I’m so happy to host suspense author Amy Suiter Clarke on today’s Friday Five.
Her novel, Girl, 11, is available now. Let’s get started!
What is your writing process like?
I tend to do my best writing in the late morning and early afternoon. I work part-time in my day job now, so I set aside two weekdays for writing, and I also work weekends when I’m in the middle of drafting or revising a project. I will try to get any housework or administrative tasks done in the early morning, so by the time I sit down to write, I don’t have any excuses to avoid it. I love writing, but I mostly don’t love it until I’m doing it. Once I’ve started, I usually get in the flow pretty quickly, and I find it hard to pull away.
What are some of your favorite novels (or your favorite novelists) and why?
I find it too hard to pick favorite books, but I have a lot of authors who inspire my work or whose work I just love as a reader. Candice Fox, S.A. Cosby, Harlan Coben, Wendy Walker, Tana French, and Kellye Garrett are some of my favorite crime and thriller authors. I also love everything I’ve read by Liane Moriarty, Sarah Gailey, Lesley Nneka Arimah, Bethany C. Morrow, Clint Smith, Colson Whitehead, and Celeste Ng.
What the hardest thing about being a writer?
For me, it’s learning when to let a project go and send it to someone. I could just keep working on something forever, but eventually, you have to share your work and find out how it can be improved by someone who is not you. I always struggle to know when that point is in my own writing—when my own edits stop helping the manuscript get better and instead are just treading water to avoid letting someone else read it.
What’s the best thing about being a writer?
The buzz and fulfillment of creating a whole story out of thin air! When writing is going well, I have a hard time sleeping because I’m so amped up on adrenaline and excitement for the book. It’s like a huge serotonin boost. I love when the story is coming together, when I know the characters inside and out, and when I can’t wait to get back to the computer and keep writing.
Are you an introvert or extrovert? What’s that best thing about being an (introvert or extrovert)?
I’m definitely an introvert. I run out of energy fast when I’m in a group of people, even when they’re close friends. I think the pandemic has actually made that side of me even stronger. I crave time alone, and I get out of sorts when I don’t have enough of it. The best part about being an introvert is that, since I’m a writer, I have to spend a lot of time alone anyway. Instead of draining me, those sessions drafting alone in my office give me a lot of energy.
About Amy
Amy Suiter Clarke is a writer and communications specialist. Originally from a small town in Minnesota, she completed an undergraduate in theater in the Twin Cities. She then moved to London and earned an MFA in Creative Writing with Publishing at Kingston University. She currently works for a university library in Melbourne, Australia. Girl, 11 is her debut novel and will be published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in the USA, Text Publishing in Australia, and other publishing houses all over the world in 2021.
You can follow Amy on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok at @asuiterclarke.
About Girl, 11
Elle Castillo once trained as a social worker, supporting young victims of violent crime. Now she hosts a popular true crime podcast that focuses on cold cases of missing or murdered children.
After four seasons of successfully solving these cases in Minnesota’s Twin Cities, Elle decides to tackle her white whale: The Countdown Killer. Twenty years ago, TCK terrorized the community, kidnapping and ritualistically murdering three girls over seven days, each a year younger than the last. But after he took his eleven-year-old victim, the pattern—and the murders—abruptly stopped. No one has ever known why.
When Elle follows up on a listener tip only to discover the man’s dead body, she feels at fault. Then, within days, a child is abducted—a young girl who seems to fit suspiciously into the TCK sequence. While media and law enforcement long ago concluded that TCK was dead, Elle has never believed it. She had hoped her investigation would lay that suspicion to rest, but instead, her podcast seems to be creating new victims.
Order Girl, 11 today from Bookshop, Indie Bound, Target, Walmart, Barnes & Noble, or Amazon today!
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