Author interview with Maz Evans

Meet one of Jodi's favourite authors

Let’s start with the traditional opening while I struggle to get my brain in gear. Why and how did you begin writing?

Do you know, I can’t think of a time when I didn’t write... I was one of those horribly precocious children who was always writing plays and forcing their siblings and friends to act them out. In sixth form I wrote my first musical, then wrote all through uni until becoming a journalist. The idea was to be a TV Scriptwriter - I did my MA in that. But then I self-published my first children’s novel... and the rest has been to my accountant’s dismay ever since!

Do you plan it all meticulously beforehand with notes and diagrams and things, or do you just pick up a pen or open your laptop, think ‘What the hell?’ and just wing it?

Oh, I am Team Planner all the way - I don’t understand how people write a book without a plan. The way I see it, you have to do the heavy thinking at some point. I compare it to building a house - it’s much easier to figure out where all the rooms go on a plan than when you’ve built the thing. I don’t stick rigorously to it - indeed, I think that because I’ve done all that heavy thinking, my creative brain is freer to run riot and it frequently does. But the times I’ve come really unstuck - most recently in my latest book - is when I’ve not done my planning properly. It works for me.

Which book was the most fun to write?

Ha - is there such a thing! Ironically, the book that caused me the most pain to write was followed by the one that was probably the most fun. I both love and am immeasurably frustrated by the fact that you never know from the outset how the process will play out. And experience isn’t always the best teacher. I’ve just finished my 22nd book. Still not a clue how they happen! It’s like childbirth. You’ve just got to go with it and see what comes out.

If you couldn’t write what would be your second choice of occupation?

Trying to write. I know nothing else.

Do you ever have an urge to go completely off-piste and do something completely different? A bodice-ripper, perhaps or a cosy detective story, just for the sheer hell of it?

All the time! I rather like that the books I’ve done, while broadly identifiable as mine, are all quite different. I’ve done epic fantasy, cosy crime, multi-media, design-led... it keeps it fresh for me and long may it continue.

Which book would you take to a desert island with you? Other than one of yours or one of mine, of course?

Well of course, Jodi... the third would be East of Eden by John Steinbeck. Every time I want to realise how well I will never write, I reach for it.

Serious question – how easy or hard is it for you to go back and re-read your own work?

Like waxing my legs with parcel tape. Hate it. Which is a real shame because I generally narrate the audiobooks for my novels. That is a purgatorial experience every single time!

What are your plans for future books? What can we look forward to in the coming months?

Well now.... I’ve just finished the first two in a new series of murder mystery books for kids, MURDER BY MIDNIGHT. It’s now on to my next adult murder mystery - this time we’re going for a time-loop...

CLICK HERE to read Jodi’s review of A Degree of Murder

Which authors or books have significantly influenced your writing style and thematic choices?

This might sound odd, but I’m not sure any have. I tend to just wobble my way through trial and error - more error than trial - and see what happens. I have written a lot about my own life, of course... but after 22 books, you start to run out experiences to wring out! I suppose my books espouse my life view: this world has more lightness than dark if you look for it. So try to enjoy the ride. Wine helps.

How do you balance writing with other aspects of your life, and what strategies do you employ to maintain this equilibrium?

Ha - I’m not sure I do! I have four kids and live between London and Dorset while travelling all over the country, so life is perpetually hectic. I try to draw clear lines around my professional life to make time for family and friends - but as you’ll be more than aware, our profession doesn’t always make that easy. Exercise is key to keep myself on an even keel. I recently broke a toe and couldn’t run or work out for six weeks, and I went slightly loopy. I think it’s also important to have a life and friends outside the industry - we can become a bit all-consumed with publishing, and it’s good to remember how very little it matters to most humans on the planet.

What advice would you offer to aspiring authors navigating the path to publication?

Write your book. Not the one you think you should write, or even the one you’re being asked to write. Your book. There are eight billion people on this planet. If you love it, others will.

How important are book reviews to you?

I never read them. Genuinely. My publishers will point nice ones my way, but I never search. That way madness lies. Of course some people are going to hate what you write and that’s their prerogative. But I just try to do what I do with care and integrity. At the end of the day, my harshest critic is me - and if I review myself badly, stern words are had!

Biography:

Maz Evans is a bestselling, award-winning author – she just doesn’t do either terribly often. She is the proud creator of the WHO LET THE GODS OUT?, VI SPY and SCARLETT FIFE series for children, and OVER MY DEAD BODY and THAT’LL TEACH HER for adults, which have collectively travelled to 24 countries. OVER MY DEAD BODY was shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger and won the Capital Crime Fingerprint Award for her self-narrated audiobook. Her work for children has garnered over 50 nominations, including the Carnegie Medal, Branford Boase, Books Are My Bag, Waterstone’s Children’s Book of the Year, Indie Children’s Book of the Year and CrimeFest Best Children’s Book. She hardly won any. Maz narrates the audiobooks for her series and her acclaimed live events have regularly featured at Hay, Imagine, Edinburgh, Bath, Cheltenham, Bestival, Wilderness, CarFest and countless literary festivals around the UK.