I’m taking part in the Writing Process Blog Tour, invited to join in by Fleur Smithwick, author of How To Make a Friend, to be published by Transworld in January 2015.
I have to answer some questions on my writing process, then pass the baton to another writer. Here goes…
WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON?
I’m writing my second book at the moment; a psychological suspense novel about a woman accused of hurting her baby. It has a working title of Do No Harm, and I’m around 35,000 words in. I’m also sketching out the plot of book three, which arrived virtually fully formed this weekend and is shouting to be written. Book one, I Let You Go, is currently being typeset, in preparation for bound proofs, and will be out in eBook and trade paperback this November, and in paperback April 2015.
HOW DOES YOUR WORK DIFFER FROM OTHERS IN ITS GENRE?
I read a lot of psychological suspense, and although there are similarities between many authors, everyone has their own style, and it can be hard to pin-point the differences. A good psychological thriller relies on authenticity: the reader has to believe what is happening, in order to feel tense, scared or anxious about it. My police background helps me create realistic settings for my stories, but I think it’s the tragedy and grief I’ve been through which enables me to write emotional scenes to pull in my readers. I have always written, but I don’t think I wrote with as much depth before my son died.
WHY DO YOU WRITE WHAT YOU DO?
I never intended to write crime, and I had never heard the term psychological thriller, until I was sitting a literary agent’s office, hearing a detailed critique of my manuscript.
The first book I wrote was a funny, light-hearted chick-lit romp about single parenthood and a male nanny. Even as I wrote it I knew I wanted to write something with a bit more depth, but I Let You Go started life more as a mystery than anything else. Gradually the book became darker and more twisted; the shadows behind the main character became more real and more terrifying, and I became a fully-fledged author of psychological suspense.
Now I can’t imagine writing anything else. I draw on the most awful things that have happened to me, and on my innermost fears and paranoias, and I throw them at my characters to see what they do. I find it fascinating to see how they react, and a relief to see such terrible things happening only on my screen, not in my life!
HOW DOES YOUR WRITING PROCESS WORK?
Badly. I have no routine, and the days slip by far too fast. In term time I take the children to school, then start work at 10am. I almost always have something else to do that day – a meeting, or a working lunch, or some volunteer work – and I always get any outstanding features or columns done before I work on my book. The children come home at 4pm, and I often work again in the evening after they’re in bed. I spend far too much time fiddling with chapter numbering, chatting on Twitter, or answering emails.
When I have a deadline approaching I become much more productive. I get up at 5.30am and start work at 6am, stopping only to wake the children up at 7.30am, while I carry on until 8am. I always get a huge amount of work done in this pre-school time, but because I am incapable of going to bed before midnight, it isn’t sustainable for longer than two or three weeks.
Term ends on Tuesday afternoon, and book two is due at the end of August. It’s the worst possible timing, and with at least 60,000 words still to write (and three weeks holiday to factor in), I will be writing at every opportunity. For me the summer holidays will consist of early starts and late nights, with more television than is healthy for six and seven year olds, and lots of biscuit bribes.
Time for me to pass the baton on to another writer. I’m going to stick with the same genre, as I met psychological suspense author C L Taylor this weekend at Theakston’s Old Peculiar Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate. Her début novel The Accident, has sold more than 100,000 copies since it was released earlier this year, so I’d love to hear more about her writing process.