5 Questions With Jen Williams

The Bitter Twins by Jen Williams. Advance Reader Copy (ARC) from the publisher, Headline, included. No affiliate links used. You can read my full disclosure policy here. 

Today’s 5 questions with… interview is a little different because my husband, Paul, asked the questions. Publication of Jen Williams’ books has either coincided with our wedding anniversary or Paul’s birthday, so they have always made up a part of my gifts to him. So when the opportunity arose to interview Jen as part of the blog tour for her latest novel The Bitter Twins, it seemed appropriate to hand the reins over to Paul.

In fantasy there is an adage, you have to start with a map; are you a mappest or do you begin somewhere else? If so, where?

I’m not a big map person, which is a bit of a controversial stance when it comes to fantasy writing, I know! I do always start out with clear images of the places I will be writing about – so in the Winnowing Flame series, a lot of the story takes place around a huge abandoned city called Ebora, and part of it starts in a place on the coast called The Winnowry. As I begin the first draft I know vaguely where they are in relation to each other, and as other places crop up, I fit them into my mental map. I do like to be able to add in new places in future books as the story needs them, which is partly why my books don’t have maps in the front. The truth is that all my books start with the characters first: who they are and what they want are the beginnings of everything.

The character Copper Cat is a fully realised arse-kicking female heroic character. Did you have to invent her from scratch or were there other fantasy characters you could draw inspiration from?

I had decided that I wanted to write a fun sword and sorcery adventure, something purely to please myself, and Wydrin just turned up fully formed in my head. Sometimes I think these characters hide somewhere in the recesses of your mind, just waiting for the opportunity to rock up and start causing trouble… If I were looking for influences, I would certainly look to Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser stories, a pair of characters who bear the DNA, in some sense, for Wydrin and Sebastian.

The new trilogy is noticeably larger in scale than the Copper Cat. Did the success of the Copper Cat give you the confidence to write a much longer tale, or is that just how long the story had to be?

When I finished the Copper Cat trilogy I knew that I wanted to write more fantasy, but I also knew I wanted to challenge myself. The Copper Cat books are essentially a love letter to the golden age of sword and sorcery, so each book is almost its own self-contained adventure. With the Winnowing Flame, I wanted to embrace the ‘epic’ of epic fantasy fully, and tell a properly sprawling story. Gods help me.

Writing is a solitary process. Do you have a routine so that you don’t get completely lost in the world(s) you are creating?

I think that really, getting lost is the objective rather than a thing to be avoided… I’m a freelance writer at the moment, so I’m often doing lots of different bits of writing during the day. The parts of my schedule where I get to write the novel are sort of like a holiday, something I can really enjoy. I also work in a bookshop a couple of days a week, which is lovely, because I get to look at all the new books coming in – it’s like touching base with the wider literary world.

I love hearing what other people are passionate about reading, even if they can’t narrow it down to favourite book. Which book do you wish you could thrust into the arms of strangers and demand they read it immediately?

Oh, so many. Possibly Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, although if you thrust that into someone’s arms they’d probably fall over. A less heavy-weight option would be The Last Unicorn, a beautiful little book that is both surprisingly funny and achingly sad.

Jen Williams started writing about pirates and dragons as a young girl and hasn’t ever stopped. Her short stories have featured in numerous anthologies and her debut novel, The Copper Promise, was published in 2014 to huge acclaim. Jen was nominated in the Best Newcomer category at the 2015 British Fantasy Awards and her following two novels, The Iron Ghost and The Silver Tide were both shortlisted for the British Fantasy Awards Novel of the Year. Jen lives in London with her partner and their cat.

Follow Jen on: Twitter  and Patreon.

I don’t use affiliate links, but if you like what I do you can show your support by buying me a coffee here.

5 Questions With Olive Collins

The Tide Between Us by Olive Collins. Advance Reader Copy from the publisher, Poolbeg, included. No affiliate links used. You can read my full disclosure policy here.

Well crafted and well researched, The Tide Between Us* doesn’t shy away from the harshness of indentured servitude while, also, highlighting the preferential treatment they received compared to chattel slavery. It is an absorbing story about family connections, in all their complicated glory.

Thank you to Olive Collins for taking the time to allow me pick her brain about all things writing and research.

How would you describe The Tide Between Us in five words?

Historical tale of inevitable acceptances

The story spans 1821 – 1991, switches from Jamaica to Ireland and is told from the perspective of Art and Yseult. How did you ensure that each character and time period has their own distinct voice and presence?

Art is the protagonist of part 1. He is old and wise by the time he tells his tale. He spent most of his life in Jamaica, the setting and atmosphere were very different to Yseult’s character. On the other hand, Yseult is also elderly however she’s irreverent and keeps the world at arm’s length, stalked by the secrets she keeps. Art can look back on his life with acceptance and fondness whereas Yseult can’t bear to look back for too long.

It’s clear that a lot of research went into this novel. Did you plan it in detail beforehand or dip in and out of research while you were writing?

I didn’t plot at all. A few years ago I read about Irish children who were deported to Jamaica, quite often I thought about the children. I imagined the boat they travelled in, the people who met them in their new exotic country, the culture shock, the weather. I had one year to write the novel and armed only with my imagination I began Art’s back story in Kerry and then the boat trip. With each chapter and progression of Art’s life I researched and then included what I’d read. Occasionally I left gaps and would later fill them in. The research for this novel was enormous; however I was sating my curiosity with each step of Art’s journey. Writing about slave emancipation was a wonderful treat; the slaves made such wonderful strides for independence and worked so hard. It was as if my characters were real living friends and I was rooting for them and rejoicing with each of their successes. I read memoirs, journals, academic papers and for 1 full year I was utterly immersed in the lives of my characters.

Writing is a solitary process. Do you have a routine so that you don’t get completely lost in the world(s) you are creating?

 Because I was working under such a tight deadline, I had to get immersed in their lives. My routine was rigid. I have a full-time job which I finished at 5pm. I’d begin writing at 6pm until midnight. My bedtime reading was research. Everything that happened in my life was seen through the eyes of my characters.

