Interview with Libby Fischer Hellman
Introduction
According to the Chicago Tribune, “Libby Fischer Hellmann has joined an elite club: Chicago mystery writers who not only inhabit the environment but also give it a unique flavor.” They were referring to her award-winning amateur sleuth series featuring Chicago video producer Ellie Foreman.
The series made its debut in 2002 with An Eye For Murder. Publishers Weekly called Eye a “masterful blend of politics, history, and suspense.” Kirkus Reviews called Ellie “the true stuff of working-mom sleuths.” The book was nominated for an Anthony Award for Best First and won the Readers’ Choice award for Best First at the Love is Murder conference. It was re-released as a trade paperback by Poisoned Pen Press in January, 2007. In an unusual partnership, all of Hellmann’s novels have been simultaneously published by Poisoned Pen Press (hard cover) and Berkley Prime Crime (mass market).
The second Ellie Foreman novel, A Picture Of Guilt, was released July, 2003. It won the Reader’s Choice award for Best Traditional Series at the 2004 Love is Murder conference, and was a finalist in the Benjamin Franklin Awards (mystery-suspense category) given by Publishers Marketing Association. An Image Of Death, the third book in the series was released in February, 2004. Publishers Weekly called it “a powerful tale,” and the Chicago Sun-Times “recommends it highly, even if you don’t live in Illinois.” Her fourth novel, A Shot To Die For, was released in September, 2005. The Chicago Sun Times raved, saying “Hellmann reaches next level with latest mystery novel.” It won the Readers Choice Award for Best Traditional Novel at the Love is Murder conference.
Libby also writes short stories. “House Rules” (Murder in Vegas, Forge) was nominated for an Agatha and an Anthony Award in 2006, and she is currently editing a crime fiction anthology, “Chicago Blues,” which will be released by Bleak House Books in October, 2007. In 2005-2006 she was the National President of Sisters in Crime, a 3000 plus member organization committed to strengthening the voice of female mystery writers. The organization, founded by Sara Paretsky, is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.
When not writing, Libby conducts speaker training programs in platform speaking, presentation skills, media training, and crisis communications. She also writes and produces videos. A transplant from Washington, D.C., Libby has lived in the Chicago area nearly thirty years. She has a Masters Degree in Film Production from New York University, and a BA in history from the U. of Pennsylvania.
Libby lives on the North Shore of Chicago with her family and a Beagle, shamelessly named Shiloh. She is represented by the Ann Rittenberg Literary Agency.
Did you always want to be a writer?
Yes and no. I grew up around “words” and was a voracious reader… But I wanted to be a filmmaker, either producing or writing screenplays. I did study film, got an MFA, and worked as an industrial film producer for many years. Then a funny thing happened. I was always reading – and I loved suspense. Particularly the early thrillers of LeCarre, Ludlum, Follett, Deighton. However, after a while, the lack of differentiation between them (the world’s going to blow up, the hero saves the world, then fades into the sunset with his woman) started to bother me. I was grumbling to my mother one day, and she handed me a copy of Jeremiah Healy’s The Staked Goat. I read it, loved it, and proceeded to get hooked on mysteries. Over the next 15 years, I read widely – some were just beautiful, but some were so bad I would throw them against the wall without finishing. About ten years ago, I decided I to try my hand at it.
In a recent article in the Mystery Writers of America bulletin, “The 3d Degree,” multipublished James W. Hall advised aspiring writers to intensively study their favorite writers—rather than take classes or courses in writing. Did you take any writing courses? Anyone in particular whose work you studied before you began to write?
I did not take any writing courses until I’d finished my first mss, and I absolutely agree with James Hall. In fact, I’m going to be blogging about that very thing. But, more to the point, AFTER I finished my first mss, I joined a writer’s group. I’m still in it, and they have done more for my skills as a writer than any class I can think of. Since then, of course, I’ve gone to lots of workshops and panels and learned more… but there’s nothing like applying one’s seat to the chair. And reading.
Does each book get easier? Harder?
Harder. Much harder. I know what doesn’t work, but I’m still never sure what will work, or how far I can stretch as a writer.
