CRIMINALLY GOOD: interview with author Marilyn Messik

1) So, who are you & what have you written?

Hi, I’m Marilyn Messik and I’ve written Relatively Strange, Even Stranger and Witch Dust. Connect with me online, here:

• Website: http://www.marilynmessik.co.uk
• Twitter: @marilyn_messik
• Facebook: marilyn.messik.
• Linkedin: createcommunication

2) Why do you write crime fiction?

I’m fascinated by the fantasy of how wrong-doing could be dealt with if we were blessed (cursed?) with ways to handle it differently!

3) What informs your crime writing?

I’m incredibly nosy about what does and doesn’t make people tick and their interactions with each other. Throw in a ‘series of unfortunate events’ and there’s great fun in seeing how it all pans out.

4) What’s your usual writing routine?

I work at the kitchen table – both an advantage and disadvantage when it comes to coffee,  chocolate and a lamentable lack of will-power.

When I’m firmly into a book, I try and keep up a daily input, even if that just consists of gazing blankly at a blank screen and letting ideas drift in and out in the hopes that something useful will pass through. I’m afraid I’m a true seat-of-the-pants writer and try as I might, can’t seem to plan ahead because the characters take over and drive the plot in the direction that seems to most suited to them.

5) Which crime book do you wish YOU’D written, and why?

I love Elly Griffith’s work and am a huge fan of Ruth and her gang, they live and breathe, which all characters should and I think it’s great that now there’s even a ‘cast list’ in the newer books, with bios for each of the characters.