Thick As Thieves: Writer Networking Made Easy / Sara Wigal

Oftentimes, new authors spend their creative time alone. You dream up your plot alone. You write alone. You edit alone. It can be a lonely job, and shifting gears to move into the next phase of your new mystery book’s life can feel terrifying. Once the writing is done, what comes next?

Publishing and publicity come next of course, but we’d be remiss to skip a truly crucial part of your evolving writing career: meeting other writers.

You may have already been involved with beta readers, whether that means paying for writing workshops, having friends in your local book club read over your manuscript, or finding independent groups of writers to work with on perfecting your book. But beyond editorial support, there is an enormous benefit to joining in communities of writers when you set off to publish; other authors (and soon-to-be authors) become your first readers, reviewers, and hopefully, also your friends.

The mystery world, somewhat ironically, is a genre in which I’ve found the authors to be particularly friendly and welcoming. Writers who spend all day dreaming up dastardly ways for people to die seem to have the widest smiles! Authors who research and catalogue the most gruesome of true crime murder scenes hug one another warmly at conferences, and even the biggest bestselling names always have a minute for mentorship, it seems. It’s bizarre. It’s wonderful! I love the mystery/thriller/suspense/true crime world of people, a truly loving, murder-obsessed bunch.

If you are a newly-minted mystery writer, how can you get connected with these kind “killer” souls? By showing up where they’ll all be! There are many conferences and writers’ groups to choose from, and here below are some of the main mystery genre ones to get you started:

Killer Nashville

August 23-26, 2018 Nashville

You can take a peek atthe schedule hereto see if anything catches your eye!

Thrillerfest(conference) put on byInternational Thriller Writers(organization)

Malice Domestic (conference)

Murder and Mayhem (conference)

Left Coast Crime (conference)

Bouchercon (conference)

Magna Cum Murder (conference)

Sisters in Crime(organization)

Once you’re involved, how can you take advantage of the networking opportunities? Here are a few tips:

• Have a positive online life: “like” and comment on the posts you see from authors you admire on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram before you attend the conferences, and set up in-person meetups during fun cocktail hours! It’s always nice to go in and meet someone you already “know.”

• Show up to your regional or local events and get to know your neighbors! You’ll feel like part of a posse when you go to more nationally-leaning events and see people you already know, this way.

• Go to panels and meet the people you are sitting near. Ask them what genre they write in, connect on social media, and stay in touch to support one another’s work.

• Stay after talks to speak to panelists and presenters. They volunteer for these gigs because they love answering questions from writers, typically, and will welcome conversation with you.

• Offer to review other people’s books. Everyone always needs blurbs as well as positive Amazon and Goodreads reviews left online. If you have time, it’s an especially nice way to ingratiate yourself with your writing community if you can do this!

It can be hard to be the “new kid on the block,” but I assure you that there isn’t a better place to be the ingénue than with the thriller community. Make some fiendish friends!

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Author bio: Sara Wigal is an Assistant Professor of Cinema, Television & Media and Director of Publishing at Belmont University, a unique undergraduate degree that equips students with necessary skills and knowledge to enter the book world. She serves the Next Chapter Society council which supports the programming made possible by the Nashville Public Library Foundation. She previously worked in literary PR, beginning as an assistant and working her way up to a Senior Manager role, shaping author brands and interacting with the media. Wigal has been published by The Tennessean, Publishers Weekly, and Writer's Digest.

(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Column, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you.)

Thanks to Joseph Borden and publisher/editorial director Clay Stafford for their assistance in putting together this week’s editorial.

Villains Are Characters Too / Maggie Toussaint

Writers often use “antagonist” and “villain” interchangeably. Though both labels may apply to the same character, there is a distinction.

An antagonist is a plot role. They aren’t necessarily evil. However, they are opposed to the protagonist, and their opposition drives the story conflict. In short, antagonists spend their time antagonizing.

