Interview: Sarah Pinborough (Preludes)

Short biography

Sarah Pinborough is the author of over 25 novels spanning several genres, most recently the number one Sunday Times Bestselling and New York Times Bestselling psychological thrillers Behind Her Eyes (Jan, 2017), and Sunday Times Bestseller Cross Her Heart. Behind Her Eyes is due to start filming in June 2019 for Netflix, and Cross Her Heart is in development with World Productions and ITV. Her YA thriller, 13 Minutes is also in development with Netflix.  You can follow Sarah on Twitter at @sarahpinborough.

Interview

What would you like to say to your French readers?

Firstly I would like to say a massive thank you for all the support both my thrillers have had in France. My French publishers have really given them a great push and I absolutely love the covers (they're my favourite covers of all of the various editions). I was really hoping that French readers would take to the stories and it seems they have so I'm so happy. Hopefully one day I will get the opportunity to come and do some book events there.

Could you tell me which type of reader you are?

I don't read as much as I used to which is a terrible thing to say, but after writing all day, most of the time I just want to watch a movie. I am, however, now starting to set time aside during the day to read and I'm remembering how much I love it. I do read a fair few thrillers but I also love books like The Passage by Justin Cronin and The Three by Sarah Lotz which have elements of supernatural in them. I'm trying to vary what I read more. I also love a lot of historical fiction based on the lives of real people - like Philippa Gregory. I'm in the lucky position of getting sent a lot of free books by publishers so I get to read books well ahead of publication and get introduced to a lot of new writers that way!

Which are your favourite 5 books?

Ha, that changes with the wind and my mood! I would say, Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier (In fact pretty much anything by her), The Stand by Stephen King, The Magician's Nephew by C.S Lewis, and all of John Wyndham. Interestingly they're all books I read when I was young.

Who influenced you the most as a writer?

Like most people my age, I'd say Stephen King is the obvious one, and he's probably the reason that when I started out writing, my first six books were straight horror novels. I'm influenced by everyone I read and enjoy though. I'm constantly learning.

How do you write : do you have writer’s habits, a ritual?
I work much better in the mornings and always used to write in my bed between about 6.30 and 9.30 before getting up so I got started with no distractions. But then I got my dog, Ted, and so I get up and walk him first and then start work around 8.30. But if I'm in a flow I get up early and write for a bit first and then take him. But that means setting the alarm for 5.30! I don't really have any rituals though, but I am a planner. I have to have the end in place before I can start writing.

What are you best memories as a writer ?

Gosh, there have been some good ones! Stephen King tweeting about how much he loved The Death House and Behind Her Eyes. Getting my deal with HarperCollins and then getting my amazing new US deal - which was pretty much life-changing money. Meeting so many writers I've admired. There are so many good memories. I've been very lucky.

Can you tell us about your new projects?

I've just handed in the next book, which doesn't have a final title yet, but is set in Savannah, GA in the USA, and is about a set of very wealthy people in high society who are all awful to each other and all hiding secrets and then one of them is poisoned. It's primarily about the wives, the first wives and the second wives. I describe it as Big Little Lies meets Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. It should be out early 2020. I'm planning the next book and also working on an original Television series.

Here is my book review of Cross her heart (in French).

Thank you so much Sarah for answering my questions and for being so kind!