Alicia Thompson is an author who has published 2 novels and teaches creative writing courses up and down the east coast of Australia. She was nice enough to take a quick break to talk about writing and her upcoming work.
Q) Your most recent novel was Ex tells the story of a woman investigating the circumstances surrounding her son’s death. Can you tell us what inspired you to write the story.
Like most writers I have a folder of scribbled scraps and ideas – some from dreams, some from images arising from my own reading or daydreaming. There was a one-page scene which kept drawing my attention. It was very simple: a woman having a seemingly mundane conversation with a boy on a park bench…the thing was, I knew what lurked under the seemingly calm water. The boy is a ghost, and his connection to Adele is he knew her son who died two years before. Charlie went missing two years ago and he wants to be found. Charlie’s story kept attracting me to the point where I realised that the only way I was ever going to find out what happened and to give Charlie the resolution he deserved, I would have to write the darned story!
Q) In addition to writing novels you also teach creative writing. Is there anything your students have taught you about writing?
Their enthusiasm has taught me to revel in the passion I have for reading and writing and that in sharing that passion, I know/retain more than I think I do about the craft. Every class delivers shared insights about books we’ve read and more importantly how different people interpret different writing exercises. That’s always a great thrill and every class is unique.
Q) I saw that you had previously worked as an adventure tour guide. How did that come about? Has any of your experiences worked their way into your novels?
I lived and worked in the UK on a visa when I was in my twenties, and when my time ran out I wasn’t yet ready to go home, so I answered an ad in the paper for a tour leader of adventure holidays in Turkey and the Middle East. Any experiences in my novels will not overtly match adventure travel (sorry!). The experience of running group holidays is more about the group dynamics and what you observe and learn about human psychology, sometimes under pressure. Also what you learn about yourself.
Q) Do you have a set place and schedule for your writing?
Sadly not at the moment. As an author with a small publisher, I seem to spend a lot of my time being my own publicist, travel booker, accountant and chief dog washer. So when I can set some time aside I try to apply that bum glue and just churn it out. Once I’m fully immersed, I don’t want to come out until I’m done. Ideally I like to get going late morning and write for 3-5 hours and try to do some physical exercise in the afternoon to get my blood circulating again. I do a lot of my writing prep (plotting, understanding my characters, piecing things together), in my head while I’m walking. Day dreaming is definitely writing and stands you in excellent stead when you present at the coalface the next morning.
Q) What authors do you read for inspiration and perfecting the craft?
Out of my 1,600 odd books, at least two shelves of writing books. I realised after a while you need to stop reading them and throw yourself into it. You need to have faith in YOU. You really are your own best teacher. Having said that, one of my all-time favourite books, and it’s only a small one, is Column McCann’s Letters to a Young Writer. When I’ve turned the last page, I go back to the start and begin over. If I’m ever bogged, I find a few of these letters really launches me into my own work. For actual books of fiction, I love the writing of Elizabeth Strout and Susan Hill. Something very high to aim for and be inspired by!
Q) what is your next project you are working on?
I have another crime novel (The Hand – Two’s company, three’s a crowd; especially when one’s a killer) I’m testing in the market: outback/domestic noir with some psychological/sexual suspense in it, with some F:F action to spice things up. While that’s doing the submission rounds I’m also working on a speculative romance which I hope will have legs in this current market.
Q) If people want more information about your or your projects, where should they go?
I have a website www.aliciathompson.com.au where I blog and manage pages about my upcoming events and offerings for book clubs etc I also post on Instagram and Facebook under @aliciathompsonauthor For those who follow the LGBT+ publishers you can also find my author page on www.ninestarpress.com
Final four questions –we ask everybody.
Q) When the zombies take over the world where will you be?
At my desk writing (when asked what he’d do if was about to die, Isaac Asimov said, ‘I’d have to write a little faster.’)
Q ) What is your favorite Fandom (could be sports, pop culture, favorite director or author)
Uh-ohh, this could be telling…LOTR for sure
Q) What piece of art, be it in the form of music, a book, a film or picture, do you think people must experience before they die?
Live choral music. A piece such as Allegre’s Misere or Orf’s Carmina Burana is a visceral experience that will lift your heart out of your body and live with you forever.
Q) Give one fact that most people would not believe about you?
I started off my working life as an accountant (there, I said it!)
Paper Phoenix ink 