1. Books, biscuits, and Beethoven: my writing environment. Sneak into my study while I’m writing and you’ll be bombarded by Beethoven (or Bach, Mozart, Debussy) before being offered a biscuit from the packet sitting atop some of the books open on my desk. Why the classical music? The way the mood of such music can change suddenly and dramatically reminds me to keep my writing tight and create a rollercoaster of emotion! What sort of biscuits? They vary from dry crackers topped with cheese to wicked chocolate, depending on what’s in the pantry and what’s happening to my characters . . . crackers when the cop is thinking logically about clues; chocolate when the “baddy” is planning their next move! And the selection of books? Some of them are reference books I’m using to research the next thriller I’m writing, while the rest are a selection of novels that inspire me. Which leads nicely to . . .
Lyn Yeowart
2. Agatha, Daphne and Patricia*: my writing inspiration. These wonderful women are three of the best when it comes to authors of crime and thrillers that keep you turning the page with curiosity and dread . . . which I’ve tried to do in The Silent Listener. What I really admire about the work of these three women is how they simultaneously deceive and delight us with their plots and characters! Remember how many of the lines that Maxim de Winter delivers to his second wife in Rebecca have double meanings, and how you felt when you realised the truth? These authors’ books are definitely worth re-reading to fully appreciate just how clever these women were, and I relished doing just that while I was writing The Silent Listener. *Christie, du Maurier and Highsmith
3. Speeches, strategies, and standards: my writing “day job”. When I’m not writing fiction, I’m writing for corporates, governments, artists. So on any given day, I might be drafting a speech for an executive, editing a 5-year strategic plan for a government department, or re-writing a set of medical standards into plain English. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but I love it. I also work with other writers, helping them to get their manuscripts ready to present to agents and publishers. This is loads of fun, endlessly interesting, and incredibly rewarding.
4. Cryptic crossword clues: my distraction from writing. I’m addicted to cryptic crosswords and the infinite possibilities of their clues, and not only do I solve them, I also make them as presents for friends who are fellow addicts. Deliciously wicked (like the aforementioned chocolate biscuits!), cryptic crosswords demand that you think laterally, discard the obvious, and get a kick out of words that, for example, sound the same or have double meanings. Perfect for a writer of secrets, lies and twists! (Shh! There’s a word in The Silent Listener that has two meanings . . . and it’s only when the cop and his sidekick realise this that they can work out something that’s puzzling them).
5. Stereotyping and touch-typing: a double-edged sword that turned out to be mightier than the pen. I grew up in rural Australia and attended a secondary school in the 1970s. Gender stereotyping of girls in that place and time meant I was all but forced to “choose” shorthand and typing when I was 14. Little did I, or my teachers, suspect that these were the best possible electives for an aspiring writer who would later produce her work using a personal computer and Microsoft Word, which back then was not even a twinkle in Bill Gates’s eye! While we might now frown at such stereotyping, my extremely fast touch-typing (honed over more than 40 years) is invaluable. As well as being able to type far more quickly and legibly than I can handwrite, I can also type while I’m talking to someone, or reading a cryptic crossword clue, or looking out the window at the kookaburras and parrots flitting around the huge gum tree in my front yard (if it’s night-time, I might also hear the reclusive owl that’s recently decided to call the tree home).
6. Earrings, earrings, and earrings: nothing to do with writing. I didn’t get my ears pierced until I was an adult (thanks to my strict parents), but now I have a couple of hundred pairs, most of which were presents (thanks to my friends and family). Having said that, I bought myself two of my favourite pairs from the New York Public Library shop: dangling from the earring of the first pair is a little stack of gold books, while the other pair is not a pair at all, since it’s comprised of a question mark for one ear and an exclamation mark for the other ear (so maybe something to do with writing, after all!).
7. Anchovies, Brussel sprouts, and coriander: definitely nothing to do with writing! From what I’ve read, people either love or hate each of these foods! So, if you ever have me over for dinner, you need to know that I love anchovies and coriander, but detest Brussel sprouts. That’s it. That’s all you need to know. I will be happy.
Lyn Yeowart’s stunning debut, The Silent Listener, is published by Joffe Books in eBook and paperback in the UK and by Penguin Random House in Australia. This searing psychological thriller is out now and available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B093H6NXHF – prepare to be hooked!
