What is your favourite childhood book?
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Mary is an anithero, but we still root for her and empathise with her. I credit her as being the inspiration for my lifelong interest in such ‘unlikeable’ female characters, plus writing my own.
At school, were you good at English?
Yes. I got two A*s for GCSE Literature and Language, plus I went on to teach English to both native and non-native speakers. I love the study of texts, but also linguistics. I find it fascinating how life shapes language – who could have thought the internet would create such new ways of speaking/writing, not to mention whole new words and phrases? It’s so interesting to see how language updates in real time.
What have you written to date?
As Lucy V Hay I’ve written 1 short story collection; 2 YA novels; 4 non-fiction books; 5 erotic short novellas (as Mia Ryder); 3 domestic noir thrillers; 3 high concept thrillers (as Lizzie Fry). So that’s 18 pieces of writing that are ‘out there’. More coming in 2024!
What draws you to writing thrillers?
Thriller is antagonist-lead, one of the only genres to do this. I love antagonists/villains and love to think about why ‘bad’ people do the things they do. I have no time for rigid, black-or-white thinking about ‘good versus evil’. Very few people wake up in the morning and say ‘I know, I’m going to be as evil as possible today’. Everyone has reasons for what they do. I think it’s important to humanise villains, but NOT because I want to condone their actions. It’s a reminder any of one of us can become a villain if conditions are right (or rather, wrong).
Where do your ideas come from?
Mostly real life. I find human behaviour and psychology fascinating and nearly everything I’ve written has started in reality somewhere … even my books like The Coven with fantasy elements!
Do you work to an outline or plot or do you prefer to see where an idea takes you?
I’m a screenwriter at heart, where outlining is non-negotiable, so this means I always plot my books first. I call this my first draft. Far from being the ‘straitjacket’ many ‘pantser’ novelists claim, it is a springboard. It also means I work out any obvious character clangers and plotholes before I start writing in earnest, plus it means I can write faster. What’s not to like?
How long does it take you to write a book?
I can write a first draft in approximately 100 hours now. I spend maybe another 50 hours on edits, max. This means I can write a book in a very short amount of time if I can get those hours to be concurrent. Sadly this hardly ever happens!
Do you think the cover plays an important part of the buying process?
Absolutely. A great cover is our first impression of the book. What’s more, there are so many talented book designers out there. If money is an issue, then there are great options like ready-made budget cover galleries and canva.com which have fantastic templates for the more cash-strapped author.
What kind of research do you do?
I do DEEP research – because I like researching more than writing! I read books, ask my followers, interview people, go to museums, visit locations … whatever it takes.
I try to do no more than 10-20 hours of research otherwise I will never start writing. Sometimes I do more though: my latest book deals with a very upsetting topic that has major legal ramifications, so I spent a LONG time interviewing people like police officers and youth workers
What is your favourite under-appreciated novel?
Singularity by William Sleator. I first read that book when I was 11 yet it has stayed with me for thirty years. Yet very few people seem to have heard of it, or William Sleator!
Readers can find out more about Lucy V Hay & her alter ego Lizzie Fry at www.lucyvhayauthor.com. Her latest Lizzie Fry book is The Good Mother, a dark thriller about a woman who discovers her teenage son is a serial killer. As Lucy V Hay book her latest is Writing & Selling Thriller Screenplays: From TV Pilot To Feature Film.