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What do I have in common with three great authors of Crime Fiction/Thrillers? Apart from writing the same genre, we’re coming together for a panel session at this year’s Brisbane Writers Festival.
But, there’s a dilemma!
With three very talented, and well known, authors on the stage beside me; how do I get some ‘air time’? First thoughts are to leave some ‘paperbacks’ in a brown paper bag under the chair of session host Graeme Blundell. After he looks into the bag and discovers the bribe thoughtful gift, he’s bound to look around and notice me madly winking away. But, what if Val, Michael or Garry have already dropped of their own bags for consideration at Graeme’s dressing room? And, how much does a ‘thoughtful gift’ cost?
Too hard!
What about an outrageous shirt. Something that stands out and catches Graeme’s eye. Maybe a bold Hawaiian number! But, what if the ‘punters’ who have paid to come listen are put off by the shirt. Stand-out yes. But, if I say something wrong I’ll be forever known as the ‘unstylish-thriller-writer-who-wears-load-shirts-and-says-inappropriate-things’.
Best to stay the ‘grey-man’.
How about putting on a cool accent to stand out? It worked this year at ThrillerFest in New York! Then again Val McDermid has that cool (genuine) Scottish accent going for her.
Far too difficult to match.
I could always ‘stack’ the audience full of family and friends and have them direct all questions to me starting with ‘JJ, firstly, I absolutely loved both of your thrillers . . . ‘ or ‘JJ, I just wanted to start by saying your books are brilliant . . .’
That could work – I’m leaning heavily toward this option!
Or maybe, I could sit back and soak up the atmosphere on stage with three very talented authors and just wait patiently for my turn.
Last month I discovered a couple of ways to leave an impression on a ballroom full of the world’s best thriller writers, publishers, agents and fans. Fellow thriller writer Brad Parks serenaded guest speaker Brad Meltzer – that was impressive.
I turned up late!
Nineteen of us debut authors with International Thriller Writers (ITW) were treated to a breakfast and an opportunity to be in the spotlight for a moment or two at ThrillerFest 2010. We were the class of 2009, having all published through an ITW recognised publisher during the last year. We came from across the globe and were given one minute each to talk about our debut thriller. Our host (and mentor for the year) was Andy Gross with Brad Meltzer chipping in as guest speaker.
An Aussie guy in the US for the first time is going to suffer jet-lag. And, of course I wasn’t wasting a moment I had in New York so there may have been some late nights with other authors. Come to think of it – I do recall having a few drinks with Heather Graham the night before the debut author breakfast.
I was certain they said 0900 h start. Certain! I knew I was wrong when at 0820 h I was doing washing my hair ((signing the tunes of the Décor ad (you remember that one right?)) and heard banging on my hotel door. That’s about when the penny dropped!
There’s no way to hide when walking on stage in front of a few hundred people. A nod and a shrug of the shoulders toward the table seating David Morrell, Douglas Preston, Sandra Brown, Jon Land and co was noticed! They all made mention later that day of my entrance.
It must have left an impression on plenty though; as I had more in my book-signing line than Stephen Coonts who was at the table with me (he even joined the back of my line for a copy of THE INTERROGATOR).
Writers love words right? I’m a kinda concise type of writer though. I don’t go out of my way to hit the Thesaurus to make a show out of using a word that I wouldn’t normally use. But, there are some words I just love! ‘Touché’ is one and so is ‘penultimate’.
These words have meaning to me in a personal, historic sense. For me writing fiction is about experience and imagination, therefore, some words have a story behind them that make me reminisce.
Penultimate is one of them!
During one of my tours to East Timor, us ‘Operators’ had a boss who some may consider a ‘micro-manager’. You know the type – needed to know your every move every minute of the day. And, as a collector of human intelligence, that made it difficult at times because you needed some degree of freedom, and trust, to get the information and then report back. Basically, if someone wanted to tell you something; getting on the phone to the boss before it happened kinda ruined the moment.