I love hearing what other people are passionate about reading, even if they can’t narrow it down to a favourite. Which book do you wish you could thrust into the arms of strangers and demand they read immediately?

There are so many, one that springs to mind is Isabel Allande – The House of Spirts. With her Chilean setting, memorable characters and an intriguing period, it’s one of the few books that I’ll read again.

Olive Collins grew up in Thurles, Tipperary, and now lives in Kildare. For the last fifteen years, she has worked in advertising in print media and radio. She has always loved the diversity of books and people. She has travelled extensively and still enjoys exploring other cultures and countries. Her inspiration is the ordinary everyday people who feed her little snippets of their lives. It’s the unsaid and gaps in conversation that she finds most valuable.

Follow Olive on Facebook and Twitter. 

I don’t use affiliate links, but if you like what I do you can show your support by buying me a coffee here.

5 Questions With Margot Livesey

Mercury by Margot Livesey. Advance Reader Copy (ARC) from the publisher, Sceptre, via bookbridgr. No affiliate links used. You can read my full disclosure policy here.

Mercury took me by surprise, when I read it back in April. It’s a slow moving, yet enthralling, exploration of love, marriage, obsession, and deceit. With a side of crime.

When the opportunity arose to ask Margot Livesey some questions, I jumped at the chance.

How would you describe Mercury in five words?

Ambition, horses, myopia, infidelity, family.

The novel is broken into three sections; Donald’s perspective, Viv’s perspective and then Donald’s again. How important was it that we experience things from Viv’s point of view?

I had originally conceived of the novel as being told entirely from Donald’s point of view – an optometrist who loses sight of his wife – but as Viv began to behave more and more badly, it seemed essential that the reader get her point of view and can understand why she make the choices she does.

What drew you to write about horses in Mercury?

I grew up on the edge of the Scottish Highlands, riding half broken ponies at a nearby farm. Later I had the opportunity to ride a wonderfully well-trained horse – a gelding named Ginger – and glimpsed what that could be like. And I read many, many books about horses, ranging from National Velvet to Jilly Cooper’s latest. When I decided to write about an ambitious woman, I wanted her ambition to be focused on something more questionable than e.g. finding a cure for diabetes. Horses, which inspire huge devotion in some people and leave others cold, seemed the perfect focus for Viv. And I loved getting to visit various stables.

Writing is a solitary process. Do you have a routine so that you don’t get completely lost in the world(s) you’re creating?

On a good day I go to my desk as soon as I get up and stay there, with trips to the kitchen for coffee and sustenance, until lunch-time. I write at a computer that is never allowed to go online so when I do need to check a fact – did Henry VIII have a parrot? – I have to go to my laptop in another room. Sadly I seldom have a chance to get lost in the worlds I’m trying to create. Usually the need to respond to my students, pay my bills, and fix the roof, calls me back to this world.

I love hearing what other people are passionate about reading, even if they can’t narrow it down to a favourite. Which book do you wish you thrust into the arms of strangers and demand they read it immediately? 

I think everyone should stop and read Elizabeth Bowen’s The House in Paris. The two children at the heart of the novel are so fierce and relentless – they re-enact King Lear every day – and Bowen writes wonderfully about romantic passion. So much is left unsaid between her various lovers.

Mercury by Margot Livesey is published by Sceptre, an imprint of Hodder & Stoughton, and is available in paperback and ebook format.

I don’t use affiliate links, but if you like what I do you can show your support by buying me a coffee here.

5 Questions With Caroline Farrell

Lady Beth by Caroline E. Farrell. No affiliate links used. You can read my full disclosure policy here.

Beth has never told her son who his father is. She wants nothing more than to protect him, so it’s best he doesn’t know. The memories are too painful for Beth and there is nothing to be gained by revisiting them. Then tragedy strikes and Beth is lefty with no option but to deal with the aspects of her past she would rather forget.

Jesse wants to live his life, his own way, without his mother watching his every move. Why must she be so clingy? Can’t she see how suffocating she is being?

Lady Beth is a fast-paced tale of Dublin’s underworld; a tale of the affects of crime and drugs not only on those involved, but on the people around them. Farrell’s writing is taut and grabs your attention immediately.

Lady Beth is told from multiple perspectives, how did you ensure that Jesse, Rebecca and Beth each have a distinctive voice?

Fictional characters can live in my head for a very long time before I put them to page and in the case of Lady Beth; these characters first appeared in a screenplay version about eight years ago. Despite leaving them alone for periods of time as I moved on to work on other projects, they were never far from my thoughts, and of course, time allowed them to evolve. As their voices grew louder, so too did their unique three-dimensional qualities. Particularly in the case of Jesse and Rebecca (and Frankie), these characters are so young, each living a very different and flawed experience. Not yet fully-formed adults, but almost, living on the cusp of self-realisation while full of contradictions too, which influences every decision they make on their troubled paths. The themes explored in Lady Beth are universal while the rawness of the language and their environment are unique to the Irish context. My own backyard. I created complex back stories, with more layers than would ever appear in the book, which gave me a sense of their identities, and each of them a separate and authentic voice. Once their personalities were established in my head, it was easier to get under their skins, and to write from their viewpoints as distinct individuals. Even now, they still feel very real to me.

Self publishing generates a lot of discussion. Can you tell us a bit about how you found the process and why you felt it was the right choice for you?

I quite enjoyed the challenge of the process. As an independent filmmaker, a storyteller, putting work out there goes with the territory, so I have developed a thick skin! And I did my homework, so went in with the understanding that publishing independently is hard work, very hard work. It is also very time consuming. A professional edit is costly, but essential. A professional cover design is also essential, and story is king – I can’t tell you how many drafts I wrote – so, so many! I had sent earlier drafts to three different agents and a couple of publishers – the responses were encouraging, but no-one was biting. My dilemma was should I continue to put so much energy into submission after submission with no guarantees, or just go ahead and publish independently and see what the reaction might be. And how best to use my creative time, which for all writers in the real world, is so, so precious. I made the decision to just get on with finishing it, to get it out there and to move on to the next project. Of course, I had those nail-biting moments of self-doubt, but I had to just go with it and trust the process. If the book bombed or disappeared without a trace, the risk was mine and mine alone. And I would just get cracking on the next one and strive to write better. Luckily, early feedback is so encouraging. It would be lovely to have a traditional publisher at my back, particularly for the marketing, promotion and reviewer connections, which are the most difficult of all the elements of going Indie with a project. Luckily for me, I have had encouraging support from some very generous authors, reviewers, librarians, bookstores and book lovers. I understand the difficulties faced by traditional publishers, the digital world has certainly changed the game in terms of publishing opportunities and how readers can access the material they want to read. I think the divide between trad and Indie is narrowing all the time, and personally, I just want to write and get my work out there. The Reader decides if it is any good, and their opinion is gold.

