Have you signed up to be a DIY MFA Radio Insider yet? This is an exciting new monthly newsletter especially for our podcast listeners. Every month, you’ll get an email from our podcast producer with recaps of the most recent episodes, a curated Listening List of episodes on a particular theme, and other fun goodies we only share via email. Best of all, it’s free to join! The theme for July is Thrillers, and you can become an insider by signing up with your email at diymfa.com/insiders.

In this episode Stacy, Carolyne, Allison, Wanda, and I discuss:

• Choosing whether to tell a story with multiple timelines, flashbacks, or an epistolary format.
• How their characters deal with the past, secrets, and lies as the story unfolds.
• What role the world and the setting play in how characters process their trauma.

Plus, their #1 tip for writers.

About the Debut Authors 

Stacy Willingham is the New York Times bestselling author of A Flicker in the Dark. Before turning to fiction, she was a copywriter and brand strategist for various marketing agencies. She earned her BA in magazine journalism from the University of Georgia and MFA in writing from the Savannah College of Art and Design. Her novel is currently being translated into over two dozen languages. She lives in Charleston, South Carolina, with her husband, Britt, and Labradoodle, Mako, where she is always working on her next book.

You can find her on her website or follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Carolyne Topdjian is the author of The Hitman’s Daughter (Agora/Polis Books), a gothic mystery which Library Journal lauds as a “fast-paced, haunting novel of survival.” In addition to writing suspense novels, Carolyne has published short fiction in PRISM International, Dreamers Magazine, and Firewords Quarterly. She is a professor in the Faculty of Media and Creative Arts at Humber College in Toronto. Currently, she lives in a 114-year-old haunted house.

You can find her on her website or follow her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, and Pinterest.

Allison Buccola is the author of the psychological thriller Catch Her When She Falls.  Before she turned to writing fiction, she was a practicing attorney with a JD from the University of Chicago, and she also did a brief stint as a bartender in Brussels.  She now lives outside Philadelphia with her husband and two kids.

You can find her on her website or follow them on Twitter, and Instagram.

Wanda M. Morris is the acclaimed author of All Her Little Secrets. It was named as one of the “Best Books of 2021” by Hudson Booksellers and selected as the #1 Top Pick for “Library Reads” by librarians across the country. It was selected as a Book Buzz Pick by Good Morning America, serialized in Entertainment Weekly and a Marie Claire book club pick. She is a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and Crime Writers of Color. A corporate attorney, Wanda has worked in the legal departments of some of America’s top Fortune 100 companies. As a former President of the Georgia Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel, she established a signature female empowerment program known as the Women’s Initiative. She is married, the mother of three and lives in Atlanta,Georgia. All Her Little Secrets is her debut novel.

You can find her on her website or follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

About the Books

A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham

From debut author Stacy Willingham comes a masterfully done, lyrical thriller, certain to be the launch of an amazing career. A Flicker in the Dark is eerily compelling to the very last page.

When Chloe Davis was twelve, six teenage girls went missing in her small Louisiana town. By the end of the summer, her own father had confessed to the crimes and was put away for life, leaving Chloe and the rest of her family to grapple with the truth and try to move forward while dealing with the aftermath.

Now twenty years later, Chloe is a psychologist in Baton Rouge and getting ready for her wedding. While she finally has a fragile grasp on the happiness she’s worked so hard to achieve, she sometimes feels as out of control of her own life as the troubled teens who are her patients. So when a local teenage girl goes missing, and then another, that terrifying summer comes crashing back. Is she paranoid, seeing parallels from her past that aren’t actually there, or for the second time in her life, is Chloe about to unmask a killer?

The Hitman’s Daughter by Carolyne Topdjian

The Château du Ciel was once the destination for the rich and famous to play, drink and ski―complete with a luxurious railway to shuttle those desiring extra privacy―now, however, the guests are few and far between. The New Year’s Eve party was supposed to hoist the rundown hotel back to its former status, until a massive blizzard descends upon the Châ teau, trapping the guests who’ve come to celebrate the grand hotel’s last hurrah. The circumstances might even be considered romantic; if only the hotel wasn’t reputed to be haunted.

