Welcome, Eli! What
prompted you to first start writing? What was the first thing you wrote?
I started telling stories long before I actually put pen to paper. I would regale my friends with improbable
tales, and tell them things like there were fairies and other magical beings at
the bottom of the garden who came regularly to sneak me away to their
world. Strangely, quite often, they
actually seemed to believe me.
After that I studied journalism and went into copywriting but I thought
about writing a book for years and years before I actually did it.
Can you
summarise your latest work in just a few words?
The
Watcher, my debut crime thriller, is a book about what happens when sexual
obsession and emotional neglect combine to tip an individual into madness resulting
in extreme, terrible, violence.
OOH, sounds exciting! What was
the inspiration for this book?
I’ve often
wondered what makes a psychopath.
Someone who can derive pleasure in sadism, in hurting others, is very
alien to me personally but intriguing all the same. My fascination with psychopaths over the
years has led me to study infamous serial killers, read numerous serial killer
novels, and watch an unlimited amount of true crime documentaries, and
psychological thrillers. One day, a germ
of a story idea came into my mind, so I marinated on it for a while, and
procrastinated a lot. Eventually I
actually put fingers to keyboard and The Watcher came into being.
The book
was also inspired by London, where I lived, and I drew heavily from the urban
landscape. It seems to me the anonymity
of a huge metropolis like London, where everything’s moving so fast and people
are used to meeting strangers, would make it the perfect place for a serial
killer to conceal himself.
Did you do
any research for the book?
I did a bit pertaining to little facts about the way the police operate, but I didn’t want the book to be a standard police procedural as that’s not at
all what it was intended to be.
So I gave myself lots of artistic licence, though I did a lot of research
in the years leading up to writing it by making case studies of serial killers
who were diagnosed with psychopathy. I did this because I was always so
interested to find out what made them so different from the rest of us.
What does
a typical writing day involve for you?
Coffee. Lots of it, and a fair bit of procrastination
checking emails, Facebook etc… Then I like to go into full gear. I don’t write fiction every single day, but I
always write something, whether I’m
working on a novel or short story, an article for a blog, or a job for a
copywriting client.
When I
write fiction I usually lay down about 2K words a time. Sometimes 1K a time when I’m feeling lazy. I
usually aim to work on my fiction at least 5 days a week, with Sat and Sun
off. When I’m not writing, though, I’m
always mulling over a story idea in my mind.
I actually find that really helps me when I do sit down and put pen to
paper.
How do you
decide on the names for your characters?
The names just seem to pop out of nowhere, I don’t consciously decide
on them really. It’s just whatever comes
into my mind that seems appropriate for the character I’m writing. Certain names just seem right somehow.
Do you
plot your novels in advance, or allow them to develop as you write?
When I first started, I was firmly opposed to planning, thinking it
would stifle my creativity. Then I
realized, if you don’t at least sketch out a rough outline you end up with a
mess on your hands about halfway through a manuscript. It’s much harder to plug holes once you’ve
already started, so now I always make a loose chapter-by-chapter plan before I
sit down to write the first chapter.
Which
writers have influenced your own writing?
I don’t
know about influenced but I greatly admire Steven King, Patricia Cornwell, Mark
Billingham, Harlan Coben, and the late, great Ruth Rendell. As you can probably tell, I’m a big fan of
crime, mystery, and psychological type thriller fiction.
As for the
greats of the past, I love Vladimir Nabokov for his beautiful prose, and Thomas
Hardy for his ability to evoke human misery in such an utterly immersive
way. And I think William Golding’s Lord
Of The Flies was the definitive study into the dark heart of human nature. Oh and George Eliot was a genius, she totally
rocks my world. I adore the poetry of
Sylvia Plath too, very earthy and sensual but at the same time, it takes you to
totally different dimension in your mind that without her words you’d never
have been able to access.
What has
been the best part of the writing process…and the worst?
The best is the feeling of satisfaction when it’s done and there it is,
the story you had in your mind, all there just waiting to be published.
The worst is definitely getting into a regular habit when I have a
thousand other things all demanding my urgent attention. But the thing is, if you really want to do
something, you’ll find a way, and it’s amazing what you can achieve when you’re
really determined to write.
Now the
book is on the verge of being published, how do you feel?
The Watcher launches on June 21st and I’m ridiculously,
narcissistically, excited about it. It’s
been such a long time coming to fruition (my fault) that once it’s launched and
actually out there I think I’ll have to keep checking to believe it.
Is there a
message for the reader? What do you hope they get from one of your books?
I hope you
enjoy my book and if you enjoy crime thrillers that keep you guessing, there’s
a strong possibility you might like The Watcher. Most of all I hope it keeps you entertained
and allows you to escape into another world for a while. That’s always been the best gift all the
books I’ve enjoyed have given me, so I really hope I’ve given that to my
readers.
Do you
have any advice for new writers?
Yes, just do it. If you want to write, and you have a novel or
story idea in your head, mull over it by all means - but when that time comes and
you know what you have to do, just spit it out.
You’ll feel so relieved and all cleansed and virtuous, when you’ve
finally done it, like you’ve just squeezed a great big spot and lanced it of all
that oozy puss. Sorry that was a little
bit gross wasn’t it?
It's certainly an interesting analogy. I can't say I'd thought of it in those terms before, but now you come to mention it...
On a brighter note, what can
we expect from you in the future?
I’ve an
idea for another crime thriller, a serial killer novel like The Watcher but obviously with a completely different story and killer. This one is extremely twisty and turny too,
so the two will have that in common, but as I said, it’s a completely different
story, featuring a brand new antagonist.
After The
Watcher launches, I’ll probably sit down and tackle that. I’m sketching out an outline for that one at
the moment, I’ve got too much on with The Watcher’s launch to properly focus on
a new novel just yet, but I plan to get it written and out there by early next
year.
That sounds like a plan! Good luck with it, and thank you for coming to visit. Please come again!
A man with a hidden past... A stalker with a deadly obsession...
The Watcher is released on June 21st from Crooked Cat Books, in ebook and paperback formats.
Find out more at https://facebook.com/elicarros or at www.elicarros.weebly.com.
Join the Online Launch Day Event on Facebook to be in with a chance of winning a £25/$25 Amazon gift card.
