Hello Sarah, and welcome to Troutie McFish Tales! Please introduce yourself and tell us a little about your two psychological crime thrillers, The Trip and The Wedding Murders.
Thanks for having me! I am a crime writer based in West Yorkshire, and have two novels published by One More Chapter, the digital imprint of HarperCollins.
The Trip was published in February 2020. Primary school teacher Holly is living a quiet life in the Yorkshire Dales but is haunted by a tragic event from her past. Five years ago, she went backpacking around South-East Asia with her best friends from university, only one of them didn’t come back. Now, someone knows she lied about what really happened that night in Thailand and will stop at nothing to uncover the truth…
The Wedding Murders was published earlier this year. Libby is a guest at a celebrity wedding in the Yorkshire Dales. She’s the plus-one of her boyfriend, Matthew, who used to be a drummer in a pop band. It’s the first time the group have got together since their acrimonious split in the 90s and Libby soon discovers they all have secrets to hide…
Tell us about your publication journey.
It took me a long time to get published – almost ten years since I started working on my first novel and I racked up plenty of rejections along the way. I was struggling to stand out in a crowded market and although I got positive feedback from agents, no one ever really loved my writing enough to represent me. The Trip was actually the third novel I wrote.
I was lucky enough to be taken on by Killer Reads which has now amalgamated into One More Chapter. As a digital-first publisher, they take more risks than traditional publishers and you don’t need to be represented by an agent to have your work considered.
I managed to secure an agent to represent my second novel, The Wedding Murders, and returned to the same publisher for that.
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Most authors have to do most of their own marketing these days, including arranging readings and events. Do you enjoy this side of your writing life or is it a necessary evil?
Connecting with readers is fun and I have enjoyed the events I have done so far, but they are quite nerve wracking! You’re never quite sure what people are going to ask you. Everyone so far has been really lovely.
You were a journalist before you wrote novels. Style-wise, was it difficult to make the initial transition from non-fiction to fiction, and do you think your years as a journalist have influenced the way you write your books?
Yes, it was quite difficult to adjust my style. Journalists are taught to write concise prose, to tell a story in just a few sentences, so adjusting to writing long-form fiction was quite difficult. I often need to layer my prose. I write the story down first, and then I add description and details in subsequent drafts. Many writers have to cut down their first draft – I always have to increase it!
On the plus side, as a former journalist, I am very committed to deadlines, so I am probably quite easy to work with in that respect, and I am very accustomed to being edited!
What do you like most about writing crime novels? And what’s the hardest part?
I love the puzzle aspect of crime writing – trying to work out who the killer is, what really happened, and who is telling the truth. It is very satisfying to create a baddie, and it’s fun to write an action-packed, multi-layered plot. On a more serious note, crime fiction is a prism in which you can write about society, psychology, and life in general really. It acknowledges that bad things happen to good people and examines some of the reasons why.
The hardest part is getting the clues right. You want to respect your readers, so you have to be subtle about the clues you plant but if you are too subtle then the ending isn’t satisfying. One difficulty in writing contemporary crime fiction is how advanced DNA, forensics and surveillance technology is now. It’s increasingly difficult to get away with murder!
Your novels presumably require you to do a lot of research. Do you enjoy it, and is that another area where your journalistic skills are useful?
I love interviewing people and talking to them about things they are passionate about. I have interviewed some really interesting people for my novels, including a Parkour coach, a crime scene investigator, a midwife and a Taekwondo expert.
I take my research seriously and consult experts to get aspects of the police procedure correct. I read a lot of non-fiction books and watch documentaries such as 24 Hours in Police Custody to try to make my books feel authentic.
I do enjoy research, but it is difficult to get everything right. For example, knowing what flowers might be in woodlands at a specific time of year or how long it takes to die from a stab wound. Everyone so far has been really helpful, and happy to chat about their area of expertise, but you always worry you are going to get something wrong.
Do your novels ever take on a life of their own, or do they end up being exactly as you first plotted them?
Definitely! I think that’s one of the pleasures of writing. Your characters can sometimes surprise you and you find the novel takes you in different directions from what you first intended. Sometimes it feels like the story is there all the time, and you’re just unearthing it.
I don’t think it’s a good idea to be too rigid about plotting. The story will also change when you get your agent and editor involved. They will make suggestions, as will beta readers. You have to let the story take you where it wants to go and welcome the deviations. They usually make the book better.
Tell us about your favourite authors. What did you like reading as a child and a teenager, and how have your tastes changed over the years? Do you have an all-time favourite book, or is it too difficult to choose just one?
My favourite author is Khaled Hosseini – he writes so beautifully - and my favourite book is And The Mountains Echoed. I also love The Secret History by Donna Tartt and The Time Traveller’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. Emily Barr is one of my favourite writers.
In terms of crime, I enjoy books by Shari Lapena, C L Taylor, Ruth Ware and Cara Hunter. I have just read The Castaways by Lucy Clarke and now I want to read her backlist as I thought it was brilliant.
I have eclectic tastes and will basically read anything and everything. I can easily be seduced by an interesting cover or title. I recently discovered Away with the Penguins by Hazel Prior on the title alone!
As a child, I loved mystery and adventure books – The Famous Five and Secret Seven books by Enid Blyton, and I enjoyed fantasy as well. I loved Tom’s Midnight Garden and The Ghost of Thomas Kempe. When I was a bit older, I devoured Stephen King and Agatha Christie books.
I believe you are working on two books at the moment – do you find it easy to juggle two storylines and two sets of characters?
No! And at times it’s been impossible. I haven’t got the storylines or characters mixed up, but it can be hard to drag yourself out of one world to occupy another. That said, if you get stuck, it can be nice to switch projects to keep things fresh.
It’s easier when the books are at different stages – so you can do research for one while you’re editing the other. I think all authors juggle several books to a certain extent. You are often promoting a novel while editing or writing another, and readers may be asking you questions about a book you wrote several years ago.
What’s next? Do you have a publication date for book three yet? And are there any more novel ideas fermenting in your head right now?
Book Three is currently with my agent so we will hopefully be submitting it to my publisher soon. So, no publication date yet. I am about to start writing Book 4 and looking forward to that stage.
And yes, I have lots of novel ideas. I have mapped out the next five books in fact! I’m just not sure what order I’m going to tackle them in yet. I have a notebook full of ideas that will keep me going for a long while to come and I’m always adding to it!
Thanks so much for talking to me, Sarah – I've really enjoyed finding out more about your writing journey. I loved both your books and I'm looking forward to the next one!
You can buy The Wedding Murders HERE
and The Trip HERE
To find out more about Sarah and her books follow her on social media and check out her website:
@linleysarah1 on Instagram and Twitter
Sarah Linley Author on Facebook
Website: www.sarahlinleyauthor.com
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