Writing Has Made Me Rich!

By Linda Lovely

Okay, no need for the IRS to start an audit. The meager author income reported on my tax return is unfortunately no lie. Nonetheless, researching mysteries and romantic suspense novels has made my life so much richer.

Here is a small sampling of my experiences and encounters with fascinating folks I would never have met if it weren’t for my research and professional affiliations.

Writers’ Police Academy

The Writers’ Police Academy (WPA) takes top honors on my list of opportunities to gain experiences and meet people I would never, ever have encountered if I had not attended the WPA. In August, I’ll make my fourth visit to the Academy, where I’m a volunteer staffer, giving back to an organization that is dedicated to helping writers of crime fiction get it right (and have a lot of fun in the process).

At the WPA, I have:

·         Searched a building with a SWAT team, carrying my own (unloaded) automatic rifle

·         Experienced the decision-making dilemmas police officers face in deciding when to fire in simulated real-life situations with hostages and armed threats. (I killed no civilians.)

·         Visited a burn site looking for signs of arson

·         Searched a wooded area for signs of a shallow grave

·         Learned self-defense tactics that work for women if they’re grabbed

·         Searched jail cells for contraband

·         Interviewed suspects and

·         Studied nasty bioweapon alternatives

·         Seen how dogs and robots would work to foil terrorists

·         Watched police divers retrieve underwater evidence

·         PLUS sat in classes presented to every type of law enforcement expert imaginable, from Secret Service, FBI and DEA agents to forensic psychologists, fraud and gang experts

·         What’s best? Many of the experts I met at the Academy and in my own backyard have been more than willing to help answer specific questions related to my manuscripts.

·         Retired Detective Lee Lofland, WPA founder, and Dr. Denene Lofland, who seems to know all there is to know about bio crimes, have become dear friends.

Sisters in Crime

Closer to home, I meet fascinating folks every month at the Upstate SC Chapter of Sisters in Crime. Here are a few of our law enforcement-related guests:

·         An entertaining woman who heads her family’s bail bond company.

·         A psychic, considered empathic, clairaudient, claircognizant and sometimes clairvoyant.

·         A policeman who has spent nine years as a school resource officer.

·         Judges, public defenders, defense attorneys, DA.s and prosecutors.

·         Forensic crime scene and firearms specialists

·         A specialist in tracking computer and financial fraud.

·         The head of a group fighting domestic abuse and minor sex trafficking

·         A parole officer,  

Road Trips & Phone Interviews

Writing mysteries and romantic suspense also provides an excuse for road trips and conversations with some of the most interesting people outside of law enforcement. My most recent excursions have been to visit a goat cheese farm and a (legal) moonshine operation. I’ve also interviewed folks in my home town who are old enough to remember what it was like in 1938, when my novel LIES is set.

See what I mean about rich? I’m one Baby Boomer who believes there’s more to life than living an insulated life interacting only with people in your own age, ethnic, and income group.

Writers—what’s the most interesting research you’ve undertaken for a novel?

Face Time with Folks Who Make Headlines

By Linda Lovely

This month’s theme is “From the Headlines.” Since I write romantic suspense and mysteries, news headlines can be a great inspiration for plot twists and characters. However, my idea bank really overflows when I have an opportunity to spend time with folks who are actively involved in various aspects of law enforcement.

In September, 2012 and 2013, I had the opportunity to sit in on presentations by FBI and DEA agents, a sheriff, a prosecutor, a DNA expert, an undercover cop, a forensic psychologist, members of a bomb squad and an underwater dive team, K-9 officers, a detective assigned to gang work, a medical examiner, the head of a SWAT team, a specialist in bioterrorism, and, believe it or not, I haven’t exhausted the list of pros I met. And, I didn’t just sit in on lectures. I fired a Glock in firearms training, having to make instant decisions on when and who to shoot in various scenarios. I carried an assault weapon on a building search, where bad guys were suspected of hiding. I looked for contraband hidden in a jail cell. I tromped through woods to investigate a shallow grave.

Perhaps the biggest bonus, however, is that I got to ask questions of experts in a wide range of professions, questions directly related to ideas for future books and problems with current manuscripts. Even featured speakers couldn’t get enough of the sessions. Lee Child sat next to me in one of the classes conducted by an undercover cop from New York City.

