Frequently Asked Questions
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1: Is it true that you have ghostwritten some autobiographies of very famous people?
2: Can you tell us a secret about them?
3: Did ghostwriting help or hinder you as a novelist? How easy was it to shift gears?
5: What made you decide to write psychological thrillers?
7: You often take minor characters in your books and make them the lead in your next. Why is this?
10: Do you have a set routine for your writing day?
11: Why do you write in long hand? And how much pre-planning goes into each book?
12: Do you believe successful writing can be taught?
15: Do you have any advice for would-be writers?
1: Is it true that you have ghostwritten some autobiographies of very famous people?
MICHAEL ROBOTHAM: I've been lucky to work with some remarkable, mercurial, difficult, insanely funny, manic and exceptional people. Many of these traits helped make them famous. Some of them I can't mention but others have acknowledged my help. I've worked with the likes of Ricky Tomlinson, Rolf Harris, Lulu, Geri Halliwell, Tony Bullimore and Tracy Edwards.
2: Can you tell us a secret about them?
MICHAEL ROBOTHAM: A big part of being a ghostwriter is winning people's trust. You learn things that even their families, wives, partners and best friends don't know. Sometimes there are tears and tantrums but hopefully, in the end, we have the truth. That's why I keep their secrets.
3: Did ghostwriting help or hinder you as a novelist? How easy was it to shift gears?
MICHAEL ROBOTHAM: Ghostwriting did more than pay the bills. It allowed me to see if I had the discipline and wherewithal to write 100,000 words; to sit alone in a room for month after month on a single project. It may seem odd, but I approach my novels in the same way as I approached my ghosting projects. My characters are as real to me as any real person I ahve worked with. I approach each book as if I'm writing their life story.
4: Ghostwriting non-fiction is very different to writing a fictional thriller. Did you have to create a completely different mindset? How did you approach it?
MICHAEL ROBOTHAM: I have wanted to be a novelist since I was about twelve and always saw journalism and ghostwriting as being stepping stones. Writing fiction is a lot harder than I expected. Instead of having a wealth of material at my fingertips - the interviews and research about someone’s life – I have to start from scratch, inventing everything. There are few things more terrifying than a blank white computer screen. I love the freedom of writing fiction but sometimes it feels like I’m standing naked on a high wire above Niagara Falls with everything hanging out in the breeze.
5: What made you decide to write psychological thrillers?
MICHAEL ROBOTHAM: I didn't actually set out to be a crime writer. It might sound naive, but I just thought I was writing an interesting story. It came as quite a shock when the label was applied. The reason I created Joseph O'Loughlin was due to my fascination with the human mind. Everything we do and say; and everything that has ever happened or will happen in the future comes down to that few pounds of porridge we call a brain. When Mozart wrote his symphonies, when Hitler ordered the Final Solution, when a serial killer murders young girls, or when a teenage mother abandons her baby in a rubbish bin – it all comes back to some aspect of human behaviour.
6: Your plots are often quite clever and have readers guessing right until the end. Do you map them out beforehand or do they come naturally?
MICHAEL ROBOTHAM: Some writers create a group of interesting characters and let the story unfold naturally but this is very hard when it comes to writing thrillers. At some point you have to steer the plot in the right direction. I love creating characters and their back-stories. Plotting is the bit I find hardest.
Writing a thriller is like taking a journey. You know where you're going to start and finish but you never map it out too carefully, otherwise you might miss that side trip along the road less traveled.
7: You often take minor characters in your books and make them the main character in the following book. Why is this?
MICHAEL ROBOTHAM: When I was a ghostwriter I had the luxury of being able to look at the world through a completley fresh set of eyes every time I sat down to ghost an autobiography. I want the same thing when I write a novel. This helps me to stay fresh. I don't sick of my characters. Each book features a new voice and a new perspective on the world.
8: SHATTER is your new novel. What made you return to the character of Joseph O'Loughlin, who was the narrator of your first?
