Killer Women Crime Writing Festival 2016

The website is now up and running!

It's the first ever Killer Women Crime Writing Festival on Saturday 15th October 2016 (9 am to 8.30 pm) at Shoreditch Town Hall, 380 Old Street, London EC1V 9LT.

Now the Killer Women Crime Writing Festival website is up and running, so you can find out more about the events and participating authors and also book your tickets (just £75 for a whole day of your favourite genre).

Killer Women Week on Off-the-shelf Book Reviews
In July, I devoted a whole week to Killer Women on my blog. Click below for the links.

Day ONE - a guest post by DE Meredith

Day TWO - a guest post by Tammy Cohen

Day THREE - a guest post by Erin Kelly

Day FOUR - a guest post by Sarah Hilary

Day FIVE  - find out about the festival.

A Few Highlights

• How to Pitch a Novel workshop with commissioning editor Sam Eades and literary agent Nelle Andrews
• Martina Cole chats to Melanie McGrath
• History and Mystery: Writing Murder in the Past
• How to Write a Successful Book Blog
• Fresh Blood - Sarah Hilary talks to four debut authors
• Building Suspense workshop with Erin Kelly
• 8 Ways to Get Published workshop with Louise Millar
• Inside the Killer's Head - the psychology of fiction killers
• Writing a Psychological Thriller (with Tammy Cohen and Amanda Jennings)
• Introduction to Crime Writing Workshop
• Interactive Murder Mystery with Helen Smith and Louise Voss
• Killer Women Cocktails and Book Signings

To visit the Killer Women Crime Writing Festival website for more information, including the full programme, participating author bios and to book tickets, click here.

And don't forget you can also pre-order the Killer Women: Crime Club Anthology #1 (published on 15 September 2016) on Amazon UK NOW by clicking here. Authors of the short stories are Louise Voss, Helen Smith, Jane Casey, Erin Kelly, Louise Millar, Alex Marwood, Tammy Cohen, Melanie McGrath & Colette McBeth and there's a Foreword by Val McDermid.

Happy Holidays - I'm taking a break!

I'm taking a blogging break for a couple of weeks (my first proper blog holiday in the 18 months since I set up my blog), although I'm sure you'll still find me lurking on Twitter so pop by and say 'hello'. I may still publish a couple of reviews too, but I won't be writing anything new for my blog until September.

I have a huge To Be Read pile. So I have decided to concentrate on reading books that I've bought during these two weeks, rather than review copies. Top of my list are the first three Maeve Kerrigan books by Jane Casey, which have been waiting patiently on my Kindle for months. I reviewed book 5 and loved it and have been desperate to catch up with the whole series. I'll let you know exactly which other books I picked on my return.

I'll also be continuing to spend my time writing and editing the manuscript of my debut novel. Due to family commitments, I took four months off writing, so it was great to get back to it at the end of July. I've been doing a big edit, following some positive and motivating feedback, and hope it will be ready to resubmit in the Autumn.

Lastly, there are some fantastic London-based events coming up if you're a crime fiction fan.

First Monday Crime takes place on the first Monday of every month (unless it's a bank holiday). There's a lively panel discussion in the College Building of City University in St John Street (near Angel) from 6.30pm, following by a social at a local bar. In September, you can listen to Sophie Hannah, Tim Weaver, Rod Reynolds and Jane Corry. You can book your tickets here.

Then in October, it's the first ever Killer Women Crime Writing Festival on Saturday 15th October 2016 (9 am to 8.30 pm) at Shoreditch Town Hall, 380 Old Street, London EC1V 9LT.
I devoted a whole week to Killer Women on my blog recently. See below for the links.
Day ONE - a guest post by DE Meredith
Day TWO - a guess post by Tammy Cohen
Day THREE - a guest post by Erin Kelly
Day FOUR - a guest post by Sarah Hilary
Day FIVE  - find out about the festival.
You can find out more and book tickets for the festival here.

Enjoy the rest of your August! And see you in September, when I'll have more reviews, author guest posts and author interviews.

Victoria

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Killer Women Week - Day 5: Crime Writing Festival

It's Day 5 of my Killer Women Crime Writing Festival Feature Week

And today, it's ALL about the Killer Women Crime Writing Festival. 