Villains are a character type, not a plot role. They have evil motivations and actions. A villain isn’t necessarily opposed to the protagonist. According to Merriam-Webster.com, a villain is “a character in a story or play who opposes the hero; a deliberate scoundrel or criminal; or one blamed for a particular evil or difficulty.”

My forthcoming paranormal mystery, Confound It, has a villain and antagonists. In the story, multiple suspects are openly hostile when investigators start lifting the rocks of their lives. As for the villain, he removes his web of associates to stay concealed.

Multiple types of villains exist. The distinction is based on their path to villainy and the rottenness of their deeds. A list of five villain types, as identified by Nancy Kress in her “The Bad Guys” chapter of Dynamic Characters, follows.

1. Accidental—This villain’s character flaw is fatal and does him in. Often accidental villains feel regret. His fatal flaw remains consistent throughout the story.

2. Intentional—From the start this guy plans evil deeds. This villain needs texture, layered characterization, and quirks.

3. Surprise—This character is deeply embedded in the story, often disguised in a supporting role. He has no point of view (POV) scenes. For believability, plant hints that something isn’t quite right. Positive character traits before his evil action (such as charm, looks, and smarts) must mesh with negative perception of the same traits after-the-act (manipulative and self-absorbed).

4. Over-the-top weirdo—This villain is unrepentant, untextured, and downright abrasive. For best effect, this villain’s evil is pitted against the protagonist’s weakness. A few layered truths about the weirdo in the story will entice readers to believe his over the top actions.

5. Evil-all-around villain—This villain has no redeeming qualities. He’s evil out of stupidity, weakness, or selfishness. He ruins lives without a qualm.

Writers should craft layered villains complete with goal, motivation, and conflict. Reaching beyond the standard villain “3 Ms” of maniacal laughter, minions and monologues will add to plausibility.

A villain is the hero of his own story. He should have an identifiable human weakness or eccentricity. It’s best if his goal opposes the protagonist’s goal to provide maximum conflict. The hero usually stands in the way of the villain’s goal.

A sympathetic villain has strong motivation and will do anything for his goal, which may be evil. He’s antagonistic, often criminally so, and operates under his own code of honor. Prejudice or society’s mistreatment of him may incite his call to action. Some are prey for truly malevolent forces, a story twist I use in Confound It to raise the stakes.

Psychological, emotional, and story-specific elements help create a strong villain. For best effect, create complex, authentic, sympathetic (if possible), and conflicted villains.

The villain often serves as a character foil to the protagonist. He’s similar in some ways, but each needs an equal depth of character. Therefore, when the villain reveals dark truths, the reader buys into the villain’s character. This psychological challenge is often more memorable than if the villain attacks the protagonist with lethal intent.

The protagonist has fears she doesn’t want to face, but the villain exploits this weakness. Exposing truths the protagonist would rather deny prompts fear in the protagonist. The villain needles the protagonist with these dark truths, creating ongoing story conflict.

By inciting conflict, the villain forces the protagonist’s hand. Their final clash pushes the protagonist into saving the day. In my book Confound It, the villain entraps female sleuth Baxley Powell and forces her into his service. All is lost, or so it seems.

Villains must be stopped in a way that’s worthy of them. Irony and karma are good instruments of destruction. For instance, if a villain diverts a town’s energy to fuel his evil empire, the town should retaliate through his weakness.

Using these techniques, writers can create memorable villains. Readers will talk about that complex character long after the book is finished.

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Southern author Maggie Toussaint writes cozy and paranormal mysteries. Confound It, book five in a series, is her latest Dreamwalker Mystery. The next book in the series, Dreamed It, releases June 2019. Maggie also writes a romantic mystery novella series. She’s president of the Southeast chapter of Mystery Writers of America and a board member of LowCountry Sisters In Crime. Visit her at https://www.maggietoussaint.com.

(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Column, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you.)

Thanks to Joseph Borden and publisher/editorial director Clay Stafford for their assistance in putting together this week’s editorial.