My Top Five Highlights from ThrillerFest X
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Last week, I attend the ThrillerFest X in New York City for the first time. For those who aren’t familiar, ThrillerFest is the annual conference of the International Thriller Writers (ITW). Now in its tenth year, ThrillerFest brings together world renowned bestselling authors, writers of every level, readers, publishers, producers, editors, and agents to promote and support thriller authors everywhere.
The conference has four main components: Master CraftFest, CraftFest, PitchFest and the last two days is the ThrillerFest (which was what I attended), designed to offer readers a chance to meet the best authors in the industry and be introduced to debut and mid-list authors.
Now that I’m back home, and had a chance to digest everything I experienced, I’d like to share my top five highlights from the conference with you:
1. The interview with Greg Iles. I always beat myself up when I don’t get my writing quota done for the day. Whether you’re a plotter or a pantser, the consensus is that you should try to write something every day. So, it was surprising to hear what Greg Iles had to say when asked about his writing process. He said he’ll go long stretches without writing anything at all. He just waits for the muse to come and once he has the entire story in his head, he’ll go to work and write for days on end. It just goes to show you, there really aren’t any rules.
Greg Iles
Iles’ entire interview was interesting. He’s good friends with Stephen King (they play in the same band together) and he shared some great stories. He also discussed how his writing changed after he was in a life threatening car accident and lost his leg. That’s when he stopped writing what he thought would sell and started writing what he wanted. He said his writing has become better for it.
2. The Roundtable Discussion: Creating Empathetic Antagonist. I learned that even though it’s a good idea to have a well rounded villain, someone your reader can relate to, you can’t always create an empathetic antagonist. Some bad guys are just bad. Robert Dugoni said that about 3 – 4% of our population are psychopaths and will kill merely for the sake of killing (think Ted Bundy or John Wayne Gacy). So, a lively discussion broke out when one of the panelists argued that some people can’t help it if they are born with the inclination to kill. And, it was unfortunate that it took just one slip up for everyone to turn against them. Hmm … I think it’s safe to say, she might have a little too much sympathy for the psychopath.
3. The interview with Mark Billingham. I smiled when bestselling author, Mark Billingham, said you needed to be at least forty years old before you should start writing. He felt people should actually live a little before they can write about it. He also made me chuckle when he said he was amused when he would get messages from readers who were offended by the profanity he used in his novels. He found it odd they were fine with the kidnappings, the fighting and murders, but they couldn’t understand why he had to use swear words, that was just over the line.
Mark Billingham
4. ThrillerMasters Panel Discussion: Most important lessons learned. My favorite story came from a panel of veteran bestselling authors. I don’t remember the exact question asked, but it had something to do with book signings. One of the panelist said that during a book signing early in his career, no one showed up. He was there, ready with his presentation and a room full of empty chairs. During the last five minutes of the event, three men ran into the room and sat down, directly in front of him. He began to present and a few minutes later the police came in and arrested the men for just robbing a bank. Apparently, the men thought nobody would look for them at a book signing.
5. How NICE everybody was. The most surprising thing to me was how incredibly nice everyone was. This was an event where you had famous authors (like Lee Child, R.L. Stine, Kathy Reichs) some of who have had their novels turned into blockbuster motion pictures, sitting next to fans and debut authors, like myself. Almost everyone was friendly and approachable.
Panel Discussion. Music, TV, Movies: Finding Inspiration to Write
I was also part of a panel discussion on Music, TV and Movies: Finding Inspiration to Write. This was my first time on a panel, so I was pretty nervous. But, everyone made me feel comfortable and it was actually a lot of fun to share insights and compare notes.
All in all, it was an amazing conference and I hope I can go again next year.
As a side note, I was able to escape a little while I was there and went to see the Broadway musical, Kinky Boots. It was great! I also had some time to run in Central Park. I swear, it’s one of the most amazing places to run. I’m pretty sure I smiled ear to ear the entire time I was out there.
How about you? Have you been to any great book conferences lately? Or, have you had the pleasure of running in Central Park before? Leave a comment, I’d love to hear from you!
Here are a couple of other recaps of this year’s ThrillerFest:
How Pitching a Novel is Like Being in the Secret Service