Crime fiction fans are being spoilt this autumn with London's first-ever crime festival, thanks to the Killer Women Collective. 

When and where?

The FIRST EVER Killer Women Crime Writing Festival takes place on Saturday 15th October 2016 (9 am to 8.30 pm) at Shoreditch Town Hall, 380 Old Street, London EC1V 9LT.

Who?

Founded in 2014, Killer Women is a collective of female crime writers from London and the South East. As well as the Killer Women themselves, other high-profile authors taking part in the Festival include Ann Cleeves, Martina Cole, Mark Billingham and Val McDermid.

What's going on?
The day-long programme will feature:

• a variety of readings and debates, ranging from Victoria Crime to modern forensic psychology to How to Solve A Murder with real-life detectives
• how to pitch a novel with advice from commissioning editor Sam Eades and literary agent Nelle Andrews
• Fresh Blood panel, with four debut authors talking about their books, how they got published and how they're getting on with their second novels - chaired by Sarah Hilary 
• Preferred the Book/Film - a screen adaptations panel, chaired by Erin Kelly, with Alex Marwood, SJ Watson, Louise Doughty and Paula Hawkins
• the psychological of fictional killers with Jane Casey, Tammy Cohen, Kate Medina and Emma Kavanagh, panel chaired by Kate Rhodes
• masterclasses with some of your favourite Killer Women authors, including Erin Kelly, Louise Millar, Tammy Cohen, Amanda Jennings, Kate Rhodes and Laura Wilson, 
• workshop on how to write a successful book blog
• workshop on how to self-publish a bestseller
• an exclusive interactive Murder Mystery
• Killer Women cocktails
• and much more more...

The Killer Women Crime Writing Festival programme is now LIVE - click here to discover all of the amazing events that day.

How to book

Tickets cost £75 and are now available to book here!

Learn more through the Killer Women website and follow Killer Women on Twitter - @killerwomenorg

Read my other Killer Women Festival Week blog posts:

Day One - DE Meredith
Day Two - Tammy Cohen
Day Three - Erin Kelly
Day Four - Sarah Hilary

A big Thank You to Killer Women for giving me the opportunity to host this feature week. It's been great fun! And if any other Killer Women would like to write anything for my blog in the run up to the Festival (or afterwards), please let me know!

Killer Women Week - Day 4: Sarah Hilary

It's Day 4 of my Killer Women Crime Writing Festival Feature Week. 

Today I have Sarah Hilary on my blog talking about preparing to edit a first draft. Sarah's latest book, Tastes Like Fear, is being published in paperback by Headline on 28 July 2016. 

The Killer Women Festival is taking place at Shoreditch Town Hall, London, on 15 October 2016 - more details at the end of this blog post and on Friday. 

Getting Ready for Round Two

By Sarah Hilary 

It’s a funny old business, writing a book. You spend months sitting alone with just the voices in your head for company, listening intently and cajoling these people onto the page. Then you hand it all over to a stranger.

Well, not a stranger to you (I’m blessed with a very friendly and very talented editor), but a stranger to your words. To those characters you tempted out of hiding. It has all to be laid bare before the gaze of someone with a very sharp eye and a very red pen. ‘It’s like leaving your child at the school-gate,’ another writer told me. ‘You know she needs to be educated, that ultimately she’ll return a better person, but it’s hard.’

There is a blissful space of about ten days after I’ve submitted my first draft before my editor has time to read it. For those ten days it is still ‘my’ book; it can do no wrong. In the back of my head, of course I know it needs work. The edges need knocking off it, and more besides. But I can hold onto the happy thought that it is complete, and in a way faultless—until I have proof of its faults in the form of the editorial notes which come back to me, always after a phone call from my editor.

We ping ideas back and forth, chat about why this character works and this one doesn’t, unstick plot points that weren’t quite working. You might think that being told there’s more work to be done on a story over which I sweated blood for six months would leave me feeling flat or disheartened. But one of my editor’s many talents is to make me feel energised—an hour on the phone and I’m raring to get stuck into round two.

So here I am, with the duplicated document — renamed as v2 — and a long list of notes and changes. Wish me luck.

