Interview With Author Tom Murphy
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a 30-something screenwriter, actor and filmmaker from Liverpool with a boss wife and 4 year old. A photograph of our entire family is in the dictionary next to ‘Neurodivergent’. The place is a madhouse, honestly. I have ADHD, my wife has Autism, and our son has… nothing down for him.
I’ve only just started writing books, and they’re mostly picture books (I don’t have the attention span for anything else), but I’m an avid reader, and I’ve been writing scripts for 11 years. Won a few little awards here and there, nothing to brag about cough cough.
Apart from that, I’m an aging cottagecore goth, I get bi-weekly venesections, and I work part-time in a top-secret safeguarding role, just a step below MI5 they tell us. Okay, fine, I do background checks.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
I’m off my head. That’s not the book, just a fact. The book is called ‘Absolutely, Definitely True’ and it’s a book of… facts. That I definitely didn’t make up. Think ‘The Book of Bunny Suicides’ without the bunnies or talent.
It made me laugh when I was making it, and unless I’m from the planet Zorg (not impossible), then it should hopefully make you laugh, too.
So, yeah, a sort of general, comfortable madness and a love for minimalist, visual, illustrated comedy inspired it.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I’ve not discovered any yet with books, but with screenwriting, it’s a bottle of wine and blasting Portishead. Maybe not unusual, but it’s mine.
The other thing I’d say, is my timeline. I do nothing for months (sometimes years), and then I’ll write 6 scripts in 5 days.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
In this style – Andy Riley books, Cyanide and Happiness, The Oatmeal comics, Horrible Histories.
My favourite authors, though, generally: Andy Weir, Janice Hallett, Richard Osman, Franz Kafka. And the like.
What are you working on now?
I’ve already got some ideas for a follow-up book. Even if no one reads the first. It might just be for me, honestly.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’ve never done it before, so here’s hoping it’s this!
Do you have any advice for new authors?
I can only speak as a screenwriter, really, but the concept is basically the same: Just start writing. There’s only so long you can stare at a blinking cursor before you put the kettle on for the sixth time. Just write one sentence.
Actually, a good writing exercise for me has been to go on random word generators, get it to spit out a couple of words, and write one scene using those words. Gets the juices flowing.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Stop building your castles in other people’s kingdoms. It’s the reason I made a website for my films and, now, for my books. If a platform dies and all your work is on it, how will you reach your people?
What are you reading now?
The first book in The Thursday Murder Club series, of course!
What’s next for you as a writer?
I’ve got the bug now, so I’m definitely going to be coming up with a few more weird ideas, but I’d also love to own a copy of my own book… so as soon as I get paid, that’ll be my first purchase!
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?
A Guinness World Records, a Private Eye Colemanballs, The Appeal by Janice Hallett and Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir.
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