Ben tornati a tutti lettori, oggi sono qui per una seconda intervista in lingua inglese. Lo scorso anno infatti, lessi il libro “Sono io l’assassino” (Girl, 11) di Amy Suiter Clarke. Libro d’esordio della scrittrice e in attesa che venga tradotto in Italia anche il secondo dal lei scritto, eccovi l’intervista all’autrice, che ringrazio per la gentilezza e disponibilità.

When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

I wrote stories from a very young age, probably eleven or twelve. Around that time, I met a published author who was from the rural Midwest part of the United States, like me. That made me believe I could really have a career as an author if I worked hard enough! I took a career detour for a little while, when I thought maybe I wanted to be an actress. I did my undergraduate in theater studies. However, after a few years of focusing on theater, I returned to writing and decided to do my master’s degree in that. From there, I pursued my career as an author.

What are some of the challenges of writing psychological thrillers?

Keeping up the tension and suspense throughout the book, and putting in enough twists and reveals that lovers of the genre still feel surprised! Once you’ve read a lot of thrillers, it starts to become obvious what the general plot points and character tropes will be, so it’s challenging to do something that feels fresh and different.

What are some of the things you do to create suspense and tension in your stories?

While I try to have a general outline of my books ahead of time, I always leave space for my characters to surprise me. Sometimes, this allows me to discover new plot threads and twists that I didn’t plan for. I also try to make sure every scene feeds into the next one, so that whatever the main character learns or experiences in one scene leads to what they do in the following.

Can you talk about the process of creating your characters?

It has been different for every book. For my first two novels, I didn’t do a lot of pre-work for character discovery because the focus was on the plot and the themes of the book. In the manuscript I’m working on now, I used the craft book Story Genius and did a lot of the character development they advised. This primarily focuses on deciding what the main character’s fundamental misbelief about the world is, as well as all the opportunities in their life they’ve had to change their mind and let go of that misbelief, but instead chose to reinforce it. This was crucial for the book because the main character is really the driver of the story here, and I wanted her to feel fully alive on the page.

How do you research the psychological aspects of your stories?

I read a lot of nonfiction related to the topics in my book, and sometimes I listen to podcasts that feature experts in the fields I’m researching. Occasionally, memoir makes a great tool also, because I get firsthand experience from the people who deal with the issues I’m exploring.

What are some of the themes that you explore in your work?

I try to have a different “big idea” in mind for each book. I always say that what drives my work is rage. I need to be angry about something in order to have the passion to sustain writing about it for months and months. Common themes for my work are intersectional feminism, racial justice, religious corruption and extremism, and anticapitalism.

What are your thoughts on the future of psychological thrillers?

Both the present and the future are bright as long as publishers publish and promote stories from a wide range of voices, experiences, and perspectives! For decades, thrillers were primarily published by white men. That really started to change with the global success of Gone Girl, when Gillian Flynn carved out a space for women’s voices in the subgenres of psychological and domestic thrillers. However, the books that went on to be successful immediately after hers were mostly written by white women. Crime novels written by people of color were often considered too niche to sell, which has proved to be untrue. In the past few years, it’s been exceptional to see the rise of incredible talents across the genre such as S.A. Cosby, Danya Kukafka, Jesse Sutanto, Rachel Howzell Hall, Kellye Garret, Alex Segura, and others. If publishing continues to put out psychological thrillers that don’t just center the ideas and identities of straight, white people, readers will continue to fall in love with books in this amazing genre.

What are the unique elements of your writing style?

My thrillers are written with epistolary elements in addition to the prose narrative. In Girl, 11 the story is told partly in podcast transcripts, which include elements like sound effects. These are reflected in the audiobook, which I love! The podcast sections were produced like real podcasts, with separate narrators for all the voices, theme music, etc. In Lay Your Body Down, the epistolary elements are blog posts written by one of the secondary characters, as well as old diary entries written by the main character. These help to show both of their perspectives from when they were younger, as well as how they changed as they aged.

What inspired you to write your latest book?

Usually my book ideas start with a what if question. What if there was a serial killer whose victims were each a year younger than the last? (Girl, 11). What if a woman was convinced her childhood best friend killed her husband? (Lay Your Body Down). In my latest book, the question is: what if there was a woman who had to undo her husband’s belief in a bizarre conspiracy theory before it ruins his reputation as a detective? The question is just the jumping off point, and often it eventually isn’t even the focus of the book, but it’s the initial spark that gets me writing.

What is your favorite line or passage from your latest book?

From Lay Your Body Down: “I grew up with people who felt like God owed them something and failed to deliver. When that reality hits them, there’s no telling what they might do.”

Which book do you think is your most successful?

Girl, 11 has been out longer and therefore had a chance to find more readers so far. But I feel like I really grew as a writer with Lay Your Body Down, and I’m incredibly proud of it. I also feel like it holds more meaning for a lot of readers, as it reflects a brutal and often traumatic experience of religious abuse that makes many people feel too isolated to discuss.

What are your plans for the future?

My current manuscript is more of a character-driven commercial fiction book rather than a thriller. I’m excited to expand my abilities into a new genre. I hope readers that enjoyed my first two books will stick with me, and that I will also be able to write something that new readers who find crime and thrillers a bit too scary will enjoy.

What is your dream as a writer?

My goal is to write and do other author projects full time. And I would love to be a writer in residence at a university or another creative writing program.

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