ITW's Online Thriller School

ITW's 12th Annual Online Thriller School starts Tuesday, September 2nd with literary powerhouse S.A. Cosby and uber Agent Josh Getzler! Join us for "Finding Your Story and How to Tell It."

11 Weeks. 14 Classes. Three Bonus Panels.

Learn more: https://thrillerwriters.org/programs/online-thriller-school/

Or Register Today: https://cvent.me/oyaMRZ

This year's schedule is amazing! So many great teachers and bestselling authors.

Learn more:
https://thrillerwriters.org/programs/online-thriller-school/

2025 SCHEDULE

Tuesday 9/2
What is a good idea?
Finding your story and how to tell it
S.A. Cosby with Josh Getzler
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Tuesday 9/9
Creating Your Setting, and Setting the Mood
Walter Mosley with Sam Octavius
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Tuesday 9/16
Creating Your World:
Worldbuilding and Structure
Linwood Barclay with Tessa Wegert
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Tuesday 9/23
Discovering Your Author Voice
Eli Cranor with Wanda Morris
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Thursday 9/25
Bonus Panel:
Choosing Your Genre Lane: Why It Matters!
Sarah Pekkanen, Gabino Iglesias, Rachel Howzell Hall, Lev AC Rosen and K.J. Howe (Moderator)
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Tuesday 9/30
Creating Your Unique Sense of Place
Heather Gudenkauf with Sarah Stewart Taylor
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Tuesday 10/7
Harnessing the Super-power of the Three Act Structure
Hank Phillippi Ryan with John Copenhaver
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Thursday 10/9
Editing Secrets: Finding the Right Words
Tom Colgan with Tosca Lee
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Tuesday 10/14
Making Your Characters Come Alive
Cara Hunter with Meg Gardiner
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Thursday 10/16
The Secrets and Subtleties of Point of View
Steven James with Samantha Skal
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Tuesday 10/21
Move It Along! Pacing, Velocity, and Suspense
Tess Gerritsen with Jessica Strawser
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Thursday 10/23
Making It Authentic: The Anatomy of Action
Isabella Maldonado and Brian Andrews
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Tuesday 10/28
Twists, Reveals, and Author Sleight of Hand
Ruth Ware with Hank Phillippi Ryan
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Tuesday 11/4
Mining the Emotion in Your Story
Donald Maass with Hank Phillippi Ryan
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Thursday 11/6
Getting the Word Out: Promo, Publicity, and Catching the Wave
Andrea Bartz with Jo Piazza
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Tuesday 11/11
Bonus Panel:
How to Wow an Agent
Liza Fleissig, Gina Panettieri, Nikki Terpilowski and Bianca Marais (Moderator)
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Thursday 11/13
Finale: The Lisa Panel!
Lisa Gardner, Lisa Jewell, Lisa Scottoline, Lisa Unger, Lisa Erbach Vance and Gregg Hurwitz (Moderator)

Registration for the 12th Annual Online Thriller School is open! This is the best lineup we've ever had! Register early to guarantee your spot.

The Zoom link has been emailed to all of this year’s Online Thriller School students.

If you are registered for this year’s class, but have not received that email, please let us know ASAP at [email protected].

Online Thriller School Starts Sept. 10th!

Register now to learn from all of our incredible faculty and spotlight guests, including ITW's Director of Social Media, Sara DiVello, who's teaching "How to Build Your Author Platform." Get to know Sara below.

Sara is teaching "All About Your Author Platform" on Thursday, October 17th, from 2pm – 3:30pm (EDT).

Learn more and register here: https://thrillerwriters.org/programs/online-thriller-school/

Tell us a little more about the class you'll be teaching this year:

I’m sharing tips and tricks to build your author platform. Whether you’re wondering what the heck an author platform is or you’re working on yours and wondering how to elevate it, I’m going to share the must-have components and how to up-level in order to best position yourself to get an agent, land a publishing deal, and ultimately reach more readers.

What do you look forward to most about teaching writing to aspiring authors?

I spent 14 years building PR and marketing programs for some of the world’s largest companies. I use those tools for my own writing career and now I love to share them with other writers. Most authors don’t have access to that sort of big-company intel…until now.

Who are some of your favorite authors?

S.A. Cosby, Danielle Trussoni and Jean Kwok.

What authors or books would you recommend to an aspiring author to read?

“Bird by Bird” by Anne Lamott is my go-to.

