someone to talk books with. While we tend
to read the same types of books, we don’t always read the same authors, so our
chats are a great way to discover the-book-you-didn’t-know-you-needed-to-read.

Photo by Ekaterina Bolovtsova
from Pexels

During one of our hours-long book
conversations, the topic of award-winning books came up. There was one book that
we had both recently read, that we agreed was really well written, had a great
plot, good twist, interesting characters, but left us. . . .unfulfilled. After
a deep dive into what we loved about it, we realized that neither of us had become
one hundred percent invested in any of the main characters. Anita likes to call
that “imprinting.” By that, she means the character whose emotional story
is being told is firmly impressed into her mind in a way that she strongly
connects with them.

Don’t misunderstand, that bestseller,
award-winning book we were discussing it’s NOT a bad book. We’re still talking
about it. We’re just talking about the plot twists and the great writing. But
for us, it wasn’t a book that either of us devoured, willing to stay up all
night to finish knowing we’d be blurry-eyed, and sleep-deprived the next day.
So why not?

The conversation turned to an
excellent craft book (who doesn’t love a great book on writing?)


by our dear friend,
Cheryl St. John, called Writing
With Emotion, Tension, and Conflict: Techniques for Crafting an Expressive and
Compelling Novel.  If you’re a
writer and have not read this book, read it. It will change the way you write. One
of the many amazing takeaways from Cheryl’s book is found on the first page of
the introduction. Cheryl writes, “Probably the most important concept I’ve
taken away from any book on writing is from Dwight V. Swain’s Techniques of the
Selling Writer: A story is feelings.”

So much power in four words. A.
Story. Is. Feelings.

Emotions come from the inner
conflict, the fight within the characters themselves. When done well, those
feeling are strategically woven throughout the story in a way that the reader can
“imprint” on the character. As the reader we must know what happens next because
we’re emotionally invested in the characters—good, bad, or fatally flawed—and
the story those characters are telling.

That’s what we were missing. We didn’t
know which character to imprint on, so we didn’t connect to any of the characters
on a deeper level. A great lesson for us to apply to our writing. Also, it
reminded us that it’s probably time to reread Writing With Emotion, Tension,
and Conflict.

If you’ve recently read a book that
kept you up all night, tell us about it in the comments. We want to know!

Sparkle Abbey is
actually two people, Mary Lee Ashford and Anita Carter, who write the
national best-selling Pampered Pets cozy mystery series. They are friends as
well as neighbors so they often get together and plot ways to commit murder.
(But don’t tell the other neighbors.) 

They love to hear from readers and
can be found on Facebook, and Twitter their favorite social media sites. Also, if you want
to make sure you get updates, sign up for their newsletter via the SparkleAbbey.com website.

The Path Through the Forest of Words

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 by Bethany Maines

Writing is both hard and easy.  Like a lot of things,
it’s a relatively simple process that is accessible to just about
everyone.  Sit, type, repeat, and you’ve got a book.  Also like a lot
of things, doing it well is something that takes years of practice and
refinement. And the better you do it, the less the effort is apparent. Good
writer’s make writing seem easy. From the effortless flow of a sentence to the
way the plot of a book doesn’t strain to contain it’s characters, but seems to
come directly from the characters themselves. But what can elevate clunky
sentences to art?

I’ll be giving a guest lecture in a few months to some high-school
students on the topic of writing a mystery.  I love connecting with kids
and I’m really looking forward to this class, but it got me thinking about how
to teach such a thing.  I’ve been known to teach a variety of things—how
to write action scenes, karate, how to pee in the woods. According to my
daughter, who was four at the time, that last one is not my strongest topic.
But like any skill, there are ways to breakdown each skill and pass on that
recipe to the next person. Even if some small children don’t want to listen to
you, not peeing on your underwear is still an achievable goal.  As is
writing a mystery.  But can I teach someone how to write a good
mystery?  

As I have pondered the ins-and-outs of good writing and mystery’s and
teaching I’ve come to the conclusion and I don’t think I can teach someone how
to write well.  I can teach someone how to be competent and I can give
them an entire toolbox of tips and tricks, but I think in the end the only
person that can make a writer write well is… the writer. I think that it
really comes down to the practice and ambition of the writer to push themselves
beyond craftsmanship and into art.

I hope I’m on the path to art as I wander through the
forests of words, but I have to admit that on some days, the best I can say is
that I didn’t pee on my underwear.