When hotel employee Mave Michael finds the resident artist dead, and shortly thereafter hotel security finds Mave alone with the body, the reputation she has fought long and hard to outrun comes back to haunt her. Because Mave’s father is a notorious hitman serving multiple life sentences in prison. Mave changed her name and location dozens of times to escape her legacy, but he somehow manages to track her down―even sending her a postcard on the eve of her birthday, January 1st. Mave is the perfect choice to frame for murder, and now the number one suspect. She can no longer deny the lessons in survival her father taught her, and must use them and her uncanny sixth-sense in “finding” lost objects to navigate the maze-like hotel. To save herself, Mave not only has to stop running from her own past, she must unearth the history of the hotel, its elite guests and buried secrets―one deadly sin at a time.

Catch Her When She Falls by Allison Buccola

In this “propulsive” (Kimberly McCreight) debut thriller, a young woman questions everything she thought she knew about the shocking murder that changed her life when she was in high school.

Ten years ago, my boyfriend killed my best friend. 

When Micah Wilkes was a senior in high school, her boyfriend was convicted of murdering her best friend, Emily, a star ballerina with a bright future. A decade later, Micah has finally moved on from the unforgivable betrayal and loss. Now the owner of a bustling coffee shop in her small hometown in Pennsylvania, she’s happily coupled up with another old high school friend, the two having bonded over their shared sorrow.

But when reminders of her past begin appearing at her work and home, Micah begins to doubt what she knows about Emily’s death. Questions raised on a true crime blog and in an online web sleuthing forum force her to reexamine her memories of that fateful night. She told the truth to the investigators on the case, but was there another explanation for Emily’s murder? A stranger in the woods. An obsessive former classmate. A domineering ballet instructor. Or the internet’s favorite suspect: Joshua, Emily’s outcast younger brother who hasn’t been seen since his sister’s death.

As Micah delves deeper into the case, she feels her grip on reality loosening, her behavior growing more and more secretive and unhinged. As she races to piece together the truth about that night ten years ago, Micah grapples with how things could have gone so wrong and wonders whether she, too, might be next to disappear.

All Her Little Secrets by Wanda M. Morris

A fast-paced and twisty thriller about a black lawyer who gets caught in a dangerous conspiracy after the sudden death of her boss . . . A debut perfect for fans of Attica Locke, Alyssa Cole, Harlan Coben, and Celeste Ng, with shades of How to Get Away with Murder and John Grisham’s The Firm.

Everyone has something to hide…

Ellice Littlejohn seemingly has it all: an Ivy League law degree, a well-paying job as a corporate attorney in midtown Atlanta, great friends, and a “for fun” relationship with a rich, charming executive, who just happens to be her white boss. But everything changes one cold January morning when Ellice arrives in the executive suite and finds him dead with a gunshot to his head.

And then she walks away like nothing has happened. Why? Ellice has been keeping a cache of dark secrets, including a small-town past and a kid brother who’s spent time on the other side of the law. She can’t be thrust into the spotlight—again.

But instead of grieving this tragedy, people are gossiping, the police are getting suspicious, and Ellice, the company’s lone black attorney, is promoted to replace her boss. While the opportunity is a dream-come-true, Ellice just can’t shake the feeling that something is off.

When she uncovers shady dealings inside the company, Ellice is trapped in an impossible ethical and moral dilemma. Suddenly, Ellice’s past and present lives collide as she launches into a pulse-pounding race to protect the brother she tried to save years ago and stop a conspiracy far more sinister than she could have ever imagined…

Anywhere You Run by Wanda M. Morris

From the award-winning author of All Her Little Secrets comes yet another gripping, suspenseful novel where, after the murder of a white man in Jim Crow Mississippi, two Black sisters run away to different parts of the country . . . but can they escape the secrets they left behind?

