Author in Focus: Katherine Howell
Author in Focus: Katherine Howell
Interviewed by: Kylie Fox
Katherine Howell is the author of the best-selling series featuring Detective Ella Marconi; “Frantic”, “The Darkest Hour”, “Cold Justice” and “Violent Exposure”.
Katherine worked as a paramedic for fifteen years which gives her an insight rarely seen in other crime novels. She has also completed her Bachelor and Masters degrees in creative writing.
In 2008, “Frantic” won the Davitt Award for best crime fiction of the year and was followed in 2009, by the Davitt Reader’s Choice Award for “The Darkest Hour.”
Katherine’s books are published in more than eight countries, have been featured in major newspapers and on bestseller lists and one was even selected by P&O Cruises as a book club pick.
Katherine is currently completing the fifth book in the series (which we hope to be able to get our hands on soon.)
I was lucky enough to ask Katherine a few questions.
Kylie: You’ve worked as an animal handler, a sales assistant and, of course, a paramedic and you’ve
studied both science and writing – all leading up to becoming a best-selling author. How do these very different lines of work and study compare? Do you see any similarities between them?
Katherine: One similarity between those jobs is sensitivity towards the animal or person you’re interacting with, and also a need to be in-the-moment: you’re looking after that one person or animal at that one time and whatever else is going on around you has to come second.
Regarding the study, I guess there is a similarity in that science pulls apart and analyses things, events, and situations, and in my writing degrees I did the same with the books I studied and the ones I wrote and rewrote (and rewrote).
As for between the areas of work and study, I think the sensitivity is what they have in common, particularly in the writing, where I need to have a feeling for the people in the story and for the readers as well.
Kylie: Alongside Detective Ella Marconi, your books feature paramedics in the main roles. There is a certain amount of sexism faced by the female characters in the police force and the ambulance service in your books – how does that relate to your own experiences? Have you seen any change in those attitudes?
Katherine: The police force and ambulance service are historically male-dominated workplaces. When I joined the ambulance service in 1990 the numbers of women in the job were still fairly low and a few men I worked with held onto the attitude that we shouldn’t be there. A fair percentage of the public was shocked to see a female walk in their door too! I was fortunate in that I didn’t suffer overt bullying (although I was the target of the ‘dog food’ crack made by the bully in Cold Justice) but some of the stories I heard from other female officers were awful, particularly from those who’d been posted to rural areas. A number of the tactics used by the bully in Cold Justice were based on these stories. I believe that things are slowly improving though, probably as people are held to account and because the times and the male:female ratio are also slowly changing.
Kylie: You’ve spoken of the emotional toll that being a paramedic took on you. Obviously, this helps in conveying the power into those scenes when you write but does it ever hinder you? Do you ever find that
some of that emotion is just too difficult to write about?
Katherine: Writing about it does bring it all to mind again but I’ve never found anything too hard to put on paper. What does bring me undone is talking about it. Twice now I’ve cried on radio, and more than a few times I’ve come close. It’s partly remembering specific cases but I think also being in a job like that or the police changes you: I described it in one of those interviews as feeling ‘raw’, like a protective skin has been peeled off my heart. I keep thinking it’s grown back and then I talk about jobs I did and I realise it hasn’t. It’s been five years, so perhaps this is just me now.
Kylie: Being a paramedic is often a difficult job but must bring with it a certain level of personal satisfaction. Do you get a similar level of personal satisfaction from your writing?
Katherine: I gained a lot of satisfaction from helping people when I was a paramedic, and I gain a lot now when the writing’s going well and I can look at a finished scene and know that’s exactly what I was aiming for, but on those hard days when the words won’t come and it all seems like a pile of dog throw-up I sometimes think being a paramedic was easier. It’s a short-lived delusion, though. It’s very satisfying too to hear from readers who were completely lost in this world that I conjured up, but day-to-day it’s overcoming the mental struggle with the writing and then producing good work that keeps me going.
Kylie: “Violent Exposure” is the fourth in the series featuring Detective Ella Marconi – are we likely to see more of her? What about in the television or film medium?
Katherine: Yes indeedy! Ella’s back in book 5 which I’m finishing now, and which will be out either late this year or early next, and I’m contracted for a sixth which will be out a year after that. I’m hoping to continue on from there too. Ella’s got a lot of life in her yet.
There’ve been a few nibbles from TV producers but nothing more yet. I would love to see it picked up though.
Kylie: For you, what is harder: writing that first book and hoping that it’s good enough or, writing the fourth (or fifth?) book in an already-loved series and hoping that you can repeat that success?
Katherine: They’re both hard but in different ways. With the first book you’re not sure if you can do it well enough; with the fifth you’re not sure if you can do it well enough AGAIN. The story options start to narrow as well: I think back to the key events of each book and think, okay, a child-kidnapping is out, a cold case is out ….
There’s also the reader factor: I so appreciate my readers and I want to give them a better book each time, but how do I do that?
One thing that is easier is the knowledge that the writing always feels bad. I used to worry that I was doing
something wrong because it felt so awful and I was filled with such self-doubt. Now I know that’s just how it is. I keep a diary with each book and they’re all full of me whining about ‘how come this one is so hard?’ then I look back through the previous diaries and it’s all the same.
Kylie: What’s next for Katherine Howell?
Katherine: Finishing book 5 first of all! Deadline is the end of the month. Then work on my PhD thesis, which is a study of female doctors in crime fiction, and the novel I’m writing for that too, and also book 6. I’m teaching a few workshops this year too.
For more information on Katherine Howell, her books and public appearances and signings, visit her website or catch up with her on Facebook.
