Interview with best-selling romance & mystery writer Toby Neal
‘People are preoccupied by crime because we want to recognise the wolves in our midst’
Episode 63 – Toby Neal – Show Notes
- Writing is like a muscle – needs regular workouts
- 2000 words a day target
- Both a plotter and a pantser. More pantser for romance and plotter for mysteries
- Recording affirmations and listening prior to writing session
- Themes of good versus evil and the shades of grey in everyone and how love can overcome a multitude of problems
- Dark themes but with hope – fascinated with the duality between dark and light
- Mastering your craft – Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell – the 10,000 hour rule
- Take off your pants – Libbie Hawker – the hero needs to find a cure for their flaw
- Unconventional childhood – Memoir – Freckles
- Putting off writing goals for security – started with an anonymous blog – using real life experience as a school counsellor
- Speeding up the writing process
- Dictation, health and accessing creative brain by writing longhand
- Where the Crawdads Sing – Delia Owens, The Outlander series – Diana Gabaldon
- Wired Truth: multi-cultural kick-ass female main character. Pushing the envelope for what’s acceptable with female behaviour. Experimenting with different kinds of love.
‘Nothing but writing is going to make you a better writer’
‘I tried to do literary fiction and I bored myself by page 40’
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