July's Meeting was Personal - Blood Personal

Our July 14 meeting featured local thriller writer Frank C. Strunk, author of Blood Personal (his latest) as well as several earlier works. Frank covered a lot of ground over the course of the meeting, including sharing how he used his own background as setting for his stories. (Location, location, location!)

I think when you know the place you are writing about, it imparts a stronger sense of environment to the reader. (Though there are plenty of great stories set in places the author never visited. Especially true in Sci-Fi!)

Mr. Strunk talked about the craft, about writing good dialogue and getting into and out of scenes as quickly as possible. He discussed the publishing world and mentioned John Locke, the ebook million-selling author, and how that is changing the landscape of the business. In one discussion someone mentioned maintaining control over a POD project and deciding afterward that it wasn't worth the extra effort and time, and that the next time they would just use the POD publisher's services.

Frank was very easy to listen to and approach with questions, and shared additional time afterward at the diner with several of us.