You Never Forget Your First ThrillerFest

By Amy Rogers

You never forget your first.

In 2007, with half a secretly-written manuscript and a dream, I confessed to my family that I wanted to be a novelist.  My first public act of affirmation was to join the local branch of California Writers Club, where I learned there are these things called “writers’ conferences.”  Eager to turn my half-book into an overnight success, I signed up for the closest one, the San Francisco Writers Conference.  SFWC, a well-run event designed for all types of writers, was an eye-opener.  I absorbed newbie lesson #1: I have a lot to learn—and a lot of work to do.  After that lesson, the next most important thing I brought home from my first writers’ conference was a flyer advertising a conference focused exclusively on the thriller genre.  This tempting event was held in glamorous, far-away New York.  ThrillerFest.

A year and a half later, I was there.

At my first ThrillerFest I did the whole shebang: CraftFest, AgentFest, ThrillerFest, Awards Banquet.  The first word to describe my experience: exhausting.  The second word: exhilarating.  With each passing year the ratio has improved: ThrillerFests became less exhausting and more exhilarating.

That first year was like drinking from a fire hose.  I drowned in information, networking, and pitching.  When it was over I dried myself off and assimilated what I’d learned.

In that spirit, here’s a summary of what I learned at my first ThrillerFest:

1.      Craft:  I came to ThrillerFest knowing my understanding of craft was deficient.  CraftFest classes were the tool I needed to fix the problem.  (Not that one can ever learn enough—I still attend CraftFest.)

2.      Community:  There are other people like me out there?  No way!  ThrillerFest allowed me to meet not only other writers, but writers who share my special interest in science, medicine, and technology.  We geeks seemed to find each other, to share conversations, ideas, and business cards.  Granted, at my first ThrillerFest I found myself eating dinner alone but over time I’ve built friendships that are now an important reason to make the annual trip to New York.

3.      Homework:  We all want to be better writers and to be more successful.  But how?  I’d heard that one of the smartest things a writer can do is read.  At ThrillerFest, I discovered which authors are the best of the best in our genre.  I assigned myself the task of reading their work in order to improve my own.  Writing a great book is a necessary step, after which the author has to pitch it.  At my first ThrillerFest I attended a how-to class on pitching and immediately practiced what I’d learned at AgentFest.  Keeping my pitching skills sharp is an ongoing task.

4.      Dreams and Goals: ThrillerFest is the place for newbies to dream.  What could be more inspiring to a budding author than to hear the stories of how others got started—and succeeded?  To meet one’s writing heroes in person, to learn from them, and to grasp that the path is long and hard but not impossible.  After my first ThrillerFest I glimpsed a future and made the first steps to get there.  It’s not only newbies who need inspiration.  No matter what stage you’re at in your writing career, ThrillerFest can recharge your batteries and rekindle the flame that made you a writer in the first place.

I was writing for years before my first ThrillerFest but in a way that event marked my birth as a writing professional.  I’m still growing up.  I don’t know what I will become.  But I know that whenever I can, I’ll celebrate my writing birthday at ThrillerFest every July.

*****

Amy Rogers, MD/PhD, is a writer, scientist, educator, and critic.  Her debut novel Petroplague is a science thriller in the style of Michael Crichton.  She is a member of International Thriller Writers’ Debut Class 2011-2012.  To connect with Amy visit ScienceThrillers.com, follow @ScienceThriller on twitter, or become a fan on Facebook.