What is your favourite childhood book?
I was a non-stop reader so this isn’t easy, but I’d probably say my favourite book as a very small child was Enid Blyton’s ‘Adventures of the Wishing Chair,’ tied equal with ‘Shadow The Sheepdog!’ My favourite as an older child was Jack London’s ‘White Fang.’I now have 5 dogs – go figure….!
At school, were you good at English?
At school, apart from art, I was pretty much only good at English! Writing stories and poetry mainly – not so great at the lesson on summarizing paragraphs though as they usually ended up being longer! However, this is my interpretation… I found some old school reports in the loft a couple of years ago and there was much mention of daydreaming. Excellent prep for writing novels though, I say!!
Who are your favourite writers?
Favourite writers are . . . Elly Griffiths, Tess Gerritsen, David Blake, Adele Parks, Caroline Mitchell and Lisa Jewel.
What have you written to date?
I’ve written 3 crime thrillers so far, which are all part of the same series set mainly in the Lake District, but also in New York. I should really be writing book 4, but appear to have over relaxed! My excuse is there’s been a lot going on at home since our move up to the Norfolk Broads, plus I have far too many pets…
What are you working on at the present?
At present I’m twiddling! Book 4 is a split time zone novel (and prequel to ‘Blood List’), which has the front and back cover and blurb already done, plus the beginnings of chapter one and some major and minor plot outlining. It’s just about ready for my characters to ride roughshod through it and change my plans as I go along, which is all extremely frustrating!
What genre do you write?
I write in the crime genre, sort of a blend between psychological and police procedural. I don’t go to the nth degree police procedural wise, like some authors, so no long interrogations, court scenes or every miniscule bit of evidence being examined and chewed over. I’m more heavy on character driven story telling – I want my readers to love them, hate them, empathise with them and root for them. Having said that, my DCI is still very central to the story.
What draws you to this genre?
I’m probably drawn to the crime genre for two reasons. Firstly, because my husband served in the Met. for 30 years so I was used to the police in my daily life, albeit in the background; and secondly, because of the Harold Shipman case. He was the Yorkshire G.P. who, over the course of his career, murdered approximately 250 of his patients by injecting massive doses of diamorphine. However, I’ve met one or two doctors at my book signings who actually knew him, and they’d heard it was far more likely to be nearer 800.… Shipman has both horrified and fascinated me ever since, and it’s why my antagonist is a killer G.P. – although mine is a woman. It got me wondering what different reasons might be involved for a female, and as the bookshelves are full of aggressive male antagonists, I wanted to flip the format and write about mad, bad and dangerous to know anti – heroines.
What made you decide to sit down and start something?
I decided to actually start writing my first book, ‘Blood List,’ after the Shipman trial. Prior to that I’d been writing poetry for a couple of decades, winning a few competitions and having them published. Around the same time as Harold Shipman hit the headlines we also had a weekend break in the Lake District, plus I discovered crime author Tess Gerritsen’s book, ‘Harvest’ in my local supermarket. It intrigued me so much, (I absolutely loved it), I wondered if I could write a book too. When I came back from the Lakes, the outline of ‘Blood List’ was firmly in my head, and I sat down at my laptop for about 2 years. There was a 10 year gap after that though before it was updated, completed and published. (Very long story…!)
Do you have a special time to write?
I can write at any time bar the morning, and will often work at night when the house is quiet, particularly when I’m on a ‘good run’ with a book. With 5 dogs and 3 cats, mornings don’t really exist!
Do you write every day?
I don’t always work on my current WIP every day, but I’m always involved with the writing world in some way or other, be it promotion, marketing, planning my newsletter, posting out signed copies of my books, or contributing to social media author groups, like this one, etc. The past year I’ve also written a 6 part cosy crime piece F.O.C. for a quarterly dog club magazine. It’s so far and away different from my ‘real stuff,’ it will never see the light of day anywhere else!
Where do your ideas come from?
