Sitting Down with Thriller Author Ashley Winstead!
It feels surreal to say this but, I had the incredible opportunity to interview the phenomenal Ashley Winstead last week! Winstead is one of my all time favourite authors and has been an inspiration to me. She is also an incredibly kind person. Ashley Winstead is the author of thriller novels IN MY DREAMS I HOLD A KNIFE and THE LAST HOUSEWIFE Ashley has two more novels coming to bookstores this year which include branching out with new genres. I will leave her released novels below this interview along with pre-order links for her upcoming novels. Feel free to check her out if you haven’t already!
What inspired you to be an author?
I’ve wanted to be an author for as long as I can remember. Like a lot of other writers, I grew up a voracious reader. I have a vivid memory of the first time I got a taste of what it felt like to create using words: it was a homework assignment from a teacher at a young age, probably eight or nine, and the object was to write two paragraphs about a ship at sea. I took the assignment so seriously and found myself pacing my room, experimenting with different ways I could form sentences to mimic the break of the waves against a shore. I was enamoured with what you could do with language, and I never looked back. I wouldn’t say my path to being a published author has been easy or straightforward, but the dream has been with me for a long time.
What genre do you enjoy writing the most?
Honestly, whatever genre I’m writing at the moment! I like to write across and experiment within genres. What’s exciting to me is being a chameleon who can write moving, exciting stories within the confines of different genre conventions. (I should say that’s a goal of mine, rather than something I know I’ve done!) A second chance romance is a great formal structure for a story about redemption, for example. A fast-paced thriller is a great formal structure for a story about guilt. I like letting my ideas and message lead me to the formal shape/genre of the books I write, rather than starting with genre and then looking for the heart of a story. Definitely expect me to continue exploring new genres as time goes on, because I have so many ideas I’m excited to dive into.
Do you know how your thrillers will end when you start writing them?
I always know the ending of every story before I start because I’m a meticulous plotter. I have to map out every scene of a book before I start drafting. Plot points evolve as I write, certainly — including endings — but usually I end up pretty close to where I first imagined, or with an ending that gets what I wanted to get across in an even stronger way than I originally envisioned.
Where did the idea for The Last Housewife come from?
I became fascinated with reporting on the NXIVM and Sarah Lawrence sex cults. In both cases, there were so many women with money and power of their own, or who were attending a great progressive college with their whole lives ahead of them, who got sucked into these male-led patriarchal cults that demeaned and suppressed them. Who subjects themselves to that willingly, and why? Is willingly even the right word, or is consent and attraction in these situations more complicated? Usually when I think about cults I think about a religious sect out in the middle of nowhere. But both of these cults were operating in major metropolitan centres, right under people’s noses. There was just something so interesting to me about all of those factors, and I knew I wanted to write about a woman who’d fallen victim to a group like this, and explore how she’d gotten there, what the attraction was for her, and how she imagined and fought for a life outside its sway. It felt like a really interesting way to explore the experience of being a woman today, with ostensibly more freedom and power than ever before in terms of a historical perspective, and yet with a vestigial patriarchal ideology still gripping its tentacles in our minds.
What is your writing process?
For every book, I start by diving deep on my characters, figuring out who they are, what they want, their biggest dreams and worst nightmares. Then I use all of that information to develop my plot. Once I have a very extensive outline, I’ll start drafting. I tend to work most days of the week since I’m on a two book a year publishing schedule! It’s a lot but it brings me joy.
What should we expect next?
I have two books in two different genres out in 2023. For romance fans, my sophomore romance THE BOYFRIEND CANDIDATE comes out on May 9th. It’s a funny, high-stakes fake-dating romance between a shy librarian and a brash gubernatorial candidate in Texas. It has a really tender, romantic core and I loved writing it. Then on October 3rd, my third thriller MIDNIGHT IS THE DARKEST HOUR comes out. It’s a story about a rash of mysterious murders haunting a small Louisiana town and the preacher’s daughter who takes it upon herself to solve them…for reasons you won’t expect. It’s about obsessive love, growing up true to yourself in a hostile environment, freedom, oppression, and so much more. I threw my whole heart into it and can’t wait for readers to have it. And of course, I’m always working on the next projects and am excited to share what’s coming from me in 2024! It involves a new genre and I’m pumped about that.
Any book signing events on the horizon?
I have so many events this year! Seriously, 2023 is my year of travel. In the next few months alone, I’ll be in Los Angeles, Chicago, Waco, Dallas, Pittsburgh, Jensen Beach, FL, DC, NYC, and Winston-Salem. I’m both excited and exhausted just thinking about it.
What made you want to become an author?
Even if I wasn’t getting paid to write, I would be writing. It’s how I explore myself and the world around me, how I know my thoughts and feelings. It’s what I’m going to leave behind me when I die, the proof that I was here and while I was, I felt things that were hard and joyous and exquisite and everything in between. I feel lucky every day that the thing I love to do most in the world also gets to be my profession.
Can you tell us 3 of your favourite authors?
There are so many authors I admire. Three current favourites, where I’ll just gobble up anything they put out, are Amanda Jayatissa, Eliza Jane Brazier, and Stacy Willingham.
What inspired you to write a romance novel?
I wanted to tell a story about a woman who had seriously messed up in her relationships with people she cared about and deep down believed true redemption and second chances weren’t possible — one screw up meant the end of the world, because that’s what she’d experienced in her life. So her response to that belief is to give up on the idea of long-term relationships altogether, because she knows she isn’t capable of having one without screwing up (as none of us are). In its place, she turns into a ‘wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am’ queen of short relationships and really embraces the idea of just having fun and not getting serious. It’s a defence mechanism but it works for her. And then she reunites with the one man in her life she would’ve killed for a second chance with, the one man who’s ever gotten past her defence mechanisms. The rhythm and flavour of this story felt like a romance; and this character’s voice in my head was comedic. So I figured I had a romantic comedy on my hands, though one with a pretty serious core message about forgiving yourself and setting yourself and the people you love free.]
Who is your favourite character you have written?
This is such a hard question! I love them all and they all have pieces of me in them. But since I’m such a ‘love the one you’re with’-type person, I’m going to have to say the characters I’m currently writing: Hannah Cortland and Theo Ford from an as-of-yet unannounced project. I’m sorry — that’s such a tease! But Hannah is a rock musician with a diamond-hard exterior, iron will, and secret soft, grieving heart and Theo is a people-pleasing A&R rep who just wants to make everyone happy so no one ever leaves him, and their dynamic on the page is so fun to write. I feel very connected to both of them, especially Hannah. I hope readers love her even though she’s not a traditional “likable” woman.
What is your favourite snack?
Clementine's, fancy cheese and crackers, grapes. Really anything you could put on a charcuterie board is my favourite. I’m a sucker for a cheese board.
Comments