Really happy to be hosting a stop on the Willow Walk blog tour today – a brilliant book written by good friend and uber author the lovely Ms Holliday – you can read my original review HERE
For today though I asked her a few very intelligent questions (yes, yes they are ssh) and here is what she had to tell me.
Willow Walk is book two of a trilogy – and you have a different way of linking these together. Tell us a little about that, about Black Wood and Willow Walk…
Well… firstly, the idea for it being a trilogy came from reading Belinda Bauer’s fantastically dark Shipcott novels (Blacklands, Finders Keepers and Dark Side). I wanted to write a series that wasn’t really a series – that was linked by a location more than anything else – a town called Banktoun where skeletons seem to fall out of cupboards more often than coat hangers. There are some characters who are in each of the books, but they can be read completely as standalones. To reward readers of all three, there are little links between them – like a character having a couple of lines in one book, so little you’d barely notice, and then they pop up as a main character in another book. You might already be wondering who’s going to pop up in The Damselfly (which is out in Feb 2017… you’ve got yourself an exclusive there, Lizzy-Loo.)
Now I have to ask about Davie because I’m a HUGE fan of that character and he is the anchor of the novels – what was the inspiration, is he based on people you know? You can change the names to protect the innocent…
You know me, Liz. So it should come as no big surprise if I tell you that I knew lots of policemen when I was young. Hehe. Seriously – I grew up in a small town (quite coincidentally, JUST like Banktoun) – the police are part of the fabric. Some are fatherly and caring, some are a bit bumbling but with all the right intentions, some are driven and intent on solving small town mysteries, whatever they might be. Also, some are hot! I sort of melted them all together to make Davie. I think the result is quite appealing.
In the writing stakes, what has it been like, the journey to publication, how has life changed since Black Wood and now Willow Walk?
It was an exciting journey – getting my agent was surreal and lovely. Then it got really hard, getting rejections from publishers… then I got a deal. Then another deal. And three books were made! I still have to pinch myself sometimes. Essentially, I am the same person. I still do my day job (for now), I am still too lazy to go to the gym. I still stay up late and get up late. But my mindset has changed. I have so many books in there, bursting to get out. I want to write them all now! And I love meeting up with other authors and knowing that we all have the same issues, no matter at what stage of our careers we are. I’ve always been a bit of a nomad, moving house a lot, loving to travel – and writing has opened that up even more. I’m going to a book festival in New Orleans later this year. That’s just mad.
How do you plot? Post it note, sensible planning or edge of the seat?
Ideas come to me all the time. I email myself with the title of ‘the thing’ and some notes, then I keep replying to that same email until I’ve built up the story. Then I write about a quarter of the book. Have an all-out panic. Stop to plan it out more – outlining the chapters to the end. Then I write the first draft as fast as I can.
On a personal note, earlier this year we had a great time at Crimefest (well what I can remember of it anyway) – Crime writers and readers (including you) are a great bunch – Can you offer some sage advice to new authors entering the genre about the publicity and social side of a writers life?
You have to get out there. The first time I went to a festival (Harrogate in 2009) I was unpublished, unagented, didn’t know what a blog was and had only written short stories. I was too scared to speak to anyone, imagining all authors to be far more funny, sharp and intelligent than me (I know, right? What was I thinking?) As it turns out – they all started in exactly the same place. I met my agent that year, although he didn’t become my agent until 2013, the seeds were sown. Writers, on the whole, are a solitary bunch, but get them together and you will meet the best gang of like-minded souls you could ever imagine. Don’t be shy. Be polite, but don’t be scared to butt into conversations… and never underestimate the power of alcohol J
Who inspires you to keep writing?
You. Of course I mean YOU you, but also, YOU the reader. All readers. Nothing makes me happier than when someone tells me they’ve loved my books.
Tell us about you in 5 easy soundbites –
* Tea, coffee or other
Both. I know. Sorry. Drinks are very mood dependent, I find.
* The author that gives you writers envy
Amanda Jennings. Annoyingly talented. You can put that on your next cover, Jennings.
* Musical taste in 3 favourite songs
Black – Pearl Jam
Heavyweight Champion of The World – Reverend and The Makers
Superstar – The Carpenters
* One book you recommend people read every time you are asked
Untouchable by Ava Marsh
* One thing you carry everywhere with you.
The unflinching desire for eternal happiness. Oh, and my phone. Hehe.
Thanks Susie Sue! Lets stay up late again soon
Thank YOU, Liz – for all your support
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Happy Reading!
When a woman is brutally attacked on a lonely country road by an escaped inmate from a nearby psychiatric hospital, Sergeant Davie Gray must track him down before he strikes again. But Gray is already facing a series of deaths connected to legal highs and a local fairground, as well as dealing with his girlfriend Marie’s bizarre behaviour. As Gray investigates the crimes, he suspects a horrifying link between Marie and the man on the run – but how can he confront her when she’s pushing him away? As a terrified Marie is pulled back into a violent past she thought she’d escaped, she makes an irrevocable decision. And when events come to a head at a house party on Willow Walk, can Gray piece together the puzzle in time to stop the sleepy town of Banktoun being rocked by tragedy once more?
