One of the things that makes Jennifer Mortimer’s new crime novel Trilemma different, is that the protagonist is a female chief executive.

‘Often in fiction corporate/career women are portrayed very negatively,’ she says. ‘Why can’t they just be good at their job? In Trilemma I wanted to portray life realistically for an executive woman—that’s one of the things that makes the novel unusual.’

And it’s worked. Judges for the 2015 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel have named Trilemma as one of nine finalists, giving Jennifer a huge boost with her writing. Below she talks more about being a finalist, how she sees the craft of writing (crime writing in particular), and how to get published…

What was it like when you found out you’d made the longlist in the Ngaio Marsh Awards? I was stunned. Especially because I hadn't put my book forward, so it was a bolt from the blue. Cliché. Maybe a byte from the ether...

What does being on the longlist mean to you as a writer? It made a huge difference because I’d been struggling to maintain motivation in my writing—I was thinking of giving up writing completely. At the same time I was contacted about the Award, I heard my feature film was rejected yet again for seed funding, so having this appreciation from Craig Sisterton and the Ngaio Marsh team encouraged me to fight on, trying to get the next pages written, trying to make the words better.

How do you go about blending ‘truth’ and ‘fiction’ in your books? Ah. That would be telling. In my corporate world things happen which are striking, or just very human, and you want to reflect those experiences back. But most importantly I wanted to portray life as an executive woman. So often corporate /career women are portrayed very negatively, as if all they need is to find themselves, or find a good man to lean on, or a lovely soulful change in life just appreciating nature...well hello? What's wrong with being good at your job?

What are the challenges in writing crime fiction? Finding something new to write about, and a new twist. There are a couple of unusual aspects to Trilemma. One is the protagonist being a woman chief executive. The other is—it would be a spoiler if I told you, but by the end of the book, you will be surprised and I hope you'll think ‘wow, I didn't see that coming’, and then say ‘oh how clever, there were clues but I didn't piece it all together...’

What are the rewards in writing crime fiction? Planting those clues and misdirections, and then having people appreciate them.

How did you start writing? I’d always wanted to write, but life took over, and it wasn't until I had some unexpected downtime that I decided to actually do it. I read a couple of books about writing (as it turns out the wrong ones) and then I began. The first book I wrote was awful and shall never see the light of day. I tried a second one which was a bit better. Trilemma is my third attempt, and was the book I took through the Whitireia writing course. What a revelation the course was! It’s imperative to learn the craft of writing. Add to that good mentoring from experts—I was so very lucky to have the wise Mandy Hager as my tutor, and mentoring from Barbara Else and later Vanda Symon. And then you have to keep writing, keep practicing that craft, year on year. You won't be good enough to get published until you've written and rewritten at least 1000 pages.

How is Trilemma going out in the world? It’s doing modestly well in the US. I got some good reviews and a couple of bad ones, which is good—it means people are reading it, not just friends and family! Trilemma is quite 'NZ', but isn't physically available in NZ, so locals have to download an eBook or order from Amazon, which is a lot more of an effort and cost. I have had some copies printed locally but I haven't tried to distribute them yet.

Where to next with your writing? I have three books on the go because I haven't finished the sequel to Trilemma. I'm calling it writer's block, but really I don't think the story is good enough and it’s torture to keep working it. After I heard about the longlisting, I decided to give up on that manuscript and start a new story, with fresh characters, and using third person point of view. I'm enjoying writing again. I do have a manuscript which is in a good state to be published, but it’s the prequel to Trilemma, and my publisher says you can't put out the prequel until you've published the sequel. Damn.

And lastly, what advice would you give to others trying to be published in this area? To learn the craft of writing it’s almost mandatory to go on a writing course like Whitireia’s. You have to have some good ideas, and the tenacity to execute them well. Be prepared to kill off the crappy bits in your manuscript. Keep editing and tightening because there’s a secret to getting published and it’s this: you have to write a book that’s good enough. If your first book isn't good enough, then keep writing until you create one that is, and then make it better.

Jennifer Mortimer has a Graduate Diploma in Creative Writing from the Whitireia Creative Writing course. She’s not sure when the winner of the Ngaio Marsh Award is announced. ‘I don’t want to ask—I plan to bask while I can!’ And for those of you who haven’t yet googled it, a trilemma is a situation, analogous to a dilemma, in which there are three almost equally undesirable alternatives.

Jennifermortimer.com  

Check out the Facebook page for the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel
https://www.facebook.com/NgaioMarshAward

For more information on the novel writing course at Whitireia http://www.whitireia.ac.nz/courses/Pages/GraduateDiplomainCreativeWriting.aspx?return=/AreasOfInterest/Creative-Writing