I'm a Sunday Times bestselling thriller author

[BestsellingAuthor101]

I saw the other thread by the author and found it interesting. Thought I'd throw my hat in the ring here.

I'm published by Penguin Random House. I've published between 6 and 10 Sunday Times bestsellers (vague due to outing - I can be much more candid on my answers if I am not outed). I'm a woman. They're psychological thrillers. I am a full-time writer. I quit a professional career when my books sold well, and I now live off the writing income. AMA.

@thistimelastweek

Is there any chance I could have stayed in your house?

Not sure how I could answer that with no information. Who can say? I don't think so, nobody has recently

@ButtonSister

Have you met Lisa Jewell? If so, do you share ideas?

We've met and no not shared ideas

@NatashaBedwouldbenice

Do you find that your writing is influenced by whatever you're currently reading or watching and if not, how do you maintain a strong independent "author's voice"?

If it starts to be I stop reading the book! I think when you've written a lot of novels your author voice is honed pretty well, i find it easier now to control the voice than I did

@Lovelydovey

Did you use to be a damsel? If so, I won’t put you, just interested in if you are who I think you are!

I have no idea what this means

If you haven’t done any creative writing courses or read any how to write books how would you describe your process of learning how to write? Could you tell what was wrong with your early unsuccessful novels just by reading them?

Are you a mother? I used to love reading thrillers, the more violent and gruesome the better! But once I had DD I couldn't bear to read them anymore. I wondered, if you are a mother, if it affected your writing style?

If you couldn’t write any more thrillers, what genre would you choose next?

Thanks for the answer :) I hadn't considered that you'd get the professional pitfalls like a doctor!

I'd love to know who you are, if my guess is right I'm reading one of your book at the moment, I love thrillers.

Do you reply to readers on twitter, I had a reply from the author I'm reading when I complimented a previous book I'd read

Do you secretly despise other more successful writers, eg Lisa Jewell?

How has COVID affected you, in terms of travel, engagements etc, and did you enjoy the enforced break?

Are their any books you wish you’d written?

What one piece of advice would you give a writer starting out?

Did you ever write fan fiction or do things like NanoWrimo?

If you developed a character/world that you ended up writing in the longer term over a series of books, would you let someone else write in it (the way Todd McCaffrey took over Anne McCaffreys Pern) or would you want your character/world to end when you did the way Terry Pratchetts Discworld has?

Do you ever think of the character in Misery when you kill someone off in one of your books & wonder if you might get a crazy fan reaction?

Do you have to do the promotion stuff or could you refuse & do you think it really helps with sales?

Do you ever consider writing in a different genre under a pen name?

Can you tell us about your research? How long do you spend? Do you do it all before you start writing or as you go along? What are your favoured sources?

@ButtonSister

Do you secretly despise other more successful writers, eg Lisa Jewell?

Why do you keep asking about Lisa Jewell?

Do you secretly despise other more successful writers, eg Lisa Jewell?

Why on earth would she?

I'm fascinated by the editing process. How much input does your editor have, and what's that like for you? For example, do they suggest major changes and comment on character/plot etc, or do they tend to just keep an eye out for inconsistencies? Do they have any stylistic or grammatical input?

@ButtonSister Are you Lisa Jewell?

Thanks for answering all these questions OP, really interesting. I'm a writer too and only really had success in non fiction so far, but have pitched a couple of novels to agents with no success as yet (just some nice comments about my writing, but basically not commercial enough. So my question would be: how do you get through all those early rejections? It's so easy to feel like a failure and just stop bothering. What would be your tip for keeping going and trying again? And is there a certain amount of agents you would stop at, and realise it's not worth it. Finally, what do you think about self publishing?

Thank you so much :)

@TheCountessofFitzdotterel

If you haven’t done any creative writing courses or read any how to write books how would you describe your process of learning how to write? Could you tell what was wrong with your early unsuccessful novels just by reading them?

I think this is such an interesting question. I think a combination of writing some bad novels and reading a lot too. In writing regularly and finishing work you do learn how to control a narrative. And in reading often you start to understand why you were gripped or equally why you weren't. If you think about your own experience as a reader you might say something like "oh I totally lost interest after X happened as it was so unlikely!" It's just paying attention to that.

So currently I am thinking about the novel I'm writing and I have realised that in the first 50% there is a lot of set up but no reveals. And so I know instinctively but also logically that I have to have something happen in that first half. I think also reading bad reviews of my own work does help.

@WeatherwaxLives

Are you a mother? I used to love reading thrillers, the more violent and gruesome the better! But once I had DD I couldn't bear to read them anymore. I wondered, if you are a mother, if it affected your writing style?

No comment as outing.

@NatashaBedwouldbenice

If you couldn’t write any more thrillers, what genre would you choose next?

Womens fiction

@PastMyBestBeforeDate

Thanks for the answer :) I hadn't considered that you'd get the professional pitfalls like a doctor!

Oh god yes thousands!! People ask me for money, they ask me to read their work, they ask what it's like to be known, they tell me they have a great idea for a book etc etc

@SirensofTitan

I'd love to know who you are, if my guess is right I'm reading one of your book at the moment, I love thrillers.

Do you reply to readers on twitter, I had a reply from the author I'm reading when I complimented a previous book I'd read

I try to! I probably get 90%. I find it builds up and then I feel I can't tweet anything at all, and then I have hundreds of replies waiting and then it feels insurmountable etc. by the time I tackle it I do think a few have dropped off notifications

@ButtonSister

Do you secretly despise other more successful writers, eg Lisa Jewell?

It's weird how often Lisa's name has come up! No. She's very talented, and a total pro.