Meet Carys Jones Author Of We Are All Liars
How well do you really know your best friends and how far can you trust them? This fortnight''s Thriller Women author is Carys Jones, who explores the subject in her claustrophobic, tense thriller We Are All Liars, published in ebook on September 30th. Download the ebook of We Are All Liars from Amazon.
Jones tells us about facing her demons, her journey to publication, the importance of the author/agent relationship and her Disney addiction. Read on for these and an exclusive extract from the novel's prologue!
CJ: Thank you so much. With We Are All Liars the initial concept came to me a few years ago. I really wanted to write a thriller with a group of friends who are trapped together, but for a while I struggled to find the reason they ultimately become so fractured. And then one night I couldn’t sleep and lay in bed working out the plot, quickly got up and wrote it down and then not long after that I started writing the story.
The story is very personal to me, specifically Allie’s journey. For me, writing is usually an escape from my own demons but with We Are All Liars I decided it was time to face them more head on, so parts of myself became incorporated into the story.
TW: Your characters gather in a remote Scottish cabin. It's a classic device to gather people together in a place where they are out of their routine and comfort zone and can reveal their flaws! Why do you like writing about relationships and the darker side of the human psyche - and why do you think readers enjoy reading about it?
CJ: There is something utterly fascinating about people being pushed to their limit. Like you say, out of their comfort zone, somewhere unfamiliar. I think we all wonder what we would be like, how we would behave if put under extreme pressure. However, these situations often bring out the worst in people and I think it is human nature to be drawn to that. Because no one is perfect, we all have a breaking point. And what happens when we reach that point?
TW: You've had other novels published. What was your road to publication and how long did it take you?
CJ: My road to publication has been a long and winding one. I’ve previously had ebook only releases with Aria and HQ Digital. Working with Orion has been my first paperback release which has been really exciting but the culmination of many years of work. I’ve been writing for over ten years now.
TW: Do you experience pressure to constantly come up with plot ideas? How difficult was it to write a new stand alone?
CJ: I’m very fortunate because I love writing. It is something of a crutch for me and disappearing into my books has helped me through some difficult times. So I’m always writing. I have a notebook full of plot ideas which I’m steadily working my way through. My goal is to one day finish writing all the books on my list.
TW: We can certainly identify with that goal! What tips do you have for any readers who wish to get published themselves?
CJ: Read widely. Research the journey other writers have taken, such as who their agent is. When I initially started out I didn’t have an agent and digital first publishers can be a great place to get noticed and help get your work out there. And keep writing. Being on submission is such a stressful time it helps to have another WIP to disappear into and to not pin all your hopes on one book. Rejection is sadly an inevitable part of the writing process so it helps to have another book to fall back on.
TW: Who are your currently your favourite authors?
CJ: Amy Engel and Taylor Jenkins Reid. I love anything they write and am currently devouring The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.
TW: What's your writing routine and do you have a day job?
CJ: I’m lucky to be able to write full time. I used to have a wonderful routine where I’d get up, walk my dog through the woods by my house then spend the rest of the morning writing. That all went out the window when I had my daughter. Now I write whenever I have the time and am not too exhausted. It is a lot more haphazard and takes me longer to write a book than it used to. But once she starts school I’m going to attempt to reclaim my old routine!
TW: How do you treat yourself when you have finished a novel?
CJ: I’m something of a Disney addict. So I’ll either have a little splurge in their online store or have a cosy afternoon with my daughter watching one of our favourite films.
TW: How important do you think the agent/author relationship is?
CJ: SO important. You need to find someone who sees your future the same as you and is as invested to help you get there. I’m lucky that not only does my agent understand how I work and my goals for the future but she’s super nice to boot, kind of like winning the agent lottery.
TW: What's next for you? Any exclusives on your next book?
CJ: Nothing that I can share yet I’m afraid. But another standalone thriller. Involving an old crime and secrets that resurface on an important anniversary. Ah – I have shared something after all! Haha.
Quick fire questions:
TW: Friends or family?
CJ: Friends.
TW: Scottish holiday cabin or hotel in the Med?
CJ: Hotel in the Med. Enjoy some sun! Also bad things seem to happen up in remote cabins…
TW: Lark or night owl?
CJ: Unfortunately a lark these days. A retired night owl!
TW: Favourite way to spend a Friday night?
CJ: Eating too much ice cream and watching something juicy on TV like Succession whilst in my comfiest PJs.
TW: Book you want to read but haven't yet?
CJ: Well this a huge list. My TBR pile is out of control. Off the top of my head, Mexican Gothic is something I’m really keen to read and also Magpie Lane.
Thanks Carys!
Exclusive extract from the We Are All Liars prologue:
‘A dreamer, an adventurer, a seductress, a princess and a rebel,’ Stephanie Hayworth drank in every moment of her time in front of the camera as she spoke with the overly made-up reporter.
‘You knew them well?’
‘They were … perfect.’ There really was no other word for it. Stephanie pushed back her shoulders and pulled her thin lips into a self-satisfied smile. She imagined the people at home, sitting on their sagging sofas, gazing at their grotesquely large television screens, eyes widening and slack jaws dropping even lower when they saw her face. Her name. She was on the news. She’d made it.
She’d need to call her mother. Her sister. Even her dope of an ex-husband. Everybody needed to bear witness to her moment of glory. She was on television talking about them. Finally some attention, some chance to bask in their reflected glow.
Because they were perfect, the Fierce Five. They were the girls everyone wanted to be at school, a walking shampoo advert. They always wore the right shoes, went to the best parties. But theirs was a club of extremely elitist membership – there was only room for five.
Stephanie had spent so many hours of her life watching them through her thick glasses, studying their every move. Coveting them.
Did they even know she existed? Did it even matter now?
‘They were perfect?’ the reporter pouted her ruby red lips and arched a militantly plucked eyebrow at Stephanie. The quaffed hair and cloud of Chanel Number 5 was a testament to the reporter’s own pursuit of perfection.
‘Perfect.’ Stephanie felt a warm glow flicker along her pale skin. Talking about them always made her feel this way. Proximity to greatness. And now everyone would know that she knew them. That she regarded them as friends. That when the BBC showed up in their sleepy nowhere town, Stephanie’s decision to stay there and push out three kids had been worth it. If she hadn’t been in Tesco that morning then the reporter wouldn’t have approached her and asked the question on everyone’s lips:
‘So what do you think happened up on that mountain?’ The reporter leaned in, a lion focusing on a gazelle. ‘Reports are still unclear at this point; all we know is that––’
‘I desperately wanted to be like them,’ Stephanie dreamily interrupted her. ‘To be one of them. Can you imagine how wonderful it is to be one of the Fierce Five?’
More about We Are All Liars:
We trust each other.
But...
We are all liars.
Allie, Stacie, Diana, Emily and Gail have been by each other's sides for as long as they can remember. The Fierce Five. Best friends forever. But growing up has meant growing apart. And little white lies have grown into devastating secrets.
When Gail invites the increasingly estranged friends to reunite at her Scottish cabin, it could be the opportunity to mend old wounds and heal the cracks in their friendship. But when a freak snowstorm rocks the cabin and one of the girls is found dead on the ice, their weekend away becomes a race against time - and each other - to get off the mountain alive.
And in the end, whose story can you trust, when everything was founded on lies to begin with?
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