Writing Villains Readers Love to Fear

Great villains can make a crime story unforgettable. In this session, authors discuss creating compelling bad guys, using unreliable narrators, handling multiple points of view, and giving each character a distinct voice and motivation that keeps readers hooked.

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Writing YA Beyond Age Labels

Writing YA Beyond Age Labels

Gregory Stout, Irene Schindler, Judy Lyn Gregg, Marco Patitucci, Roy Hiller, and Tilia Klebenov Jacobs dig into the heart of young adult fiction. They explore how themes of identity, agency, and belonging define YA stories and why the genre is about far more than age...

Building a Villain Who Feels Human

Building a Villain Who Feels Human

Bruce Robert Coffin, D.E. Funk, Jim Nesbitt, Roger Johns, Shaun Assael, and Shirley B. Garrett explore what makes a villain truly compelling. They discuss motivation, psychology, moral ambiguity, and the challenges of writing complex antagonists who feel authentic and...

What Courtrooms Can Teach Crime Novelists

What Courtrooms Can Teach Crime Novelists

Lawyers turned crime writers discuss how real courtroom experience shapes their fiction. This session explores what drew them from practicing law to storytelling, how legal procedure and criminal psychology inform their plots, and what writers get right and wrong...