Q&A Interview with Kathryn Croft

How excited am I that the lovely Kathryn Croft has dropped by my blog on her publication day  for The Girl You Lost (which I gave a massive…. 5 well- deserved stars!!) to take part in my Q&A Interview..... So without further ado I would like to welcome Kathryn Croft.

Good Morning and Happy Publication Day Kathryn

Thank you and Good morning Shell

Can you tell us a little about yourself and background? Probably the most exciting thing I can tell you is that I've just had a baby! I'm really lucky that I write full time, which means I can be at home with him. Before writing my first novel I was a secondary school English teacher for six years. When did you know that you wanted to become a writer? and how did you go about it? I've always known I wanted to be a writer and I attempted my first book in 2000 after finishing university. I got as far as 50,000 words and then just didn't finish it, which looking back now is a good thing as I'm sure it wouldn't have got anywhere! But then, about 10 years later I finally got motivated again and started working on the plan for Behind Closed Doors. And now I can't stop writing! Can you tell us what genre your books are and the audience you write for? All my books are psychological thrillers, which is the genre I love to read myself. I write for anyone - male or female - who loves a dark and disturbing story and an unexpected (hopefully) twist! What is your writing process? and how long does it take? I aim to write a minimum of 1000 words a day (not so easy with a newborn baby!!) and it probably takes up to 6 months for each one. I seem to be more productive in the mornings so that's when I'm at my best for writing. Are your characters based on anyone you know or are they just fictional? My characters are all fictional but I may get ideas for certain characteristics from people I come across. I do tend to steal names from my friends, though! Have you wrote about a personal experience in your novels? No, thankfully nothing I write about is anything that's happened to me, but I may sometimes get ideas from things I might have seen or heard about. What research do you do? I research everything I don't know about like characters' jobs for example. Who would you like to co-write with and why? A great question- I've never thought about that! I'd have to say Nikki French (who are actually two people, which could make it tricky!) as I love their books. They were the first psychological thrillers I read and really inspired my writing. What's your favorite book? Funnily enough, two of my favourite books aren't psychological thrillers! I love The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood and The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. What's your favorite food? Pizza! What's your favorite film? Star Wars and The Shawshank Redemption. What's your favorite song? That's difficult as it depends what mood I'm in! Today let's say Living On A Prayer by Bon Jovi! How can readers find out more information about yourself and your books? My website is www.kathryncroft.com and readers can sign up to my mailing list to find out all my latest news. I'm also on Facebook https://facebook.com/authorkathryncroft And my Twitter is @KatCroft Many Congratulations on the birth of your baby Kathryn. And thank you for joining me today. I hope you have a wonderful day and look forward to hosting your author chat on Crime Book Club this evening. Thank you very much for interviewing me