Please welcome Rosie Claverton author of Binary Witness.
Leave a comment for a chance to win. Enter using the rafflecopter code below.
Rosie will be awarding to randomly drawn winners during the tour one of the following items: a "@" pendant, an engraved Floppy Disk Keyring, a Cardiff City Typographic Mug,a £10 Amazon voucher, 3 Binary Witness ebooks.
Binary Witness
by Rosie Claverton
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1.
What or who inspired you to start writing?
I’ve always written, ever since I can remember. When I started
nursery school, the teacher used to exclaim her shock and dismay at all the
terrible things that happened to our family – which my mum had to explain were
all fantastical products of my imagination. The crocodile on the beach is my
favourite Tall Tale from that era.
My professional writing, however, really kicked off towards the end
of medical school. I think it was the prospect of Not Writing while this other
profession took over my life which forced me to reconsider, and watching
friends I’d grown up with following their own creative dreams. It’s not easy
being a doctor and a writer, but I wouldn’t be the same person if I gave up on
either.
2.
What expertise did you bring to your writing?
I’m a psychiatrist by day, so I meet a lot of fascinating people. As
a doctor, you see people at their worst, when their emotions are running high
and they’re struggling to cope with devastating illness. It can be very
draining, but it also gives insight into different people’s lives. I also try
to create a sensitive and accurate portrayal of mental health problems in my
work – one of my protagonists, Amy, has agoraphobia and depression. Her ability
to delve into a mystery while battling these crippling diseases is one of the
things I love most about her.
3.
As far as your writing goes, what are your future plans?
I’m just finished edits on Code Runner, the second book in The Amy Lane
Mysteries, due for release in September 2014. Jason is framed for murder and
Amy has to fight to prove his innocence. I’m cooking up plots for the third
book, and contemplating an historical urban fantasy mystery (quite a
mouthful!). I’m also a screenwriter, so I have a few projects in various stages
of development on that front.
4.
If you could be one of the characters from this book, who would it
be and why?
When the local cops are stumped, they call in an external profiler
from the Metropolitan Police called Eleanor Deaver. She is smart, cutting and
rubs everyone up the wrong way, but I absolutely adore her. She just saunters
in, fixes a few things, and exits gracefully. And she’s named for one of my
favourite crime writers.
5.
Do you belong to a critique group? If so how does this help or
hinder your writing?
I belong to a group for my screenwriting, which is called Kites and
Violence. The group takes a “no holds barred” approach, which I find really
refreshing, though we often descend into bickering. Writers are an opinionated
bunch! As for my novels, my only critic is my husband. He’s very annoying,
because he’s usually right.
6.
When did you first decide to submit your work? Please tell us what
or who encouraged you to take this big step?
Submitting Binary Witness was a bit of an impulse decision. I had
just returned home from a night shift and I saw something on my Twitter feed
about #carinapitch, which is Carina Press’s pitch event. I scheduled a tweet,
went to bed, and woke up to a manuscript request! Unfortunately, I hadn’t
actually looked at my novel for months, so the next night shift was filled with
some hurried editing – especially because I discovered I’d abandoned my last
edit halfway through. I must’ve done something right, however, as my editor Deb
Nemeth loved it. I wasn’t so lucky in my hunt for a literary agent, but I
learned a lot through that rejection process and I think my writing improved as
a result.
7.
How do you maintain your creativity?
Plot ideas burst out of me without warning, often at inappropriate
times. I think it’s a symptom of having such an analytical day job. I also turn
my hand to card making, cross stitch and photography. I can’t, however, draw to
save my life. If I need a layout or a map for my plotting, it is produced in
Paint. For example, Amy lives in a very confusing building and I had to change
the layout during edits, which led to some very messy colour-coded line
diagrams of the various floors. In the second book, I complicated it further,
so that was another set of “drawings”.
8.
Who is your favorite character in the book? Can you tell us why?
