Camilla Bolton joined Darley Anderson Agency in August 2007. She is an Associate Agent for Crime and Thriller fiction, having formerly been in newspaper journalism.
Which 3 authors, dead or alive, would you invite to dinner?
Stephen King, Roald Dahl and Maeve Binchy.
Email or phone?
Phone definitely as I’m not the best at spelling or grammar.
Cosy crime – passé or popular?
Good page-turning cosy crime will return, especially with authors like Alexander McCall Smith re-inventing it with a unique twist. So I’d say it’s zoomed past passé and is heading for popularity.
An author should always…Look at every word they write and make sure it’s 100% necessary. Excess words slow pace, stop stories and potentially bore readers.
Favourite desktop snack?
Coffee
Cliffhanger or reveal-all ending?
Reveal-all ending as I hate not knowing something.
You really must read…
Killing Floor by Lee Child.
Dan Brown is…
A great story teller and huge commercial success.
Daily Mail or The Times?
I’m very ashamed to confess that I rarely buy papers, I always intend to but never quite make it. Sadly I spend my time reading crime and thriller books.
Crime fiction is literary when…
It takes 5 pages to say what a commercial novel could manage in a paragraph. I know, it sounds a bit extreme, but literary crime fiction relies on words as well as plot and consequently the pace will be a lot slower.
Thanks, Camilla! And it's admirable that your only desktop snack is a cup of coffee!
10 comments:
Glad to see you think cosy crime is on the up, Camilla - I read a lot of that in my teenage years and I think it's great for children who are moving away from kidsfic.
x
Great interview - and great questions, Sam!
Camilla, if you are still about to answer questions, would love to know whether you think it's worth submitting work to more than one agent in the same agency - or does work get passed from agent to agent anyway? I know agents tend to specialise, but notice that sometimes several agents in the same agency seem to represent, for example, women's fiction.
Susiex
"Good page-turning cosy crime will return, especially with authors like Alexander McCall Smith re-inventing it with a unique twist. So I’d say it’s zoomed past passé and is heading for popularity."
As a writer of cosy crime I am thrilled to read this. Though the women's mags knew it already!
Interesting interview..thanks Sam and Camilla.
Great interview - with some fab questions too!
I agree that excess words slow the pace of a book and can be a distraction - it's good to hear that from an expert.
And it's interesting too that Camilla came from the world of newspaper journalism. I must admit, being a literary agent would be my dream career....job application form....????
I don't know if you guys are aware of just how the simplicity of your posts full of gems is such a boost. It's a bit like therapy - you know a lot of sensible things but you need to hear someone else say it back at you to 'hear' it again! You help to banish crippling self doubt - well a bit at least!
What a lovely thing to say, MOB, thank you so much:)
I could do with getting rid of my self-doubt, that's for sure.
Sam x
That was good fun and interesting! Thanks both.
Aaw, Mob!
That comment has made my day!
Aw, mine too...thank you, MOB.
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