Max McCoy will be a presenter at the annual conference for
Wyoming Writers, Inc., at the Holiday Inn in Cody June 4-6.
Here's a description of Max's presentations during the conference:
Saturday workshop sessions:
1. "Find your story." Why narrative matters, narrowing a topic down to a story, and how the best stories often find you. The similarities between good journalism and good scholarship.
2. "Find your audience." Determining how big your story is, who you're writing for, and how to pitch an editor. Also, answering the big question: are you writing for love or money?
3. "Find your voice." Putting it all together, honing a style and tone that is appropriate, knowing the rules and knowing when to break them.
Saturday keynote address: "Narratives of the Damned." Max McCoy talks about interviewing and writing about those on the edges of society, from a-bomb survivors in Hiroshima to serial killers on American death rows -- and what their stories reveal about truth, writing, and (maybe even) art.
Sunday morning roundtable: "Sunday Morning with Max McCoy," discussion and Q&A.
Bio:
Native Kansan Max McCoy is an award-winning journalist and novelist.
He won the Spur award in 2008 from the Western Writers of America for his novel,
Hellfire Canyon. It’s the story of a 13-year-old boy and his mother who walk across Missouri during the Civil War and become part of the gang lead by Alf Bolin, the notorious Ozark serial killer.
Hellfire Canyon was also named a Kansas 2008 Notable Book.
McCoy is the author of fifteen other books, including four original Indiana Jones adventures for LucasFilm and the novelization of Steven Spielberg’s
Into the West. His fiction debut,
The Sixth Rider, about the 1892 raid on Coffeyville’s banks by the Dalton Gang, was published by Doubleday and won the Spur/Medicine Pipe Award for Best First Novel by the Western Writers of America.
USA Today has described his writing as “powerful.” In addition to westerns and historical fiction, McCoy also writes contemporary adventures.
Publishers Weekly called his novel,
The Moon Pool, an “intelligent thriller… tightly drawn characters, a vile villain and a satisfying, thought-provoking conclusion make this a compelling read.”
McCoy grew up in Baxter Springs and most of his books are set in Kansas or Missouri. He began his career in journalism at the
Pittsburg Morning Sun and writing for pulp magazines such as
True Detective and
Front-Page Detective. Most recently, he was the investigative writer for the
Joplin Globe. He has won first-place awards in investigative journalism for his stories on serial killers and hate groups.
His latest book is
Canyon Diablo (Kensington 2010), a sequel to
Hellfire Canyon.
McCoy’s an assistant professor of journalism at Emporia State University and working on a nonfiction book about meteorite hunters in Kansas. He is also at work on a new novel,
Damnation Road.For more information about the 2010 WWInc conference, go to
http://www.wyowriters.org/