It’s the summer of 1964 and three innocent men are brutally murdered for trying to help Black Mississippians secure the right to vote. Against this backdrop, twenty-two-year-old Violet Richards finds herself in more trouble than she’s ever been in her life. Suffering a brutal attack of her own, she kills the man responsible. But with the color of Violet’s skin, there is no way she can escape Jim Crow justice in Jackson, Mississippi. Before anyone can find the body or finger her as the killer, she decides to run. With the help of her white beau, Violet escapes. But desperation and fear leads her to hide out in the small rural town of Chillicothe, Georgia, unaware that danger may be closer than she thinks.

Back in Jackson, Marigold, Violet’s older sister, has dreams of attending law school. Working for the Mississippi Summer Project, she has been trying to use her smarts to further the cause of the Black vote. But Marigold is in a different kind of trouble: she’s pregnant and unmarried. After news of the murder brings the police to her door, Marigold sees no choice but to flee Jackson too. She heads North seeking the promise of a better life and no more segregation. But has she made a terrible choice that threatens her life and that of her unborn child? 

Two sisters on the run—one from the law, the other from social shame. What they don’t realize is that there’s a man hot on their trail. This man has his own brand of dark secrets and a disturbing motive for finding the sisters that is unknown to everyone but him . . .

If you decide to check out the books, we hope you’ll do so via these Amazon affiliate links: A Flicker in the Dark, The Hitman’s Daughter, Catch Her When She Falls, All Her Little Secrets, and Anywhere You Run where, if you choose to purchase via the link, DIY MFA gets a referral fee at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

Link to Episode 419

(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…

Head over to iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, or Google and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available.

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Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

The post Episode 419: When Past and Present Collide – Thrillerfest 2022 Debut Authors Roundtable appeared first on DIY MFA.

In today’s episode I bring you live to ThrillerFest 2018, where I have once again assembled a panel of five debut authors from this year’s class.

I am so excited to be speaking with L.A. Chandlar, Paddy Hirsch, Cheryl Reed, John Copenhaver, and Joanna Schaffhausen, and sharing our panel discussion on the show!

Last year’s ThrillerFest debuts’ episode focused on the debut author life and what it’s like to write and publish your debut novel. This year posed a bit of a challenge, however, since it would be repetitive to do something on that same theme.

Instead, my team and I selected five debut authors where we saw a common thread running throughout their books. As you’ll hear in the conversation that follows, each of these authors and each of these books are extremely unique, but they all handle questions of time and space in fresh and surprising ways.

So listen in as we chat about various ways to play with time and setting in a novel to not only create a stronger story but also to really engage readers.

In this episode Laurie, Paddy, Cheryl, John, Joanna and I discuss:

• Different ways to play with time in your novel, and how to do it right.
• Techniques to write a story within a compressed time frame.
• Why you need to choose the right space for the story you’re telling.
• How to bring your setting to life when you need to keep your pace fast.
• Using the interplay between character and place to engage your readers.

Plus, each of these amazing author’s #1 tip for writers.

About the ThrillerFest Debut Authors

L.A. Chandlar is the National Best-selling author of the Art Deco Mystery Series with Kensington Publishing. Her debut novel, The Silver Gun released August 29, 2017, the sequel, The Gold Pawn, releases September 2018. Laurie speaks for a variety of audiences including a women’s group with the United Nations. Laurie has also worked in PR for General Motors, writes and fund-raises for a global nonprofit, is the mother of two boys, and has toured the nation managing a rock band. To connect with L.A. check out her website at www.lachandlar.com.