Writing is a solitary process. Do you have a routine so that you don’t get completely lost in the world(s) you’re creating?

I’m fine with solitude. I’m not a morning person, so getting up early to write would never work for me. I tend to do a lot of imagining and plotting late into the night – the witching hour – though I can write at any time of the day. I’m a notebook nerd, have quite a collection, and I’ll jot down stuff, anything that inspires me that might later grow into stories. I’m lucky that I don’t live alone as I can lose track of time when I am writing – I even forget to eat!

You are also a filmmaker. When you have an idea, do you immediately know which medium it belongs in?

Not immediately, no, but it will come naturally once I am into the business of actual writing. Drama is action, the narrative of a screenplay being very structured and allowing for the white space, so it’s a process of paring the writing down and down – a very defined medium of storytelling. My scripts are mainly character-driven, with story development requiring the same level, and length, of process as when writing prose. In terms of subtext, I’m writing copious amounts of notes anyway, as is the case with Lady Beth, and I’ll end up with enough material to write the story in both formats if the creative energy is there.

I love hearing what other people are passionate about reading, even if they can’t narrow it down to a favourite. Which book do you wish you thrust into the arms of strangers and demand they read it immediately?

A great question – and very difficult to pick just one! I’ll go with a classic, The Picture of Dorian Gray, which is one of my absolute favourites – an amazing work of gothic fiction. Oscar Wilde, so ahead of his time – a complete legend. Imagine if he was alive today – superstar! Controversial for its time in its exploration of vanity, obsession with youth, beauty, addiction and desire, and as vibrant today as when it was first published, it is also a compelling novel of mystery and suspense.

Caroline Farrell is a writer and filmmaker from Dublin, Ireland. She is the author of the novels Lady Beth and Arkyne, Story of a Vampire. She has also written several feature length and short screenplays. Lady Beth is available in paperback and ebook format.

I don’t use affiliate links, but if you like what I do you can show your support by buying me a coffee here.

5 Questions With Tiffany McDaniel

The Summer that Melted Everything by Tiffany McDaniel. Advance Reader Copy (eARC) from the author included. No affiliate links used. You can read my full disclosure policy here.

Cover of the UK edition

The Summer that Melted Everything is an incredible piece of literary fiction. That it is a debut novel makes it even more so. Tiffany McDaniel’s writing is evocative, complex and full of confidence.

The summer of 1984 brings an intense heat wave to Breathed, Ohio. It also brings the devil. Things will never be the same again. Fielding Bliss has never forgotten that summer and it is through his eyes that we learn what happened. The novel alternates between 1984 and an unspecified year in the future.

The Summer that Melted Everything is a thought-provoking novel that deals with religion, racism, homophobia and mob mentality amongst other things. My words cannot do it justice, but it’s a novel I’ll be recommending for a long time to come. Seriously, you need to read it.

Thanks to Tiffany for taking the time to answer my questions.

Cover of the US edition

Although it jumps timeline, The Summer that Melted Everything is primarily set in 1984. What was it about that year that appealed to you?

When I was thinking of the time frame in which to set the novel, I immediately thought of the 1980s. When I think of that decade, I think of the neon colors, the big hair, and the big ambitions. It reminds me of a decade long summer, so I thought it’d make a great setting for this hot summer that the characters experience. I also wanted it early enough in the 1980s that AIDS was casting its shadow and leading to lots of fear and unanswered questions. 1984 in particular appealed to me because of the parallels I draw to George Orwell’s novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four. Both his novel and my novel tackle that question of herd mentality and the importance of preserving individual thought. Though my novel takes place in 1984, it deals with issues that are relevant today, and fits into the conversation about our current societal and political climate.

Each chapter starts with a quote from Paradise Lost, John Milton’s epic poem about Adam and Eve’s expulsion from The Garden of Eden. Did you decide to include these as you were writing the novel or did they come afterwards?

I always like to title my chapters in my novels and I always title them after the novel is written because I don’t want an outside work determining the course of that particular chapter. I want the chapters to determine the titles. When I was thinking of the chapter titles for The Summer that Melted Everything, I was reminded of Milton’s epic poem. It is a poem that has always interested me because of the battle of good v. evil. For the characters in my novel, many of them are dealing with the loss of their particular paradise. It’s about falling in more ways than one. I only hope I’ve done Milton proud by using his beautiful words.

Writing is a solitary process. Do you have a routine so that you don’t get completely lost in the world(s) you’re creating?

I’m disorganized by nature, so I don’t have a routine that I stick to. As far as my process, I never outline. I think planning a story too much domesticates it in a way, and I like to preserve the story’s wild soul. Not having a routine works for my creative process. To belong to these worlds and be in the company of these characters keeps writing from ever being truly lonely and makes it so that getting lost in these worlds becomes a true joy.

You are also a poet, playwright, screenwriter and artist. When you have an idea, do you know immediately which medium it belongs in?

I like keeping a story very fluid, able to cross the different mediums.  When I write a poem, I see a novel in it. When I write a novel, I can see a variation of the story being told in the shorter prose of a poem. As far as art, I’ve always illustrated my stories since I was a child, and even now I paint the characters and scenes from my novels. I also love film, so I like taking my novels and adapting them into screenplays. I like bringing an idea to life by using all these different mediums in ways that best serves the story.

I love hearing what people are passionate about reading, even if they can’t narrow it down to a favourite. Which book do you wish you could thrust into the arms of strangers and demand they read it immediately?

