Crime Writers of Canada presents a webinar by Nate Hendley, the winner of the Best Non-Fiction 2022 Awards of Excellence. He discusses How To Write True Crime. His talk included:
• Different genres of true-crime
• How to select a compelling true crime topic/subject
• “Overdone” topics that are best to avoid (unless you have a brilliant new insight or angle)
• How to source true-crime research materials (trial transcripts, police memos, court + government documents, old newspaper/magazine articles)
• How to put the material together to make for a compelling “read”
• How to write about violence and crime in an honest, but non-exploitive fashion
• How to do interviews with victims and perpetrators of crime alike as well as their families
About Nate:
Nate Hendley is a Toronto-based journalist and true-crime author who has written over a dozen non-fiction books about gangsters, wrongful convictions, cons and hoaxes, and illegal drugs, among other topics. His last book, The Beatle Bandit, is about Matthew Kerry Smith, a troubled young man who robbed a Toronto-area bank in 1964 disguised in a Halloween mask and a "Beatles" wig. A bank patron tried to intervene and was killed in a gunfight with Smith. This murderous heist fueled a nationwide debate about guns, capital punishment, and the death penalty. The Beatle Bandit recently won the 2022 Awards of Excellence, Brass Knuckles Award for Best Nonfiction Crime Book.
