Today we interview my
friend Sarah Cain, author of the new thriller The 8th Circle.
I had the privilege of reading and commenting on an early version of
this book. Sarah, congratulations on
your hardcover thriller from Crooked Lane Books! I’m sure there are a lot of writers out there
who would like to know how you got an agent. How did that come about?
Getting an agent was a process. After sending
out loads of query letters that didn't generate much interest, I decided to try
my luck at Thrillerfest, the big thriller writers conference in New York. By
this time I had a polished manuscript that had been critiqued by my special
critique group--including you, thank you very much--and felt pretty confident.
I went to the conference pitched and got lucky. Six agents wanted full
manuscripts and two wanted fifty pages. I sent them off, and within a month I
had offers from four. I went with my agent Renee Fountain because she really
seemed to have the best feel for the book, and she was really enthusiastic
about it.
Your main character is
a Philadelphia newspaper columnist named Danny Ryan. His brother and late
father were policemen. Why pick a
newspaperman for the protagonist in a murder mystery, instead of a cop?
I picked a newspaperman for my protagonist because I worked in PR in my former life and had a lot of interactions with the press. I also wrote op-eds and ghost wrote articles for the some of the Philly business papers. Plus John Baer of the Philadelphia Daily News is a friend, and he was kind enough to read my manuscript and offer advice. Really, I just felt more comfortable going at it from a reporter's point of view because I've always been a writer.
You chose a 3rd
person point of view for your novel, and switched the p.o.v. between several
characters. How did you decide on that?
For me, third person is the easiest way to write. There also
some very distinct subplots in the novel, and the only way to manage them was
to go with multiple view points.
Let’s finish up with a
process question: how to you write? Do
you do it in the same time and place every day?
I always write from midnight to 2:30 am, which is a holdover
from having small children. I also write from about 3 to 6 pm. I'm really not a
morning person, though if I don't have anything scheduled I'll get up and
write. I do 2,000 words a day always at my desk, which is kind of a cupboard
filled with notes and photos and other debris.
One more question: I know you are
contracted for a second book. Does that
one also feature Danny Ryan?
I'm finishing up my second book now. It is a sequel to the
first and features Danny Ryan. The working title is Blood Angel. As of right
now, it's a bit lighter than the first.
We’ll look forward to
it. Again, Sarah Cain’s first thriller
was just published by Crooked Lane Books.
The book release party will be at the Chester County Book Company in
West Chester, PA, on Saturday, 16 January 2016, from 1 to 3 pm.
Follow Sarah Cain at SarahCain.Author@facebook.com, at Twitter
@sarahcain78, and her blogs at sarahcainauthor.com or sarahcain78.com
No comments:
Post a Comment