MWA University is Back!
MWA-U 2024 was a series of six online classes taught by top-notch crime writers with live Q & A. These sessions were free to current MWA members (offered to nonmembers for $20/session).
Previous Sessions:
Date: Wednesday, July 10th
Instructor: Tracy Clark – Tracy is the author of the Cass Raines Chicago Mystery and Detective Harriet Foster series and writes from a small desk in a little room in Chicago with a tub of strawberry Twizzlers next to her. A diehard pantser, she knows full well an outline would probably be better, but even the mention of the word sends her brain into a panic. So, instead, she hunts and pecks and works the heck out of her delete button. A multi-nominated Anthony, Lefty, Edgar, International Thriller Writers, Macacity, and Shamus Award finalist, Tracy is also the 2020 and 2022 winner of the G.P. Putnam’s Sons Sue Grafton Memorial Award, the 2022 Sara Paretsky Award and the 2024 Lefty Award for Best Mystery Novel. She is a proud member of Crime Writers of Color, Rogue Women Writers, Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime and sits on the board of Bouchercon National and the Midwest Mystery Conference. Her series grew out of her desire to see capable, competent women of color on a page as major players in their own stories.
Topic: Character – Tips for creative engaging book people
Characters are everything in fiction. We don’t have to like them, but we do have to find them interesting enough to keep turning the pages. In this session, author Tracy Clark will share her tips for building effective, engaging book people that will pull your readers in and keep their eyes on the page.
Link to video: https://bit.ly/MWAU-Clark
Date: Wednesday, July 24th
Instructor: Meg Gardiner – is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of sixteen novels. Her thrillers have won the Edgar Award and been summer reading picks by The Today Show and O, the Oprah magazine. In August 2022 Heat 2, co-authored with Michael Mann, debuted at #1 on the New York Times best seller list. A former lawyer, two-time president of Mystery Writers of America, and three-time Jeopardy! champion, Gardiner lives in Austin.
Topic: Plotting to Kill: Writing Mysteries & Thrillers
How do you create compelling characters and put them in memorable conflict? Meg Gardiner, author of sixteen thrillers, will talk about heroes, villains, and the hook, and discuss techniques to ramp up the suspense and tension in your story.
Link to video: https://bit.ly/MWAU-Gardiner
Date: Wednesday, August 7th
Instructor: Donna Andrews is the Agatha-, Anthony-, and Lefty-award winning author of the Meg Langslow series from Minotaur. LET IT CROW! LET IT CROW! LET IT CROW! (October 2023) and BETWEEN A FLOCK AND A HARD PLACE (August 2024) are the 34th and 35th books in her NYT-bestselling series, to be followed in October 2024 by ROCKIN’ AROUND THE CHICKADEE. She is the co-editor, with Greg Herren and Art Taylor, of the Anthony-nominated SCHOOL OF HARD KNOX anthology from Crippen & Landru, in addition to eleven anthologies with co-editors Barb Goffman and Marcia Talley. A longtime member of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime, she currently serves as MWA’s Executive Vice President. When not writing . . . who are we kidding? She’s always writing something.
Topic: Dialogue
Experts have written whole books about dialogue . . . so what can you possibly learn from a single class? Donna Andrews will present half a dozen highly practical techniques and exercises that can help you improve your dialogue. (And if you’re writing in first person, good news! It’s all dialogue.)
Link to video: https://bit.ly/MWAU-Andrews
Date: Wednesday, September 4th
Instructor: Daniel Stashower
A member of MWA since 1985, Daniel Stashower is a three-time Edgar-winner whose books include Teller of Tales: The Life of Arthur Conan Doyle and The Hour of Peril: The Secret Plot to Murder Lincoln Before the Civil War.
Topic: Setting
Powerful settings have always been essential to the mystery story, from Poe’s “rank sedges, vacant eye-like windows and white trunks of decayed trees” to I.S. Berry’s “noncontiguous streets, noises without origin or purpose, and angles that didn’t quite fit together.” As MWA Grand Master P.D. James noted, “Setting, important in any work of fiction, is particularly so in a detective story. It establishes atmosphere, influences plot and character and enhances the horror of murder.”
Link to video: bit.ly/MWAU-Stashower
Date: Wednesday, October 9th
Instructor: Jeffery Deaver
Jeffery Deaver is an international number-one bestselling author. His books are sold in 150 countries and translated into twenty-five languages. He has served two terms as president of Mystery Writers of America, and was recently named a Grand Master of MWA, whose ranks include Agatha Christie, Ellery Queen, Mary Higgins Clark and Walter Mosely. The author of 48 novels, 100 short stories and a nonfiction law book, and a lyricist of a country western album, he’s received or been shortlisted for dozens of awards.
Deaver has been honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention, the Strand Magazine’s Lifetime Achievement Award and the Raymond Chandler Lifetime Achievement Award in Italy. He has also been awarded or shortlisted for scores of award from around the world. His book A Maiden’s Grave was made into an HBO movie starring James Garner and Marlee Matlin titled Dead Silence. His novel The Bone Collector was a feature release from Universal Pictures, starring Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie. Lifetime aired an adaptation of his The Devil’s Teardrop. NBC television recently aired the nine-episode prime-time series, Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector. The new CBS show Tracker is based on his novel The Never Game, featuring his character Colter Shaw.
Deaver was born in Glen Ellyn, Illinois and has a bachelor of journalism from the University of Missouri and a law degree from Fordham University.
Topic: Writing a Commercial Thriller
A blurb would read: All fiction needs smart, tight and unexpected plotting, and a commercial thriller more than most. I will be discussing how to create fast-paced plots in the crime genre, how to balance plot with character development and pitfalls to avoid.
Link to Video: https://bit.ly/MWA-U-Deaver
Date: Wednesday, November 6th
Instructor: Sheri Lewis-Wohl
Topic: Forensics
Sheri Lewis Wohl is an award-winning writer who lives in NE Washington State where she writes her stories of murder, mystery, and all things paranormal. While she has yet to actually encounter a vampire, werewolf, or ghost, she never stops looking for them when darkness falls and the full moon rises.
A Policy Analyst, Sheri recently retired from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts after a three plus decades career with the federal judiciary, and is a former Humans Remains Detection K9 Handler with search and rescue in Eastern Washington and North Idaho. She and her K9 partner deployed on missions throughout the Northwest. These days Sheri continues to write her stories of dark, dangerous, and delectable characters, is working on running half-marathons in all fifty states, and works with and trains her German shepherds. In her spare time, she acts in television, feature films, and theater, while also writing a play or two along the way.
TOPIC:
Not just a walk in the woods with your dog. What does it take to search for dead people? From selecting the right dog to forensics education to training at body farms, Sheri will take you through the realities of K9 search and rescue, and specifically, humans remains detection.
Link to Video: https://bit.ly/MWA-Lewis-Wohl
