LET US HEAR YOUR VOICE, SAYS THRILLER WRITER CLARE

CLARE MACKINTOSH is the bestselling author of i Let You Go. her new thriller, the Last Party, is out on August 4.

WHEN I’m reading a novel, I can usually tell from the opening pages if I’ll love it or not.

Editing will iron out plot twists and pacing, but an author’s voice is harder to change. It comes not only from the words on the page, but from the order in which they are placed. There’s no right or wrong way for this voice to present itself.

I love novels where the writing is confessional (as though the author is talking privately to the reader) but I also love more objective narration.

The most important thing is that the voice is compelling; that it makes me feel I’m in a safe pair of hands and that I’m in for a great ride.

Character voice is just as important. I love a novel in which I don’t need a ‘Sasha said’ to know who’s speaking.

Before I start writing, I spend time in my head with my cast, working out who they are.

What was their favourite subject at school? What’s in their fridge? If they found a gold ring on the floor, would they hand it in? If you know your characters as well as friends and family, they’ll walk off the page and have us gripped.