Advice for new writers (aside from “Apply the seat of your pants to the seat of your chair”)?
Join a writer’s group. I realize that’s easier said than done. I think the best groups are those that are limited, ie I’m in a mystery writers’ group, and I think that’s more beneficial than a group where there are other genres or poets or even non-fiction writers. So it might take some time to find – or start – a group. But it can make such a difference! Of course, you have to be willing to take criticism. Which can be hard for some people. But that’s where my experience helped… I worked in a corporate environment for a long time and learned not to take things personally. Especially when clients re-wrote my stuff, with no idea of the correct grammar, sentence structure, or punchy language.
It seems that your own experience might be inspirational for new writers. You were dropped by your first agent, who hadn’t been able to sell your manuscripts. Then you found a new agent who sold a new manuscript in 10 weeks. That book was nominated for an “Anthony” award—best first novel. Moral of that story?
Don’t give up, if you are serious. And listen to what professionals are telling you. The best thing that ever happened to me was getting dropped by my first agent. I’d been writing about two cops… both of them male. He told me to “change my plot… my characters…my voice…” Yes, he told me to change agents too, but when I finally picked myself up off the floor, I did follow his advice. The result was the first Ellie book, An Eye for Murder.
How much of yourself do you put into the heroine of your series, Ellie Foreman?
I think of Ellie as a separate person, but my friends say that reading her is like going out to lunch with me. So I suppose I do put a lot of myself into her. But she is different.. she’s braver, more noble, and more sympathetic. Taller and thinner, too.
At a recent meeting of literary agents in New York, a major publisher said that there are two red-hot genres right now, one of which is mysteries. What is the seemingly eternal appeal of the mystery form?
Don’t forget to include thrillers in the genre…they may be even “hotter” than straight mysteries these days. There are several reasons, I think, for the popularity of the genre. One is that we live in a scary, frightening, dark world where justice is not always served. In a mystery or thriller, though, the perpetrator usually is stopped, and justice is served. It may be a noir kind of justice… the protagonist might lose his job, his spouse, his optimism, but the bad guys are usually stopped. In a perverse way, that’s reassuring. We can go to bed knowing the world is a slightly safer place because of the story.
The other reason is a kind of voyeurism. We love to get scared.. we love to watch how a community or family or town tips into chaos, which is what happens when a murder is committed. Order is disrupted, and everything is up for grabs. It’s the job of the protagonist to set the world back in order, and I think we love to watch that whole process of order-chaos-restoration. Suspense is also a real motivator… how many of us stay up late turning the pages just to see how it will all turn out? I know I do. Finally, there’s a redemptive quality about mysteries and thrillers. Often the protagonist is solving a crime or preventing a disaster because he or she will be redeemed in some way by doing so. And I think people love to see that forgiveness, that redemption happen.
What works best in publicizing your books?
If I knew the answer to that, I’d be rich and famous and on the New York Times Best Seller list. It’s impossible to say, although I do believe there is a limit to what an author can do individually. If your publisher isn’t behind you, to the extent of investing co-op dollars at the chains, there is going to be a wall that is hard to penetrate. On the other hand, I believe that online resources are going to be extremely important as we go forward, and I think authors would be well served to list their books with as many as possible.
You are a public relations professional, you are the president of the 3,000-member Sisters in Crime, you have recently started a blog with other Chicago mystery writers…..when do you find time to write?
Ha… I’m actually retired from Sisters in Crime, and have become a goddess. So I have more time now.
So what’s coming next?
Two things are on my plate right now – I’m editing a crime fiction anthology called “Chicago Blues” that will feature some of the best Chicago authors and stories ever assembled – including Sara Paretsky, Stuart Kaminsky, Max Allan Collins, Kris Nelscott, Sean Chercover, Joe Konrath, and, of course me. And more. It will be out in October, 2007, from Bleak House Books.
My next novel is a “spin-off” from the Ellie series. It features Georgia Davis, who was a major character in the third Ellie book, An Image of Death. At that time she was a cop – now she’s a PI. It’s called Easy Innocence—it’s very dark, and it will be out sometime in 2008.
I’m also currently writing a thriller, set in Chicago, and tentatively called “Broken Angel.”