Briefly tell us about your book.
Double Lives is written as a frame narrative- the story within the story. The external story is about Amy Rhinehart- a radio journalist- who has recently returned to Perth from Melbourne and is trying to restart her career. She pitches the idea of a ‘live time’ podcast, investigating strange crimes, inviting listeners to respond and interact. She finds the murder of Casey Williams, at the hands of her boyfriend Jonah Scott, a deeply religious man and member of a cult, The Brethren. What makes this crime strange is that Jonah went to great lengths to dispose of Casey’s body but when questioned by the police immediately confessed and pleaded guilty- thus negating a trial. Amy is convinced that there is something more sinister behind these motives and seeks to uncover the ‘truth’. The internal story is written, in part, as a podcast transcript.
What inspired the idea behind this book?
Like many writers I’m inspired by the world we live in and Double Lives was inspired by a real life American crime, where the perpetrator pled guilty to avoid a trial. That was intriguing- why would someone take life imprisonment and not even attempt to challenge the charges in court? I am an avid true crime podcast fan and Double Lives brings together many ideas about being a member of society and living among diverse and potentially dangerous ideologies.
I think many people are drawn to tales about murder because it’s in our nature to be highly tuned in to criminal misdemeanours. Instinctively we want to discover the details, so we can understand what makes criminals tick and maybe, on a subconscious level, protect ourselves. I also think the problem solving element and playing detective is part of the attraction.
Listening to true crime podcasts, while I walk, is part of my daily exercise routine—also, if the podcast is gripping it tends to extend my exercise time (or make me clean the house)!
What are you hoping the reader will take away from the book?
The protagonist Amy’s investigation into the Jonah Scott murder of Casey Williams leads her into a world of drugs, sex, gender identity and religious cults and in her search for the ‘truth’ she is forced to confront her own values and attitudes.
I hope that Double Lives will allow for conversations about identity- who we are as individuals- to take place. From these conversations I would hope that the overarching ideas of love, acceptance and tolerance are the takeaways of this novel.
If you could give one piece of advice to aspiring writers, what would it be?
Don’t give up. The difference between a published writer and an unpublished one is that the published writer never gave up. It can take time and many drafts, or even different projects to learn the craft and sometimes a lot of rejection. But it is all about resilience and determination.
What’s your daily writing routine like and what are you working on at the moment?
I get up early each morning and go to the gym. Then I go for about a 4 kilometre walk, often I’m listening to a podcast, but if I’m in the middle of writing, I’m thinking about my characters and the plot. Then, I sit at my desk from about 9.30 until about 4pm, writing, or researching, depending where I am in the creative process.
I’m doing a PhD in Creative Writing at Curtin University at the moment and my thesis is about Controversial Young Adult fiction that deals with toxic masculinity in an AFL environment. I have just completed the first draft of the manuscript- a dual narrative, told from a female victim’s perspective and an AFL player’s perspective. The development of the manuscript required me to move freely between writing creatively and researching the many different aspects of AFL culture. Now, I’m writing the critical exegesis component of the thesis.
I’m always finding ideas in the news or magazines that I collect as inspiration. I have several story ideas that I’m looking forward to developing in the future.
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