Writer Update: The Lost Heir – The Deveraux Legacy
prequel novella is now available! Catch up on all the Deveraux family dirt.

Aʟʟ Rᴇᴛᴀɪʟᴇʀs﹕ ʜᴛᴛᴘs﹕//ʙᴏᴏᴋs2ʀᴇᴀᴅ.ᴄᴏᴍ/Lᴏsᴛ–Hᴇɪʀ

👑👊👑

𝑺𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒔 𝒘𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒚 𝒉𝒊𝒅𝒅𝒆𝒏.

Jackson Deveraux was orphaned, abandoned and imprisoned, but
life is about to hand him a second chance and a new family. Eleanor Deveraux
lost her children in a plane crash and she’s in danger of losing her
grandchildren to the Deveraux Legacy of drugs, abuse and secrets, but life is
about to hand her Jackson. When Eleanor discovers an illegitimate grandson in
prison for armed-robbery she grits her teeth and does her duty—she gets him
out. But being out of prison doesn’t instantly make Jackson part of the family.
And as Jackson and his cousins struggle to find common ground, Eleanor steers
Jackson away from befriending her other grandchildren. She only needs Jackson
to keep them out of trouble—not be their friend. But Jackson and Dominique, the
youngest Deveraux cousin, have other plans and, as his first Christmas as
Deveraux arrives, Jackson sets himself on the path to fixing the Deveraux clan
and getting the family he’s always wanted.

 **

Bethany Maines is the award-winning author of the Carrie Mae Mysteries, San Juan Islands Mysteries, Shark Santoyo Crime Series, and numerous
short stories. When she’s not traveling to exotic lands, or kicking some
serious butt with her black belt in karate, she can be found chasing her
daughter or glued to the computer working on her next novel. You can also catch up with her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and BookBub.

 

 

How to Craft a Mystery

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by Bethany Maines
Step One:  Read the paper and/or listen to your weird uncle
to learn about strange ways people have died recently.  This usually involves blurting out something
like “ooh, another dead body!” while snatching up the paper in the middle of
the busy hour at a coffee shop. 
Bonus Points: If
someone shuffles away from you at the coffee shop, collect an additional 20 Murderer Alert points!
Step Two: Having
decided on your method of death it’s time for research! Start googling all
sorts of things that will help you cover up your crime.  Also, go on a vacation to the place that you
plan on putting your dead body. 
Bonus Points: If
you can say “This is a good place to kill someone!” in an aggressively cheerful
manner to the person at the tourist bureau who just wants to help, collect an
additional 20 Walking Sociopath points!
Step Three: Sit
down and write the book.  This is the
boring bit, but it does come with fun voices in your head to talk to.
Bonus Points: If
you finish the manuscript, collect an additional 20 I Have No Life points!
Step Four:  Realize that there is a plot-hole in your
book and go back to step three.
Bonus Points: If
you don’t become an alcoholic, collect an additional 20 At Least I’m Not an Asshole Like Hemingway points!
Step Five: Get
your book back from the editor and give back your Hemingway points while you
try to get over the stupid, stupid, stupid edits.
Bonus Points: Look,
you’ve got a complete book at this points, you shouldn’t need stupid bonus
points, but hey, if that’s what keeps you going, then take 5 I Need a Cookie points.
Step Six: Release
the book into the wild and realize that you are a winner!
An Unfamiliar Sea will be available on 1.21.20
Tish Yearly just opened a wedding venue on Orcas Island in
Washington State and one of her employees just drowned in four inches of water.
Now it’s up to Tish and her grandfather Tobias Yearly, the 79-year-old ex-CIA
agent and current private investigator, to find out who could have wanted the
sweet waitress dead. 

AN UNFAMILIAR SEA:
PRE-ORDER NOW! 










**

Bethany Maines is the award-winning author of the Carrie Mae Mysteries, San Juan Islands Mysteries, Shark Santoyo Crime Series, and numerous
short stories. When she’s not traveling to exotic lands, or kicking some
serious butt with her black belt in karate, she can be found chasing her
daughter or glued to the computer working on her next novel. You can also catch up with her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and BookBub.

