Reflections on My First Thrillerfest by Lisa Malice

 

I’m on a flight, jetting from the bustling, never-say-sleep metropolis of New York City, yearning for a little shut-eye after spending a whirlwind three days at my first ThrillerFest. The annual gathering of crime writers, literary agents, publishing house editors, others in the biz, and the occasional reader, is hosted by International Thriller Writers (ITW).

Though I’ve been a member of ITW since 2017, writing features and articles for its monthly online magazine, The Big Thrill, since 2021, I hadn’t attended Thrillerfest, the organization’s premiere event, because between travel, taxi, lodging, meals, and event registration, it’s the most expensive crime writers conference around. But money became irrelevant last September when I signed a contract with CamCat Books to publish my debut novel, Lest She Forget, a psych thriller. With advance money in hand, I quickly booked my room, paid my registration, and eagerly awaited my chance to mix and mingle with my fellow thriller writers.

My first Thrillerfest did not disappoint. The event was a reader wonderland of amazing authors, a veritable who’s who of NY Times and USA Today Bestellers--Walter Mosley, Michael Connelly, Karin Slaughter, Lisa Unger, J.T. Ellison, Meg Gardiner, Lisa Gardner, Karin Slaughter—just to name a few. I did do a bit of the fan-girl thing gawking at these writing-world celebs. As you might expect, the author panels were amazing—insightful, engaging, and, oftentimes, funny as all get out (some of these authors could make a living doing stand-up comedy if they had to).

I was especially excited to solidify friendships with authors whom I connected with via social media and podcasts over the last year, such as Karen Dionne and Kate White (started off with brief encounters at last year’s Bouchercon). I’d interacted with most of my fellow CamCat Publishing authors virtually, so hanging out with five attending Thrillerfest--Michael Bradley, Susan Ouellette, Jonathan Payne, Jen Delozier, and Meredith Lyons—really was a thrill. Especially fun was our lunch out at a was fabulous Italian restaurant courtesy of our generous publisher, Sue Arroyo.

My circle of friends I reconnect with at these crime author bonanzas grows bigger every year, simply from my eagerness to volunteer my time and skills to author organizations (SinC chapter officer, SinC National webinar producer/moderator, consulting editor for ITW’s The Big Thrill), attend conferences (Killer Nashville, 9 years; Bouchercon, 4 years), and participate in in-person and virtual author events.

One of the highlights of the conference for me was the Debut Authors Breakfast featuring a hearty breakfast buffet and a showcase of 24 authors whose books had debuted since the last Thrillerfest, including Nina Wachsman (an old friend from Killer Nashville) and Jonathan Payne (my fellow CamCat author). Lisa Gardner, ITW Vice President for Author Services, served as the host introducing each author, who then offered a one-minute pitch about themselves and their hard-earned debut novel. I truly enjoyed listening to each author’s spiel. Those I found most interesting combined a bit about the author with a short synopsis of the book. I’ll be on stage next year, so this preview of my own Debut Authors Breakfast was welcome!

As is my usual custom at these big please-we-need-volunteers conferences, I pulled a couple of shifts at the registration table to meet and greet people as they checked in and collected their conference materials. Traffic comes in fits and starts, so over the course of my two two-hour shifts, I had time to get to know other authors volunteering alongside me. These were some of the deepest conversations I had over the course of the conference. For me, it’s a terrific way to really connect with people and build that ever-growing community of author friends.

I also like to keep an eye out for people wandering around the nightly cocktail parties by themselves, most often, newbies to the conference and the crime-writing community. I was once one of those people, and I remember feeling so relieved when conference veterans went out of their way to engage with me and draw me into their group conversations.

At the Saturday night cocktail party, I happened to greet another conference-goer in the lobby and learned Susan was working on her first manuscript and just in awe of people she had met over the course of the last few days (she attended extra days devoted to teaching craft and honing pitching skills). We grabbed drinks and a table and soon another author joined us, none other than NY Times bestseller Mary Burton. We had a lovely conversation as Mary congratulated me on my upcoming debut and had words of wisdom for Susan.

I continued to introduce Susan to others as we milled about, then I invited her to join my table of CamCat authors for the Thriller Awards banquet. The night was a terrific opportunity for this newbie writer to see that even folks in the crime-writing community, even the biggest names in the business, are regular people, easy to talk with, and eager to meet others in their community. I imagine Susan and I will foster our newfound friendship via Facebook and greet each other like old friends at next year’s Thrillerfest.

And that, really, is what these conferences are all about, at least to me, meeting people who are as passionate about mystery, suspense, and thriller stories as I am. I welcome these in-person interactions and enjoy keeping the friendship growing over the years, not only to support each other in our publishing endeavors, but for the simple joy of sharing our love of stories.