Earl Staggs--Speaking and Signing in Richardson, Texas

I'm pleased to pass along news of what my friend, Earl Staggs is doing Monday night....


If you're anywhere near Richardson, Texas, a great town on the northeast corner of Dallas, you might enjoy attending a meeting of the Writers' Guild of Texas. They're a friendly group of writers and readers in all genres, including Mystery, of course, and have programs and speakers at each monthly meeting. More information here: http://writersguildoftexas.org/joomla/

The good news is, the meeting are open to the public and are free.

The bad news? If you attend the meeting next Monday evening, September 15, you'll have to listen to me.

Monday, 15 September 2008
7-8:30 p.m.
Topic: BACKSTORY – The Good, the Bad, and the Boring
Speaker: Earl Staggs

Richardson Public Library
900 Civic Center Dr.
Richardson TX 75080
Basement Room

It’s hard to write without backstory. If past events have a bearing on the current story, we have to tell the reader about it. If something in a character’s history is important to how that character deals with events in the current story, we have to give that history to the reader. Yet, if we bore our readers with a long retelling of the past, they may toss our book and move on to someone else’s. And let’s face it. Some readers will skip over long passages of backstory to get to the good parts – action and dialogue – and miss important information.

How can we blend the past and present into a story without boring readers or driving them away? Award winning author Earl Staggs will discuss and give examples of the Good, the Bad, and the Boring methods of writing the dreaded backstory.

Derringer Award winning author Earl Staggs has seen many of his short stories published in magazines and anthologies. His mystery novel MEMORY OF A MURDER received nine Five Star reviews on Amazon.com and is available at most bookstores or online at www.cmptp.com, Amazon and B&N. He served as Managing Editor of Futures Mystery Magazine and as President of the Short Mystery Fiction Society.

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So, come on out and see my buddy, Earl!

Kevin