Want to know who's coming to LIM in 2011?

Check out the "Attendees" list under

"Who's Who"

at www.loveismurder.net

PITCH-A-PALOOZA: Planning to pitch your manuscript to an editor or agent at Love Is Murder? Find advice on the pitch process at

http://tinyurl.com/25emkr8

Author Jon Land

An Interview with Featured Author Jon Land

by Joanna Campbell Slan

JCS: Your books are very complex with multiple points of view and several story lines running through them. How do you plan them out? What strategies and techniques can you share?

JL: Great question to start with-you're challenging me right off the bat. And the simple answer I actually don't plan them out. As a writer, I believe in instinct. You've got to go by your feelings, let your gut tell you where to go. But the real thing is, and this goes to strategies and techniques, to never lose sight of the most important thing a thriller must have: pace. That's what keeps readers turning the pages into the wee hours of the morning. You make it impossible for them to put the book down by never having any slow or dull parts. And its instinct, your own sense of entertainment as you write, that dictates when it's time to stay with a sequence and when it's time to cut. My experience in screenwriting has helped me out a lot here but generally it all comes down to telling a story.

JCS: For someone who has never written multiple points of view, can you give any pointers?

JL: I may have already done that but let me summarize it this way: know your characters and know the story you're trying to tell. John D. McDonald once said in answer in the question what is story, "Stuff happens to people you care about." Well, the more you know your characters, the more they come alive, the more reader cares about them. The structure of thrillers harks back to old-fashioned quest stories. People are after something, what Hitchcock called the McGuffin. So in writing the multi-plotted thriller the question a writer needs to keeping asking themselves is What is my hero after and why? If you can't answer that, something's wrong.

Jon Land's most recent book is Strong Justice: A Caitlin Strong Novel. Read more about his work at http://us.macmillan.com/author/jonland

Joanna Campbell Slan's most recent book is Photo, Snap, Shot. To read the entire interview with Jon Land, go to http://www.JoannaSlan.blogspot.com. Visit her at www.joannaslan.com

If Not For You by J L Wilson

Free-spirited, independent 50-something meets uptight businessman. Result: SPARKS FLY!

Totally Buzzed by Gale Borger

Buzz Miller and her wacky sisters debut in a hysterical romp through murder and mayhem!

No Less in Blood by D. M. Pirrone

Rachel's search for her birth family makes her a

target for murder.

Would You Like to Advertise Your Book? For Info, Visit: http://tinyurl.com/2ckwn8t

The MWA Writers Track will focus on the following topics:

"How to Write and Maintain a Series Character"

"Outlining, Do You or Don't You?"

"The 10 Things Every Mystery Writer Needs to Know about Publishing in the Marketplace Today," and

"Query Letter Writing/Submission Proposal Writing"

Let some real pros answer your questions at these informative presentations. You'll be a better writer for it!

Congratulations to the winner of our Short Story Contest, Gloria Alden of Southington, Ohio for her story, Cheating on Your Wife Can Get You Killed. We received 26 entries from 15 states, plus one from Ontario, Canada.

Alden's story will be published in the January/February 2011 issue of Crimespree magazi ne, of which several hundred copies will be distributed to all conference participants in addition to regular subscribers.

Thomas Yarrish, Senior Consultant, Guidance Software, will join us at LIM to give a presentation on "Electronic Investigations in the 21st Century: Computer Forensics and eDiscovery". Tom has worked in the IT industry for the last 15 years, and exclusively in the Computer Forensics and eDiscovery industry for the last 2 years. He has worked on cases involving the government, intellectual property, and employment termination matters. His presentation will include information on where computer data is stored, tools examiners use to extract material, common myths about computer forensics, and how eDiscovery differs from Computer Forensics.