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Collaboration Creates Community

Happy Monday! Last week I wrote a blog about what I’ve gotten from participating in the Sisters in Crime Colorado Mystery Merge Anthology. I was curious what other collaborators had to say about their participation. Author Kerry Hammond joins me today to discuss. FYI, I loved her story As the Oil Flows.  ~ Donnell 

Collaboration Creates Community

By: Kerry Hammond

Kerry Photo

Author Kerry Hammond

If you’re a mystery writer or fan of the genre, you may know about the exciting conferences that are hosted each year, in cities across the country—and even over the border into Canada.cover colorado mystery merge These conferences celebrate not only writers and fans, but highlight the conference location and create a space for attendees to share a love of everything mystery. A few of my favorite conferences are Malice Domestic, Bouchercon, and Left Coast Crime.

In addition to offering a wonderful weekend of panels and author talks, most of these conferences put together an anthology of stories to commemorate the event, giving writers a chance to submit a story for consideration based on a theme. Bouchercon 2025, for example, will be held in New Orleans and their anthology will be titled Blood on the Bayou: Case Closed.

Writers, both published and not yet published, are encouraged to submit a story and a panel of judges chooses the stories that best represent their anthology. If you’re lucky enough to be included in the anthology, your story will appear in print. Authors are paid a nominal fee and most of the sales proceeds benefit a literacy charity or local library.

These anthology call outs are a great motivator, giving writers a theme, word count, and deadline. It’s a way to write outside the box of your own work and attempt to reach a new audience. Writers whose stories are included in the anthology, however, do not collaborate in any way. Each writer submits their story and sends it out to the conference facilitators with fingers and toes crossed.

When Becky Clark, member and Program Chair of the Colorado Chapter of Sisters in Crime, approached the membership with her own idea for an anthology, it was the first time that I felt the collaboration and community of short story writing.

Becky created a universe for a book of short stories and asked Colorado Sisters in Crime members to join in. The stories would be part of a Mystery Merge, a new and interesting way to deliver entertainment to readers. The book offers a whodunnit to solve, with clues peppered into each short story. This new format allowed contributors to create unique and individual stories, but the process also created a writing community. We discussed the book, we asked questions about the merge format, we met to discuss marketing, and we all took a stab at the overarching story that Becky wrote, attempting to solve it ourselves before we were told the solution.

This experience has created collaboration through a community of writers and I have had the pleasure of being a part of the fun.

About the Author:  Kerry Hammond decided to give up the practice of law to commit crimes . . .on the page. Her work has appeared in Malice Domestic Mystery Most Geographical and Malice Domestic Mystery Most Diabolical. Her love of travel means that her stories often take place in foreign locales she has (or wants to) visit, or while her characters are en route to their next adventure. She’s a huge fan of the subtle surprise ending and is happiest when her readers didn’t see the ending coming. 

Mystery Most International CoverBefore contributing to Sisters in Crime Anthology, Kerry’s most latest work was in Mystery Most International. To learn more about Kerry’s other works, visit: Home | Kerry Hammond

To purchase the Sisters in Crime Colorado Mystery Merge:

 
Universal Book Link … https://books2read.com/u/m21YaG

 

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Marie Sutro
Marie Sutro
13 days ago

Collaboration and community – perfect observation!

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