Constructing & Deconstructing the Perfect Fictional Murder: An Interactive Crime Fiction Plotting Workshop

When your antagonist plans and executes "The Perfect Murder," he always, ALWAYS makes a mistake or two. These errors ultimately lead your sleuth to the solution. In this session, attendees will become the killer and “construct” the perfect murder in every detail—the where, when, how, and why. We will then don the hat of the protagonist and “deconstruct” the crime while considering the many variables that make plotting a murder fun for the writer and a disaster for the antagonist. We will discuss the killer's Pre-Crime Behavior, the steps taken to "do the deed," and his Post-Crime Behavior from social, psychological, forensics, investigative, and motivational points of view.

DP Lyle is the Amazon #1 Bestselling; Macavity and Benjamin Franklin Award-winning; and Edgar(2), Agatha, Anthony, Shamus, Scribe, and USA Today Best Book(2) Award-nominated author of 27 books, both fiction and non-fiction. He hosts the Crime Fiction Writer’s Blog and the Criminal Mischief: The Art and Science of Crime Fiction podcast series. As a founding member of International Thriller Writers he created and directed CraftFest and the Online Thriller school, and co-created and directed the Master Class program. He has worked with many novelists and with the writers of popular television shows such as Law & Order, CSI: Miami, Diagnosis Murder, Monk, Judging Amy, Peacemakers, Cold Case, House, Medium, Women’s Murder Club, 1-800-Missing, The Glades, and Pretty Little Liars.