Please join me on Thursday, 25 September, at the University of Colorado at Denver, King Center Recital Hall, 855 Lawrence Way on the Auraria Campus for a discussion of "Dashiell Hammett and the Hardboiled Detective Genre," sponsored by Colorado Humanities & Center for the Book: 6:30 - 7:30 p.m.

For interested readers and writers in the Denver area, I will be giving an informal talk at the Loveland (CO) Public Library for their "Authors at the Library" presentation and discussion series titled, "These Books Are Killing Me: Writing and Reading Suspense & Mystery in a New Century." Date and time: Sunday, 4 May, 2 - 4 p.m. Place: 300 N. Adams, Loveland, CO 80537. Topic: Developing Series Characters. We'll have plenty of time for questions from readers and writers. For further information, please call Ted Schmidt at 970-962-2400.   

The writer of mystery and detection fiction must emphasize puzzle, which should not be confused with plot. The
Whodunit of puzzle is often related to the plot element of Why it was done, and thus the ease of confusion. But whereas the mystery writer deals with both plot and puzzle, readers are often interested primarily in puzzle, while plot is only on the fringe of their attention. Writers must keep in mind this difference in emphasis, since puzzling elements such as red herrings or suspicious characters may or may not be integral to the story's basic plot.

It is a truism that fiction writers seek and find ideas for their stories in real life--where else could they find them? But the newspapers, diaries, personal memoirs, etc., that record that real life seldom result in a story with the focus and depth of fiction. The factual reports may provide the events of a story, but "plot" and that closely related element "character" tend to come from the fiction writer's imagination. That imagination is the tool by which factual happenings are converted into a story with structure and purpose: inventing fictional characters who perform the actual deeds, discovering motivations that were obscure or absent from the factual report, structuring the factual events into the shape of a meaningful conclusion. Though this sounds rather cut and dried, it is this exercise of the fiction writer's imagination that generates excitement and fun for the author and, one hopes, for the reader. 

Forthcoming: some samples of the Australian Outback when I return from a trip to West Australia. The Kimberley region of WA is comparable in size to Great Britain and is one of the least populated areas on earth. With only one paved highway running east to west, and two seasons (the Wet and the Dry) it has some of the most remarkable geologic formations known, as well as some of the earth's oldest rock. This northwest corner of Australia, which makes up one of the most expansive police districts anywhere, is the setting for the Constable Leonard Smith stories. Visit again in the near future for photos and film clips.