What's the best thing an aspiring author can do to increase their chances of getting published?

Take yourself seriously. Research the industry with endless curiosity. Watch what’s selling and what the market is looking for. Ask yourself why you love the books you love and what kept you reading. Analyze what’s working…and what’s not. Read your drafts out loud and make sure your draft flows and your dialogue sounds like how people actually speak.

What is the two to three sentence version of how you became a published author?

I never thought someone like me—first in my family to go to college, worked my way through all 4 years—had a shot at being a writer. I buckled down in my corporate career and deferred my dream. But then I finally asked myself, “If not me, then who? If not now, then when?”

Sara DiVello is a true crime writer and the creator/host of Mystery and Thriller Mavens, a popular author series and interactive Facebook group. For her weekly Mystery and Thriller Mavens live events, she has interviewed more than 300 authors, ranging from the bestselling and world-renowned (Dean Koontz, Patricia Cornwell, Lee Child, Jeffery Deaver, Tamron Hall, Karin Slaughter, Ruth Ware, Lisa Unger, and many more) to the buzziest debuts. While creative and active on her own social media platforms, DiVello also serves as the director of social media strategy for the International Thriller Writers association. Sara has appeared on CBS, ABC, and CNBC, as well as in the New York Times, Forbes, the San Francisco Chronicle, and more.

Her articles have been published in Marie Claire, Elle, Redbook, Cosmopolitan, and Woman’s Day, among others. In her spare time, she loves to teach yoga, cook (and eat!), garden, and go for leisurely walks with her husband and their beloved rescue mutt, Peluda.

Sara is passionate about all things books (especially mysteries and thrillers), the craft of writing, and connecting readers to their favorite authors, as well as introducing them to their new discoveries.

New This Year to ITW's Online Thriller School: Spotlight Interviews with Bestselling Authors!

In addition to the stellar line up of instructors at this year's Online Thriller School we've also added in-depth, spotlight interviews with bestselling authors Lisa Gardner, Gregg Hurwitz, Charlaine Harris and Heather Graham!

Lisa Gardner & Jerri Williams
How to Create an Iconic Character

Thursday, September 12th from 2pm – 3:30pm (EDT)

Gregg Hurwitz & K.J. Howe
How to Break Into Screenwriting

Thursday, September 26th from 2pm – 3:30pm (EDT)

Heather Graham & Charlaine Harris
How to Move Into a New Genre

Thursday, October 24th from 2pm – 3:30pm (EDT)

Meet Your Thriller School Instructor
Nina Sadowsky!

Throughout August and September we're learning more about your instructors for this year's Online Thriller School.

Today we're talking with bestselling author and filmmaker,
Nina Sadowsky!

Nina is teaching "All About Pacing" on Thursday, October 10th from 2pm – 3:30pm (EDT).

Learn more and register here: https://thrillerwriters.org/programs/online-thriller-school/

Nina, tell us a little more about the class you'll be teaching this year.

I’m teaching a class on pacing, which is crucial to holding a reader’s interest. Of course pacing doesn’t exist in a vacuum so I’ll begin by sharing some of my general philosophies about writing before moving on to specific pacing techniques designed to build that tension for the reader– starting with individual sentences and paragraphs, moving through chapters and then through the overall narrative arc. We will also discuss pacing’s “cousins,” cliffhangers and twists, with emphasis on burying clues that make twists satisfyingly plausible as well as inevitable (a golden standard).

At the end of the session, I’ll share a worksheet for what I call a “manuscript self-interrogation,” a technique I developed to help me be as impartial as possible in critiquing my own work and which I hope will be equally helpful to the class.

And of course, I’ll reserve some time for questions.

What do you look forward to most about teaching writing to aspiring authors?

I largely learned how to write “on the job” in Hollywood, working as a creative producer who read 20 screenplays a week and who then segued first into screenwriting and then into novel writing (flexibility being the key to survival). When I started teaching writing 15 years ago at the university level and also at programs like the women-only writers retreat Hedgebrook, I was forced to codify my beliefs about what makes good writing and figure out how to make those ideas useful and accessible for others and make my presentation fun yet effective. This came with unexpected benefits. Teaching writing made me a better writer and the joy I’ve gotten from connecting and/or growing with students has been a continuing happy surprise.

What's the best thing an aspiring author can do to increase their chances of getting published?

