A
Romance Writers first Left Coast Crime Convention:
Okay,
I attended my first Left Coast Crime convention. It was close to where I live.
I had a mystery writer-friend to go with. And, I’m writing a romantic suspense.
What could it hurt even though I have been pursuing writing romance and concentrating on that
market, I could definitely learn from any writers, of any category. Right?
Of
course.
What
I didn’t expect was the epiphany. The serendipitous discovery that I am writing
a mystery, that it has been a mystery from the beginning, and I needed to
understand that about the complexities of the plot that I keep developing. Even
as I try to make romance the heart of the story, it is really about something
bigger. And something more fun. Because I love a mystery.
I
have always loved mysteries. And for me, the Left Coast Crime convention inspired
me to work even harder on my story so that I will love it more. Which could be
a bad thing if no one else loves it, but as they say, write what you love, so,
I will.
And
with all the love in that last
paragraph, I can’t deny that feelings and relationships in stories are just as
important as a mysterious plot. Just not as intriguing to me as a reader. How
to develop the intrigue, the crafty ways that authors use to create story arcs,
plot points, how they make characters real and likable (warts and all, because
a good protagonists always has flaws) and the important conflict development
that puts a reader on the edge, were all discussed during the conference. The
format in each session was always a panel of writers with a moderator to
initiate discussion. I found this very helpful and the dialog between the
participants fun to be a part of, as well.
So,
I came home, went to my writer’s den and stopped fighting my natural
inclination to write deeper and work harder on all those elements of a good
mystery.
But I’ll definitely be keeping the sex scenes.
Writing a good love scene is really hard, you know. Uh, no pun intended. . .
