Cop Characters: How To Make Them Click and What Makes Them Tick

March 4-29, 2013

Presenter: Jaye Roycraft

Romantic suspense, mysteries, urban fantasies—these are just a few of the genres that might require an author to use a cop or an ex-cop as either the protagonist or an important secondary character. Learning the inner workings of a police department can be a challenge for any writer. As both an author and a female who spent eight years with a big-city police department, I can share an insider’s look into the world of a cop—the emotions and attitudes of a typical street cop as well as procedures, training, guns and ammo, and “copspeak”—that mysterious language comprised of codes and cop slang. Whether they’re heroes or fallen heroes, cops make wonderfully complex characters, but beneath the character-building, the author needs a solid foundation built on knowledge of established police procedure, training, and terminology. This workshop can help authors with that foundation.

Presenter Bio:

Jaye Roycraft, a former big-city police officer, has incorporated her police procedural knowledge and experience into her futuristics and paranormals, beginning with her debut novel Rainscape, first released in 2001 and re-released in 2004 and 2009. Rainscape, a combination of romance, mystery, and science fiction, received the 2001 Dorothy Parker Award of Excellence presented by RIO, Reviewers Choice and 5 Stars from ScribesWorld, and most recently, Top Pick honors and 4 ½ stars from Romantic Times BOOKclub magazine. In 2001 Jaye also won a P.E.A.R.L. nomination for “Best New Author.” Rainscape was followed by the vampire series Double Image, Afterimage, Shadow Image, and Immoral Image. Jaye has presented workshops both online and at conferences, has been a contest judge, and was a featured panelist at Dragon*Con in 2003.

Jaye is a member of RWA (Romance Writers of America) and a former member of WisRWA (Wisconsin Romance Writers of America). Most recently Jaye has presented numerous online workshops on police procedures for writers and elements of writing.
Jaye recently moved from the frozen tundra of Wisconsin and now lives in sunny Arizona where she does contract work for several publishers, reading submissions, proofreading, copyediting, and doing promotional work.
Jaye’s latest urban fantasy, Hell’s Warrior, is the second in her vampire Hell series and was released in 2010. Crimson Rain, the long awaited sequel to Rainscape, is due out early in 2013. You can read more about Jaye’s books on her website at www.jroycraft.com.

How To Join This Class

Pay via Paypal. Please note: If you are using an email address for the class other than your Paypal email address, you must enter that in the “Comments” field below when you make the payment.

Non-MRW members – $25

MRW members – $20