First and foremost, honor the commitment you make to yourself to write! I also endorse putting yourself out there: attend conferences, join a writers group, create your own literary community for feedback, tips and networking. I also think it’s important to be true to your authentic voice, while remaining aware of market trends and the business side of publishing.

What authors or books would you recommend to an aspiring author to read?

Stephen King’s On Writing is full of excellent practical advice and is also a great window into his personal story. Save the Cat, by Blake Snyder is a book about screenwriting, but many of the principles apply across disciplines. Joseph Campbell’s, The Hero’s Journey is also foundational. In addition, I recommend rereading one of your favorite books with an eye to dissecting why it worked well for you.

Who are some of your favorite authors?

I read expansively and love so many writers—this is such a hard question! But three of my favorites are Margaret Atwood, Patricia Highsmith and Kate Atkinson.

What was the best writing or publishing-related advice you ever received?

Since I entered the publishing world in 2015 many authors I respect and admire– and whose careers from an outside perspective might appear seamless– have been generously candid about the many obstacles and struggles they’ve encountered in navigating the business side of publishing. Hearing how others handled getting a first book published or weathered the change of an editor or realized an agent change might be necessary or figured out how to pivot after a book’s disappointing sales allowed me the realization that all of our paths are different, but it’s essential that an author maintain agency of their own career.

I had a bit of a fairytale entry into publishing (see the next question and answer) and have published five novels with Penguin Random House. But along the way, my first editor left publishing, my first agent sold her company, and my most recent editor also recently departed for another house. Learning about other people’s process and progress through the publishing world made me less panicked about my own not-always-smooth path.

What is the two to three sentence version of how you became a published author?

I was a 20-years-in-the-making overnight success! After a longish career in the film business, surviving movie stars and strikes, I wrote a book, committing just three secretive hours a week and telling literally no one (so no one would know if I flailed or failed). It took 16 months, but I finished. After that it was remarkably fast. A contact in LA connected me to a literary agent in New York who sold that first book, JUST FALL, at auction to Ballantine with the great Kate Miciak as my acquiring editor.

Nina Sadowsky’s thrillers JUST FALL, THE BURIAL SOCIETY, THE EMPTY BED, CONVINCE ME, and PRIVACY have all been published by Penguin Random House. Her books have been translated into German, Japanese, Spanish, Italian, French, Turkish and Serbian. THE BURIAL SOCIETY and THE EMPTY BED are in development for television.

Nina Sadowsky serves as the founding Director for NYU Los Angeles, a study away program for advanced students interested in pursuing careers in the film, television, broadcast, music and tech industries. In her time at NYULA she’s overseen the creation of multiple professional development initiatives designed to support the students’ academic experience. Sadowsky is particularly proud of NYULA’s role in launching the now annual Hollywood Climate Summit, designed to increase sustainability across all facets of the entertainment industry.

Sadowsky joined NYU after more than a decade at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, where she taught producing and writing on both the graduate and undergraduate levels. Student films created under her guidance have enjoyed numerous accolades including winning the Student Emmy, the Student Oscar, and being featured in the Shorts Corner at Cannes.

Sadowsky served as President of Production for Signpost Films, a film financier and foreign distributor, where she worked on such projects as the Academy Award nominated “The House of Sand and Fog,” starring Jennifer Connelly and Ben Kingsley.

Meet Your Thriller School Instructor
Steven James!

Throughout August and September we're learning more about your instructors for this year's Online Thriller School.

Today we're talking with international bestselling author Steven James!

Steven will kick off this year's Online Thriller School with "Pulling the Rug Out: How to Create Twists Your Readers Will Never See Coming" on Tuesday, September 10th from 2pm – 3:30pm (EDT).

Learn more and register here: https://thrillerwriters.org/programs/online-thriller-school/

Tell us a little more about the class you'll be teaching this year:

Over the years I’ve found that lots of people were quick to advise me to include a good twist in my stories, but no one told me how to do that. They couldn’t even tell me exactly that a twist was. So, I started to really study them and try to uncover the mechanics behind what makes them work. In this seminar I’ll share what I’ve learned and give more than a dozen specific ways for you to find and capitalize on the plot pivots waiting for you in the story you’ve set out to tell. I’m excited to share insights that will help you improve every scene (yes, every one) in your book.

What do you look forward to most about teaching writing to aspiring authors?

I love seeing the light go on in the eyes of other authors when I’m teaching and they realize why what they’ve been told before does (or doesn’t!) work, how to write their way out of corners, and discover new insights and perspectives on what makes a story work. I had authors mentor me and I enjoy passing along what I’ve learned with others who can take the info and run wit it.