My ideas usually come from either current or past news reports, personal experience, (some characters are based on people I know or have known), something I overhear either on TV or out and about, and sometimes things other people tell me about their lives. Occasionally a line or scene in a film will set an idea off too. At one of my book signings recently, I took a photo of a loose ceiling panel that had become offset at an angle showing the darkness beyond… That set all sorts of things off!
Do you work to an outline or plot or do you prefer to see where an idea takes you?
Plotter or pantser – I’m often asked this one! With regards to working to outlines and plots – in theory, yes I intend to work that way, until my characters walk on to the page and have a whole other route they intend taking me along! In all 3 books, whole swathes of plot and outlines have altered or never even materialized – you can blame my entire cast for diverting the story at some time or another!
How long does it take you to write a book?
Well . . . in theory, about a year, off and on, with 6 months added for my publisher’s editing, proof reading, typesetting, formatting, marketing etc. etc. before it finally gets birthed. I tend to edit my book continuously as I write it which I know is rare, but I could no more leave my own editing to the end, than jump off a cliff. For me, the constant editing and refining as I go, improves and enriches the quality of the writing, and thus the story. This does mean it takes me much longer to write a book than maybe other authors who do a quick first draft, and leave all their editing to the end. Once I have the whole thing written, I do go back and plant ‘plot seeds’ in certain places as well, and this sews things together nicely. I learnt that from thriller writer, Scott Mariani.
For your own reading, do you prefer e-books or paper books?
I do read e-books, but on the whole prefer paperbacks. I tend not to have many hard backs though, because I have weak wrists, and the weight of hardbacks tends to make them ache. I like to collect signed series from favourite authors too, and you can’t sign a Kindle!
What book are you reading at the moment?
At the moment I’m reading Holy Island by L.J. Ross – and very good it is too. It’s lovely to be at the beginning of a great series.
Do you proofread/edit your own books, or do you get someone else to do it?
As I mentioned above, I edit as I go along, but also have an editor provided by my publisher, Troubador. I self-publish through them which means I keep control over my cover, story and characters, but still have all the same services available to me as a trad. publisher would provide, including editing and proof reading. I proof read myself though (till my eyeballs pop!), and pretty sure I’ve no more than 3 errors in the first 2 books, and only one in the third. That single error especially bugs me though. Heaven knows how I even typed it, let alone missed it so many times – along with my editor!
Do you think the cover plays an important part of the buying process?
Covers are a big thing with me. I design my own for my books, and am a harsh critic of repetitive, ‘samey’ covers that keep getting churned out with little or no thought to a book’s contents, or the reader’s intelligence. For me, a cover should entice, intrigue, hint at what’s inside, ‘wow’ the reader, and be a little different to stand out from the crowd. The excuse given by publishers that they need to be ‘commercial,’ just doesn’t wash. I won’t describe the ones I mean here, because they are used so often and I don’t want to offend anyone, but there are well known cover images out there we all recognise as being repetitive. Having said that, whoever designs the cover must make it look professional or book stores are unlikely to want to stock it. When I (rarely) praise a cover, it will have seriously impressed me. Doesn’t happen all that often, but when it does I really lavish praise and go to town on it!
How are you publishing your books? Indie, traditional or both?
I self-publish through Troubador so definitely not an indie or traditional author. I’m nowhere near I.T. capable enough to be Indie, and far too inflexible to engage with the traditional route. Self publishing gives me the freedom to keep control of my books, how they read and how they look. I do about 30 book signings every year where I live in North Norfolk, and have a stand with 3 x 6ft book posters behind me and a 6ft table full of my books and promotional material. Everything is designed by me including branded t-shirts. I wouldn’t be able to do any of this if I attempted to go the traditional route, and I love meeting my readers and selling my books at regular community events.
What are your views on social media?
My views on social media for authors, are to use the platform(s) you feel most comfortable with – just make sure your branding is the same across all of them. (e.g. profile and cover pics plus links). I’m on a few, and although I believe Twitter is supposed to be the most popular one for authors, my favourites are Facebook and Instagram, with Facebook being my number 1.
How do you select the names of your characters?
