This week, I welcome online friend and thriller writer, Sadie Ryan, to my blog. She's the author of Behind Closed Doors and When He Finds You. I've been asking her about her novels and writing process. I hope you enjoy her answers as much as I did.
You’ve written two thrillers. Have you ever
been tempted to write in a different genre?
I’m now writing crime thrillers/police procedurals. Before
I was published I used to write romance and rom/com. Then I had a break of five
years with my writing and when I came back to it, I kind of lost my mojo for
romance. After going through a divorce, moving house five times in five years,
I guess I became a little cynical about romance. I have wondered about going back to it now,
but when I do have a go they end up too dark! LOL. What does that say about me!
Do you remember where you were and what you were doing when
the idea for your latest novel came to you?
The idea for When He Finds You came two me a couple of years ago, when Steve and I were out with friends for dinner and I overheard a conversation on the table behind me.
You never know how far you will fall until you're pushed.
Are you a plotter or a pantster and how long does it take
you to write your thrillers?
I’m definitely not a plotter. If I’m left alone and didn’t have to work, I
could write them in six weeks. Once I get going it’s full on. Sadly, I have a
day job so I write in the evenings and weekends, sometimes into the early hours
when it’s all flowing. So they usually take me three months.
Could you describe your typical writing day?
When I get back from work after dinner and a little R&R
on the sofa, I go to my office around 9.30 and start writing. That can be
flowing or gridlocked. I find a little chocolate and a G&T often helps
nudge it along.
I’m sure my readers would love to hear about your road to
publication. Was it long and winding or did you take a short cut?
God no, not so much as winding but meandering and certainly
long. Ten years or so. When I started writing it was all by post. When I think
about it now it was laborious, printing out the right demands for submissions,
going to the post office and handing over a small fortune only to have it thump
back on the door mat weeks later with a NO. Email submissions are so much
easier on us and the trees. Two years ago, Ruby fiction took me on. I must
admit, I was losing the faith by then.
Do you ever struggle to find inspiration?
I do, yes. But I don’t like to force it. I know it will
come. Sometimes my books start in one direction then take a very different road
of which I’m powerless to change. So have to go back to the beginning and make
the right amendments to make it all fit. That’s the beauty of writing on a
computer. The ease with which one can flick back and forth.
What aspects of the writing process do you find easiest and
hardest?
I really enjoy the editing part the best. And the endings.
I find the beginning the hardest to get right. I can’t move on until I’m happy
with the beginning.
What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
Walking. I love walking with my dog, Willow, although she’s
not as keen as I am. She’s a little lazy. I enjoy gardening and find it
relaxing tending my garden. Reading and listening to books is my other thing.
I’ve always got an audio book on the go, in the car, when I’m cooking or
cleaning and when I’m walking. Just plug my ear pods in and off I go. I just
love books. I’ve loved them since I go into The Famous Five books at school.
What next for Sadie Ryan?
Book three with Ruby will be coming out in 2021 that’s a
domestic noir, with a twist on strangers
on a train by Patricia Highsmith.
Sadie Ryan is an author who loves animals and lives in
leafy Cheshire in the North West of England. She has completed two
psychological suspense/domestic noir novels. Her debut novel, Behind Closed Doors,
was snapped up by publishers and published May 2019.
Sadie's second novel WHEN HE FINDS YOU, came out in March 2020Book 3 will be out in 2021
You can buy Sadie's books here:
Contact Sadie here:
