Welcome to my blog, Claire. Huge congratulations on your contract with Ruby Fiction, and on the release of your debut novel, Perfect Lie (coming June 16th).
I love hearing about writer’s journeys. What has led you to this moment and how did it feel to get that call?
A lot of hard work and tears, having already suffered a false start, I’ve been very cautious every step of the way but I think once I’ve got this over the line it’ll be amazing! Though I can already feel the excitement mounting.
Your blurb sounds intriguing:
What is ‘perfect’ trying to hide?
Jen Garner tries her best to be ‘wife and mother of the year’. She helps organise school plays and accompanies her husband to company dinners, all with a big smile on her face.
But Jen has started to receive strange gifts in the post … first flowers, then a sympathy card.
It could just be a joke; that’s what she tells herself. But then the final ‘gift’ arrives, and Jen has to question why somebody is so intent on shattering her life into pieces …
What inspired the idea behind the story?
A mixture of the television I used to watch growing up such as The Bill and later on Spooks and one to many daydreams when I should be doing other things. When I first started writing Perfect Lie I was going to write along the lines of Spooks but after further advice and my future plans for the series I decided to write about local policing and where better to set it but where I live. I can see the Nottingham police station from the kitchen at work, so no doubt all the time standing looking out of the window has helped.
I’ve seen reviews that mention twists and turns, and say it is a real page-turner. What top tips have you got for keeping the reader guessing but still holding them in the grips of your story?
Foreshadowing which is basically teasing readers about plot turns that will occur later on in the novel and lead them down dead ends when they think they have figured it out.
When I started writing Perfect Lie I didn’t plot which I think helped as I didn’t know who the bad guy was or why.
I also had help from others who had read my work and offered some great advice, which I followed and put to good use.
What level of thriller would you describe your novel as … Is it a white knuckle ride, a grab a cushion to hide behind, a jump when the telephone rings, or suspect everybody around you, type of a read?
Suspect everyone around you, who is sending these things to Jen and why? On the outside to everyone looking in Jen is the perfect mother and wife. What could she have done to set this chain of events off?
Can you tell us a little about your main character/s, and who inspired them?
Jen has spent the past ten years building up a perfect life for herself, the perfect husband that she had fallen head over heels for when she first met him and two adorable kids.
Jen’s husband, James, has had his whole life mapped out in front of him; he is a manager and is living the corporate lifestyle. James, to me, is the extreme other end of some of the blokes I have worked with over the years.
My DI Chris is kind of me, he was brought up on all the crime drama’s I was and as soon as he was old enough he joined the police force and has pretty much worked his way up the ranks.
As your readers close the final page of your story, what feeling do you hope they will have?
I want them to feel satisfied with the ending each character has. I would love for them to feel so connected to them that they shed a tear, but then again that is probably because I am always crying at the end of novels.
What can we expect from you next?
Book two is currently with my publisher, Jen and Chris and some of the other characters will still be there. Book two is about a little boy who turns up in Nottingham asking for Lisa Carter who everyone assumes is his mum.
Finally here’s five quick fire questions for fun:
- Tea or coffee? Tea
- Notebook and pen or laptop? Notebook and Pen in my bag and I sit and do my writing on my desktop computer.
- Dog or cat? I used to be a cat person, where as my husband isn’t until one day a cat walked into our house and we ended up adopting her. Then a couple of years later my kids end up with a puppy for Christmas and Podrick walked into our lives.
- Sweet or savoury? Sweet
- Late night or early morning? Late nights, but that’s because I love my sleep too much!
Thank you so much for stopping by my blog, and I wish you every success with Perfect Lie and hope you celebrate publication day in style!
Links to purchase: Kindle | Kobo | iBooks | Google Play | Barnes and Noble
About the author:
Claire lives in Nottingham with her family, a cat called Whiskers and a dog called Podrick.
She suffers from Multiple Sclerosis and as a result of the disease had to reduce her hours working in insurance for an Insolvency Insurer. This spare time enabled her to study a creative writing course which inspired her to write her debut, Perfect Lie.
When Claire isn’t working she enjoys reading crime novels and listening to music – the band Jimmy Eat World is her biggest muse! Claire is also an avid reader and book blogger. The inspiration for her novels comes from the hours spent watching The Bill with her grandparents and auntie; then later, Spooks and other detective programmes like Morse, A Touch of Frost and Midsummer Murders.
Discover more about Claire Sheldon here: Twitter | Facebook
