Interview with Rebecca James, author of 'Beautiful Malice'

1. Now, before your first novel 'Beautiful Malice' was even published, there was a lot of hype and 'sensation' about your novel, mainly due to it being sold for 30-odd languages months and months before publication date. How did this all make you feel, and especially when the book was actually released?


It was wonderful and terrifying all at once. To go from being a completely unknown author to a so-called 'international sensation' was quite a shock to the system! But, overall, it was, and still is, fantastic! I'm now in the really privileged position of being able to write full-time.




2. In many of the articles and reports about you and your book, prior to publication date, the claims were made of you being 'Australia's JK Rowling' and also that the advance you received for 'Beautiful Malice' was $1 million dollars. Now is the $1 million dollar advance story actually true? Is that how much you received?

Beautiful Malice has sold in 37 territories and the combined sales over those territories for both Beautiful Malice and my next book was for over 1 million dollars, yes. That money will come in over several years and will be subject to considerable agent fees and taxes. I'm nowhere near as rich as JK Rowling and doubt very much that I ever will be -  and I find the comparison quite strange.

3. How did you write your 'Beautiful Malice' with a daily life, four children, and a partner to look after? Were there any troubles or tribulations?
I wrote whenever I had time while my kids were at school. I think I might have neglected the housework a little. :)

4. What's your writing process like?

My writing process seems to change with each book. With Beautiful Malice I had no idea what was going to happen until it happened. It was a real process of discovery! I knew I wanted to write a book about toxic friendships and simply started with the first line 'I didn't go to Alice's funeral' and took it from there. 

With my current book, Cooper Bartholomew Is Dead, I have had a much greater sense of the entire story from the beginning. Not long after I started writing it I knew how it would end. 

I'm not quite sure how I will approach the next book...

 

5. What can we expect from Rebecca James in the future?

My next book, Cooper Bartholomew Is Dead, is another psychological thriller and is due to be published next year. In fact, I'm past deadline and should be working on it right now...


Thank you for joining me here today Rebecca! 

Beautiful Malice by Rebecca James was released in May 2010, and is available in all good bookstores.