Brief But Deadly
with Catherine Dilts, R.T. Lawton, Shannon Lawrence, and Steve Pease
RMMWA Panel Thursday, July 13, 2017
6:30 PM social
7:00 PM dinner and program
Location: Home of Catherine Dilts (address will be emailed to you after your Paypal payment has been received)
Cost: $10 includes light supper, beer and wine
Please RSVP by Monday, July 10.
All about the benefits of writing short—writing short stories to drum up readers for your novels, writing short fiction for the sake of the story, awards, and visibility.
- Writing to a theme versus writing what strikes your fancy. Is it worth writing to an anthology theme, especially if it’s a very specific theme they might not be able to place elsewhere if rejected?
- Do you need to market short stories? (Posting to social media, participating in blog cover reveals/advertising hops, featuring on your website).
- What happens when you try to write a short story, but it turns into a novel?
- What does “short” mean? Definitions of flash, short, long, novella.
- Favorite short story authors and magazines.
- “The return of the short story,” with efforts by groups like SMFS and Sisters in Crime to encourage reading and writing short.
- No one reviews short fiction – wrong! Mystery Scene Magazine, blogs.
- Anthologies – and where to find calls for submissions.
- Magazines vs. anthologies – The benefits of both.
Presenter biographies:
Shannon Lawrence
A fan of all things fantastical and frightening, Shannon Lawrence writes primarily horror and fantasy. Her short stories can be found in nearly twenty anthologies and magazines, including Space and Time Magazine, Dark Moon Digest, and The Deep Dark Woods. When she’s not writing, she’s hiking through the wilds of Colorado and photographing her magnificent surroundings, where, coincidentally, there’s always a place to hide a body or birth a monster. Find her at www.thewarriormuse.com.
RT. Lawton
R.T. Lawton is a retired federal law enforcement agent, a past member of the Mystery Writers of America board of directors and a three-time Derringer nominee with over 110 short stories in various publications, to include Blood on the Bayou(2016 Bouchercon anthology),The Mystery Box ( 2013 MWA anthology), And All Our Yesterdays anthology,Who Died in Here? anthology, the West Coast Crime Wave anthology, Deadwood Magazine, Easyriders, Outlaw Biker, Woman’s World magazine, and 37 sold to Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. He also has four e-collections at Amazon.com and at Smashwords for other e-readers. You may have attended one of his Surveillance Workshops at various writers conferences.
Steve Pease aka Michael Chandros
Steve writes fiction under the name of Michael Chandos. He is a retired career Intelligence Officer and he teaches an occasional course in the writer’s dual approach to writing with Intelligence. He has placed mystery short stories online (SHOTGUN HONEY) and in themed anthologies (BLACK COFFEE), and science fiction also online and in themed anthologies (ALIENS). He has at least three short stories in submission at all times and several novels in the plotting and free-writing process.
Catherine Dilts
Catherine Dilts is the author of the Rock Shop Mystery series, while her short stories appear regularly in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. With a day job as an environmental regulatory technician, Catherine’s stories often have environmental or factory-based themes. Others reflect her love of the Colorado mountains, fishing, and running. Her story The Chemistry of Heroes was a 2017 Derringer finalist. This fall, she takes a turn in the cozy mystery series Secrets of the Castleton Manor Library. You can learn more about Catherine’s fiction at http://www.catherinedilts.com/