I digress. My boss was a very educated woman who really did do the best she could under the circumstances (ok – us operators are a secretive bunch who are very protective of our sources). Anyway, every Sunday we’d all com together and debrief the boss on anything she may have missed over the numerous, very lengthy, nightly radio calls.
One Sunday my counterpart in another area of operations went through a lengthy brief and the came to his second last point:
‘And, the penultimate point . . .’
‘What?’ the Boss asked (she must have only heard the word penultimate).
‘I said penultimate, ma’am.’
Pause . . . ‘Who is he and why haven’t I been briefed on this new source until now?’
‘Pardon?’
‘Penultimate! I demand to know who he is and why you have been hiding him from me.’
Room is silent for a solid ten seconds before the snickering begins. Roaring laughter in less than thirty.
Turned nasty after that.
And, that’s my penultimate post!
I’ve never really had trouble holding my end of a conversation, but I’d hadn’t thought of myself as a storyteller until it was pointed out to me in a simple exercise that an old Platoon Sergeant pulled on ‘us’ troops one day.
As a young ‘digger’ in an Infantry Battalion, I was tasked on occasions to be the Signalman. This role meant carrying a heap of extra equipment (radio gear) and following the boss around all day and night. Back then, we had handsets like big old phones. The easiest way to hear what was coming through the handset was by linking it through a rubber band that was attached to your shirt epaulette. (Get to the point of the story JJ!)
Right . . . sorry! Anyway, not sure why but we (the Platoon) had a break on exercise one day and our Platoon Sergeant decided to ‘have some fun’ with us. His task – talk for three minutes straight without a break on a topic of his choice. A carton of beer to each soldier who could! And, of course, a carton of beer to him for each soldier who couldn’t. Simple right? Wrong?
At least a dozen diggers ahead of me failed miserably on subjects such as ‘brown grass’, ‘fingernail dirt’ and ‘hat hair’. Sure, they all started off confidently – but, at about the 30 second mark all dried up!
My turn came – ‘Private Cooper. Three minutes on that rubber band on your epaulette’.
‘Well, Sarge! I’ve always been fascinated with rubber bands. It started as a young boy when . . .’
At the four and a half minute mark I was stopped. One carton of Crown Larger coming my way!
Try it for yourself. Pick an object, any object, and give it a go for three minutes straight. No stopping, no pausing – just do it.
Are you a storyteller?
Well . . . I was once (and young). Perhaps the most frequently asked question of me after the publication of my first thriller, THE INTERROGATOR, was (and still is) ‘are you the main character?’ Good question. You be the judge.
I spent 17 years in the Army, the last seven with the Army Intelligence Corps where I specialised in Human Intelligence (HUMINT). An HUMINT operator is someone who collects information from human sources. A form of HUMINT collection is interrogation – something that was somewhat of a speciality for me.
So, what’s that got to do with you being your main character in your thriller series? Jay Ryan is the protagonist and also happens to be an Army Interrogator. Coincidence? Not really – saves a buck-load of time on research.
Just because you and your protagonist share the same occupation doesn’t mean you are one and the same! Agreed. And, we’re not. There are a lot of similarities though. For example, Jay Ryan owns a 57 Chevy and . . . I don’t. Ok, bad example (although I’d love to own a 57 Chevy). In the second thriller, DEADLY TRUST, Jay receives a series of anthrax injections that becomes the catalyst for the story; I received a series of anthrax injections before deploying to the Middle East in 2003.
How about when Jay Ryan gets blackmailed by a beautiful Mossad agent in your first book? Did that happen to you? No! But, he also gets shot a couple of times and that hasn’t happened to me either. Sometimes a character needs to make sacrifices that a writer won’t.
For me, writing fiction is about experience and imagination. I use my ‘life’ experiences and a whole heap of imagination for my thrillers. Do you think I am my main character? Are you your main character?
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