I’ve been thinking a lot about the craft of writing lately.
I’m taking a New Noir workshop with Tom Andes, whose story “Never Mind in Two-Thousand” was included in the Best American Mystery and Suspense 2025, edited by Don Winslow.
For the workshop, we’ve been reading stories or chapters by writers like Elmore Leonard, Megan Abbott, S.A. Cosby, Jordan Harper, James M. Cain, Steph Cha, Raymond Chandler, James Sallis, and Vicki Hendricks. Usually there’s some direction to pay specific attention to a key craft element. For example, last week we looked at indirect and direct dialogue. Then we either wrote or revised a piece of writing with that craft element in mind.
My two favorite stories so far, which will be a surprise to approximately nobody, were Megan Abbott’s “Cheer” and James Sallis’s “Drive.” Both of these writers later extended their stories into full-length novels, and both were later adapted for the screen.
In some ways these stories are on opposite ends of the spectrum. “Drive” is written in a more distant third person. “Cheer” is deep first. “Drive” is about a getaway driver who is deeply embedded in all sorts of criminal enterprises. “Cheer” is about a really dysfunctional teenage cheer team. I mean really, really dysfunctional.
During the second part of the workshop, we for read up to three minutes of something we’ve written while everyone else listens for what they notice. Afterward, we have one minute to reflect on what we remember. Then we move to the next writer. At the end of this, we share what resonated with us in each piece of writing.
There is something powerful about listening deeply to other people share their work.
Through doing these exercises, there are two things that stay with me in stories.
1.) One perfect, telling detail
I recently listened to Michael Connelly discuss this idea. He was shadowing a homicide detective and noticed a very specific behavior that was very telling. When the detective would look through the files or listen to reports of a crime, he would take off his glasses and the part that goes behind his ear between his teeth. Connelly said that he noticed a groove in the glasses where this behavior had clearly happened over time.
In listening to my fellow workshop participants’ stories, I noticed the same thing. The girl with three dollars and nineteen cents in her front pocket. The apartment door with the tacky spring wreath that is still up at Christmas. The woman who only wears Talbots, full price.
These details tell us so much about characters in economical and precise ways.
2.) Dialogue
After I read and listened to SMALL MERCIES, I binged all sorts of Dennis Lehane interviews. He does dialogue so well. When he talks about dialogue, he says some of it comes from listening. His father used to take him around to pubs, and he’d overhear all sorts of banter. The cadence of somebody telling a story over a beer. Or, in Megan Abbott’s story, two teenagers going back and forth about blackmailing their cheer coach. Or, in one participant’s story, a back-and-forth between two guys outside a Dollar General.
I am now very curious about how other people experience workshops, what has been effective for them in terms of pushing their craft or their thinking, or what other craft elements resonate.
September Highlights So Far…
I had a great conversation with fellow Maine Crime Writer Robert T. Kelley and Margot Anne Kelley in the amazing library at Tenants Harbor. The location was beautiful, the audience was great, and I enjoyed our conversation.
I also got to chat with Dick Cass about his latest series, which is set in Maine. We had a full house, ate a lot of cake, and really enjoyed the audience. Fellow crime writers Bruce Robert Coffin, Brenda Buchanan, Chris Holm, Ryan Lowell, Allison Keeton, and Jule Selbo were all at Longfellow’s Books. They also ate cake. Definitely check out Dick’s Theberge series if you haven’t yet.
Upcoming Events…
Are you going to be in Portland on 9/29? I hope you can join an amazing crew at the Portland Public Library’s downtown branch for a Mystery Making event. Included: Dick Cass, Jule Selbo, Matt Cost, and Ryan Lowell (author of one of my favorite 2026 debut releases, FREIGHT).
Are you in the Bangor area on 9/30? I hope you can join us for a Noir at the Bar at Barliman’s. It’s going to be a great group of new voices (Mo Drammeh, Katie York, Lucas Brilliant, Laura Giebfried and Stanley R. Wells, Amber Hathaway, Tori Hood, and Cory Magee) and a few old friends (Matt Cost and Moe Claire).
Upcoming Author Interviews:
A few of my favorite recent authors will be sharing a little about their upcoming projects including Edgar Award-winning Henry Wise, author of PROMISED LAND and HOLY CITY.
In PROMISED LAND, deputy sheriff Will Seems investigates a missing person case and is forced to confront the way history anchors, corrupts, and defines power.
William Boyle, who I’ve already waxed poetic about SAINTS OF THE NARROWS STREET, will share a little about his upcoming book, HEAVY SUGAR.
It’s described as a “zany, foul-mouthed, and tender-hearted screwball noir about a stolen baseball and the lengths people will go to find it. And themselves.”
Finally, former Maine Crime Writers blogger Paul Doiron is going to share a little about his journey from his days writing for this blog to his continued success with the Mike Bowditch series.
You can read the backlog of his posts HERE.
Upcoming Release
Megan Abbott shared a cover reveal for her upcoming book. Available next summer. THE DEAR ONES is about the way the disappearance of two young girls haunts a small town’s close-knit community. In the years that follow, a string of brutal crimes and strange accidents leaves the community reeling. When two stars from the field hockey disappear before the big game, the rest of the team is determined to uncover the truth.
It sounds like peak Megan Abbott, and I cannot wait!
Pre-orders are available now.
Be well and talk soon.
