Jacqueline Grima is the author of psychological thrillers including You Should Have Told Me, The Weekend Alone, and My Daughter’s Killer.
What is your favourite childhood book?
I have many. I’ve always read voraciously, since I was very young. I loved Enid Blyton’s Famous Five series, as well as The Secret Seven and later I moved on to Stephen King’s and James Herbert’s books. One book that sticks with me is One Hundred and One Dalmatians. I read it in one day and I think that’s when I knew I wanted to write myself.
Were you good at English at school?
Yes, it was my favourite subject, alongside languages and art. I used to write very long stories for my homework, but I think the teachers sometimes got bored of reading them!
What have you written to date?
My first psychological thriller The Weekend Alone came out in January ‘23 with HQ Stories (Harper Collins). My next novel My Daughter’s Killer will be out in e-book on 16th August and in paperback in October. It’s available to preorder now in all the usual places.
Do you write every day?
It depends if I’m on a deadline. I have a lot of family commitments and I also still work a so-called ‘normal’ job in the evenings. If I’m writing a first draft, I usually write Mon to Fri in the day and take weekends off, but if I’m on deadline, I write every spare minute that I have, even during the night. I think writers should do what works best for them.
Do you work to an outline or plot or do you prefer to see where an idea takes you?
I’m a bit in between! I like to throw ideas around in my head for quite a while at first, when I’m walking the dog or at work or wherever. I like to have quite a solid beginning, middle and end before I begin to write but they will often change once I start, or in later drafts. I’m not the type of writer who plans meticulously. Post-it notes and timelines and mood boards terrify me!
For your own reading, do you prefer e-books or paperbacks?
Both! I often have a few books on the go at the same time. I can’t afford to buy too many new books, so I often read the paperbacks other people pass on to me, but I also borrow e-books from the online library. That way I know the writer is at least getting a small payment. I’ve also recently begun to listen to audiobooks.
What are you reading at the minute?
I have three books on the go currently! I usually have an upstairs book and a downstairs book. My current upstairs book is Take Your Breath Away by Linwood Barclay and my downstairs book is Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka. I’m also listening to the audio version of Liane Moriarty’s Truly, Madly, Guilty.
What is the first book that made you cry?
I’m not a big cryer but I remember sobbing when I came to the end of the Flowers in the Attic series when I was quite young and again when I read Stephen King and Peter Straub’s The Talisman. As an adult, The Time Traveller’s Wife gets me every time.
If you could have been the original author of any book, what would it have been and why?
Again, The Time Traveller’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. Beautiful and heartbreaking.
How can readers discover more about you and your work?
Find me on Twitter @GrimaJgrima and on Facebook and Instagram @jacquelinegrimawriter
Readers can also find out more on my website Jacqueline Grima | Thriller Writer