I have my favorite books like Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury, and others like We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson, but a book that I think has a universal appeal and a really wonderful message is The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. Yes, it’s a children’s book, but I think it can be interpreted in so many ways and its message is one that adults can appreciate on a deeper level.

The Summer that Melted Everything is published by Scribe in UK and St. Martin’s Press, an imprint of Macmillan US, in the US. It is available in hardback and ebook format.

I don’t use affiliate links, but if you like what I do you can show your support by buying me a coffee here.

5 Questions With Anne Goodwin

Underneath by Anne Goodwin. Advance Reader Copy (eARC) from the author included. No affiliate links used. You can read my full disclosure policy here.

I love picking writer’s brains about their writing process(es). It’s such a personal thing and different approaches work for different people, so there is always something new to learn. When Anne Goodwin asked me to take part in the blog tour for her latest novel, Underneath, I jumped at the chance to ask her about writing and the role social media plays in promoting her books.

Thanks to Anne Goodwin for taking the time to answer my questions.

Your latest novel, Underneath, is a psychological suspense story. Did your background as a clinical psychologist have an impact on how you wrote the characters?

While I can’t be completely sure where my writing differs from that of authors without that professional background, I certainly tried to get “underneath” my narrator and understand what made him behave the way he does. I was interested in the vulnerability he carries from early childhood that predisposes him to react badly to loss, along with his lack of insight and detachment from his own limitations leading him to making a bad situation worse. Even though what he does is dreadful, and I wouldn’t want to begin to attempt to excuse it, I do empathise because, in his own mind, he is as much a victim as his captive. As the blurb states, He never intended to be a jailer.

Steve’s girlfriend, Liesel, and the second most important character, is probably more informed by my work, since she works in a mental health unit. Art psychotherapy is a fairly small profession which I probably wouldn’t have known about myself had I not worked in mental health services. Using art materials to help access thoughts and feelings, they are a very valuable and, I think, underused resource for the large numbers of clients who aren’t particularly comfortable talking about themselves. I hope any art therapists who read Underneath will feel Liesel is a credit to the profession and excuse Steve’s misrepresentation of what she does.

You’re also a short story writer, how do they compare to writing novels?

I’m still trying to work that out! It might be that a short story requires fewer characters (so readers don’t get muddled), less character backstory (or often none at all) and only one core conflict. It’s also more acceptable and expected in a short story to leave a lot to the reader’s imagination. But I’m not sure. How it tends to work for me is how the idea presents itself: if it comes with lots of unknowns and thoughts along the lines of that couldn’t possibly work, it’s probably a novel. But then short stories can sometimes surprise me too.

Writing is a solitary process. Do you have a routine so that you don’t get completely lost in the world(s) you’re creating?

I often ponder ideas when I’m out walking, and end up talking to myself as I do so, so I can’t claim that I don’t get lost. But real life goes on, even when we are absorbed in our fictional worlds, and I’ve never been tempted to forego meals and sleep. While I don’t follow a routine, I prefer to work in the daytime, including weekends if I’m not otherwise engaged, and juggle my writing around other priority activities and vice versa. Having no other job now, no dependants and an easy-going husband, I can be quite flexible.

What role does social media play, if any, in promoting your books?

Social media is a boon for the small-press published or self-published author, as it isn’t easy to get our books into the shops. Given that I’m answering these questions as part of my blog tour, I’m also hoping that it’s a very effective means of promotion! But you don’t sell books by shouting Buy my book! on Twitter. It’s a long-term process of relationship building and mutual support. And I love Q&As like this that push me to ponder questions I might not ask myself.

I love hearing what people are passionate about reading, even if they can’t narrow it down to a favourite. Which book do you wish you could thrust into the arms of strangers and demand they read it immediately?

At the moment, and it does keep changing, I’m raving about The Clocks in This House All Tell Different Times, the debut novel from Xan Brooks. Set in southern England five years after the end of the First World War, it’s an extremely quirky story about the unlikely encounters between a ragtag group of orphaned adolescents, four young men who’ve retreated into a twilight world in which they don’t officially exist (having been declared dead) because their injuries are too gruesome for others to behold and a house party of repulsive aristocrats who while away their time snorting cocaine. It sounds awful, but it’s beautifully written and, despite the bleak subject matter, strangely uplifting.

Underneath by Anne Goodwin is published by Inspired Quill and is available in ebook and paperback format from May 25th.

I don’t use affiliate links, but if you like what I do you can show your support by buying me a coffee here.

5 Questions With Evie Gaughan

The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris by Evie Gaughan. No Advance Reader Copy (ARC) included. No affiliate links used You can read my full disclosure policy here.

One of the many reasons I love social media is that it introduces me to people I wouldn’t otherwise meet. Evie Gaughan is one of those people. I don’t know when Evie first crossed my Twitter radar, but I remember devouring her blog and rushing off to download her books shortly afterwards.

Thank you to Evie Gaughan for taking the time to answer my questions.

When did you know you wanted to become a writer?

I’m not sure there was one definitive moment in time that I can pinpoint. Like a lot of writers, I always loved writing and reading as a child, but did I really think I was going to become a writer? Never in my wildest dreams. When, as an adult, I decided to try and start writing seriously, there were a lot of stops and starts. Hopeful beginnings, frustrating middles and disenchanted endings. And that’s how it still is, because I think you have to reaffirm your decision to be a writer every day. This business doesn’t work the way you think it will. You imagine that once you’ve written your masterpiece, the rest will follow, but writing asks the question over and over again, do you really want to do this? It’s never something you can take for granted or be 100% sure of, there are always doubts and rejections, but if you keep coming back to the page, despite all of that, then you know that writing is choosing you.

You recently wrote about your experience of self-publishing for The Irish Times. Is there a piece of advice you wish you had when you were starting out?