I’ve always loved different names generally, and love choosing them for my characters. To be honest I just randomly think them up. I do research any foreign names though. I have a Raiffe Zandini in my recent release (‘The Delegate’), and felt I had to check the likely nationality of that. I also go on to YouTube to listen to accents so I can write the dialogue of a character’s regional or foreign accent, phonetically. This way, it sounds authentic when the reader ‘hears it’ in their head. The other day at a book signing, I had a couple buying my first book and they asked me to dedicate it to Harry & Charlotte. I nearly fainted. My DCI is called Harry Longbridge, and my serial killer is Charlotte Peterson! They really loved that!
What kind of research do you do?
I research a lot, and have many files on my laptop full of general images of actors for my characters which helps to make them real, plus their cars, houses, pets etc., but more specifically I have to research some medical procedures and symptoms, post mortem stuff, morgues, high security hospitals etc., because of the main characters and subject matter I’m writing about. I regularly re-watch a BBC film on Rampton High Security Hospital to remind myself of how it’s run, and also have their 2019 Quality Report on file. Book 2 in particular, was research heavy because it’s mostly set in New York . . . and I don’t fly! Every single journey and underpass; airport, hospital, restaurant, bridge, river, café, sport venue, B&B and wedding shop I used; house styles and road names, police and fire stations etc. etc. had to be checked out. It nearly drove me mad, but I apparently pulled it off because I have a cousin in West Virginia and she would definitely have let me know if I’d messed up! It was interesting – I discovered Bellevue hospital was the oldest public hospital in the U.S. dating back to 1736, and stands in a road 8 miles long. However, it was also equally very tiring, and I probably won’t be setting a book outside of the UK anytime soon!
How long do you spend on research before starting your books?
I don’t have a set amount of pre – writing research as I mostly do it as I go along. For book 4 though, I have been doing some initial research on my old convent grammar school, (no longer run by nuns), and making notes on what I remember when I was there. This is because my school dates back to the 9th century, so rather creepy, (we had lunch in the dungeons!), and the story for my fourth book is in a split time zone where part of it is set in a fictitious old school in the early 90’s. It’s also a prequel to book 1, (‘Blood List’), and will reveal the events that led to the early personality changes of my antagonist.
What is the first book to make you cry?
I can’t remember as a child, but as an adult, the first book I remember making me cry is probably Bloq, by Alan Jones. I won’t say why because it’s a spoiler, but I can definitely recommend it. Proud to own a signed copy, too.
If you could have been the original author of any book, what would it have been and why?
It would probably have been Tess Gerritsen’s ‘The Surgeon,’ which is the first in the Rizzoli & Isles series and the one that really cemented my admiration for her writing. As a surgeon herself, the attention to medical detail is second to none, and to have the knowledge and ability to write with such edgy precision would be amazing. That whole series is fabulous – wish it was mine!
What is the hardest thing about writing a book?
The hardest thing about writing a book for me, is making sure it’s multi faceted and not just a one layer story; that all the various parts interweave well, tie up, and are exciting and believable. And of course the whole thing is a gripping page turner! My books are character driven, so I want to make sure people love or hate them, empathise with them, are shocked by and root for them. Characters are king, I love creating them all, but they have to be completely different from each other and easily recognisable.
What is the easiest thing about writing a book?
The easiest thing about writing a book for me is designing the cover and writing the blurb on the back! I love designing and have already done book 4. Then that’s followed by the Prologue and Epilogue (bit like making a sandwich!), so I know where I’m going to end up. The Prologue is the Epilogue of the previous book in this series – so that’s really easy! Then the filling starts which is the hardest part above…
Are your books standalones or in a series?
All my books are part of a series mainly set in and around a fictional town called Kirkdale, in Keswick in The Lake District, (actually Borrowdale), with book 2, ‘Dead Girls Don’t Cry,’ having a large chunk of the story set in New York. All 3 have the Prologue and Ch. 1 free to read on my website.
How can readers discover more about you and your work?
Readers can find out more and contact me via https://www.alicarterauthor.com/links