The Italian Job

When I first met Fiona Leitch she was in a grey cardigan imitating a sloth at an improv workshop for London Screenwriters Festival.

While this shrinking violet was too shy to have a bash, she was hanging off of a whiteboard with her own micro-climate. There's one to watch I thought and how right I was.

Recently chosen by Audible as one of their top three finalists in this year's fiction competition, though she didn't win the main price, the quality of her work was so good it's being published as an audiobook anyway. Huzzah!

'Dead in Venice' is the tale of famous, funny 40-something crime writer Bella, who travels to Venice to cure her writer’s block and ends up embroiled in a series of gruesome murders. It’s released on 6th September but is available right now to pre-order exclusively from www.audible.co.uk (free as part of a 30-day trial if you’re new to Audible!).

Since I'm always telling everyone to have a punt, I grabbed a gondola, downed a cornet and paddled hard to catch up with the girl herself.

So, Fiona, how did the idea of 'Dead in Venice' come about?

I’ve always been fascinated by Venice and wanted to visit. I finally got the chance to in 2015 when we moved back to Europe after 8 years in New Zealand. You can see the islands in the lagoon and even make out the tower of San Marco as you fly into Marco Polo airport, that first glimpse out of the plane window got my creative juices flowing! The minute the ferry from the airport turned into the Grand Canal I fell in love with the place.

Everyone sees the touristy bits like Piazza San Marco and the Rialto Bridge, but we always try to live like the locals for a week when we visit places, the bits off the beaten track (beaten canal?!) were fascinating. It’s a really easy place to lose yourself, mentally and physically! You only have to walk five minutes away from the squares full of tourists and suddenly you’re in a deserted, silent back street, normally ending in a dead end and a canal. That contrast really hooked me in – the atmosphere of the city, underneath all the plastic souvenir tat – and it really felt like a place where dark deeds could go unnoticed and bodies could end up at the bottom of a deep, black canal…

What was the hardest part to write and why?

The story is a bit like Venice itself – parts of it are light-hearted and frothy, while other parts are really dark. Bella is funny and a bit mouthy and her relationship with Will is the stuff of romance, but – getting the right contrast between that light and dark was a bit tricky. I think I’ve got it right (and so do Audible!) but I think it’s confused a few people, who’ve said rather snootily that the back-story of some of the characters/subplot is not a subject I should be making jokes about. Which I’m not, but there is a lot of humour in Bella herself.

What advice would you give to aspiring writers who would like to get their book, or audiobook published?

Keep going! ‘Dead in Venice’ has been (and continues to be) rejected by loads of agents and several publishers, yet most of the people who’ve read it really enjoy it. Keep writing, it’s just a matter of getting your work in front of as many people as possible until you find someone who loves it like you do.

If you make it big will you stand me a cornetto?

Depends how big I make it. If I make it really big I’ll get you a Vienetta as well…

(Better be an original, I'm a traditionalist! - Ed.)

Have you any other projects on the horizon?

Lots! I’ve got one screenplay with a producer in LA, so I’ve got my fingers crossed that gets made. Another romcom screenplay is currently doing the rounds of contests and producers and has got me an offer of work in the future with a spanking new production company which spans the UK and Hollywood. I’m 25,000 words into adapting another screenplay (set in Paris this time) to make into a novel.

Where would you like to be within the next free years and if it's somewhere sunny, can I visit?

I can tell you exactly where I’ll be and it should be sunny – I’m moving back to New Zealand next year and will (if all goes to plan) be living on a small-holding in the Coromandel growing strawberries, breeding alpacas and running writers’ retreats. And still writing, of course! And yes, you can come and visit, as long as you promise to help with the alpacas. Maybe I should breed sloths, too…

(Al'paca case, love!)

On that happy note, I left Fiona to wander nonchalantly along the love-soaked streets of Paris and ran off for a cornetto.

'Dead in Venice' available to pre-order now on Audible.