All of the advice! The good thing about self-publishing is that there is tons of information out there (unlike trad publishing which tends to be cloaked in secrecy) and the community is very supportive and helpful. However, it can also be a bit overwhelming and there is only so much you can take in, so I actually have two pieces of advice. Firstly, it takes time. When you start out building your author platform, you see what everyone else has achieved, how much knowledge they have of the industry, the connections they’ve made, the marketing tricks they use and it can be intimidating. No matter how hard I tried, I always felt like I was playing catch up and getting things wrong. But over time and with the publication of my second novel, momentum began to build; I gained followers on my blog and increased exposure through writing articles. It takes time to build an author platform and learn the ropes. So my first piece of advice would be, don’t stress yourself out by trying to become an overnight success.

Secondly, something that would seem obvious but took me a while to get my head around was that self-publishing means you are now a publisher as well as an author. It’s so important to make this distinction as it gives you the objectivity you need to make editorial and production decisions, just like a regular publisher would. This is what makes self-publishing so challenging, because you have to wear two different hats and be able to switch them as needed.

Writing is a solitary process. Do you have a routine so that you don’t get completely lost in the world(s) you’re creating?

Nope! No routine here 😉 I do what all of the ‘how to’s’ advise against and I write with my gut. I write when I feel like writing, which thankfully, is often enough that I’ve just finished my third novel and begun my fourth. On two occasions I have taken part in NaNoWriMo to give my manuscripts a kickstart. Writing 50,000 words in a month is insane, but it works! Getting that first draft down is a messy process, so getting it done quickly is a great help and means you can spend more time rewriting (which is, as they say, writing). Left to my own devices, I could pootle around with a story for months on end, so NaNo is the only time I approach anything resembling a routine. I think you’ve got to do what works for you. I can be quite self-disciplined and to be honest, I get separation anxiety if I’m away from my writing for too long! But I’ve never been able to commit to a set routine.

Building an online presence seems to be as much part of an author’s job as the actual writing. Do you find it difficult to balance the two?

In the beginning I did find it difficult, mostly because I wasn’t really sure what I was supposed to be doing. When you start out, it can feel very much like an echo-chamber for one! But over the years I’ve had more and more people following my blog and my network of readers/writers/friends has grown organically. There’s never really any way of measuring how much impact your online presence has on book sales, so really it’s up to each individual how much time they want to spend on social media etc. But for me, I’ve met so many wonderful and interesting people who are always opening my eyes to new things, that I actually really enjoy it. As you mentioned, writing is a solitary process, so it’s good to connect with like-minded people online.

As for balance, well, the only way to get any writing done is to disconnect from the Internet (she says, while her phone beeps in the background). It’s tricky because, there’s always something you have to look up online for research and before you know it, you’re having a discussion on Facebook about literary tattoos! I’ve recently come across an app that lets you browse for research while blocking social media sites, so that is something I will definitely be downloading.

I love hearing what people are passionate about reading, even if they can’t narrow it down to a favourite. Which book do you wish you could thrust into the arms of strangers and demand they read it immediately?

Good question! But how to answer?! I’m a sucker for anything with a touch of magical realism or the supernatural. I’ll make it easy on myself and choose the last book I read, which is a five star read. The Devil I Know by Claire Kilroy.

It’s got everything I love in a novel – dark humour, gothic undercurrents, and Irish wit! For some reason, this novel didn’t really get the attention it deserved, so if I’m going to accost a stranger with a book, I think it should be one they mightn’t have heard of.

The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris by Evie Gaughan is available in paperback and ebook format. Evie’s blog is Evie Gaughan. You can follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

I don’t use affiliate links, but if you like what I do you can show your support by buying me a coffee here.

5 Questions With Michelle Adams

My Sister by Michelle Adams. Advance Reader Copy (ARC) from the publisher, Headline, included. No affiliate links used. You can read my full disclosure policy here.

Irini and Elle are sisters, but they didn’t grow up together. When she was three Irini was sent to live with her aunt. She has no idea why. When her mother dies, Irini returns to the family home, the home that she didn’t grow up in, the home that isn’t her family home, to find answers. She needs to know why her parents chose Elle over her. She needs to know what went so wrong that they walked away from her. She needs to understand. That’s easier said than done, especially when her relationship with Elle is best described as toxic. Toxic and dangerous.

Michelle Adams’ debut novel is a wonderfully creepy psychological thriller. It’s unsettling in the way that all great crime fiction is. The story grabs you immediately and has you questioning everyone and everything throughout.

Thanks to Michelle Adams for taking the time to answer my questions.

How would you describe My Sister in five words?

My Sister is dark, creepy, discomforting, twisted, and hopeful.

How did you first get into writing?

I suppose I got into writing through my love of reading. I used to love book club at school, and spent a lot of hours alone with my face buried in a book. I was fascinated by the magic of it, that you could get lost in a world that didn’t really exist. By the time I was in my late teens I had read some influential books at school like 1984 and The Handmaid’s Tale that inspired me to start playing around with ideas of my own, writing short sections of intended books that never really made it past the first page. It wasn’t until I hit my mid-twenties when I realised that if I wanted to be a writer I really had to start doing something about it by writing a book, start to finish. That first manuscript took me about nine months to bash out a first draft, although I’ll admit that my idea of editing at that point was questionable at best, a quick search for typos and grammatical errors without any idea about developing the story. But although that manuscript never got picked up by a publisher the feeling I got from finishing it was so satisfying that I was hooked from then on.

Writing is a solitary process. Do you have a routine so that you don’t get completely lost in the world(s) you’re creating?

It’s strange really because although the life of a writer in many ways is a solitary existence I never remember feeling lonely. I think I have a certain rhythm while I write, especially during a first draft, or when I am crafting an idea during which I am very much in a world of my own. Whatever I’m doing I’m always thinking about the story and the characters, so I like to get a first draft down as quickly as possible. After that I try to take time out, do other things I love like hiking in the mountains or just hanging out with friends. I love watching movies and going to the cinema too. An injury kept me out of my trainers for a lot of last year, but I also love going for a run. While I am out running I completely switch off, and I think that ability to just focus on not thinking about work for a while makes me much more refreshed for when I come back to my desk.

Is there a piece of advice you wish you had while writing My Sister?

My process has changed a lot during the last two years. I was always a pantser, just writing and exploring as I wrote, and My Sister grew very much in that fashion. But that way I always had to negotiate false starts and dead ends, and a manuscript finished in this way often needed huge revisions, and needed much more time.

