Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I grew up in Hungerford, Berkshire then moved around a bit in the UK, living in Oxfordshire and Kent before emigrating to Australia in August 2005.
I’ve worked in publishing, radio broadcasting, helped run a busy pub and played lead guitar in bands. Not necessarily in that order.
I’ve written two thrillers – White Gold and Under Fire – and have a third book, a romantic suspense, scheduled for release later this year.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest thriller is called Under Fire and it’s the second in the Dan Taylor series (although the books, including White Gold, can be read as standalone novels).
I read a story on BBC News in 2010 about how close the UK came to running out of gas during a particularly bad winter, and how reliant the country is on imported fuel now – the rest of the story flowed from there. I felt that it wouldn’t be the last time the government found themselves in that situation, and what would happen if someone, or an organization, took advantage of that?
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I’ve developed a new habit in order to fit my writing in around a full-time job and that is to sit on the train into work in the mornings, laptop open and get my head down and write as much as I can in the 40 minutes it takes to get into the city from where I live.
I’m a better planner now, so I’ll have a separate file for each chapter with some bullet points listed at the top describing what I want to capture in that chapter and go from there. It’s proving to be a very productive exercise.
Once I’ve got the bulk of the work down, say about 50,000 words, then I’ll print it all out, do some minor edits and have my husband do a rough structural edit. Once that’s done, I sit down and repeat the original exercise to ‘plug the gaps’ and off I go again. After that’s done, I’ll use an A4 notebook to write out scenes and sequences to insert, type it all up then a second structural edit is carried out.
I also ALWAYS carry around an A5 moleskine notebook – I love these because they’ve got a pocket at the back where you can keep index cards with scenes on, character traits etc so I’m at an advantage if I come up with an idea when I’m in the middle of travelling somewhere. It’s proved invaluable – my current WIP, a romantic suspense novel, was conceptualised on a yacht off the coast of Malta last year. By the time we’d arrived back at the harbour at the end of the day trip, I had the entire plot sketched out as well as most of the character traits because I was so chilled out on the boat, the ideas just flowed!
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I’ve recently posted a blog post on the authors I read as a child (http://www.rachelamphlett.com/1/post/2013/12/-7-books-which-influenced-my-childhood.html) but as a teenager/adult, the authors which have influenced my own writing include Michael Crichton, Jack Higgins, James Rollins, Lee Child, and Stephen Leather. I have always been a voracious reader – I think you need to be if you want to write – and it was definitely these authors that made me believe I could be a storyteller.
What are you working on now?
I need a break from the action thrillers because the amount of research is incredible, and I’ve always enjoyed the books of novelists such as Sandra Brown, Cherry Adair and Suzanne Brockmann so I wanted to do something with an equally strong female protagonist. It’s going to fall into the thriller genre still, but will also sit comfortably within romantic suspense.
After that, there’s about four further projects which are clamouring for my attention, including a third Dan Taylor book, so I think I’ll be writing for the foreseeable future!
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I really like the community atmosphere on Twitter and Goodreads – I’m always been an advocate of ‘pay it forward’ and these two social media outlets are really good for that.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Firstly, you’d better be doing this because you love writing. If you’re setting out on this journey in the hope of making a quick buck, chances are you’re going to be disappointed.
Once that manuscript is as polished as you can get it, pay for a professional edit. Think of it as an investment..
Pay to have a professional book cover designed. Go to them with examples of other authors’ book covers in your genre, but work with them to get what’s best for your book. Remember, they’re not psychic so give them as much information as possible at the start of the process.
Finally – be nice. Support other authors. Say thank you publicly to people who help you. Promote their work. Act professionally at all times.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
This is going to sound horrendous, but I got told this at a writers conference last year and it stuck with me so here goes :
‘If you’re writing a sex scene, pretend your parents are dead.’
There. Said it.
What are you reading now?
Rotten Gods by Greg Barron, a fellow Australian author who has been very supportive of my own writing and writes a killer thriller or two. Highly recommend checking out his books.
What’s next for you as a writer?
Finishing up my thriller/romantic suspense and releasing that about mid-2014 then developing a chapter plan for my next project. After that, there’s about four further projects which are clamouring for my attention, including a third Dan Taylor book, so I think I’ll be writing for the foreseeable future!
I’m always keen to keep learning about my craft so I’m doing a couple of workshops with my local writers centre this year, and I’m studying screenwriting with the Australian Film Television & Radio School in Sydney too.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
SAS Survival Guide by John Wiseman, because it’d probably be useful
Fall of Giants by Ken Follett, because it’s about the size of a door stop and I haven’t had time to start it yet so being stranded would be a perfect scenario for this one
A barbeque cookbook for pescatarians so I don’t starve (or give myself food poisoning)
Author Websites and Profiles
Rachel Amphlett Website
Rachel Amphlett Amazon Profile
Rachel Amphlett’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account