Author Interview - Anne Woodward
- Submissions Northodox Press
- Jul 13
- 4 min read
What was your inspiration for your novel?
The idea came to me while I was weeding. It’s like many mundane activities when you let your mind free so it can wander where it pleases. This idea – of people going missing from paintings just popped into my head as a question – what would happen if…? I was astonished to have such a thought because I’m not an artist, although I love visiting galleries and looking at paintings. And the question really did come out of the blue.
Why did you want to write in your chosen genre?
I didn’t want to in the beginning! When I started writing as a child, I wrote stories about
ponies. And then, when I retired from teaching so I could concentrate on my writing, I wrote a family saga loosely based on the lives of the women in my own family over three generations. Sia’s trilogy is crime fiction, but none of my other books are. Since 2014, I have written a dystopian novel set in a world where people’s lives are determined by their star sign; another in which a sentient house enlists a young medic to help stop it from being demolished; one in which an older woman discovers a box containing all the important items she’s lost over her lifetime and I am currently writing a travelogue based on the characters from the songs of Joni Mitchell.
What was the process of your writing?
For The Art of Murder, I used post-it notes and a diary to plan the story once I’d written an outline I was happy with. I took part in NaNoWriMo the year I wrote it and completed the first draft in that month. It meant I was writing about 2,000 words a day. As I got further into the story, I drifted further from any planning I’d done and eventually, the outline bore no resemblance to the novel I had written. For my subsequent novels, I have written a broad outline and dived straight into the writing, without the post-it stage. I find I relish not knowing for sure where the story is heading – the end is often a surprise for me!
While writing, I research as I go along. It’s a risk because it’s easy to be distracted and discover I’ve spent a couple of hours absorbed in subjects that, while fascinating, don’t have relevance to my novel. Like many authors, my search history could get me locked up. For The Art of Murder, I had to research ways in which a murder could be committed that didn’t look like murder, as well as the effects of different drugs. I also had to learn a lot about the care of paintings. A wonderful, unexpected benefit of research is meeting experts. Most people are incredibly kind and willing to give of their time and expertise when an author asks for help.
I write in a wooden cabin which sits on our drive overlooking the garden. It takes me out of the house, separating home and work, and gives me the perfect scenario in which to write – birdsong and greenery. I can’t listen to music when I write but the sound of a wren singing or of the wind in the trees, I find conducive to writing.
Are there any titles that you could compare your work to?
I often think of Christina Crawford’s Mommie Dearest when considering comparables. Throw something like Ellie Griffiths’ The Stranger Diaries into the mix, and I think you get the right combo as far as the feel of my novel is concerned. For more modern comparisons, think of authors like Anthony Horowitz, Stuart Turton and Elizabeth Macneal.
What are your preferred genres to read?
I love literary fiction. Rónán Hession and Maggie O’Farrell, for example. But I also enjoy stories with quirky characters who enthral me with their humanity – Elizabeth Zott from Lessons in Chemistry, Daisy Jones from Daisy Jones and the Six, Lauren from The Husbands. I enjoy books by Ann Cleaves and Val McDermid. My most favourite author, whose books I’ll buy knowing nothing about them, is Sebastian Faulks.
Do you have any further novels planned?
As I mentioned earlier, I am in the middle of writing my Joni novel. And the other first drafts all need working on. They will all keep me busy for a while. I have a short fantasy story coming out as part of an anthology a few days before The Art of Murder is published. I’d never written fantasy until this one, and it’s nudged a spark into life I didn’t know I had, so I’m toying with the idea of a novel length version of my short story which is about a girl who’s a misfit within her village until she realises the power her differences give her.
What is one piece of advice you would give to an aspiring author?
Get yourself a community. Writing can be solitary, so it’s essential to have a band of writery people to share your successes and put setbacks into perspective. People who you can rely on to understand that difficult middle section, or a character who won’t do as you want them to, or those days when you just cannot face writing. And who know there is a world outside your novel/story/flash fiction but who understand that world is a backdrop to the one you’re creating. Online communities are great, but if you can find a local writing group or two, I recommend joining them, too.
The Art of Murder by Anne Woodward is out on 17th July 2025 in both paperback and ebook - order your copy here:
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