So, how did I get face time with these busy, in-demand individuals? I attended my first Writers’ Police Academy (WPA) in 2012, and I couldn’t wait to return in 2013. This year I’m fortunate to be one of the WPA volunteer staffers helping to run the event, which is held at an actual police academy in Jamestown, N.C.

Lee Lofland, a former police detective, is the bright, funny man behind the WPA, which has earned generous support from Sisters in Crime, another organization I belong to. Lee’s unique program offers authors an unmatched hands-on, interactive educational experience. While it’s sort of like a crime Disneyland for adults, it also provides invaluable insights to anyone who wants to incorporate any aspect of a crime in a manuscript. It certainly has given me a much better understanding and appreciation for all aspects of law enforcement and forensics. Plus, I’m much more likely to get the details right.

I’d urge you to sign up for the 2014 Writers’ Police Academy but it sold out the first day registration opened. But you may want to add the website to your favorites and start looking in January for when registration will open for the 2015 academy. You won’t be sorry.

Here’s the website: http://www.writerspoliceacademy.com/. Oh, and this year’s featured author guests include Michael Connelly and Lisa Gardner. 

Authors: Unorganized Labor

Unions—organized labor—championed the creation of Labor Day and its celebration of workers. While authors are workers, too, we’re a pretty unorganized labor force. We spend most of our days staring at computer screens in self-imposed solitary confinement—a definite hurdle to organizing fellow wordsmiths to bargain for improved pay (advances and royalties) or contract terms. As a result, we either sign with an agent or become our own negotiators or publishers, for better or worse. 

Yet we do join professional organizations, often flocking with other authors who share our interests. We become members to network, improve craft, gain/share publishing industry information, and, to a limited degree, to use our organizations’ clout to impact the marketplace. For instance, the founding of Sisters in Crime was driven, in large part, by the desire of women mystery authors to ban together and push for book review equality and visibility.  

Here are just a few of the dozens of genre-oriented organizations available to authors. Where I could find current membership statistics, I included them:

·        Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI): 22,000 members worldwide

·        Romance Writers of America^® (RWA^®): 10,250 members worldwide

·        Sisters in Crime (SinC): 3,000 members worldwide

·        Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA): 1,800 members worldwide

·        International Thriller Writers (ITW): 1,300 members worldwide

·        Historical Novel Society (HNS): 985 members

·        Mystery Writers of America (MWA): couldn’t find membership stats

·        Association of Christian Writers (ACW): couldn’t find membership stats

I’ve been a member of SinC since 2003 and RWA since 2005. I just joined ITW. While I have no first-hand knowledge of the other groups listed, it’s probably fair to say the Boards of all these organizations are struggling to adapt to dramatic industry changes—e-books, new distribution channels, self-publishing options, small press growth, and bookstore declines to name a few. In addition, a trend toward genre blending makes it difficult to say whether someone writes romance, mystery, paranormal, suspense or thriller novels.  

Some organizations have long based membership eligibility (or status within the group) on traditional publishing criteria, e.g. the author had to sell to a “recognized” publisher and needed to earn a set dollar amount as an advance and/or in combination with royalties for full “professional” membership status. Selection by a “recognized” publisher implied the work met professional standards. Many groups are backing away from such criteria as more and more talented authors choose to self-publish or sign with e-book or niche publishers to reach their goals. I’m all for this move toward more egalitarian membership standards. In fact, I love the fact that SinC membership is open to readers as well as authors. Our local SinC chapter certainly benefits from this membership mix.

Then there’s the matter of defining genre. A current controversy within RWA relates to a decision to eliminate the Novel with Strong Romantic Elements (NSRE) from its two premiere contests—the Golden Heart^® for unpublished authors and the RITA^® for published authors. Many members of RWA’s Kiss of Death chapter (to which I belong) have expressed dismay at this decision, especially given that so many of today’s best-selling novels combine romance with other genres from paranormal and mystery to inspirational and young adult. Why exclude members from key recognition opportunities if romance is an important element in their craft and their novels might encourage others to read books with romance?

Do you belong to a genre-oriented writing organization? If so, what kind of membership standards do you want it to adopt? What kind of support do you look for from your writing groups--craft, marketing, legal/contract expertise, other?