While I love my protagonists equally and inseparably, I think my
favourite character has to be Cerys Carr, Jason’s little sister. While she
serves to needle and provoke, as younger siblings are wont to do, she messes up
in this book and changes because of it. I think she really grows into her own
in the second book and I’ve spent a lot of time with her recently, so I’m
harbouring a bit of a soft spot.
9.
Are your plotting bunnies angels or demons?
Demons, definitely – but I’m on their side. I’m never happier than
when one of my protagonists is suffering. Jason is particularly put through the
wringer in this book; I had to make a running tally of his injuries because he
got into so many fights! It’s all character building, of course – what doesn’t
kill you makes you stronger, eh?
10. Anything else you
might want to add?
Characters, like good friends, often surprise me – I never know
exactly how they’re going to react until I put them in a situation.
Thanks the Angels
Police
detectives rely on Amy Lane to track the digital debris of their most elusive
criminals--when she's not in the throes of a panic attack. After two students
disappear in Cardiff, Amy uncovers photographic evidence that they've been
murdered. From the safety of her computer, she looks through the city's digital
eyes to trace the steps of a killer.
Amy's
investigation requires footwork, however, and the agoraphobic genius can't hack
it alone. She turns to her newly-hired cleaner, ex-con Jason Carr. Jason is
fascinated by both Amy and the work, and can't refuse even when she sends him
into situations that risk returning him to prison.
The killer
strikes again and again, and Amy and Jason are the only investigators closing
in on him. But Amy's psyche is cracking under the strain, and Jason's past is
catching up with him. To stop the next murder, they must hold their
unconventional partnership together at any cost.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
#3 Amy hacks the forum
Bryn
flipped open his notebook over his fingers, worn wedding ring outside the
shield of soft black leather. His ex-wife must be speaking to him this week. He
read out the web address as she typed, and it loaded in seconds.
“Band
fan forum. Nu metal.” Generic BB template, basic customisation—poor effort. She
could’ve knocked together a better site in fifteen minutes.
She
could feel Jason leaning over her shoulder and tried to control her urge to
tense, to move. He was a big guy, intimidating, a skinhead with old-fashioned
tattoos wound around both his arms. But he could’ve been any guy, really. It
didn’t take much to spook her.
Out
of the corner of her eye, she watched him scan the text, tongue slightly
protruding from between pink lips. He scratched absently at a smattering of
light brown stubble on his chin—he was probably one of those guys who had a
five o’clock shadow at midday. His dark brown eyes flickered across the screen
faster than she expected. The educational attainment of the prison population
wasn’t exactly renowned.
“Crash
and Yearn? They’re more punk pop.”
Bryn
looked at him with amusement. “This is what you bring to the table, boy?”
Jason
scowled at him. Amy felt like the referee on some bizarre American wrestling
show.
“The
original post is down,” Amy said, scanning the forum. “Not the ‘dead naked
girl’ types. I’ll find the archive—you got that before it went dark?”
Her
simple yet thorough methodology for profiling and password trawling involved a
lot of social networks and a bit of hacker’s intuition. The old science fiction
trope of advanced technology seeming very like magic unfolded before her
audience.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Rosie
Claverton grew up in Devon, daughter to a Sri Lankan father and a Norfolk
mother, surrounded by folk mythology and surly sheep. She moved to Cardiff to
study Medicine and adopted Wales as her home. Her short film "Dragon
Chasers" aired on BBC Wales in Autumn 2012. Her debut novel Binary Witness
is due for publication by Carina Press in 2014. Currently exiled to London, she
lives with her journalist husband and their pet hedgehog.
Links
Facebook
Page: http://www.facebook.com/binarywitness
Series
website: http://amylanemysteries.com
Blog:
http://rosieclaverton.com
Twitter:
@rosieclaverton
Buy
links
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00I66AA3W
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/binary-witness-rosie-claverton/1118476689?ean=9781426898334
