1. How did you come up with the title for your book?
I like titles that can be found within the text of the story and as this book is about a controlling husband, his repeated casual cruelty towards his wife summed it up nicely.
2. What advice would you give to help others create plot lines?
I knew the beginning and the end of the book but it took a while to decide the middle! When I got it right, it flowed. When it wasn’t quite right, I wrote, rewrote and wrote again.
3. What advice would you give to a writer working on their first book?
Stick with it and have faith in your storytelling. Once it’s written, give yourself a couple of weeks away from it and then re-read/edit it.
4. How much research did you need to do for your book?
The book is about coercive control within a marriage and it was vital that it was handled with respect and care. I spent a long time researching this topic and hope that I was able to to it justice.
5.How long did it take you to write this book?
I wrote it in six months.
6. If you are planning a sequel, can you share a tiny bit about it?
The sequel’s is from another characters perspective and reveals the secrets that she has been keeping from this group of friends. I wanted to explore why a good person would chose to do something unsavoury and her reasons behind it.
7. What inspired the idea for your book?
I started writing this book as a way to explore what mid-life and especially menopause can do to relationships. The idea grew from there.
8. What part of the book did you have the hardest time writing?
All the ways the husband denigrates and demeans his wife. By the end, I genuinely detested him!
9. What part of the book was the most fun to write?
I fabricated an app for menopausal woman – The Middle Aged and Fantastic app- or the Mad as Absolute Feck app- and had great fun making up all the corny sayings that it preached daily.
10. When did you write your first book and how old were you?
This is my first complete book and I was 53 when I wrote it!
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Casual-Cruelties