In this session, authors discuss writing crime stories at shorter lengths, how they approach pacing and tension, and whether they see their work as thriller, noir, or something in between. Panelists also share how they came to the short story form and why it continues to attract crime writers.
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...




