Crafting true crime is more than simply reporting the facts. It’s about weaving together imagination, facts and insights to take the reader on a journey of discovery. But how do you take copious amounts of research, case notes and interviews and turn it into a captivating story?
Ahead of her upcoming workshop, bestselling crime author and true crime podcaster Vikki Petraitis spoke to Writers Victoria Amelie Hughes about her process, how to get started, and how this unique genre has since influenced her crime fiction writing.
All of my fiction is influenced by true crime. Most of the crimes I feature in fiction have tentacles in real cases. On occasion, I’ve had keen true crime fans message me and say, ‘You based that on …’ because they know my work so well. Writing true crime has given me access to the most extraordinary people, and it is from them so much of my work’s heart is drawn from.
Congratulations on your new title, Dr Vikki Petraitis! Can you tell us a key learning from your recent Creative Writing PhD?
When I began my PhD, I got some very good advice: take it slow and learn as much as you can. Prior to this, writing was usually writing a book a year. I took this advice to heart and worked on the novel component of the PhD slowly and carefully. This way, it ended up taking four years. In that time, I learnt how to write fiction, create characters, and work in a different genre.
The ethics around true crime are complicated. Real people have suffered, and real people are represented in stories. – Vikki Petraitis
Returning to true crime, what responsibilities and ethics have you learnt during your time writing this genre?
The ethics around true crime are complicated. Real people have suffered, and real people are represented in stories. Right from the start, I adopted the practice of showing chapters to those I’d interviewed to give them the chance to add or change anything they wanted. This meant they knew how they would appear in the book and they were happy with their representation. Having said that, as a true crime author, you’re writing about people who’ve done bad things and their representation is going to be negative. In these cases, your responsibility is to the truth.
For those writers looking to step into true crime for the first time, do you have any advice when it comes to investigating cases?
In the beginning, I recorded interviews and typed them up afterwards. Doing this helped me see that I interrupted too much and sometimes, I would knock the speaker off-track. This taught me the art of listening. Podcasting reinforced this. When you interview someone, you can’t interrupt them because your voice will be on their recording. So, the best advice: be quiet and listen.
In the Vanishing of Vivienne Cameron, you write that part of the process is imagining the perspectives of real people involved in the case. What helps you find the balance between imagination in the investigative process and sticking to facts when it comes to writing?
At this stage in my writing career, these lines are all blurring. I take liberties now that I never would have in the past. It might look like this: ‘We don’t know what she was thinking in her final moments, but it could have been…’ With a lifetime of experience under my belt, I feel more qualified to step back and put a crime like what happened on Phillip Island into a broader perspective.
True crime is built brick by brick … It all comes together like a big jigsaw puzzle. – Vikki Petraitis
Many writers procrastinate by spending a lot of time in the research stage. How have you learnt when you have enough information to start writing?
I always use the research/write model. For example, I would do an interview with a detective, then as soon as I got home, I would write the scene the detective had just told me about. True crime is builtbrick by brick, and not necessarily in chronological order because access to people – especially police if they’re on leave – can be limited. It all comes together like a big jigsaw puzzle.
Looking to start your true crime writing journey? Join Vikki Petraitis in her upcoming course: Writing Compelling True Crime Stories.