Panel 8: Skeletons in the Closet
Tammy Cohen | Julia Crouch | Amanda Jennings | Sarah Ward
Tammy Cohen | Julia Crouch | Amanda Jennings | Sarah Ward
♠♠♠
Selected quotes from live Q&As with readers
Sarah Ward: Reading is just the best. I met a little girl in a bookshop yesterday when I was doing a signing. Her mother told me that the girl was 'obsessed by books and reading'. In my opinion that girl has a passion that will last the rest of her life. Lucky us!
Tammy Cohen: It's always the situation to start with. That big 'what if' question that kickstarts the whole thing. But as soon as I start writing and the characters develop, they drive the story in directions I probably didn't even imagine at the beginning
Julia Crouch: Choosing your favourite book is like choosing your favourite child. Each one is equally thrilling and scary to write. Perhaps the first, because I had no idea I was even going to show it to anyone else, let alone seek publication, was the most enjoyable because it was the least pressured. One a year can be quite hard work. But, compared to most other jobs I have done, it is a complete joy! One thing, though, it never gets any easier - some things, yes, you get more used to, but each book is like starting at the bottom of a mountain again.
Amanda Jennings: Occasionally a reader will send a personal email. This is SUCH an amazing feeling. I had one reader who told me that reading The Judas Scar helped her come to terms with an assault, and tell her mother. She hadn't been able to tell anyone about it and she said it got her thinking about keeping such things quiet. She wrote to me - and I cried while reading the email - and said thank you for helping her. It's funny feeling. Not pride so much, perhaps the realisation of how important books can be to some people at certain times? It was quite a levelling experience. And I certainly felt the clunk of the outside world colliding with my closeted writing world.
♠♠♠
Notes from round table discussion between authors
On writing:
Julia: “I'm doing a day course in NLP in the autumn, and I'm constantly nosing around books and websites about psychology. Although, I think you can't beat a good novel or drama for insight into human beings.”
Amanda: “I love it when the postman delivers my Psychologies magazine.”
Sarah: “I love standalone books because of the sense of 'completeness' about them. But some of my favourite novels have also been part of series. i want them both!”
Tammy: ”I'm always so relieved to get to the end of a book and close the door on those characters. I think because my books tend to be quite claustrophobic. By the end I just want to get out of there and leave them all too it.”
Julia: “Crime readers do want resolution, and we feel cheated if there isn't any, but I think you can leave a little frisson of worry at the end, because life isn't all about neat endings, and people are fools and they don't always learn from their mistakes…”
Amanda: “ I LOVE the 'trying on different skins' aspect of writing psych thrillers. Being all the characters, looking at all their motivations, being both critical and sympathetic to all of them.”
♠♠♠
More about the authors on our website: http://britcrime.comMore about the panels here: http://britcrime.com/panel
