When I knew I was going to Europe, which initially was
to attend a writing retreat, I checked what crime writing festivals were on at
kind of the same time, and found CrimeFest in Bristol.
So the first thing I’d recommend is for you to do the
same. Even if you aren’t planning to apply to be on a panel session, or aren’t
published in that country, it’s great just to attend and meet other writers and
readers. At some of the festivals and events, you could also meet publishers
and agents.
For me, it helped a lot that my first crime novels
were published in the UK, and I’ve been in contact with other people in the
Crime writers’ Association. However, CrimeFest has a rule that if you are
coming from overseas, they will put you on two panel sessions. Not all of them
do this.
I ended up on three panels, and for one of them, I was
the moderator. This turned out to be the opening session of the festival, and
one of the panel members was Lee Child. So that made me a bit nervous, to say
the least. Our topic was Private Investigators in crime fiction.
In the past I’ve compered a radio show called Writers
at Work in Melbourne on 3CR – I did that for eight years, so I’ve interviewed
probably 6-700 writers, and I also did Writers in Conversation events at the
uni where I worked, so I know what to research, and what kinds of questions
have been asked a million times. It’s a good challenge to come up with
questions that are not the same old thing, but also not so silly or outrageous
that nobody wants to answer them.
And I didn’t want to be the person who asked Lee Child
a stupid question! The sessions were only 50 minutes so not much time, and most
panels had four people plus moderator on them, so even less time! Anyway, Lee
was very gracious and professional, as you would expect, and was happy to have
photos taken with whoever wanted them, including me!
Questions I asked included: what two attributes do you think a PI (or your PI) must have; who would you like to play your character (obv Lee Child already has an actor for that but he said Alan does a great job); how far do you go with research to get it right; and is there anything that constrains your character in reality that you would like to do away with? Other panel members were Linda Mather, Fiona Veitch Smith and Christina Koning.
There was a massive bookshop in the ballroom, and one
of the things I learned was how many writers in the UK write huge series,
sometimes 15-20 books. I asked a few and they said their publishers expected
it, if the first couple went well, you had to keep going.
I can tell you that’s not the case in Australia and NZ
– your first one has to have done well before they will say yes to a sequel,
and it seems for most writers that three is enough. There are always exceptions
of course, but mostly that’s how it goes. I’ve been told that standalones often
do better.
I was also on a panel talking about novels where
someone in the family is a criminal or has a dark secret – so both of my novels
fit into that. And I was lucky to be on a third panel which was about crime and
mystery novels for teenagers. I met lots of writers and really enjoyed it all –
50 sessions over three full days, a program the size of a book, and came home
with lots of free books as my table won the quiz night. It’s amazing how many
books you can fit into a full suitcase if you are really determined!
