Bloody Book Week Masterclass

Me, in full fan mode, with author John Connolly. Picture © Roger Bull for the Bloody Book Week 2012Earlier this month, I had the priviledge of attending a writing masterclass with crime-writing heavyweights John Connolly, Jeffery Deaver, Mark Gimenez and South Africa's own Andrew Brown. The gents were kept on track by the talented and always delightful Mike Nicol - an expert "crimi" writer himself. The class was one of many fabulous events in the Bloody Book Week festival hosted by Radio 702's Jenny Cryws-Williams.

It was such a treat to hear the anecdotes which spark the stories these writers create. GImenez spoke of learning that his Texan senator goes jogging while wearing a gun, and once shot a coyote on a morning run, and how this started his story-neurons firing. Connolly described a touching account of a crime he had covered in his early days as a journalist and how this percolated in his subconscious for years before getting woven into his Charlie Parker stories. Deaver joked about getting his ideas from a farm or the corner store. Andrew Brown has no shortage of material to draw on - he's both a lawyer and a reservist for the South African Police.

What fascinated me most was to hear how different their writing processes are. Deaver researches and then plans and plots meticulously for up to a year, before sitting down to write - quite quickly - his draft. Connolly is more of a pantser than a plotter, and figures out things as he goes along. Deaver says he writes for a particular, researched audience target market - 'I'm a producer of a product.' Connolly has no real reader in mind, but emphasizes the importance of the main character in a series:'In a genre fiction series, the readers' loyalty is to the characters, not the writer'.

Mike Nicol sweats over the choice of his character's names, Connolly lifts them from the obituaries columns in Maine newspapers! Deaver says how important technical accuracy is for his realistic novels. Connolly's novels have a supernatural edge, so perhaps it comes as no suprise that he thinks,"What duty does fiction have to reflect real life? None at all. Fiction is refractive by nature".

All the writers were funny, down-to-earth and approachable. I battled to reconcile the dark, evil, violent and downright scary elements of their stories with men who seemed so normal! They were also so generous with their advice - I left feeling inspired.

It was also great to see, in the audience, a group of eager school kids who had been brought by their teacher to the master class. Wow - what an opportunity for aspiring writers!

Wherever you are, if you have a chance to listen to writers speaking about their craft, sieze it - you'll find it fascinating! From the writer's perspective, it's also wonderful to connect with readers. Never be shy to chat to us or ask us questions - we treasure you :)