About Sarah Hilary

Sarah Hilary won the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year for her debut, Someone Else’s Skin. She is about to begin editing her fourth book in the Marnie Rome series, Quieter than Killing, which is out in March 2017. Her latest, Tastes Like Fear is out in paperback on 28 July. Sarah is chairing the Fresh Blood panel at the Killer Women Festival and looking forward to chatting to four stellar debut authors about their writing day.

Find out more about Sarah Hilary on her website and follow Sarah on Twitter - @sarah_hilary

The Killer Women Festival

The FIRST EVER Killer Women Crime Writing Festival takes place on Saturday 15^th October 2016 at Shoreditch Town Hall, London EC1.

Founded in 2014, Killer Women is a collective of female crime writers from London and the South East. As well as the Killer Women themselves, other high-profile authors taking part in the Festival include Ann Cleeves, Martina Cole, Mark Billingham and Val McDermid.

The day-long programme includes readings and debates, masterclasses, an exclusive Murder Mystery, Killer Women cocktails and much more.

Tickets cost £75 and are now available to book here!

Learn more through the Killer Women website and follow Killer Women on Twitter - @killerwomenorg

Read my other Killer Women Festival Week blog posts:

Day One - DE Meredith
Day Two - Tammy Cohen
Day Three - Erin Kelly
Day Five - The Killer Women Crime Writing Festival

Killer Women Week - Day 3: Erin Kelly

It's Day 3 of my Killer Women Crime Writing Festival Feature Week. 

Today I have Erin Kelly on my blog talking about how research unravels knots in her plot. Erin's next book, He Said/She Said, will be published by Hodder & Stoughton in February 2017.

The Killer Women Festival is taking place at Shoreditch Town Hall, London, on 15 October 2016 - more details at the end of this blog post and on Friday. 

Unravelling the Plot Knots

By Erin Kelly

I’m about ten thousand words into my seventh novel, which is a psychological thriller set in an old Victorian asylum. There are three stories – one in 1958, when it was a working mental hospital, a second in 1988 when it was derelict and now, when it has been turned into luxury flats.

Usually my writing day is always the same – start as soon as the kids are at school, stop when it’s time to go and get them – but this novel is different. They say ‘write what you know’ but after a couple of books that would get very tedious for both author and reader and now I find I research more with every book. I’ve got the bones of a plot and some key scenes sketched out in a Scrivener document and on a million scraps of printer paper stuffed in bags and all over my study. I make pages and pages of plot notes in longhand and then never look at them again: over time I’ve found that the right ideas will stay with me.

With this book, more so than most of my others, I’m hitting plot knots that need research to unravel them. This week, it’s the highly unsexy but crucial intricacies of hospital administration in the early 1980s; I’m interested in how the Care in the Community policy was implemented when the old asylums were finally shut down. When this happens I’ll catch the Tube to the Wellcome Library in central London where they have metres of shelves devoted to the history of psychiatry. It’s the most amazing space – light, airy but rich with history – and I’ve started going in even on ‘writing’ days because I find it so inspirational.

About Erin Kelly

Erin Kelly is best known for The Poison Tree, which was a Richard and Judy bestseller and a major ITV drama. Her next psychological thriller, He Said/She Said, is out next February. It’s about a couple who witness a crime and only doubt their version of events after the trial, with deadly consequences. She has no plans to move into romantic comedy.

Find out more about Erin Kelly on her website and follow Erin on Twitter - @mserinkelly

The Killer Women Festival

The FIRST EVER Killer Women Crime Writing Festival takes place on Saturday 15^th October 2016 at Shoreditch Town Hall, London EC1.

Founded in 2014, Killer Women is a collective of female crime writers from London and the South East. As well as the Killer Women themselves, other high-profile authors taking part in the Festival include Ann Cleeves, Martina Cole, Mark Billingham and Val McDermid.

The day-long programme includes readings and debates, masterclasses, an exclusive Murder Mystery, Killer Women cocktails and much more.

Tickets cost £75 and are now available to book here!

Learn more through the Killer Women website and follow Killer Women on Twitter - @killerwomenorg

Read my other Killer Women Festival Week blog posts

Day One - DE Meredith
Day Two - Tammy Cohen
Day Four - Sarah Hilary
Day Five - Crime Writing Festival Special