Who are some of your favorite authors?

Wow. That’s tough because I have so many that I love. Let me just list a few of them. I have wide reading tastes, so here are some that pop to mind: Bob Dugoni (crime), Tosca Lee (historical and speculative), Walter Wangerin Jr. (allegory), Dean Koontz (thriller), Peter Kreeft (philosophy), Robert Service (poetry and ballads). I know there are dozens of others and my bookshelves are packed with them. Someday we’ll go more in-depth so none of those books feel left out.

What authors or books would you recommend to an aspiring author to read?

Most people tell aspiring authors to read in their genre, which I totally understand. I suggest that reading outside of your genre can be just as fruitful. I read a lot of literary novels, poetry (to work on my craftsmanship), philosophy (so I can ask big questions in my stories), and fairy tales (to tap in to universal motifs). A few writing books that have practical insights include the craft books by Donald Maass and Erik Bork. (I’ve also written three craft books that you might want to check out.)

What's the best thing an aspiring author can do to increase their chances of getting published?

Actually, I think of four things. First, never fall in love with your first draft. I might rewrite some of my scenes dozens of times. Second, stop trying to write a perfect novel. Instead write one that’s brilliant. Perfection is not within your grasp; excellence is. Third, don’t look at discarded scenes or drafts as wasted writing. Instead, look at those as necessary steps for you to find your voice, your stride, your story. Embrace the process and don’t be too precious about every word. Finally, torch your outline and write organically. (I know that sounds controversial, but it’s a practical way of reminding yourself that story always trumps structure.). Break out the matches and write your way deeper into the Phoenix story that is waiting for emerge from those glorious ashes. And let it flap its wings instead of clipping them.

What was the best writing or publishing-related advice you ever received?

Live a little between drafts. It’s true that you can get caught up your own little world. Step out and live—walk along the beach, hike up a mountain, go roller skating, dive with sharks, learn to play the guitar. And keep your eyes open, always open. Often the serendipitous discoveries you make will inform your current project.

What is the two to three sentence version of how you became a published author?

It all began with falling in love with storytelling when my uncle told my siblings and me campfire stories when we were kids. I had an insatiable appetite for story, and, coupled with an overactive imagination that led me to read hundreds of books and eventually write for dozens of magazines, contribute to educational curriculum, and eventually pen nonfiction books. I’d written 24 books by the time I turned to fiction in 2005 and I found my place. Now, 20 novels in, I can’t imagine doing anything else.

Steven James is a critically acclaimed author of twenty novels and numerous nonfiction books that have sold more than 1 million copies. His books have won or been shortlisted for dozens of national and international awards. In addition, his stories and articles have appeared in more than eighty different publications, including the New York Times. He is also a popular keynote speaker and professional storyteller with a master’s degree in storytelling.

James’ latest thriller, FATAL DOMAIN, is available. The new series follows Travis Brock, a redactor for the Department of Defense who must attempt to unearth the truth of a personal tragedy while trying to stop a terrorist group from stealing one of the military’s most highly guarded technological breakthroughs.

Since 1996, James has appeared more than two thousand times at events spanning the globe, presenting his stories and teaching the principles of storytelling to writers, speakers, teachers, and leaders. He also hosts the weekly podcast The Story Blender, on which he has interviewed more than 150 of the world’s leading writers and storytellers. In 2020, he was inducted into the Christy Award Hall of Fame for excellence in fiction writing. Publishers Weekly has called him “[a] master storyteller at the peak of his game.”

When he’s not writing or speaking, you may find him playing basketball or disc golf, or hiking near his home in the Appalachian Highlands of East Tennessee. He may or may not watch too many science fiction movies while eating bottomless bowls of chips and salsa.

Meet Your Thriller School Instructor
K.J. Howe!

Throughout August and September we're learning more about your instructors for this year's Online Thriller School.

Today we're talking to international bestselling author, K.J. Howe!

K.J.'s teaching "Polish Your Manuscript Until it Shines" on Tuesday, October 14th, from 2pm – 3:30pm (EDT).

Learn more and register here: https://thrillerwriters.org/programs/online-thriller-school/

Tell us a little more about the class you'll be teaching this year.

Self-Editing 101—Polishing Your Manuscript Until It Shines revolves around the editing process. Getting your story down on the page is the first step, but writing involves endless rewriting, and that is where this class comes in. I’ll share tips, tricks, and techniques to help shape and hone your manuscript so that it’s ready to present to an agent or editor.

