An Interview with Three Daphne Du Maurier Contest Finalists by E. B. Davis

The Daphne Du Maurier Award contest in Mystery/Suspense is held every year by the Kiss of Death chapter of the Romance Writers of America. I suspect because of the overlap between romance and mystery genres, many Sisters in Crime members enter the contest. It is divided between published and unpublished novels. After that division, the novels must be entered into one of six subcategories by those submitting, which can be tricky. The categories are:

·       Series romantic mystery/suspense

·       Single-title romantic mystery/suspense

·       Historical (predating WWII) romantic mystery/suspense

·       Inspirational romantic mystery/suspense

·       Paranormal romantic mystery/suspense

·       Mainstream mystery/suspense

The first two categories listed must have romance as the main genre with elements of mystery/suspense. The next three categories, Historical, Inspirational, and Paranormal must have those elements be a dominant factor in the manuscript submitted. The last category doesn’t have to have any elements of romance. But one wonders if the contest is sponsored by the RWA chapter, will having no elements of romance be detrimental in winning. 

In the SinC Guppy chapter there are three finalists this year. I wanted to ask those authors the same six questions. The three authors are Joyce Woollcott, Amy Drayer, and WWK’s own Margaret S. Hamilton.

Please welcome these authors to WWK.                                                                            _        __E. B. Davis

Are you competing in the Published or Unpublished category?

Joyce: The Unpublished. (Sounds like a great title for a mystery). A Nice Place to Die

 Amy: Unpublished. Murder Comes to Makah

Margaret: Unpublished. Curtains for the Corpse

How did you place your novel within the six categories? Was it hard to do? Does your novel have romantic elements?

Joyce: They were fairly clear in the notes, and as I never thought of myself as a romance writer, I just naturally chose Mainstream Mystery/Suspense. Strangely though, romance, love and jealousy are major themes in the book, but the core of it is a mystery. Who murdered Kate?

Amy: My novel is competing in the mainstream category. It doesn’t contain any elements associated with the romance genre, though it does contain some significant character development associated with interpersonal relationships. But placement within the categories wasn’t particularly difficult in this instance and the guidelines the Daphne laid out were clear and instructive.

Margaret: Mainstream Mystery. I read the guidelines several times. My traditional mystery does have a romantic element—my amateur sleuth and her lover, both widowed, are co-parents in a cobbled-together family to two teenagers, but it’s a crime-based plot.

Did you have to pay to enter the contest?

Joyce: Yes, I paid $30. Members of RWA pay $15.

Amy: Yes – I believe it was $30.

Margaret: The Kiss of Death fee is $30 for non-RWA members, and includes four critiques. The bottom score is dropped from the cumulative score.

If you enter the contest, are you also required to judge? If you are, is it within a different category? Are all the judges contestants?

Joyce: No, I wasn’t required to judge, although they are looking for qualified people all the time. I don’t see myself as qualified to judge at this point. Unpublished and still learning, I’m just beginning the journey. You may need to be a member of RWA though. I don’t believe all the judges are contestants. On the second round for finalists, the judges are working editors and agents.

Amy: There was no judging requirement associated with the contest.

Margaret: I’ve entered several times, but this is the first year I was asked to judge. I picked published mainstream mysteries as my category because I don’t know how to evaluate the romance genre. In the end, I wasn’t assigned a book or books to judge. I have no idea who the judges are, but it’s obvious all my critiques were done by experienced writers.

What are the benefits of winning the contest?

Joyce: Well, it’s something to put on your query letter, if you can ever get a query letter written. And also, it gives you a jolt of confidence. This is the second manuscript I’ve ever written and like a lot of new writers, there’s a lot of self-doubt. In January I was long listed in the Arthur Ellis Awards for my first unpublished novel. At the time I was very thrilled and excited, but imagined it was a fluke, a one-time thing. It did however, give me the courage to enter the Daphnes. To be recognized again for the second one is wonderful. But still, you wonder… I think lack of confidence is part of who we are. It’s not about the prize money, that’s for sure.

But then creative writing seldom is about the money, is it?

Amy: Murder Comes to Makah is my debut work - I’m currently querying the novel, so the biggest advantage right now is being able to include the fact that it was selected as a finalist in my outgoing pitches. As well it’s a great advantage as a finalist to be able to move your query and your opening pages out of the slush pile and directly in front of an agent and editor who are relevant to your genre.

Margaret: Brand name recognition (designation as Daphne Finalist in query letter) and professional validation of the book: well-structured plot, believable character arcs, dramatic tension, dialogue, lucid prose, and a strong narrative voice. If I attend the NYC event in July, contact with the other finalists, editors, and agents associated with the contest.

Has the feedback you’ve received been beneficial?

Joyce: I haven’t received feedback yet. I think finalists have to wait until the end. They do take the feedback portion seriously though. I’ve read the question sheet and it’s fairly comprehensive. Certainly worth $15 or $30 if you can manage it. Everyone who enters gets honest feedback and that’s really helpful. Getting the comments from an established editor and agent is something I’m really looking forward to.

Amy: As I understand it we won’t receive feedback on the submissions until late July, after the awards are announced.

Margaret: The critiques have been very valuable. A year ago, I used them as the basis for my developmental edit. My editor agreed with the Daphne judges that my protagonist was a mess and so was the plot. 

The score sheets are detailed, but I learn the most from the editorial comments on the sheets as well as in the text. Finalists will not receive their score sheets until after the awards are announced. We submitted our final twenty-five pages and two-page synopsis without having the benefit of the judges’ critiques. 

Added bonus: Submission formatting mandates a header on the left including subgenre and page number on the right. It used to take me hours to accomplish this feat.