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 It is divided between published and unpublished novels.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Are you competing in the Published or Unpublished category?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Unpublished.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Amy: Unpublished.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Margaret: Unpublished.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.
