When Thin Blood took off like it did, I was
probably more surprised than anyone. Sales exceeded all my expectations ten
times over.
Our interview today is with one of my favorite mystery authors. A review of her book Brittle Shadows was my choice for the inaugural post on Books and Pals more than a year and a half ago.
When did you know you wanted to be a writer?
That’s a hard one. I could give the pat answer
and say it was when I was in primary school and won a children's short story
competition for a national magazine, but it’s more complicated than that. I
also wanted to be a veterinarian, a doctor, a pathologist, and a lawyer. Instead,
I ended up in accounting and business management.
To say you wanted to be a writer was like
saying, I want to be a movie star, a pipe dream. It wasn’t until 2002 when ill
health had me assessing my priorities that I decided to pursue that dream, much
to the consternation of many friends, who saw it as dropping out of society. Who
was I to think I could write novels for a living?
They were right, of course, I didn’t make a
living from writing for the first eight years. And if it weren’t for the indie
revolution, I still wouldn’t be. In reality, if it weren’t for ebooks, I would’ve
had to throw in the towel by now.
Each of your books are mysteries set in Australia, where you
live. How has the rest of the English-speaking world reacted to this? How do
you think the Australian setting helps and hurts you with readers?
Overwhelmingly, the response has been
positive. From the emails I receive, Americans and Brits are intrigued with
life Down Under, with many saying they’d like to visit.
I write using Australian spellings, but
because my primary market is the US, I change spellings for those words where
pronunciation doesn’t change e.g. colour/color, neighbour/neighbour. However, I
try to stay true to our Australianisms e.g. mum not mom, footpath not sidewalk,
arse not ass.
Your first book, Thin
Blood, was one indie book I was aware of having a prolonged ride at the top
of the Amazon Bestseller list. Tell us about this book?
The story starts when stockbroker Craig
Edmonds wakes with blood on his hands and no memory of the night before. His
wife is missing, the only evidence she’d been there blood and hair in the
boot/trunk of her car. Then there’s Craig’s affair with his wife’s sister…
Thin Blood’s theme is that
blood is not always thicker (the title is a play on words). Like all my novels,
Thin Blood is more about people, relationships, secrets, lies and truth, than
the crime itself. It’s a fast, easy and, I hope, gripping read.
If I were to give it a classification
rating it’d be MA15+. There is no overt violence or sex, but there is
language some may consider offensive.
Did the success Thin Blood
had catch you off guard or did you sense it was about to take off?
Off guard would be an understatement. When Thin Blood took off like it did, I was
probably more surprised than anyone. Sales exceeded all my expectations ten
times over. Was it the cover? The blurb? The book itself? I still have no idea
what the catalyst was, but I firmly believe luck played a large part, being in
the right place at the right time. That and a sprinkling of fairy dust.
One of the things I’ve noticed and the first thing your fellow
authors mention when your name comes up is how well your books are plotted.
They plots are more complex than many, yet in the end you manage to tie
everything up neatly. For me, this raises the question as to how you approach
writing your books. When you sit down to start hammering out the first draft
how much do you know about the story? Do you do a detailed outline, fly by the
seat of your pants, or something in between?
I used to think of myself as a pantser, but
if I’m to be honest, I have most of the story plotted out before I start
writing, even if only in my head. With mysteries, you have to know the crime,
the culprit, and the motivation before you start – there’s no getting away from
that.
I’ve used a different brainstorming method
for plotting each book, sometimes a combination. First, there was the large
whiteboard, which worked well when I was sitting in front of it every day. Then
I dabbled with StoryLines (story development software that is now part of Writer's Café) that had its good
points, but which I think would be better suited for screenwriting. Next came
the large, unwieldy sketch pad. Not bad. Finally, the index cards – the
physical ones I find great for getting your thoughts down and into some semblance
of order; the virtual ones – Text
Block Writer (freeware) – provides an electronic backup.
I also maintain spreadsheets for characters
and settings, plus weather, sunrise and sunset times. After I finish each
chapter, I update the timeline and chapter summary. It’s a good reference tool
(can’t rely on my memory) and makes writing the synopsis at the end so much
easier.