MICHAEL ROBOTHAM: : Joe O’Loughlin is like an old friend, who is as real to me as any of the living, breathing characters that I have collaborated with as a ghostwriter and journalist. However, when I finished THE SUSPECT, I didn’t want to see Joe for a while. (Imagine spending a year living in a tiny flat with your best friend and you’ll understand what I mean.)
When I came up with the idea for SHATTER I knew that Joe was the perfect narrator for the story. His body might be crumbling from Parkinson’s, but his mind is still brilliant and in SHATTER he comes up against an adversary who is arguably cleverer and more cunning than anyone he has ever encountered.
SHATTER is such a dark, confronting story that I felt it needed someone like Joe to guide readers safely through it and not leave them traumatised. He has such a wonderful sense of humour and sense of humanity that he lightens up the darkest moments.
9: Although there is great depth in SHATTER, there are also some refreshing moments of levity and humour. Do you find it difficult to balance the dark and light in your novels?
MICHAEL ROBOTHAM: The idea behind SHATTER is so confronting and frightening that I wanted to balance the darkness with humour. Readers are willing to follow a writer into very bleak and dangerous territory, as long as they trust the narrator to bring them safely home again and not leave them traumatised. Joe O’Loughlin has such a wonderful sense of humanity and humour that he’s perfect for telling this story.
10: Do you have a set routine for your writing day?
MICHAEL ROBOTHAM: This is where everyone gets envious. I wake without an alarm clock, wander down to the beach for some exercise and then have breakfast at a café while writing longhand. I try to write a least 500 words a day, hopefully twice that much - and spend my evenings doing research, answering mail and correcting proofs.
11: Why do you write in longhand? And how much pre-planning goes into each book?
MICHAEL ROBOTHAM: Longhand allows meto get outside and meet people. It also has the added benefit of improving the dialogue. Don’t ask me why, but there is something about a pen and paper that makes me automatically trim sentences and come up with one-liners. It’s true what Graham Greene said that putting words on paper is the final part of the writing process. The most important part is done almost subconsciously. When it comes to plotting, it’s the element I dislike the most about writing. I love writing characters, dialogue and back story, the plotting does my head in because readers are so clever and can see most twists before they ever emerge.
12: Do you believe successful writing can be taught?
MICHAEL ROBOTHAM: I think writing can be taught, just as tennis can be taught, or golf or painting, but showing someone the theory won’t make them a great writer. Nobody else can put words on a page for you. It takes practice. It takes perseverance. Most of all it takes passion. If you’re writing for fame or fortune or posterity, prepare to be disappointed. If you’re writing because you’re passionate about it, prepare for a life long love affair.
13: How do you manage to sustain the tension? It was a real nail biter and I was guessing right up to the end.
MICHAEL ROBOTHAM: I think the tension is sustained because it builds up so slowly. The story is like a slow-burning fuse where there's plenty of time to meet the characters and learn about them. The fuse burns faster and faster and explodes in the last third of the book. By this stage, hopefully readers will really care about what happens.
14: You write in the first person and the present tense. This is somewhat unusual, as most writers choose the third-person and the past tense. Is there a particular reason why you use this?
MICHAEL ROBOTHAM: First-person present-tense is definitely challenging, but I think it creates a sense of immediacy and pace which grabs the reader and makes them feel as though they are literally being drawn into an adventure that is unfolding in real time.
15: Do you have any advice for would-be writers?
MICHAEL ROBOTHAM: Write, write and when you’re sick of writing, write some more. It’s the only way to get better.
Read everything you can - not just the very best writers because some of them are so brilliant you will consider giving up because your prose might never match theirs. Read the lesser writers, the mere mortals, and ask yourself how each book could be improved. Take it apart like you would an old alarm clock. Why does it work? Why it doesn’t it work? Learn. (With the truly great book, you won’t be able to take it apart because you won’t be able to find the joins.)