Now that I have an agent and a publisher to answer to they need something different from me. They can’t plan around my loose ideas in the way that I used to be able to. They need to know what I’m doing in advance because they have jobs to do too. So I find that by writing a thorough synopsis before I start is the best way to set off with some sort of plan. It acts as a road map, and although there will be diversions along the way, and some surprises, the synopsis makes the writing process so much more streamlined and directed. Plus, it’s a lot easier to write the synopsis at the beginning. Condensing 100,000 words into a couple of pages is much harder than the other way around.

I love hearing what people are passionate about reading, even if they can’t narrow it down to a favourite. Which book do you wish you could thrust into the arms of strangers and demand they read it immediately?

One book? That is so hard! There are so many good one’s that I have read lately and that have left their mark on me. But when it comes to picking one book from all the ones I’ve read, my mind always returns to my favourite of all time; Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. I think it is so elegantly and beautifully written, and it absolutely broke my heart. I think it was the first book I ever finished that after turning the last page I looked up for somebody to share it with, and who would be able to say, ‘Yeah, I know’. I desperately wanted the ending to be different, and was devastated when I realised that of course it had to be that way. It might have been the first time I was really searching for a happily ever after, and I didn’t get it. I guess writers know what they are doing, though. That’s what I like to tell myself anyway!

My Sister by Michelle Adams is published by Headline and is available in trade paperback and ebook format.

I don’t use affiliate links, but if you like what I do you can show your support by buying me a coffee here.

5 Questions With Denise Deegan

Through the Barricades by Denise Deegan. Advance Reader Copy (eARC) included. No affiliate links used. You can read my full disclosure policy here.

Every so often you come across a character you love so much that they remain long after the final page has been turned. Characters that cross your mind from time to time as you wonder how life worked out for them. Maggie Gilligan, the protagonist of Denise Deegan’s latest novel Through the Barricades, is one such character. Maggie is determined and fiercely loyal. If you haven’t yet spent time in her company, you should.

Thank you to Denise Deegan for taking some time to answer my questions.

Photo by Amanda Horan

You write across genres; young adult as Denise Deegan and women’s fiction under your pen name Aimee Alexander. Your recent novel Through the Barricades sees you step into historical fiction, with possibly a YA slant depending on how you define YA. In a world full of advice about finding your genre and sticking to it, how have you found genre hopping?

I write the stories that arrive to me. I view them as gifts and would feel very ungrateful if I ignored them – if that doesn’t sound strange. I hear the characters in my head. I hear their dialogue. That is how the stories arrive. It would be very handy career-wise if they were all in the same genre! Traditional wisdom is to stick to one genre to build your audience. I feel if I put genre first and tried to write to that, the stories would stop arriving.

My writing career began with contemporary fiction for adults. I never imagined that that would change. Then one day, the voice of a teenager came barreling into my head. It was angry and sarcastic but also vulnerable. I had to listen to it. The result was a YA trilogy called The Butterfly Novels. The Butterfly Novels have been one of the highlights of my publishing career. I can’t imagine not having experienced the love of my teenage audience. Teenagers are the most appreciative audience out there. And I, in turn, am so appreciative of them.

I do write different genres. All my books, however, do have something in common. They always tell the story of ordinary people who become extraordinary under pressure. To me that is one of the great things about life. We always surprise ourselves. We think we’d never be able to deal with certain situations and then they arrive and we rise to the challenge and become better people in the process. I love exploring that in fiction. So maybe that’s my genre! I also adore children. You will always find children in my books.

Do you plan your novels in detail or do you prefer to see where your characters will take you?

I have a rough idea of where I’m going but love nothing more than when the characters take over. I especially love when characters arrive that I hadn’t planned. In my most recent novel, Through the Barricades, the historical that one you mentioned, some of my characters just arrived into the story and took up residence. One, Lily, an orphan child, became my favourite. Patrick, a dark and angry rebel with an inner vulnerability was another favourite. Neither was he planned.

I have to enjoy writing my books. A surprise for me is as important as a surprise for my readers. Plus, if I’m surprised, I feel my readers are more likely to be.

Writing is a solitary process. Do you have a routine so that you don’t get completely lost in the world(s) you’re creating?

Well, I do find that I have to tear myself away. Sometimes I get so caught up in writing, I realise I have forgotten an appointment or am very late for one. I hate to have too many days on the horizon where I won’t get to write as much as I’d like. I find that very frustrating! I love living two lives – real and fictional. And I love the escape that fiction offers.

Your work has been traditionally published and self published. Can you tell us a bit about how you found each of these experiences?

Both have been adventures – and I love adventure and trying new things! The advantage of traditional publishing, as I see it, is that the books are in the bookshops which is wonderful. With self publishing you can also get your books into shops but it is a bit of a hassle.

There are also many advantages to self publishing. Authors have much greater control over all aspects of the publishing experience, which is wonderful. We have much more data on how sales are doing – on a daily and geographical basis. We can see what promotions work and what ones don’t and can respond accordingly.

In terms of the quality of the book, it can be just as good as a traditionally published one as long as the author hires top class people to work with on every aspect of the publishing experience – from editing to cover design to typesetting etc. I enjoy all aspects of self publishing from cover design, to marketing, to writing, to working with an editor to carve my story into its best shape.

Self publishing is a lot of work, yes, but traditional publishers expect authors to get very involved in their own marketing now, so no route is without that kind of time investment. Authors simply have to embrace it. And I will say I have met many, many wonderful people through social media, self publishing and through marketing my books.

One of my novels, The Accidental Life of Greg Millar was originally published by Penguin. When the rights reverted to me, I self published it. Then it was picked up by Amazon imprint, Lake Union Publishing which has been a wonderful experience. It became an international bestseller.

I love hearing what people are passionate about reading, even if they can’t narrow it down to a favourite. Which book do you wish you could thrust into the arms of strangers and demand they read it immediately?

There are so many, but I’m going for The Book Thief. I adored the characters in that book – adored and will always remember. That is saying so much. This is a book I wish I had written which is the highest compliment an author can give.

