Samantha Downing, known for her wicked thrillers My Lovely Wife and He Started It, discusses her writing process, her love for thrillers, and her upcoming book!
★ CHECK IT: my review of My Lovely Wife.
Author Interview: Samantha Downing, My Lovely Wife and He Started It
Q: How did you get into writing?
I think it was a natural extension of being such a big reader. I loved reading when I was a child, and that continued as an adult. At some point, I wanted to try writing my own stories. That became a lot easier when I got my first computer!
Q: What does your writing process look like? Do you always know the twists you’ll write ahead of time, or do those come in later?
I don’t plot my stories at all. I really just get an idea and start writing. Either the story develops into something or it doesn’t – I’ve started and abandoned a countless number of books! The twists come to me as I write. Sometimes they work and other times I have a lot of revising to do! Each book is different, in my experience.
Q: What made you get into thrillers and what do you love about them?
My whole family loved thrillers, so they were always around the house when I was growing up. I’ve been reading thrillers forever and that’s always been my favorite genre. It seems kind of natural to write them.
Q: What are your favorite thriller/mystery books?
There are so many! My all-time favorite is Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. For procedurals, I loved The 1st Deadly Sin by Lawrence Sanders and my favorite legal thriller is The Partner by John Grisham.
In more modern books, I love everything by Gillian Flynn, Caroline Kepnes, Jessica Knoll, Mary Kubica, and Megan Miranda. We have so many fantastic women writing today, it’s like the golden age of thrillers!
Q: As I said in an Instagram post before, you’re the CEO of making f*cked up people seem normal. Do you have any tools you use to get into your characters’ mindsets?
I love that description so much! It’s one of my favorites. What I try to do is make the character relatable in some way. In My Lovely Wife, I tried to show some very normal conversations a married couple would have – about the kids, schedules, etc. Things people can relate to. Then they were also doing these horrible things. The same thing with He Started It, there was some more typical sibling rivalry behavior mixed in with all the craziness.
Q: How do you use social media to connect with readers? Is it an important tool for authors to use?
I think it’s important because readers like to talk to authors! So I see it as a way to connect, first because I’m thankful someone took the time to read my book, and second because they took the time to write or comment! These days, people don’t like it when they can’t connect with you in some way, so it’s pretty crucial for writers.
Q: What projects are you working on and what’s next?
My third book is done and will be out next year! It’s another thriller, and soon I’ll be posting some hints about it on social media 😊
Q: What do you want readers to know about the writing process and authors in general?
First, it’s not linear. At least not for me. Every book has its own journey and some are more difficult than others. And books take a long, long time. Not just to write but to edit and go into production. All of my books have been done at least a year before it’s actually released. This is not a fast process! I can’t even count the number of hours/days and the number of people that work to produce a single book.
You can buy Samantha Downing’s My Lovely Wife and He Started It now!
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