Today was Opening Day for Bouchercon2025 in New Orleans, and my first Bouchercon ever. The non-conference bits are covered on my other site, ThePolyBlog, at https://www.thepolyblog.ca/day-1-of-bouchercon2025-in-new-orleans/.

I registered at 9:30, picking up my conference bag, program, t-shirt, badge and lanyard, and four hot little tickets for books in the Book Bazaar.

There are over a hundred books to choose from, and you only get four. I picked up two by Heather Graham, the chair of the conference, entitled Legacy of Blood (part of a series called the Blackbird Files) and The Rising. I’ve started reading The Rising already, but I’ve only read about 35 pages so far. I would have loved to spend hours browsing the tables, but my cold is still kicking my butt, so I opted for a Scarpetta novel by Patricia Cornwell as book #3 and Calico by Lee Goldberg, which has been all over his Facebook feed for some time, as #4. The fact that I don’t have any room in my carry-on for the return flight home in no way impedes my bookgoblin tendencies.

I chatted with Devlin Chatterson from Montreal on the way to the first panel, as he’s here representing Crime Writers of Canada. I’ve been a member of CWC in Ottawa for various years at a time, but not currently. They’re partnering with the Calgary delegation planning next year’s conference so it was nice to meet a Canadian face. I’ve heard of his Dale Hunter series but I don’t think I’ve tried any of them yet. https://delvinchatterson.com/ will help me keep it on my radar for the future.

I had signed up for what was called Bouchercon 101 hosted by some of the organizers, including Heather Graham, and it was designed to operate in two parts. For newbies, it would give an overview of the week and what to expect, how things worked for things like signings, logistical details for out-of-building events, etc. And then they would be paired with “conference buddies”, based on a previous request when registering if you wanted a buddy. I didn’t, but I was expecting a bit more in how the conference worked, perhaps a little more formal presentation. It was very casual, which was fine, with a lot of stories about previous conferences or various people who were in the audience that they wanted to introduce, etc. The conference itself looks great, and the detailed program is extensive. Having put on conferences in the past, I was impressed with the initial machinery. Less so for the 101 presentation and I got very little out of it. I tend to think in frameworks, so I decided I’d stick with the program outline instead. There was a nice story about one of the hosts having been proposed to at the museum we’re going to tomorrow, though.

For the first set of panels, there were some good ones available in the set of six starting at noon. I opted for Panel 1-3: Room for More: Great Ensemble Casts. The participants included Steve Stratton (Moderator), Baer Charlton, Leslie Karst, Vera Kurian, DonnaRae Menard, and Melinda Mullet. All of them were new to me.

Part of my interest is that I have in mind a fiction series that has three main characters, as well as some supporting cast members. The panel discussed how to give ensembles equal time / weight, a distinct voice, time spent developing the characters before starting to write, how ensemble casts in series differ from standalones, decisions to eliminate characters, feedback from beta readers, location as a character, and how to get into each character. I’m not sure it answered many questions for me, but perhaps laid some groundwork for better questions in the future (I’m aiming to retire in 2 years and will likely start fiction writing around that time, although I have a number of non-fictional titles planned too). One of the panelists mentioned reading 101 Things I Learned At Film School to help with scene setting (as well as the standard Save the Cat series, which I have).

For the second set of panels, I planned to focus on Panel 2-2: Need to Know: Avoiding the Info Dump. Similarly, for the third set, I was aiming for Panel 3-6: Make ‘Em Laugh: Wise-Crackin’ Through Crime, although it wasn’t a “must have” for me. It didn’t matter, though, as my cold knocked me out. I crashed back in my room for three hours and missed the charity event for the local library too.

I was back on my feet for 6:00 p.m. in time for Clay Stafford’s session entitled The Story That Saved Me. I had heard his name before in conjunction with Killer Nashville, but that was about it. I loved hearing his background, growing up in East Tennessee, and wanting to become a writer after reading The Shining by Stephen King. In that respect, it would seem like any other background to a rural-raised writer.

However, his pitch was more about “writing as a form of / alternative to therapy” in a way, and he challenged people to make a list of all the things about themselves they are afraid to tell other people, and to slowly over time, write about those things in our stories as supposed fiction. He suggested writing as a form of confession, holding a mirror up to our own life, to create a sanctuary for ourselves and others, to give ourselves permission to feel and to experience empathy. An intriguing challenge.

However, I found myself wondering about the epiphany reading Stephen King. For me, it was a two-step desire to be a writer. I was first a reader, of course, so the idea of being a writer was some general ideal. But I saw no path to that world. I couldn’t come up with stories about war or spies, for instance. Yet I then read some fiction from Warren Murphy with a modern sleuth who was not some grand Sherlock Holmes or a hardboiled detective. He was a regular schmo in many respects. And I thought, “Hey, I could write THAT type of character.” I wonder if other writers had that dichotomy of experience … a two-part of “desire” and “possibility”. For Clay, I asked him afterwards if it was joined, and it was for him.

I followed that session at 7:00 with a presentation by forensics expert Lisa Black, who is nearing retirement in just 21 days. Not that she was jumping for joy or anything. 🙂 It was a good semi-technical briefing, and I got a lot of valuable nuggets I can use in my first detective story without going too far down a forensics rabbit hole. I’ve narrowed my focus, shall we say. Plus, she was just plain entertaining to listen to for over an hour.

I missed out on the Cozies and Cocktails session which was in full swing when I went by on the way to Lisa’s presentation. I was a bit late leaving Lisa to get to a presentation by Don Brun on Edward Stratemeyer. Don himself said he’s not an expert on Stratemeyer, but wanted to give an overview of how the guy invented the genre of a ghostwriter writing mainly children’s stories including the big names like The Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew etc. and created pen names where multiple people wrote under those pseudonyms while Stratemeyer held the copyrights, sold series left right and centre to publishers, and paid the writers about $200-250 a book. But he had famous names long before they became famous including L. Frank Baum of Wizard of Oz or Victor Appleton for the Tom Swift series. Over 1000 books in total, 160 series, and most people never knew who the authors were, except Stratemeyer.

For the Hardy Boys, one of the first writers was Leslie McFarlane. His daughter shared with Don a fun story of how her dad kept his office at home locked, as nobody could know that in his spare time as a reporter that he was writing the Hardy Boys. One day, his 12yo son got into the office when Dad wasn’t home, and apologized to his dad but couldn’t wait to say that he was so glad his Dad loved the Hardy Boys too, as there was a full set of them on his shelf in the office. Millie Worked had similar stories, apparently, for Nancy Drew, and it wasn’t until a lawsuit about IP in 1980 happened that a bunch of the details came out about how many ghost writers there had been back in the day and who many of them had been.

I was hoping to wrap up the day with Jon Land and Terry Rogers talking about Paranormal investigations for fact and fiction, but I was physically done.

Back at it tomorrow for Day 2. I haven’t seen Lee Goldberg yet. Although I might see Michael Connelly tomorrow. Is it silly to want to thank him for his guest appearances on Castle more than his actual books? 🙂