Where authors talk directly about their life, their books and many more things.
Megan Goldin It’s remarkable that few thrillers are set in an office given the endless potential for intrigue and conflict in many, perhaps most, workplaces. Back-stabbing colleagues, behind-the-scenes machinations, office politics and a Darwinian fight for survival; there are few offices that don’t have an element of at least some of these characteristics. When …
It was early February this year and I had Readings St Kilda booked for a May launch of my third forensic science book Crime Scene Asia: when forensic evidence becomes the silent witness. Then it all went to hell. I found out that my Singapore publisher’s deal with their Australian distributor, Penguin, had died quietly …
Hazel Edwards, author of 200 books and most famously for her classic children’s book, There’s a Hippopotamus on Our Roof Eating Cake, has returned to crime. She writes: Recently my adult murder mystery Celebrant Sleuth became unexpectedly topical. I was correcting galley proofs on the day the same-sex marriage legislation was passed. Timely? Serendipitous? Or …
Anne Buist is the author of the series featuring forensic psychiatrist, Natalie King. Here she ponders the oft-given advice, about writing what you know We all know actors do it—research who they are to play by living their lives, wearing their clothes, walking in their shoes. They lose or gain vast amounts of weight (Adrien Brody for …
Firstly, decide you have to prepare for crushing disappointment, so spend the two weeks over-analysing everyone’s tone of voice and body language and conclude that it is unlikely you won anything. Then spend the next week stopping yourself from ringing or emailing the co-convenor and begging her for a clue. Make yourself thoroughly miserable in …
by Ellie Marney I self-published my first book this year. No Limits was originally conceived and written as a spin-off to my first trilogy, the Every series. I write in YA crime/romantic suspense, and No Limits is in the same genre: it’s a story about a rough diamond boy and a police sergeant’s daughter going …
Narrelle M Harris I was a late bloomer when it comes to Sherlock Holmes. The first Holmes I knew was through television and film, and while the general idea of the character and his cases were intriguing, portrayals of Holmes as patronising and Watson as incredibly stupid didn’t light a spark in me. Then came …
Karen M. Davis: If I had been asked ten years ago if I would ever write a book, I would have laughed and said that I didn’t have the inclination or the know-how. However, I’ve learned that real life is unpredictable and truly stranger than fiction. I started writing as therapy and unexpectedly found an …
Emma Viskic: What’s in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet – Shakespeare I once named a character Jack XXX. Not because he was a porn star with the right, ahem, equipment for the job, but because I couldn’t decide what to call him. To stop …
Carolyn Morwood: Dig Two Graves (Hybrid Publishers) is my sixth published novel and in learning how to write a novel, I’ve tried various approaches, from strict planning to improvising and everywhere in-between. While both ends of the planning-improvising spectrum have their strengths, neither are foolproof. With planning, I was too boxed in. With improvising, I …