You mentioned hammering out a first draft. My
writing method is more like Dean Koontz’s, who will rewrite a page until it's
right before moving on, sometimes redoing a draft thirty or forty times. Except
with me, it’s a chapter not a page. Though it is a slow process, it does mean
that by the time I type “End,” there’s only one more pass required before I
send it to the editor.
After Thin Blood,
which came out in April of 2010, you released two additional books, Sleight Malice and Brittle Shadows that same year. First, tell us about these books.
Sleight Malice is a
story I had running around in my head for some time, sparked by an unusual
murder case (that’s as much as I can say for fear of spoiling the story) I read
about in of all places, an old Reader’s Digest I found in a doctor’s waiting
room.
Short blurb:
One cold Melbourne winter's night a
suburban bungalow goes up in flames. When a badly charred body is discovered in
the remains, web designer Desley James is devastated. That’s until she learns
the unidentified male body is not that of her friend and her husband...
Most of my books are set in Australia’s
summer, but I decided to set this one in winter. From the comments I’ve received,
many are surprised we actually have a winter. Okay, snow is a rarity except in
the mountains, but it still gets bleeping cold.
Brittle Shadows also
started life in a murder (or was it?) case, a high profile Australian one that
has dragged on for years. Of course, I twisted and mangled the facts and
characters beyond recognition, so the standard “all characters are fictitious”
disclaimer still applies:
Short blurb:
Two months after finding her fiancé's naked
corpse hanging from a wardrobe rail in their apartment, Jemma’s Dalton’s sister
takes her own life, leaving Jemma to probe the dark shadows of her sister’s
life. But shadows, like bones, grow brittle with age.
Were these books something you had written previously or do you
write that fast?
I wish. Alas, it usually takes me about
twelve months to write a novel. Sometimes less, sometimes more. I’m so envious
of those writers who can churn out multiple novels in that time.
You released one book, Fatal
Liaison, in 2011. Tell us about this book.
First the blurb:
The lives of two strangers, Greg Jenkins
and Megan Brighton, become inextricably entangled when they each sign up for a
dinner dating agency. Greg's reason for joining has nothing to do with looking
for love. His recently divorced sister Sam has disappeared and Greg is
convinced that Dinner for Twelve, or at least one of its clients, may be
responsible. Neither is Megan looking for love. Although single, she only
joined at her best friend Brenda De Luca's insistence. When a client of the
dating agency is murdered, suspicion falls on several of the members. Then
Megan's friend Brenda disappears without trace, and Megan and Greg join forces.
Will they find Sam and Brenda, or are they about to step into the same
inescapable snare?
The original novel was Dinner for Twelve, which I wrote before Thin Blood. I’d actually
consigned it to the bottom drawer, but prompted by a reader, I decided to
revisit it. I probably spent as long rewriting it as it took to write, but I
liked the story and felt I could do it more justice with the experience and
skills I’d developed in writing four novels than I did back then.
While your first three books are self-published, Fatal Liaison shows the publisher as
Patmay Press. Does this indicate a change in your direction or approach to
publishing?
Yes and no. My mother died twenty-five
years ago at the age of forty-six. Even though she’s not here to share my
success, I know she would’ve been my biggest supporter and a proud mum. So when
I started looking at publishing as a business and needed a name, it was only
natural that I commemorate my mother at the same time. Her name was Pat(ricia)
May.
What are your future writing plans?
Rinse and repeat. :) At this stage, the
plan is to continue writing Australian mysteries for as long as readers want to
read them.
My latest novel, Bitter Nothings, is out on submission and I am hopeful that it will
picked up by a publishing house. I like to think you can have your cake and eat
it, too. When it comes to indie publishing and trad publishing, does it have to
be a case of either/or?
Thanks for having me, Al.
For More Vicki
For more, visit Vicki's website. You might also enjoy her blog Eucalypt Habitat, a photoblog about living in rural Australia.
Bibliography
Thin Blood Amazon US UK B&N Smashwords
Sleight Malice Amazon US UK B&N Smashwords
Brittle Shadows Review Amazon US UK B&N Smashwords
Fatal Liason Review Amazon US UK B&N Smashwords
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