First off, can you tell us where you got your inspiration for writing The Elephant Girl?The book was inspired partly by a real-life horrific murder which involved a child witness, but it’s also a personal journey for me. A good friend of mine suffers from epilepsy and has been very candid about her condition, about how it affects her life and her relationships with other people, as well as occasionally her memory. In the novel the heroine is a young child when the crime takes place, and also suffers an epileptic seizure at the time. This gave me an opportunity to explore the theme of the unreliable witness. How much did she actually see, and can her interpretation be trusted? Can she even trust herself?

We’re big fans of romantic suspense here at crimethrillergirl.com, but tell me, what was it that attracted you to the genre?

I’ve always been a huge fan of Nora Roberts. I love the way her heroines are basically ordinary women who find themselves in extraordinary circumstances, having to overcome inner conflicts while they simultaneously have to deal with dangerous outside conflicts. Although they have to solve their own problems, learning to trust the hero and finding love help them do this. It’s the same story with my own characters – I keep them in the crucible and make them work hard before they can be rewarded with their upbeat ending. You might say I’m cruel to my characters, but you have to be cruel to be kind, as the saying goes!

If The Elephant Girl were made into a movie, which actors would you like to see playing your main characters?

Now we’re definitely entering the territory of big dreams! But dreaming is allowed, I suppose. I would love for Emma Watson (of Harry Potter fame) to play Helen. She has just the right degree of mettle and vulnerability to fit the character in the novel. Cillian Murphy would be great as Jason, and I’d like Imelda Staunton to play the grandmother.

Tell us a little about your writing process, do you plot out the story events before sitting down to write, or do you drive right in and see where the story takes you?

I’m very much a plotter. I like to include a few twists and turns in my work, and if I don’t plot carefully, there’s a real danger that the book will end up in a right old mess. When plotting, I tend to write detailed chapter-by-chapter summaries, colour-coding the settings for the various scenes, who’s in it, a few specific words of dialogue, and what will be revealed.

How do you organise your writing day: do you have a favourite time and place to write?

I write best in the mornings between 10am and 1pm, preferably using pencil and paper because there’s less friction with pencils (better for my wrist). I then type up what I’ve written as soon as I can, usually after I’ve finished a scene, effectively doing my first edit along the way. I like to work in the garden when the weather allows it, but if I can’t, I’ll sit on the sofa, or at the local library, or even in a café. Away from the computer it feels less like “proper work”.

And what’s next for you, are you planning your next novel, or already well into the writing of it?

My next novel, which is already scheduled for publication in 2014, is a complete departure from anything I’ve written so far. It’s a swash-buckling historical tale set in the Georgian period, with highwaymen, a spirited heroine, and a mystery at its core.  But right now, as we speak, I’m working on another romantic thriller.

 

Thank you so much to Henriette Gyland for joining us today. You can follow her on Twitter @henrigyland  

The Elephant Girl is out now in paperback and Kindle versions.

 

[A big thank you to Choc Lit for our copy of The Elephant Girl]