Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I grew up on a farm in rural NSW Australia. I left home for Sydney at 17 where I went to university at night, working through the day. I spent my twenties travelling and working overseas, including jobs in investment banks in London and as an adventure tour leader in the Middle East and China. I have always been writing, but when COVID hit, I finally decided to try and get a novel published. This resulted in Something Else being released with Nine Star Press in 2021. My second book is now coming out with them in September 2024 and I have 7 in person pitches this month with agents and publishers for book #3 The Hand (outback noir/domestic noir set in the 70s)
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Ex was inspired by my thinking about my themes. I think words with double meanings always make for great titles. When I considered Ex, I started thinking up lots of Ex words and these became my chapter titles (Expression, X marks the Spot, Ex Parte, Exile etc)
The story itself came about from a scrap of description (so long ago I can’t recall if doodling or a dream) about a boy on a park bench talking to a woman. It was an inane conversation in itself, but I knew the boy was a ghost and so it had huge subtext. After flipping through my file many times thinking I must do something with that…I finally decided Charlie had waited long enough and I needed to know what happened to him myself and give him some resolution!
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Does anyone think they are unusual? LOL
To be fully in the flow I need to submerge for days at a time. I’m not one of these between baby sleeps people. I am in awe of those writers. but when I’m in the zone, I can really churn it out. It can be like taking dictation.
One thing I do do is trust my subconscious. I go to bed with questions I need answered and I often have dreams of solutions. My latest novel project is a result of a dream that came from nowhere and I trusted it and ran with it. Very exciting!
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Agatha Christie from a young age. So many fantastic female crime writers and so many Australian authors now, too. Quality literary writers like Susan Hill, Jhumpa Lahira, Elizabeth Strout…
What are you working on now?
A fragment of a dream came to me and I gnawed at it till I found out what it was all about. I now have a draft of The Hand ready to pitch. It’s an outback/domestic noir with a girl come to work as companion to a not-your-usual farmer’s wife on an isolated property. There are intense goings on between the husband and wife and there is a brother on an adjoining property suffering PTSD from Vietnam…The girl soon finds out her predecessor was found buried on the property two years prior and a covert detective has been in touch to tell her she is at risk…but from whom?
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I have my own website, but most of the promotional action/engagement I get is on Instagram @aliciathompsonauthor
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Publishing your book is only the beginning of the work. These days you have to work flipping hard on all kinds of promotion to get your book baby out there. Libraries, bookshops festivals…all can be your friends but it’s a lot of legwork!
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Get yourself registered for Public Lending Rights and make sure libraries buy your books. In Australia you need over 50 copies minimum to qualify.
What are you reading now?
Several books on books by critic Michael Dirda; Lowbridge by Lucy Campbell (crime); After Agatha by Sally Cline, a must for any crime writer
What’s next for you as a writer?
Working on a crime series The Hand, which I’ll be pitching to several agents and publishers in September at Sydney’s BAD Crime Festival and through the NSW Writing Centre. A Plan B project I’ve had in mind for a while is a half-drafted speculative romance I’d like to complete.
What is your favorite book of all time?
Impossible choice! Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte comes to mind fastest but there are many other worthies of that title.
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