Paddy Hirsch is a journalist, broadcaster, online host and now a fiction writer. He was schooled in Ireland and the UK, and spent ten years in the British Royal Marines before moving to Hong Kong to start a career in news. He has worked in every journalistic medium in a variety of countries, in Asia, Europe and the Americas. He is a specialist in business, financial and economic news, and his work appears regularly on National Public Radio in the U.S. He attended Stanford University as a Knight Fellow in 2011 and has won several awards for his video work explaining financial terminology. In 2012, Harper Business published his book Man vs Markets, a tongue-in-cheek guide to the financial system. The Devil’s Half Mile published by Tor/Forge is his first novel. To connect with Paddy check out his website at paddyhirsch.com.

Cheryl L. Reed has shadowed dark and mysterious characters—from cops to murder suspects, cloistered nuns to girls doing drugs. Her debut novel, Poison Girls, is a thriller about girls from Chicago’s political families playing a deadly game involving opioids. Her book of nonfiction, Unveiled: The Hidden Lives of Nuns, chronicles her bizarre journey of living with women in convents off and on for four years. Cheryl has reported on prison riots and taught prisoners how to write. She is a former editor and reporter at the Chicago Sun-Times. When she’s not hanging out with dissident journalists in Eastern Europe, she’s an assistant professor at Syracuse University. To connect with Cheryl check out her website at www.cherylreed.net.

John Copenhaver is the author of the historical crime novel Dodging and Burning released by Pegasus in March, 2018. He writes a crime fiction review column for Lambda Literary called “Blacklight,” and he is the four-time recipient of Artist Fellowships from the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities. He is also a Lambda Literary Fellow and Larry Neal awardee. His work has appeared in Lit Hub, Electric Lit, Glitterwolf Magazine, and others. He grew up in the mountains of southwestern Virginia and currently lives in DC where he chairs the 7-12 grade English department at Flint Hill School. To connect with John check out his website at www.jcopenhaver.com.

Joanna Schaffhausen wields a mean scalpel, skills developed in her years studying neuroscience. She has a doctorate in psychology, which reflects her long-standing interest in the brain―how it develops and the many ways it can go wrong. Previously, she worked as a scientific editor in the field of drug development. Prior to that, she was an editorial producer for ABC News, writing for programs such as World News Tonight, Good Morning America, and 20/20. She lives in the Boston area with her husband and daughter.  Her first novel, The Vanishing Season, won the Mystery Writers of America/St. Martin’s Minotaur Best First Crime Novel Award in 2016. To connect with Joanna check out her website at www.joannaschaffhausen.com.

About the Books

These are all such wonderful books and we hope you’ll help support these fabulous debut authors. If you decide to check out one (or all!) of these, we hope you’ll do so via the Amazon affiliate links below. This means that with every purchase DIY MFA gets a referral fee at no cost to you. It’s a great way to support these debut authors and DIY MFA at the same time. Thank you for being awesome!

The Silver Gun by L.A. Chandlar

New York City, 1936. In the midst of the Great Depression, the Big Apple is defiantly striving toward an era infused with art, architecture, and economic progress under the dynamic Mayor La Guardia. But those in City Hall know that tumultuous times can inspire both optimism and deadly danger . . .

It’s been six months since Lane Sanders was appointed Mayor Fiorello “Fio” La Guardia’s new personal aide, and the twenty-three-year-old is sprinting in her Mary Janes to match her boss’s pace. Despite dealing with vitriol from the Tammany Hall political machine and managing endless revitalization efforts, Fio hasn’t slowed down a bit during his years in office. And luckily for Lane, his unpredictable antics are a welcome distraction from the childhood memories that haunt her dreams—and the silver gun she’ll never forget.

When Lane gets attacked and threatened by an assailant tied to one of most notorious gangsters in the city, even the mayor can’t promise her safety. The corrupt city officials seem to be using Lane as a pawn against Fio for disgracing their party in the prior election. But why was the assailant wielding the exact same gun from her nightmares?

Balancing a clandestine love affair and a mounting list of suspects, Lane must figure out how the secrets of her past are connected to the city’s underground crime network—before someone pulls the trigger on the most explosive revenge plot in New York history.

