Tag: Nicola Whyte

Special guest Nicola Whyte, debut writer of 10 Marchfield Square, reveals how to look up murdering people online without drawing the attention of the authorities (and Mark has a book recommendation)…

TRANSCRIPT

MARK: As a crime writer, do you get why people will see your internet search history and incriminate yourself? Well, this I mean, I think any writer will, will worry about this. So what was the strangest thing you’ve had to look up?

NICOLA: I mean, every now and again, I will suffix it with ‘for a crime novel’ on the end, just in case. Like that gets me out of jail free. I don’t know what is the most incriminating…? I think, probably, undetectable poisons these days. I think it’s quite hard now to come up with an undetectable poison.

MARK: I bought a book called Deadly Doses, which is a really good book on poisons, so I don’t have to look it up anymore. You remember books, don’t you?

NICOLA: Yeah, offline; innocence is what you’re saying.

MARK: Yeah. Absolutely.

NICOLA: Yeah. Yeah, I think so. I found some interesting stuff….

MARK: (Holds book up) Yes. A Writer’s guide to Poisons.

NICOLA: Yeah. Okay. I’m going to get that.

MARK: Essential reading.

NICOLA: I had to do some very dodgy case study reading on antifreeze poisoning. 

MARK: Right?

NICOLA: The Americans, they poison each other countries a lot. You know, I think they have a lot of, like, deserts and things that are very brightly coloured and sweet. And, yeah, there’s a lot of people trying it almost — almost ! — not quite getting away with antifreeze poisoning.

MARK: Excellent.

NICOLA: Very crime novel!

Or watch it on Youtube…

My special guest on the Creative Differences podcast, Nicola Whyte, debut writer of 10 Marchfield Square, reveals that her biggest mistake may have been querying too much…

TRANSCRIPT

MARK: What’s the biggest mistake you’ve ever made in your writing career?

NICOLA: Probably querying too much… like, querying a book too much. When I knew the market wasn’t ready. But I kept querying because I was so sure that somebody would see the potential. And then, of course, what happens is the market shifts and everybody’s already seen it, and you can’t send it out again. So I think that definitely that happened to me with a cosy crime novel I wrote in 2019, and everybody was going ‘Cosy? No, we don’t… nobody publishes this. It’s got to be really dark. That’s what we like dark, dark, dark, dark. And I’d sent it to everybody and got the same (response): I really enjoyed this. I love the pitch. I love the title. But, no, we don’t publish this at all. Ooh, Richard Osman? Hello! And I had literally sent it to everyone, so it’s currently in a drawer awaiting its time. 

MARK: Maybe it will have its time at some point. I still think your biggest mistake was not finishing the robot silent witness book, you know?

NICOLA: Oh, you’re gonna love it, Mark.

MARK: I am first in line. First in line for that one.

Or watch the whole interview on Youtube…