What do you look forward to most about teaching writing to aspiring authors?

I enjoy interacting with writers who are passionate about craft. I consider myself a lifelong student, and I learn from their questions and comments. It’s a symbiotic experience where everyone benefits.

Who are some of your favorite authors?

Too many to list, but some of the stand-outs include Greg Isles, David Morrell, Walter Mosley, and Lisa Unger. I enjoy authors who educate while they entertain, sharing insight into a new world.

What authors or books would you recommend an aspiring author read?

There are some strong "how-to" books written by Steven James, Donald Maass, Stephen King, and others. Studying the craft is a worthwhile investment. I also recommend aspiring authors read widely and analyze why they loved a book or—even more importantly—didn’t enjoy a book, so they can learn from others. Reading is critical, as you absorb storytelling by osmosis.

What's the best thing an aspiring author can do to increase their chances of getting published?

Work on craft—it’s difficult to keep honing the writing, as submitting and publishing is such an exciting process. If you want to put your best work out there, it takes time to become a smooth writer. Invest in yourself. It’s challenging to be objective, so you need to have a few trusted people who can offer constructive criticism.

What was the best writing or publishing-related advice you ever received?

Persevere. It will take time, you will receive rejections, there will be disappointments, but you can do this if you refuse to give up. Be the last person standing in the Squid Game of writing.

What is the two to three sentence version of how you became a published author?

I was a medical writer and realized that writing fiction was a completely different skill. I needed to leave my journalistic approach behind and dramatize what was happening in the story. I attended Seton Hill University to complete my Master’s in Writing Popular Fiction, and I attended writing retreats instead of taking vacations. On one of these, I studied with Karin Slaughter, and she connected me with her agent, and the book sold simultaneously in the US and U.K.

Born in Toronto, Canada, KJ Howe enjoyed a nomadic lifestyle during her early years, living in Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and the Caribbean, which gave her an insider’s view into many different cultures. While abroad, she read every book she could find, which triggered in her a desire to create her own stories.

She attended Salzburg International Preparatory School, Neuchâtel Junior College, and Albert College before earning a Specialists Degree in Business from the University of Toronto. KJ found success in the corporate world, but her passion for travel, adventure, and stories drew her back to school where she earned a Masters in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University. She is a Thriller and Barry Award nominee, and she has won several writing awards, including three Daphne du Maurier Awards for Excellent in Mystery and Suspense.

While honing her fiction skills, KJ worked as a medical, health, and fitness writer. She then became involved with the International Thriller Writers as the Executive Director of ThrillerFest, the organization’s annual conference held every July in New York City.

In preparation for writing THE FREEDOM BROKER series, which focuses on elite kidnap negotiator Thea Paris, KJ spent extensive time researching the dark world of kidnapping. She has interviewed former hostages, negotiators, hostage reintegration experts, special forces operatives, and K&R insurance executives.

KJ is an avid tennis player, cyclist, and swimmer. Travel and adventure still rank high on her priority list. She has had the pleasure of riding racing camels in Jordan, surfing in Hawaii, ziplining in the Costa Rican jungle, diving alongside Great White Sharks in South Africa, studying modern combat in the Arizona desert, and working with elephants in Botswana. Home is in Toronto, Canada, but she is often missing in action.

Meet Your Thriller School Instructor
Andrea J. Johnson!

Throughout August and September we're learning more about the instructors for this year's Online Thriller School.

Today, we're talking to bestselling author, speaker, editor, and book coach, Andrea J. Johnson.

Andrea's teaching "Crafting Killer Dialogue" on Tuesday, September 24th, from 2pm – 3:30pm (EDT)

Learn more and register here: https://thrillerwriters.org/programs/online-thriller-school/

Tell us a little more about the class you'll be teaching this year.

Absolutely. Since thrillers, crime, and mystery present a unique challenge for writers wishing to craft killer dialogue, my webinar will outline how to effectively use characterization and nuanced speech to enhance suspense, conflict, and tension. Participants will also learn strategies for utilizing the four main types of dialogue as well as develop techniques for creating characters with unique voices.

What do you look forward to most about teaching writing to aspiring authors?

The best part about teaching aspiring authors is their hunger for knowledge. Often, their desire to learn allows for more playful experimentation. Veterans sometimes forget that the best ideas are cultivated from stumbling around, trying new things. When you’re new and still learning, it’s much easier to see that perfection isn’t the only path to growth.