The Devil’s Half Mile by Paddy Hirsch

Seven years after a financial crisis nearly toppled America, traders chafe at government regulations, racial tensions are rising, gangs roam the streets and corrupt financiers make back-door deals with politicians… 1799 was a hell of a year.

Thanks to Alexander Hamilton, America has recovered from the panic on the Devil’s Half Mile (aka Wall Street), but the young country is still finding its way. When young lawyer Justy Flanagan returns to solve his father’s murder, he exposes a massive fraud that has already claimed lives, and one the perpetrators are determined to keep secret at any cost. The body count is rising, and the looming crisis could topple the nation.

Poisoned Girls by Cheryl Reed

It’s the summer of 2008. Chicago’s Hyde Park Senator is running for the White House, the city is vying to host the 2016 Summer Olympics, and “Poison,” a lethal form of heroin, has killed more than 250 people, including dozens of suburban girls from prominent families.

Natalie Delaney, a crime reporter from the Chicago Times, discovers that daughters of Democratic powerhouses are the real targets. Obsessed with finding who is behind the killings, Natalie becomes entangled in an underworld where drugs, cops, gangs, politics, and privilege collide. Risking everything, this reporter becomes the story.

Dodging and Burning by John Copenhaver

A lurid crime scene photo of a beautiful woman arrives on mystery writer Bunny Prescott’s doorstep with no return address―and it’s not the first time she’s seen it. The reemergence of the photo, taken fifty-five years earlier, sets her on a journey to reconstruct the vicious summer that changed her life.

In the summer of 1945, Ceola Bliss is a lonely twelve-year-old tomboy, mourning the loss of her brother, Robbie, who was declared missing in the Pacific. She tries to piece together his life by rereading his favorite pulp detective story “A Date with Death” and spending time with his best friend, Jay Greenwood, in Royal Oak, VA. One unforgettable August day, Jay leads Ceola and Bunny to a stretch of woods where he found a dead woman, but when they arrive, the body is gone. They soon discover a local woman named Lily Vellum is missing and begin to piece together the threads of her murder, starting with the photograph Jay took of her abandoned body.

As Ceola gets swept up playing girl detective, Bunny becomes increasingly skeptical of Jay’s story about the photograph and begins her own investigation into Lily’s murder. A series of clues lead her to Washington, DC, where she must confront the truth about her dear friend—a revelation that triggers a brutal confrontation that will change all of them forever.

The Vanishing Season by Joanna Schaffhausen

Ellery Hathaway is a junior police officer in sleepy Woodbury, MA, where a bicycle theft still makes the newspapers. No one there knows she was once victim number seventeen in the grisly story of serial killer Francis Michael Coben. The only one who lived. When three people disappear from her town in three years, Ellery fears someone knows her secret. Her superiors dismiss her concerns, but Ellery knows the vanishing season is coming and anyone could be next. She contacts the one man she knows will believe her: the FBI agent who saved her from a killer’s closet all those years ago.

Agent Reed Markham made his name and fame on the back of the Coben case, but his fortunes have since turned. His marriage is in shambles, his bosses think he’s washed up, and worst of all, he blew a major investigation. When Ellery calls him, he can’t help but wonder: sure, he rescued her, but was she ever truly saved? His greatest triumph is Ellery’s waking nightmare, and now both of them are about to be sucked into the past, back to the case that made them…with a killer who can’t let go.

Other Resources

If you want to learn more about International Thriller Writers and ThrillerFest check out thrillerwriters.org.

And if you want to hear the panel of ThrillerFest 2017 debuts discuss the debut author’s life check out their episode at DIYMFA.com/157.

Link to Episode 211

(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…

Head over to iTunes, Stitcher Radio or Google Play and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available.

Also, remember that sharing is caring so if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please tell them about it or leave us a review so other listeners will want to check it out.

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

The post Episode 211: Adventures in Time & Space — ThrillerFest Debut Authors 2018 appeared first on DIY MFA.