You may not know this about me, but I have a dark little heart. I love thrillers and psychological suspense and anything that keeps me on the edge of my seat wondering what’s going to happen next.
So of course I love Edwin Hill’s books. Edwin is the author of the critically-acclaimed Hester Thursby mystery series, which have been nominated for multiple awards, as well as the standalones The Secrets We Share and Who to Believe. His books are wild rides of twists, turns and surprises and if that’s your jam, you will definitely love them.
And of course, because we’re writers, we can’t help but talk about our processes—and of course, plotting or pantsing.
We cover:
- Writing character-driven mysteries
- When writing turns dark and it’s kind of a surprise
- How we as writers tend to overcomplicate stories – and what happens when we chill out
- The role animals play in his books to help him give more dimension to his characters
Notable quotes:
- “There’s always a dog in every one of my novels. I wouldn’t call them dog novels, but there’s always dogs. I think it’s really interesting to look at characters through the lens of their relationship with their animals.”
- “it’s really fun to work on a series. one of the best things about working on a series is you get to stay with your characters. one of the ways you structure a series is you kind of look at it in, in, sets of novels. So someone might choose three novels and like, want to have a story arc that, um, expands over those three arcs so that you’re seeing some growth in your character.”
- “A standalone novel is about the most important thing that ever happened, ever, in the life of the protagonist. That is the story you’re telling. And when you’re writing a series, you have to keep one-upping yourself.”
This was such a great conversation. If you’re a thriller fan or if you just love hearing writers talk about writing—because we all do it so differently—you don’t want to miss this episode. Tune in wherever you get your podcasts.
You can find Edwin at https://www.edwin-hill.com/
And on Instagram @edwinhillauthor.
I’m on @lizmugavero – follow for info on the latest episodes!
