Wise Words: Roxie Key
The crime thriller author Roxie Key’s debut novel The Deadly Spark is being well-received by readers, with many already asking for a sequel.
It is about a terrible fire where a mother and daughter are killed and the female lead detective’s quest to unravel the truth of why it happened.
Reception has also been fantastic from some of Roxie’s own writing heroes who have given it huge praise. Jane Casey, whose novels inspired Roxie to begin drafting her own manuscript described The Deadly Spark as ‘A gripping story of love, loss and murder.’ The Sun called it ‘An Addictive Read, Fabulous Magazine said, ‘this pacy, twisty thriller is a real page-turner and Heat Magazine’s review was ‘suspenseful and gripping’.
The root of Roxie’s talent began when she was young. She grew up in Bedford andwas always reading and drawing. Her favourite books were Beatrix Potter and the Enid Blyton Famous Five stories. When she was older this love moved on to the Narnia and Harry Potter books. She has particularly fond memories of her dad reading to her at bedtime. Now, Roxie and her wife Laura, read stories to their two year old daughter Hallie, who loves them.
Roxie said: “One of the first stories I wrote was when I was very small was about a boy and girl cat who had kittens with different superpowers. It was good fun. Then when I was around 14 and in the first year of GCSEs I wrote a story about a fire. My teacher talked to me about the possibility of being a writer which at that point I didn’t think could ever be a proper job.”
However, inspired by this advice Roxie went to Middlesex University to study Creative and Media Writing. While she was there she had two part-time jobs and one of them was working in a shop that sold baby products. To help support the business she started doing their marketing and digital media. This experience gave her the right credentials to become a copywriter for the global Avon brand, where she has worked for 10 years.
During her spare time after University Roxie was still writing and started trying her hand at fantasy novels like Harry Potter and the children’s series that she had loved. Despite her best efforts the genre never really clicked with her and they often stalled at around 7,000 words.
After that struggle her world changed through a random moment when a colleague brought a few novels in to work that were going to the charity shop. Roxie had never read crime but liked the look of Jane Casey’s debut novel, The Missing. She loved it and from that point she devoured any books Jane recommended.
Roxie said: “What I enjoy about crime fiction are good twists and strong female lead characters, where they are not perfect and innocent. It inspired me to have a go at writing crime myself. I did a local writing course near where I live in Northampton and in six months I had written the first draft of The Deadly Spark.
“The manuscript got rejected 50 times so I started a different novel. Then when Covid hit I was locked-in as Laura and I had to shield, so with spare time I entered the Penguin WriteNow competition. I was lucky enough to be long-listed. At a similar time, I was offered a deal with a new independent publisher. Then my now agent Maddalena Cavaciuti at David Higham Associates, saw the prologue of my book on Twitter and messaged me. After reading the full manuscript, she signed me with the agency straight away.
“Maddalena’s support was invaluable from day one. She worked with me to make the book the best it could be. We also decided to try for all of the major publishers which resulted in my contract with HQ, an imprint of HarperCollins.”
Roxie is currently two thirds through the sequel to The Deadly Spark and plotting out book three.
Explaining what she likes about writing crime she said: “I love this genre as you can use a bit of everything that makes a great book. You can have dramatic human emotions, complex relationships and even humour all within the same story.”
With such a great debut success under her belt Roxie is still very aware of the challenges of getting published. Her advice for aspiring authors is to get feedback and be ready for rejection. But she stresses it is important to ask only for views once the manuscript is finished as you could spend years tinkering around the edges. She also said it is important to grow a thick skin as soon as possible. And read avidly.
Talking about her publishing journey Roxie said she is most proud of her resilience in getting to this point, with The Deadly Spark selling well and stocked in bookshops around the country.
She said: “The journey to becoming an author hasn’t been straight forward. I had two miscarriages along the way, and became pregnant through IVF which were difficult times. Hallie doesn’t sleep well, but I managed to get through all of that and have my novel published. I had also avoided public speaking at school but will be talking on debut panels at major crime writing festivals including Bloody Scotland in September.
“My advice for any budding writer is to have courage and even if you think you can’t do it, you can.”
The Stand-Up Mam is full of funny family stories. Do you have any to share?
“My daughter has a fantastic sense of humour and is always making my wife and I laugh. At the moment she particularly likes walking around the house with a box on her head! She is always either laughing or absolutely furious. She also says the funniest things, for example, sea horse is sea sauce!”