Indianapolis- American Christian Writer's Conference



"How many people have 'Writer's Guide to Poisons'?" the speaker asked. Probably a hundred hands went up. It seems that most of the people in the room could kill you, clean up the scene, stash the body, and get away with it.
At least they could write it.
Welcome to the conference, a gathering of a bunch of people that are...well, just a little off. You may pick up a conversation in an elevator like this:
"I killed the guy before she could really get to know him."
Actually, it sounds a lot more like this:
"So they end up on the beach, with the sun setting, and his deep blue eyes of love stare into hers."
You see, the roots of the conference are originally romance. So the women outnumber the men ten to one.
You could cut the estrogen with a knife.
But except for the killing and sappy lovey dovey stuff, they are a good bunch of people. We men tend to congregate and exchange ideas on our genre, which is anything but romance!
Too bad.
If I was a romance writer, I could sell some books.
Jennifer, seated next to me at dinner, has written eleven books. Her husband, a 6'5" detective, managed to read one of them.
I have read three romances in the last year. Why do I feel like I'm at an AA meeting?
"Hi, I'm Kevin, and I read romances."
"Hi, Kevin!"
My third book, the final of the trilogy, will have a love story. To be honest, it is going to be tough to write. So, I read some Debbie Macomber and Nora Roberts.
Gag me!
Sorry Debbie and Nora. I suppose you'll get over my bad review. Since you've both sold a billion books, who cares what Kevin thinks anyway?
Still, the conference is great. The speaker at the Early Bird Session gave tips on protagonists, objectives, confrontations, theme and dialogue. Because no matter if it is hard hitting detective stories or sappy romances, they all need the same ingredients:
Good writing and a good story.

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