Showing posts with label "Ellen Byron". Show all posts
Showing posts with label "Ellen Byron". Show all posts

Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Left Coast Crime - Honolulu Havoc

I’m back from Left Coast Crime in Hawaii where I had a great time. Met new people and reconnected with some I hadn’t seen in a while. Even though the beach beckoned, I managed to skip out on very little of the conference.

The first day of the conference, I participated in the author speed dating event. Fewer people attended this one than the one at Malice where the tables are always filled. Still, it was a good experience. One really nice difference between this one and Malice—at LCC there were two rest tables instead of one. Even with the two breaks, I was exhausted at the end and those listening were, too. It’s really hard to give or listen to pitches for two hours straight.

The panel I participated in was on Saturday afternoon: Thievery: Arts, Relics and Gems. Lots of good discussion and interesting questions from the audience made the time really speed by. Here’s a photo of our group (from L to R) Cathy Ace, Dale Berry, Julie Chase (who moderated), Betty Hechtman and me.

The awards banquet was fun to attend, particularly since I knew several people who were nominated. I was at Ellen Byron and Leslie Karst’s table. Ellen won the Lefty award for Best Humorous Mystery for her book, “Body on the Bayou”.

I also had a bit of fan-girl moment when I met Susanna Calkins. She writes a series I really enjoy set in 17th-century England featuring lady’s maid Lucy Campion. Susanna was very nice and fun to talk to.

Foodwise, we tried taro rolls (nice purple color with a texture similar to potato rolls) and Japanese cheesecake. Also called souffle cheesecake, it’s the up and coming thing in the U.S. It’s very fluffy and less sweet than ones here in the U.S. It reminded me some of a cheesecake recipe I got from a college roommate where the eggs are separated and the whites whisked before being incorporated into the mix. Sure enough, that seems to be the hallmark of Japanese cheesecake.

Uncle Tetsu’s has two locations in the U.S., Hawaii and at the Santa Anita Mall here in California. Not terribly close to where I am, but within driving distance.

I had so much fun, I’ve already signed up for LCC 2018 in Reno, NV, Crime on the Comstock.

Saturday, September 17, 2016

Guest Post: Ellen Byron

Please welcome Ellen Byron, fellow member of Sisters in Crime/LA, to Type M. Her first book, Plantation Shudders, was nominated for gobs of awards. Her second book, Body on the Bayou, just came out. Here she tells us what led her down a murderous path. Take it away, Ellen...



WANTING TO MURDER SOMEONE LEADS TO WRITING 
ABOUT MURDERING SOMEONE

by Ellen Byron
I’ve worked with a lot of strong personalities in my television writing career. Actors, directors, executives, other writers. Most have been hilarious and wonderful. Three drove me to fantasies of murder.

The first was a fellow writer on a popular sitcom that will remain nameless. He was arrogant, yet threatened by other writers’ talent – especially women writers, because he also happened to be sexist. He talked about his co-workers behind their backs, and in a business where perception is everything, his badmouthing cost people jobs. I wanted to KILL him. Being a relatively sane person, that was out of the question. So instead, I took a mystery writing class so I could kill him off on paper.

I signed up for a UCLA Writers’ Extension class taught by the inimitable Jerrilyn Farmer, and decided to write a mystery that took place during a sitcom production season. (Hmm, wonder where I got that idea?) The victim was the writer I despised, of course. I wrote a chapter, read it in class, and awaited acclaim. Instead, I got a tepid response. Then the other students shared their work. I was the only professional writer in the class – and my work was the least interesting. I wanted to hear a second chapter of everyone’s book but my own.

I didn’t try writing a mystery again for twelve years.

And that’s where the other two awful co-workers come in.

I returned to TV and worked on a variety of sitcoms with great writing staffs. Then I landed on a show where two of the guys at the top were, in different ways, the unpleasant equal of Despised Writer #1. Both were dismissive, cold, superior, and judgmental. If I told you my fantasies of their demise, you’d consider having me committed. There was only one way to rid myself of the vitriol I felt toward them…try writing another mystery.

This time I created a completely different world from television. My protagonist was a school psychologist at L.A.’s ritziest private school. And I didn’t make my bosses the murder victims. I made them repugnant suspects. That manuscript didn’t sell, but it did win a William F. Deeck-Malice Domestic Grant for unpublished authors and eventually landed me a book agent.

My third mystery, Plantation Shudders, is a one-eighty from both previous mystery attempts. It’s a cozy set in a charming fictional Louisiana village, and even comes with recipes. But vestiges of the Hollywood writers I wanted to kill can be found in the quirky Southern characters who inhabit my Cajun Country Mystery series. Despised Writers #1, 2, and 3 would never recognize themselves, but I got great pleasure from poisoning them with my pen.

I’ve expanded my murderous literary reach to rid friends of people who’ve wronged them. Need a personal enemy killed or arrested? Let me fire up my computer. While many of my life experiences have found their way into my plays and screenplays, writing mysteries fulfills me in a different and devious way. It’s reassuring to know that if I ever experience a horrible co-worker or boss again, or if anyone I care about has someone evil in the life, I am quite capable of murder. At least on the page.

Ellen's debut novel, Plantation Shudders, made the USA Today Bestsellers list, and was nominated for Agatha, Lefty, and Daphne awards. The second book in her Cajun Country Mystery Series, Body on the Bayou, offers “everything a cozy reader could want,” according to Publishers Weekly.

Ellen’s TV credits include Wings, Just Shoot Me, and many network pilots; she’s written over 200 national magazine articles; her published plays include the award-winning Graceland. http://www.ellenbyron.com/