Ben Westwood: 'I’ve always loved thrillers, but I wanted to write more than just a whodunnit'
BY Emily Powter-Robinson
15th Nov 2022
Ben Westwood took our six-month Writing Your Novel course back in September 2020. Two years later, his debut novel, Green Shoots, is out now with Cranthorpe Millner.
We spoke to Ben about his time spent studying with us and the inspiration behind his eco-thriller.
You took our Writing Your Novel – Six Months course back in 2020-2021. How did your time studying with us impact your writing journey?
The course was so useful, particularly the work on plot structure and synopsis writing. The feedback from tutors helped me address key aspects such as making the storyline credible and realistic, and the enormous amount of feedback on my excerpts from tutors and classmates was invaluable in making improvements. Most of all, the six-month course kept me highly motivated and, having only written about 6,000 words before it started, I finished the entire 70,000-word novel by the end of the course!
Many of our students find lifelong writing friends on our courses. Are you still in touch with anyone you met during the course?
It was online so we didn’t meet in person, and some classmates were in different countries, but we’ve kept in touch over email and WhatsApp and regularly swap experiences and tips. There were some hugely talented people on the course, writing a wide range of novels so we all learnt from each other and continue to do so.
Your debut novel Green Shoots is out now with Cranthorpe Millner. It has been described as a gripping eco-thriller about grief and revenge. Can you tell us a bit more about the novel and the inspiration behind it?
Green Shoots is a crime thriller with an environmental focus, set in Britain and South America. The main character grieving journalist John Adamson is brought back from the brink of suicide by a mysterious phone call informing him that his wife Christina’s death in Ecuador was not what it seemed. John is desperate to find out what really happened to her, but the man on the phone persuades him to also investigate a series of murders of businessmen in London. The deaths seem connected to industries that exploit the rainforest where Christina was researching – oil, timber and cattle ranching. John must work out the connections between these killings and his wife’s death, but it’s both difficult and dangerous.
The more personal aspect of the story is the internal conflict of John as he tries to recover from his wife’s sudden death, and the story documents his journey through grief to some form of healing. Here I draw on my own grief over losing my wife, so it was challenging to write but cathartic in many ways.
Putting an ecological spin on a thriller novel is such an interesting concept! Having authored and contributed to many travel guidebooks, you’re clearly an accomplished non-fiction author. What made you want to explore ecology in the form of a novel?
I’ve been a journalist for many years and protecting the environment has always been one of my main passions. I wrote a lot about ecology and eco-tourism as a travel writer and I’ll never forget my excursions to the rainforest. I’ve always loved thrillers, but I wanted to write more than just a ‘whodunnit’ and create a novel that contains resonant themes without being preachy.
Eco-activism is at the heart of Green Shoots. There’s an eco-vigilante on the loose, targeting corporate interests that threaten the rainforest. Towards the end of the book, he says: “The greatest battle of this century is between extractionists and ecologists.” That is the central theme – conflict between those who exploit and those who defend the Earth. Four environmentalists are killed every week worldwide, according to Global Witness – it’s a shocking statistic. Green Shoots poses the question: what if eco-activists behaved in the same ruthless way as the corporate world?”
You’re published by Cranthorpe Millner who are a hybrid indie publisher. For our readers who might not know, could you explain what a hybrid publisher is and why you decided it was the right decision for Green Shoots?
A hybrid publisher combines aspects of traditional publishing and self-publishing. They publish the book, but the author contributes to the costs. In return, the royalties are similar to self-publishing, therefore higher than traditional contracts. My publisher edited and designed the book, did a great cover, wrote the publicity and does some marketing, although it can be difficult to compete with the budgets of the multinationals.
My first preference was to get a good agent and get a traditional publishing deal, but this was very difficult. I sent the book to a lot of agents but I think the timing wasn’t good – during the pandemic all industries experienced upheaval, and book commissioning and backlogs were disrupted. I also think Green Shoots’ originality that stretches the thriller genre can be an asset but also in some ways a drawback when agents usually want to see a book that fits easily into an existing market. Eco-thrillers exist but it’s not a category on Amazon for example. It’s difficult to reach people interested in both ecology and thrillers at the same time and that’s a challenge I’ve grappled with when promoting the book.
The book came out in late September, has received a lot of very good reviews and won an award in the USA. I’ve been running promotions and been featured in a lot of media, so I’m happy with the results so far.
What books have you enjoyed reading lately?
I haven’t had time to read as many books as I’d like because writing, researching and promoting takes up a lot of time. I read I am Pilgrim recently, and consider it one of the best international thrillers. It’s very long – over 800 pages but it maintains a fantastic pace throughout and uncovers fascinating and important themes.
Finally, what’s next for your writing journey?
I am planning out the plot of another thriller. It also has a strong vigilante element but on a very different subject to Green Shoots – sexual abuse, hunter groups and high-level corruption. John Adamson from Green Shoots returns in it, although it’s not exactly a sequel because you don’t need to have read the first book. I’m fond of John because he fulfils such an important role – an investigative journalist holding power to account and getting to the truth, no matter the risks. People who do that are real-life heroes.
Buy your copy of Green Shoots here. For further information about Ben Westwood, visit his website.
Find out more about our Writing Your Novel course, our flagship six-month course based in central London. Open for applications now.