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There is more to mastering writing than sentences, plots, and character. Writers must also think about the genre they are writing in, the audience they are writing for, and what medium their final piece will be in. It’s no wonder that many authors tend to stick to one main area – a certain genre, for instance.
A few years ago in an interview, Victoria Schwab talked about her various writing streams under different names and with different publishers. She felt that it was necessary for the stability of her career as a writer to have a variety of places where money was coming from. If her YA books started to slump, she would still have her adult novels. After all, writing is a career.
But how do writers conquer such disparate projects and skillsets? And how do they manage to solely support themselves through writing?
We spoke to bestselling author Sarah Pinborough about her varied career, from writing horror to fairytale retellings, franchise tie-in novels to TV scripts.
Authors and texts mentioned in this episode include:
- James Herbert
- Wilbur Smith
- Stephen King
- My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing
- Dexter
- Gone Girl
- The Silence of the Lambs
- Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
- New Tricks
- Torchwood
- Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (tie-in) by Simon Green
- Tim Lebbon
- How to be a Good Wife by Emma Chapman
- Simon Kernick
Sarah Pinborough is the number one Sunday Times Bestselling and New York Times Bestselling author of the psychological thriller Behind Her Eyes (Jan 2017). During her career, she has published more than 20 novels and several novellas, and has written for the BBC. Her recent novels include the dystopian love story, The Death House, and a teenage thriller, 13 Minutes which has been bought by Netflix with Josh Schwartz adapting.
Behind Her Eyes has sold to nearly twenty territories so far and was sold at auction to the US in a significant deal to Flatiron, Macmillan. There are discussions ongoing with several movies studios about the film adaptation. You can follow Sarah on Twitter at @sarahpinborough.
