I jotted down nine quotes from panelists at Left Coast Crime (April 7 – 10) in Albuquerque:
“Don’t be afraid to break the rules that need to be broken to tell the story you need to tell.” – Mysti Berry, writer, editor, and publisher of Low Down Dirty Vote
“All writing comes down to saying ‘this is done.’ You can’t keep rewriting it forever.” – James D.F. Hannah, the Shamus Award-winning author of the Henry Malone series including Behind the Wall of Sleep
“Patience is one of the hardest parts of writing.” – Amy Drayer, author of the Makah Island Mysteries
“Someone said your plots are just this side of ludicrous and I thought, challenge accepted!” – Catriona McPherson, author of the Dandy Gilver Mystery Series, the Last Ditch Mystery Series, and many standalone novels
“Do not do what I did—give up on yourself.” – Wanda M. Morris, author of All Her Little Secrets
“I am the right kind of lazy to be a writer.” – Jordan Harper, author of She Rides Shotgun
“If you can put a character in ANY place, that’s not a good book. Character is 1. Place is 1A.” – Reed Farrel Coleman, author of twenty novels including The Bitterest Pill and Where It Hurts
“The last thing we want to be is bored by our own characters.” – Michael Wiley, author of the Sam Kelson Mystery Series and the Daniel Turner Thriller Series
“Readers don’t look for moral instruction, they look for narrative satisfaction.” – Mick Herron, author of the Slough House series including Slow Horses
