And now, on this glorious release day for A Deeper Darkness (Samantha Owens, Book 1)
1. What it your favourite JT Ellison novel? And who is your favourite author outside of yourself and what’s your favourite book by him/her or someone else?
That is so difficult to answer. Whatever book I’ve just finished is always my favorite. Each of them has something incredibly special associated with it. I loved THE COLD ROOM, and SO CLOSE THE HAND OF DEATH. And THE IMMORTALS. AND JUDAS KISS, because I felt like I had a big breakthrough as a writer on that one. I will say this, generally the worse I think a book is, the better it’s received. I’m a bit hard on my darlings.
My favorite author list is long and varied, from folks like JK Rowling and Diana Gabaldon to Ayn Rand and Vladimir Nabokov. Anthem and Lolita are two of my all-time favorites. In crime fiction, I’m big on Greg Rucka, Alex Kava, Tess Gerritsen, Lee Child, John Connolly, Jeff Abbott, Lisa Gardner, Erica Spindler, Laura Benedict, Allison Brennan… it goes on and on.
2. I first met you and Dr. Sam in SLICES OF NIGHT
It was an easy challenge. Erica and Alex and I are good friends, and we knew we’d work well together, because we’re all type A creatives who really care about character and story. I was amazed at how seamlessly we were able to build SLICES OF NIGHT
3. What does your writing room look like?
Silver, with a little black QWERTY keyboard… I write on my laptop everywhere, all over the house, but my “office” is grey-walled with a chair and lamp and huge diagonal desk with a hutch. Gorgeous but overpowering. I’m getting ready to redecorate, a smaller desk and the walls lined with floor to ceiling bookshelves. Everything is in its place – I’m a neat freak. It feels good to have things organized and together, and I have to have things just so to work comfortably. Hello, OCD!
4. Is there anything unusual you do to get your writing started?
I usually have a theme song for each book, so I listen to that. But no, outside of a cup of tea, I just sit down and start letting the words fly. I do use Freedom, a great program that turns off my Internet, in 120-minute chunks of time, a variation of the Pomodoro method, to keep me on track. I can get lost in Internet land too easily – there’s just so much to learn in this world!
5. And last but certainly not the most boring – Is there a question that you’re asked with every interview that you hate?
Not really. It’s more the live, in person questions that throw me. Especially the one from total strangers about how much money I make. You’d be astounded how often people ask me that. I always turn it around and ask what their gross income was for the past year. That usually stops them in their tracks. Or how for the first several years I was writing, before I was published, when people assumed I was writing children’s books! Drove me mad.
Thanks so much for having me, Sarah!
Thank you for joining me, J.T.
and thank you for reading!
Sarah Butland
author of Sending You Sammy
