Novel Kicks Chats To Amy Bird

Published July 15, 2014 | By Laura

Amy’s first book, Yours is Mine was released by Carina in 2013. We catch up with her to chat about her latest book, Three Steps Behind You (which was released in March of this year.) We talk about her book, her writing rituals and James McAvoy.

Hi Amy, can you tell us about Three Steps Behind You?

Three Steps Behind You is a twisting tale of toxic friendship, psychopathic fixation and author identity. Set in North London and Soho, it tells of Dan, a crime writer who believes he has to experience everything in order to write about it. Method writing, if you will. But underlying Dan’s writing is the obsessional need to get closer to childhood friend, Adam, and Adam’s wife, Nicole. And he’ll keep trying until he achieves it – however brutal the method. The book is all first person through the eyes of Dan, so you really enter into his psychotic little world.

What attracted you to the psychological thriller genre?

I’m a big fan of Hitchcock, who is a real master of the psychological thriller on-screen. There is such technical skill in keeping an audience hooked, even as they feel uneasy, and I wanted to have a go myself. It’s also fun as a writer to create the very intense worlds that a thriller needs. You really immerse yourself in the world of your characters and the style of the genre. For Three Steps Behind You, I wrote my first draft in three months, which was a delightfully claustrophobic experience. Hopefully the reader then shares in some of that intensity.

Do you have any writing rituals?

I try to keep those to a minimum because I think they can be an excuse for not writing unless the ritual is complete – which would mean you couldn’t snatch small bits of time here and there to write. When I’m having a day devoted to writing, though, I generally go for a walk before I write, to wake my brain up, and remind myself about the outside world. Then as soon as possible after I return, I’ll draw back the curtains in my study, fire up my laptop, take off my watch, and start to write.

What’s your planning process for a new book?

I mulch over the idea for a while as I’m going back and forth on the Tube. Once I’ve established and tested the basic plot in my head, I’ll then sit down with some paper and a pen and brainstorm. I never remember being that religious about it once I’ve moved onto the next book, and then I come across old notes I’ve made, full of diagrams and plot points. I generally plan out the overall plot and character arc in full, but let the individual chapters take care of themselves. Although you do need precision in planning for writing a thriller, so you can feed the right amounts of information through at the right time, planning too much would reduce the spontaneity of the writing. It is through actually typing that I get the detail of my ideas.

Which authors inspire you?

So many – I will just have the give you some highlights. For the ability to make the smallest details seem sinister, Graham Greene and Daphne Du Maurier. For the ability to keep me reading until 2am, Gillian Flynn and S.J. Watson. For sentence structure, wit and balancing humour with darkness, Joseph Connolly and Martin Amis. For cliffhanger chapter endings and his hardboiled world of moody detection, Raymond Chandler. For emotional impact, Dostoyevsky and Zola. And then of course there’s Patrick Hamilton, Harlan Coben, Siri Hustvedt, Iris Murdoch… I do love books, don’t you?

What tips do you have for writers wanting to approach an agent and publisher?

Get your work to the best second draft standard it reasonably can be before submitting it. I say ‘reasonably’ because some people will pick over successive drafts for years and years trying to make them perfect, and there is no such thing as literary perfection pre-editorial. Plus really think hard about the agent or publisher who is right for the work you are producing – don’t take a scattergun approach. Think about where you see yourself in your career in 20 years time and go for someone who can support that. But do seize opportunities as they come. You never know what may result from them.

Do you cast your characters?

My husband (who also writes) and I have great fun fantasy casting our characters while we cook. The only problem is I am writing increasingly messed-up characters so I need the real elite to play them! Our thoughts for Three Steps Behind You are Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy and Eva Green (Emily Blunt is busy in the fantasy cast of my first book). Of course, should a film deal appear, I’d be happy to consider other options…

Hardest/easiest thing about writing?

The hardest thing is probably reading your own first draft. It’s pretty rare that what you thought you were putting down on the paper is all actually there. I always manage my own expectations a bit when I start to read. The fine-tuning doesn’t happen until the second draft. The easiest – or most joyous – thing is when it’s really going well and you don’t want to stop. That’s when I walk away from the laptop with bleary red eyes.

What’s your advice to overcome writers block?

If it’s a structural problem that’s preventing you from writing, talk it out with someone, or draw it out on some paper. Anything to get a fresh approach. If it’s a lack of ideas, think around a problem or concept – even just focussing on something as simple as ‘what could be in that person’s bag?’ or ‘what’s the worst thing that could happen in such and such a scenario?’, which should generate creative thought. If you just feel like you can’t create that day, I’m afraid you need to be tough with yourself, sit down and get on with it. That’s how books are made.

Amy Bird’s second novel, psychological thriller Three Steps Behind You is available now from all good e-retailers.

Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk

Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com

You can follow Amy’s progress on twitter @London_writer or via her site www.amybirdwrites.com