I’d like to welcome Sarah Hilary to the blog today. Her debut novel, Someone Else’s Skin, will be published on Thursday by Headline. It has already received some great reviews and has been heralded as “one of the debut novels of next year, if not THE debut novel.” I wanted to find out more about Sarah, her path to publication, and the inspiration behind her work. Thank you, Sarah, for today’s interview. We wish you all the best for the imminent release of your book!
What drew you to crime fiction and how have you been influenced by other authors or film and television?
SH: I always loved Sherlock Holmes, and I adore TV crime. Key influences would be Silence of the Lambs (film and book), Fred Vargas, Patricia Highsmith, TV shows like The Bridge, The Mentalist, Peaky Blinders… All these things keep me on my toes and inspire me to keep exploring the different angles of crime.
How does your work as a copywriter and editor work alongside fiction writing? Does it help or hinder your creative process?
SH: It helps, I think. I have to produce some pretty taut prose at work, which is never a bad thing in a fiction writer. And it’s good to have time away from stories, to stay in touch with the real world.
What do you think helps to make characters likeable or believable to the reader, and how important is it?
SH: It’s all about empathy. I don’t believe a character needs to be likeable so much as recognisable; he or she needs to touch a nerve in the reader. One reader said that she found Marnie Rome irritating, and that this was a compliment, because it meant that Marnie was ‘real’. I get bored reading about heroes and villains. I’m fascinated by the human qualities between these two extremes. That’s where the interest lies for me.
Where do you write and why?
SH:In cafes, when I can. I like the white noise, and the sense of being in the world and outside it, at the same time.
What is your process and how do you plan?
SH: I keep notebooks and mark down the twists, for the story and for the characters. Other than that, I don’t do much planning. I used to try, but it ended up killing my interest in the story. So now I take a deep breath and dive in…
Your debut novel, Someone Else’s Skin will be released in just a few days. Can you tell us about your journey to publication?
SH: Long and rocky. I was lucky enough to get noticed and encouraged by the agent I’d set my heart on (Jane Gregory) who gave me so much encouragement each time she rejected my early manuscripts. I knew that if I could write a book she loved then I’d make it. Stamina was a very big part of it but, boy, did it pay off.
Thank you, Sarah. Finally, a lighter question for you! What do you do with your time when you are not writing?
SH: Watch TV with my daughter. Read. Count my blessings.
Sarah Hilary has worked as a bookseller, and with the Royal Navy. Her debut novel, Someone Else’s Skin, will be published in 2014 by Headline in the UK, Penguin in the US, and in six other countries worldwide. A second book in the series will be published a year later. Set in London, both books feature DI Marnie Rome, a woman with a tragic past and a unique insight into domestic violence. www.sarah-crawl-space.blogspot.co.uk/
F.C. MALBY 