Through the Barricades is available in ebook and paperback format.

I don’t use affiliate links, but if you like what I do you can show your support by buying me a coffee here.

5 Questions With Orla Shanaghy

Mental: Short Stories by Orla Shanaghy. Advance Reader Copy (ARC) from the author included. No affiliate links used. You can read my full disclosure policy here.

Mental is a thought-provoking look at how people experience mental ill-health. Across five stories Orla Shanaghy explores the impact of mental illness not only on the person who is ill, but also on the people around them.

The collection is short enough to finish in one sitting. But you’ll want to take your time; to sit with the characters and ponder whether you would have reacted differently in their situations.

To mark the launch of this debut collection, Orla Shanaghy took some time to answer my questions.

The stories in Mental centre on the theme of mental ill-health. Did you set out with this theme in mind or did it come after you’d written some of the stories?

I didn’t set out with any theme in mind. I first started writing these stories about six years ago and I had no plans for publication. I just wrote what came to me.

Strange as it may sound, it was only when I was beginning to think I might publish, and I was revising the first draft of the book, that I noticed the common theme of mental health running through all the stories. It was a bit like “So that’s what this book is about!”

What kind of reader did you have in mind as you were writing this collection?

I didn’t have a clear idea of a reader as I was writing the first drafts of the stories. When it came to the revising – and, in many cases, re-writing – stage, I did start to think about who I was aiming the work at.

I think that like a lot of writers, I was hoping that the book would have broad appeal. The theme of mental health is such a big and important one that affects so many people, be it themselves directly or someone in their life. The five stories in ‘Mental’ deliberately feature protagonists of different ages, backgrounds and genders. One story, ‘Grace’, has an eight-year-old schoolboy, while another, ‘Ask Jessica’, features a forty-something mother, for example. All the characters deal with mental health challenges in different ways.

A piece of advice sometimes given to new writers is “Write the book you’d like to read”. I was probably being quite selfish as I wrote; I was writing first and foremost for myself!

Judging from the feedback I’ve got so far, the book is fulfilling my hope of having a broad appeal.

Writing is a solitary process. Do you have a routine so that you don’t get completely lost in the world(s) you’re creating?

Honestly, I find that the challenge for me is not being able to sustain my concentration on the world I’m creating in my writing! I’m easily distracted and I work from home, which poses a double challenge. There’s always something to distract you in that situation, be it something around the house or an issue that’s occupying your thoughts. So I find it a big effort to shut all that out and concentrate on writing. Some days I meet that challenge more successfully than others.

I’m lucky in that I work three mornings a week and my children are all at school age, so I have two mornings a week free to write, and evenings if needs be – though I find that working evenings gets harder as I get older. I used to sit down at my desk as soon as my children left for school. Now, I’m more aware of the need for self care. I go for a walk, get a coffee in a local shop, walk home, then sit down to write. It’s a good routine. I have to make myself do it as I can be quite physically lazy! Then I write, or do writing-related work, till 1 or 2 PM, depending on what I have on that day.

My afternoons and evenings are mostly taken up with picking up the children, getting them to various activities and making sure they eat! So I don’t think about writing at all in the afternoons and evenings. It’s good for my mental health to have that balance.

Portrait by Bara Alich Photography

Self-publishing generates a lot of discussion. Can you tell us a bit about how you found the process and why you felt it was the right choice for you?

I’ve been interested for several years in the new wave of digital self-publishing. Long before I decided to do it myself, I attended seminars and talks about it. I was building up that awareness and knowledge for a long time. I also read ‘Self-Printed’ by Catherine Ryan Howard, which I used as my self-publishing bible.

With that knowledge and those resources behind me, once I got down to the nuts and bolts of self-publishing my book, I found the process manageable. Catherine’s book lays it all out step by step, which made it a lot easier for me. My book is straightforward in that there is just text, no pictures, which made the layout and formatting relatively simple.

The main single challenge I encountered was an issue with page numbering. I wanted a blank page between each story in the book. When I did this, it threw out the page numbering. That issue took a few hours to fix.

I’d like to point out, for people who may be reading this and considering self-publishing, that it is possible to do the whole process for free. I used the free, open source software OpenOffice as my word processor. Amazon (for the ebook) and CreateSpace (for the print version) provide all the tools you need for formatting and uploading free of charge.

I did decide, though, to invest money in a professional editor and cover designer. I think it’s very important for self-published authors to make their books as professional and of as high quality as they possibly can. Even though self-publishing has come a long way, there is still a certain perception that the books are somehow of lesser quality than traditionally published books. I feel that SP authors have a responsibility to represent ourselves and our work to the best of our ability.

The feedback I’ve been getting on ‘Mental’ is that it looks and feels professional. I’m delighted about that.

I love hearing what people are passionate about reading, even if they can’t narrow it down to a favourite. Which book do you wish you could thrust into the arms of strangers and demand they read it immediately?

‘Mara and Dann’ by Doris Lessing. It’s one of her lesser-known works. Great books leave a permanent impression on the reader. For me, ‘Mara and Dann’ changed the way I think in small but lasting ways.

The book is set in a dystopian future in which global warming is forcing whole populations to move north. The two main characters face impossible challenges as they migrate through this arid landscape and struggle to survive.

I’m not normally drawn to sci-fi or fantasy, but I think genre becomes irrelevant when the writing is this powerful. The book made me think hard about how humans behave when faced with life-changing problems on a global scale. It still does.

Orla Shanaghy’s new short story collection, Mental, is available in ebook and paperback format from The Book Centre, The Book Depository and Amazon. Her blog is waittilitellyou.com

Follow Orla on Twitter and Goodreads

I don’t use affiliate links, but if you like what I do you can show your support by buying me a coffee here.

5 Questions With Lisa Gardner

Right Behind You by Lisa Gardner. No affiliate links included. You can read my full disclosure policy here.

I love discovering new authors. I especially love when those authors have large back catalogues. Lisa Gardner is one of those authors. When I read and enjoyed Find Her early last year, I knew I’d search out the other books.

To mark the publication of her latest novel, Right Behind You, Lisa Gardner took some time to answer my questions.