Who are some of your favorite authors?

That’s tough because a number of them have already been mentioned by previous instructors, so I will name some who didn’t make their lists like Walter Mosley, Charlaine Harris, Tana French, Carol O’Connell, Lisa Scottoline, and Kate Carlisle.

What authors or books would you recommend to an aspiring author to read?

ANY craft book is going to be a huge help—whether you recognize the information as helpful or not (because at least you’ll hone your instincts about what to avoid). But with that said, the consensus from the writing community seems to be Scene and Structure by Jack Bickham (1993) and Goal, Motivation, & Conflict by Debra Dixon (1996). Both books are focused on helping writers create characters with a clear narrative purpose and build scenes with strong tension that drive the overall story question.

Unfortunately, those works are older and becoming harder to find in print, so guides like Lisa Cron’s Story Genius (2016) and Jessica Brody’s Save the Cat Writes a Novel (2018) are more contemporary takes on that same information. Also, in terms of some of the outlying craft elements of writing like viewpoint and revision, I would recommend The Power of Point of View by Alicia Rasley (2008) and Don’t Murder Your Mystery by Chris Roerden (2006) as well as my own Craft Killer Dialogue for Fiction and Creative Non-Fiction (2023).

What's the best thing an aspiring author can do to increase their chances of getting published?

Write the next novel. We often get discouraged when people don’t immediately like what we wrote. But that’s true of most things, so take a deep breath and try again. I tell my students to think about the first pancake that goes into the pan. Nine times out of ten, things aren’t hot enough or the mix is too watery, so that first effort isn’t as awesome as expected. You may need to tweak your recipe before throwing more batter into the pan. The same goes with writing. Maybe you need to add a few new ingredients into your writer toolbox or better identify your genre and its tropes or perhaps you were too busy chasing trends to write a cohesive story. Regardless, the best thing to do is to move forward to the next project so that you can learn new lessons. You can always come back to that earlier project and fix it once you learn more. Trust me, you’re never going to prosper fussing over that one idea. In fact, maybe I can prove that statement with a different analogy: Writing is like any other sport. You’re not going to be successful without constantly practicing/showcasing your discipline and working to master those techniques.

What was the best writing or publishing-related advice you ever received?

Plan your writing week in advance. I know it’s not feasible for everyone to write each day, so I believe it helps to think of what you hope to accomplish as an overall goal for short periods. For example, as you look ahead, you may find that Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday are the only days you can squeeze out a full hour to write. Great! Plan ahead to maximize those moments. Keep that promise to yourself. Then use your off days to simply read or edit what you wrote on your work days. That way, you’ll stay in the world of the story and won’t beat yourself up that you’re not putting in eight hours every day like all the writers on TikTok would have us believe. Ignore what other people are doing and set writing goals that are realistic to YOU.

What is the two to three sentence version of how you became a published author?

Like most writers, my first published book wasn’t the first book I wrote. My first effort was all over the place, and I knew I needed help. I went through a graduate program to get that assistance and was able to find my first publisher soon after. Others may be able to figure out how to navigate narrative problems (or a writing career) on their own or through fantastic opportunities like the ITW Online Thriller School, but the basic formula will always be the same: Persistence along with a commitment to constant never-ending improvement. So if you write a ton of query letters but get no reply or receive negative feedback from your critique group, continue to work with someone to learn what you need to change, update, or better understand. The point is to never give up and keep writing.

Andrea J. Johnson is a speaker, editor, book coach, and the author of the Victoria Justice Mysteries about a trial stenographer turned amateur sleuth (think Murder, She Wrote meets The Pelican Brief). She holds an M.F.A. in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University and a copyediting certification from UC San Diego. She currently teaches creative writing and African American literature at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, and her craft essays have appeared on several websites such as CrimeReads and Funds for Writers.
Andrea has also contributed commentary on popular fiction, films, and television as a freelancer writer for the entertainment websites Popsugar and The List Daily. In addition, she has written a series of nonfiction books that include How to Craft a Killer Cozy Mystery, Mastering the Art of Suspense, and How to Craft Killer Dialogue and given writing seminars on these topics through the Mystery Writers of America, Malice Domestic, Sisters in Crime, the International Thriller Writers Association, Women’s Fiction Association, and the Surrey International Writers’ Conference (Canada).