Three Little Words and why not to use them

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There are so many blogs with excellent advice on structure and character. I cannot hope to offer anything new or exciting or insightful. Besides, the way I plot a book is so simple that a first-grader could do it.
There are fewer posts about actual words and how to string them together. I, for one, could have benefited from reading that kind of post when I sat and wrote the first few lines of my first (truly awful) manuscript.
Beginning writers are often told, “Show don’t tell.” Hopefully, I’m not the only one who heard that. Someone else raise their hand. Please.
But what exactly does “show don’t tell” mean? Chekhov demanded, “Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.” 
Stephen King famously noted, “Description begins in the writer’s imagination, but should finish in the reader’s.”
I have neither Chekhov’s gravitas nor King’s sales; what I do have is three little words that I avoid whenever possible.
IT is not my friend. IT is lazy. IT is vague. IT can be boring.
I wanted the package and he gave it to me.
He lifted the beautifully wrapped box with the tips of his fingers, as if pink was a disease, as if frilly might be catching. I snatched my prize from his hands.
TO can be your friend. Or not.
He gave the box to Ann. Perfectly fine.
He decided to give the box to Ann. Not fine. Another not-fine example? He lifted his fingers to touch her cheek. Another? He tried to put the box in her hands but she backed away.
When TO follows a verb—he tried to, wanted to, liked to, meant to—the sentence is most likely telling not showing.
AS, when used as a conjunction, can be problematic.
As he put the box in my hands, my fingers tingled.
As he told me his secret, I rubbed my hands together and swallowed a smile.
In essence, AS says, “this is what he was doing while I was doing that.” Telling.
He put the box in my hands. My fingers tingled and I yanked on the bow.
He whispered the secret. A juicy one. I rubbed my hands together and swallowed a smile.
Watch out for those three little words, edit them out before writing the best two little words—The End.
Julie Mulhern is the USA Today bestselling author of The Country Club Murders. 

She is a Kansas City native who grew up on a steady diet of Agatha Christie. She spends her spare time whipping up gourmet meals for her family, working out at the gym and finding new ways to keep her house spotlessly clean–and she’s got an active imagination. Truth is–she’s an expert at calling for take-out, she grumbles about walking the dog and the dust bunnies under the bed have grown into dust lions. 

On writing

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Most
authors have a book—or part of a book—that they don’t talk about much. The
project that refused to take wings. The practice manuscript. The story that wrote
itself into a corner. The manuscript lurking
under the bed with the dust lions.
I
have two failures to launch.
The
first is set in the 1920s and was to be a romance between newspaper columnist Tinsley Ledbetter and bootlegger Nick Woodfield.
I
did an inordinate amount of research on the 1920s (I love research. It’s a
rabbit hole that can lure me away from almost anything). I adored the heroine.
I didn’t adore the book. I put it aside.
Fast
forward three plus years.
I
recently looked at Tinsley’s adventures with the idea that she didn’t need
Nick. What she needed was to solve mysteries. 
The
years when Tinsley languished, abandoned and almost forgotten, on a hard-drive
changed my writing.
Before: She forced a laugh. It sounded brittle,
like it might break into hysteria if anyone poked at it, so she hurried to wave
the sound away with a flip of her slim fingers.
After: She forced a laugh. It
sounded brittle, as if it might break into hysteria if anyone poked at it. That
wouldn’t do. She waved the splintery sound away.
The
first change—I used a preposition when I needed a conjunction. Like it might break should have been as if it might break. An easy fix.
The
second change – I added a sentence. That
wouldn’t do. It gives the reader a peek at Tinsley’s thoughts.
The
third change – I deleted so she hurried to wave. Why? It’s telling. I told the reader about
Tinsley’s intent. It’s better to show her actually doing something. Namely,
waving.
The fourth
change – I added splintery and
deleted slim fingers from the last sentence. Why? Splintery describes a sound.
Slim described Tinsley’s fingers. The problem? In theory we’re in Tinsley’s
head, would she describe her fingers?

I’m not sure if
Tinsley will emerge from that old hard-drive behind. If she does, I have loads
of work to do.

Julie Mulhern is the USA Today bestselling author of The Country Club Murders. 

She is a Kansas City native who grew up on a steady diet of Agatha Christie. She spends her spare time whipping up gourmet meals for her family, working out at the gym and finding new ways to keep her house spotlessly clean–and she’s got an active imagination. Truth is–she’s an expert at calling for take-out, she grumbles about walking the dog and the dust bunnies under the bed have grown into dust lions. 

Her next book, Clouds in my Coffee, releases on May 10th.