What drew you to crime fiction?

I’ve always loved a good puzzle! From a dark and stormy night to who dunnit, I love it all. Having a job where I can now interview detectives and learn more about criminal minds is amazing to me. I love plots (and characters!) that are ambiguous, and keep even me, as the writer, guessing.

Your novels obviously involve a lot of research. Do you map out your plot completely beforehand or is it shaped by the things you learn and people you interview?

I start with an idea, generally something inspired by true crime, such as the spree shooting in Right Behind You. Then I meet with experts, from homicide detectives to fugitive trackers, to learn what real world procedures they’d use to handle such a case. I also ask them what they would do if they were the criminal, say the shooter on the run. Trust me, you ever want to know the perfect crime—ask a cop. A dash of this, a twist of that, and I have the beginnings of a great novel. But I don’t map out all the details and I never know the ending—that’s what writing is all about.

Right Behind You is the 7th book in your FBI profiler series. You also have the Detective D.D. Warren series and the Tessa Leoni series. Each book can be read as a standalone. Is it difficult to make them accessible to new readers while having a story arc for your protagonists?

I always joke I’m a non-series, series writer. I never meant for the characters to continue on. But they grow on you, and next thing you know they have more story to tell. Plus readers get excited. Right Behind You brings back FBI profilers Rainie and Quincy after readers begged to see them again. So I write big, self-contained twisted plots with characters you may or may not see again, designed to keep my readers happy. Phew!

Writing is a solitary process. Do you have a routine so that you don’t get completely lost in the world(s) you’re creating?

I love writing at oh-dark-thirty, before I have a single logical thought in my head. Then I return to the real world, get my child off to school, that sort of thing. More writing time. Maybe a break to take the dogs for a walk, enjoy the gorgeous mountains where I live. Some days I’m brilliant. Some days I have no idea how I’ve survived this long in the biz. But the deadlines keep me honest. Every June 30, better have another novel!

I love hearing what people are passionate about reading, even if they can’t narrow it down to a favourite. Which book do you wish you could thrust into the arms of strangers and demand they read it immediately?

One single book? Come on, there are entire series that need to be discovered! Karin Slaughter’s Will Trent books. Lee Child’s Jack Reacher. Gregg Hurwitz’s Orphan X. I also love young adult books so that brings us to Sarah J. Maas and Suzanne Collins. Can I thrust a library into the arms of a stranger? Pretty please?

Right Behind You by Lisa Gardner is published by Headline and is available in hardback and ebook format. The paperback edition will be published on the 19th October.

I don’t use affiliate links, but if you like what I do you can show your support by buying me a coffee here.

5 Questions With Liz Nugent

Lying in Wait by Liz Nugent. Advance Reader Copy (eARC) from the publisher, via Netgalley, included. No affiliate links used. You can read my full disclosure policy here.

Lying in Wait was one of my favourite books of 2016. I raved about it when I first read it and have been recommending it to anyone who will listen ever since. So when I was asked to take part in the blog tour for the paperback release, I jumped at the chance.

Thank you to Liz Nugent for taking time out of her writing schedule to answer my questions.

Lying in Wait, like Unravelling Oliver before it, has a brilliant opening line. Did you start with these lines or did they come later in the writing process?

When I wrote Unravelling Oliver, I had that first line in my head for a year before I wrote it down ‘I expected more of a reaction before I hit her.’ Even then, I wasn’t sure who was speaking, but you have to start somewhere.

Much later, after it was published, everybody talked about that line so much that I knew Lying in Wait would have to kick off with something just as throat-grabbing, but it was only when I finished writing Lying in Wait that I went back and toyed around with the first line and settled on ‘My husband did not mean to kill Annie Doyle but the lying tramp deserved it.’ That was my sixth attempt, I think!

Lying in Wait is told from multiple perspectives, how did you ensure that Lydia, Laurence and Karen each have distinct voices?

Lydia is emotionally stuck in the 1940s, so her language is quite formal and precise. Her son Laurence is very close to her, but he has grown up in the 70s and is a little more relaxed. He also watches American tv shows and is slightly influenced by them. Karen is a working class Dubliner whose father can’t read so she probably didn’t grow up surrounded by books. Her vocabulary is limited and I had to stop myself (and the copy editors) from correcting her grammar.

Writing is a solitary process. Do you have a routine to ensure you don’t get completely lost in the world(s) you are creating?

I write at home in my kitchen or in my local library and I rarely get lost in my fictional world because my attention span is so ridiculously short. I write in fifteen-minute bursts. I wish this wasn’t the case! When I go to the artists retreat at Tyrone Guthrie Centre in Co Monaghan, I am better able to remove myself from distraction. My best work happens there.

© Beta Bajgartova

Crime fiction, particularly crime fiction written by women, is growing in popularity, why do you think this is?

I really don’t know the answer to why women are writing more crime. I guess that for years, women wrote romantic fiction and men wrote thrillers and that was accepted practise. I’m not sure when that started to change, but the crime genre has broadened so much in recent years and women are writing the hard core violent stuff as much as the cosy crime and I think I fall somewhere in the middle with psychological suspense/domestic noir.

I think the rise in popularity of crime fiction may have something to do with the breakdown of trust in society. People used to put their faith in the church or their politicians or their police service but in very recent times, democracy has given us shocking results which goes to prove that the ‘establishment’ is losing its grip. Crime fiction explores the fallibility of all institutions from the family all the way up to the government.

They say that to be a great writer you must first be an avid reader. I love hearing what people are passionate about reading, even if they can’t narrow it down to a favourite. Which book do you wish you could thrust into the arms of strangers and demand they read it immediately?

To my immense shame, I have only just discovered Ruth Rendell (writing as Barbara Vine) and The Dark Adapted Eye is an absolute masterpiece. I was GrippyMacGripped all the way through it! I’ve just bought six copies of it because I want everyone else to read it, but I know I’m going to read it again, so they are not getting my copy.

Lying in Wait by Liz Nugent is published by Penguin Random House and is available in trade paperback, paperback and ebook format.

I don’t use affiliate links, but if you like what I do you can show your support by buying me a coffee here.