Tag Archive for: Sleuthsayers

In Memory of Bonnie (B.K.) Stevens

In Memory of Bonnie (B.K. ) Stevens by
Debra H. Goldstein

In the
movie, It’s a Wonderful Life, there
is a line “No man is a failure who has friends.” The outpouring of testamentary
comments on list servs, Facebook, and exchanged through private e-mails as
people learned of the sudden death of Bonnie
(B.K.) Stevens
demonstrates what a success she was.

Her
success was based on talent as a writer, but more importantly the ability to be
a mensch as a person. Whether through a congratulatory note, post, or other
gesture, Bonnie let people know she cared about them. In a date of social
media, she took the time to use those devices to connect with a human touch.

Bonnie
and I became list serv acquaintances in 2014, but our true friendship began in
January 2015 when, while reading back issues of Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine,
I came across her short story, Thea’s
First Husband
. I didn’t know it had been nominated for Macavity and Agatha
awards, only that it moved me in a way few stories, other than Shirley
Jackson’s The Lottery, had. As a
bottom of the heap short story writer, I recognized I was reading how a master
interweaves plot, dialogue, and setting to escalate tension and intrigue a
reader. I wrote Bonnie a fan e-mail telling her this and asking if she ever
taught classes. I told her I had had some success with having stories and two
novels accepted, but hadn’t had the guts to try for AHMM or EQMM, but reading
her story moved me and I hoped there was a way I could learn from her.

Her
reply was, as I came to learn, classic Bonnie. Humble and a lesson in itself:

Hi, Debra–

Thank you so much for your kind words about “Thea.” My goodness! That
didn’t just make my day–it made my week, possibly my whole month.

No, I don’t teach any online classes. I’m a retired English professor  (at
least a temporarily retired

one–who knows what the future holds?), but even
when I was teaching, I usually taught composition and literature; I taught
creative writing only a few times, and I’m not sure I was very good at it. I
don’t know of any classes to recommend, but I can tell you that my favorite
books on writing fiction are Stephen King’s
On Writing (especially the
second half of the book) and Francine Prose’s
Reading Like a
Writer
. I also like Renni Browne and Dave King’s Self-Editing
for Fiction Writers
–I don’t agree with everything the authors say, but it’s a
thought-provoking book. Blake Snyder’s
Save the Cat focuses on
screenplay writing, but I find the advice on story structure helpful
(especially Chapter 4). And if you’d be interested in some old-fashioned advice
that still seems sound to me, you might look at Anthony Trollope’s
An
Autobiography
, especially chapters 12–14 (though there’s good advice
scattered in many other chapters,too).

I hope that’s helpful. Again, thank you for what you said about
“Thea.” I’m going to treasure those words!

Regards,
 Bonnie

We exchanged further e-mails and posts of mutual
encouragement and congrats in the next few months and agreed to meet in person
in Raleigh at Bouchercon. We met, embraced, talked and began a tradition with
Paula Benson and Art Taylor of sharing a meal.

In the months that followed I read more of her stories, as
well as her adult and YA novels: Interpretation
of Murder
and Fighting Chance.
We talked a lot about Fighting Chance,
which I five starred and she wrote a blog about on my personal blog, “It’s Not Always a Mystery.” The book
also was nominated for an Agatha and other awards.

We agreed to have dinner at Malice, but she couldn’t join
Paula, Art and me after she fell and was injured just before the conference. We
toasted her in abstentia, but made up for it with a delicious group dinner at
Bouchercon New Orleans and drinks at Malice 2017.  Because she couldn’t do a private dinner at
Malice 2017 (I sat at her table during the banquet where her novella, The Last Blue Glass, was honored as an
Agatha nominee), we made definite plans for dinner in October at Bouchercon
2017. Malice, in Bethesda, was only drinks because she used her dinners, other
than the banquet, to visit with her daughters Sarah and Rachel.

That brings me to the true passion in her life. Family.
Bonnie was like a school girl in her love and adoration for her husband,
Dennis. Seeing them together at conferences or in pictures she posted on
Facebook from their wedding, there was no difference in the looks of devotion
and joy they shared. Her talk of her two daughters, Sarah and Rachel, and of
Sarah’s children’s accomplishments combined praise, love, and pride. This year,
we compared nachas (happiness) of having our first grandchildren’s bar/bat
mitzvahs and kidded we should introduce her unmarried Jewish daughter to my
single Jewish son.

There won’t be any more dinners or talk of introducing our
children, but what I will remember is a package I received a week after Malice
2017. It contained a note and five copies of the May/June 2017 issue of Alfred
Hitchcock Mystery Magazine
that Bonnie and Dennis collected from their
registration bags and the giveaway room. The note told me she knew I would want
extra copies of the issue that had my name on the cover and my first AHMM
story, The Night They Burned Ms. Dixie’s
Place
in it and that she thought it was an award winning story. Who knows
if it will be nominated for anything at the next events at which it is
eligible, but it won the biggest award in my book – Bonnie’s approval.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
A few other excellent tributes to Bonnie can be found at:
Remembering B.K. Stevens – Art Taylor – Sleuthsayers  http://www.sleuthsayers.org/2017/08/remembering-bk-stevens.html

B.K. “Bonnie” Stevens: True Friend and Good Writer – Paula Benson – The Stiletto Gang https://www.thestilettogang.com/2017/08/bk-bonnie-stevens-true-friend-and-good.html

Writing for Woman’s World Short Fiction Markets

by Paula
Gail Benson

If
you’re interested in writing short romance or mystery stories, you might want
to consider submitting to Woman’s World
(WW), a weekly magazine found in most grocery stores. Before sending in a
story, you’ll definitely want to read the publication. Its fiction guidelines
are strict: (1) romances must be contemporary and no more than 800 words, and
(2) mysteries must be up to 700 words written in a “solve-it-yourself” format to
allow readers to test their sleuthing skills with the resolution at the end.
The pay is excellent (about $800 for romances and $500 for mysteries), but the
competition is fierce. If your story is selected, you’ll become part of a distinguished
group, including John Floyd and B.K. Stevens.

Several
websites have been developed to help writers determine how best to hone their
submissions.

The
following provide guidelines:

for
romances

and
for mini-mysteries

Until
September 6, 2016, when she had to suspend her messages to concentrate on
caring for her mother, Jody Lebel, a WW published mystery author, analyzed the
mini-mysteries and listed other markets accepting shorts. Her blog is well
worth reading to understand the type stories and formatting that WW is seeking.
Here’s the link:

In
addition, two Sleuthsayers blog messages from R.T. Lawton (“Me and the
Mini-Mystery”) and John Floyd (“A Woman’s World Survival Guide”) give some
excellent advice for successful submissions. They can be accessed at: http://www.sleuthsayers.org/2012/08/me-and-mini-mystery.html
and http://www.sleuthsayers.org/2012/08/a-womans-world-survival-guide.html.