As always, we are so excited to have Victoria Sue here to talk about…well, anything she wants. Check out what Sue’s been up to…and how it will benefit you as the reader!
Imagine my delight when I found out that there is actually a course for writers you can go on where you learn what it feels like to be a cop, or to be a SWAT team member, or to be a handler in the K9 unit, or to learn how to identify bloodstain patterns.
Last weekend I attended the Writer’s Police Academy in Green Bay, Wisconsin and got to choose from over forty different courses teaching you to do just that and a whole lot more.
Just to put it into perspective – they didn’t actually let me shoot anyone or arrest anybody, but I guess you can’t have everything (sigh)
The instructors were incredible. Some were the actual police instructors who train the officers that are out doing the job right now. Some—like the secret service instructor—had just retired after protecting many US Presidents for over thirty years.
The main problem a lot of authors have is making your story realistic. The next story I’m writing features Vance in the Enhanced series. Vance gets in deep trouble with a new drug synthesized from Enhanced DNA. I don’t want to give any spoilers, but the drug identification course I attended at this weekend was amazingly helpful.
Shoot/Don’t shoot – how do cops make that split-second decision? It isn’t something I envy at all, but listening to the instructors who teach such life altering decisions was eye-opening. And then, of course, I had to sign up for the SWAT explosive entry session. I mean all those guys in uniform? Whew (fans herself) Who was going to turn that one down?
One of the best sessions was listening to a veteran LAPD investigator explain interrogation techniques and how with his departments 94% clearance rate, how most TV shows get it wrong. Only 7% of all communication is verbal, and a lot of suspects can show recognizable deceptive behaviors if you know what you’re looking for.
Do you know how to tell a fake suicide note from a real one? Nope – me neither. What about prison gangs? What about the real and terrifying link between animal abuse and serial killers? Did you know Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, David Berkowitz and quite a few more serial killers all got prosecuted for animal cruelty years earlier than they started killing humans? Makes you think. It’s also strongly linked to domestic violence, and there’s a lot of cops trying to develop techniques to spot these killers before they get to the double-digit victims that seem to happen.
The guest-of-honor at the evening reception was a guy called Craig Johnson. For those of you that don’t know he is the New York Times bestselling author of the Walt Longmire series. And for those budding writers out there who despair of ever finishing that first book – he wrote two chapters of his first Longmire story and then put it away in a drawer because he had some chores to do on his ranch.
Nine and a half years later he decided to finish it! The sixth season is just being recorded.
I’m going to do two give-a-ways this month. One is any e-book of mine and the second is a T-shirt and matching baseball cap from the Writer’s Police Academy. Both are open internationally.
And for those of you that love regular competitions, freebies, and exclusive excerpts – check out my facebook group, Victoria’s secrets. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1182647028418709/
Man and wolf. Sworn enemies in the battle for Askara. Can hate and betrayal ever lead to love?
Caleb Harken has spent six years wrongfully imprisoned for his father’s treachery. Tortured and reviled by the very wolf pack he should have been leading as Alpha, he is not surprised to learn he’s finally to meet his death at the hands of the human rebel leader, Taegan Callan.
Taegan gave up his dreams of a life-mate and a family after seeing too many humans butchered at the hands of the wolves—even if Caleb doesn’t seem to be the bloodthirsty savage he expects, and even if he starts to long for a different kind of future with the wolf.
Can Caleb become the Alpha he was always meant to be and lead his pack, or will he finally realize that winning his freedom means nothing when he has already lost his heart?
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This is so interesting. I never heard of the Writer’s Police Academy. I would love to follow courses there.
I love this series so much. Can’t wait for more.
Thank you for the post, Sue! I did not know about the Writer’s Police Academy, but it sounds good. And congratulations on The Alpha Heir. I have had the privilege of reading it already, and loved it!
Thanks for the post. The Writer’s Police Academy sounds fun but intense! Also, I’ve listened to the Alpha King and the Alpha Heir sounds interesting.
Wow, it must have been so exciting to attend this Academy. Everyone is going to love the Alpha Heir. <3