Craft Talk with Cathy Pickens: Writing True Crime
Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:01:59 — 56.8MB)
In this episode 267, host Landis Wade has a craft talk with Cathy Pickens, an award-winning mystery and true crime writer about writing true crime. She talks about what draws people to true crime and shares techniques for how to gather and write your own true crime stories.
About the Author:
Publishers Weekly called Cathy’s first mystery Southern Fried an “assured debut, a cozy with some sharp edges.” That book won the St. Martin’s Best Traditional Mystery award in 2003. She’s written five books in that series, as well as Charleston Mysteries (History Press), a walking tour of the quirky side of Charleston.
She’s the fact crime columnist for the international Mystery Readers Journal and is currently writing a series on the Carolinas’ historic true crime cases for The History Press:
Charlotte True Crime Stories
True Crime Stories of Eastern North Carolina
Triangle True Crime Stories
South Carolina True Crime: From the Midlands to the Mountains (Spring 2022)
Cathy served as national president of national Sisters in Crime, national secretary of Mystery Writers of America, and a founding member and president of the Mecklenburg Forensic Medicine Program (an evidence collection/preservation training collaborative).
In her previous lives, she was the Wireman Professor of Business in the McColl School at Queens University, a partner in a plaintiff’s trial firm, a church organist and choir director, and a ballroom and clogging coach.
She published CREATE! Developing Your Creative Process (ICSC Press) and offers workshops on developing the creative process, creativity sessions for Dove’s Nest, coaches and teaches new writers, and works with former inmates on starting their own businesses and writing their own stories.
Check Cathy out in People of Charlotte
Connect with the Author:
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