Karin Slaughter retreats to a secluded cabin for intense writing bursts, emphasizing character development.
Slaughter focuses on immersive storytelling, societal reflections, and character depth while continuously improving her craft.
Deep dives
Karen Slaughter's Writing Routine and Daily Ritual
Karen Slaughter, an internationally best selling author known for her crime novels, shared insights into her daily writing routine. She retreats to a cabin in the mountains for two to three weeks at a time, disconnecting from distractions to focus on writing. Slaughter's creative process involves intense bursts of writing, which she attributes to her previous full-time job. She distinguishes between the mental challenge of story development, which can take years, and the physical act of writing, which she does in seclusion during her cabin stays.
Character Development and Writing Approach
For Slaughter, character development is a key focus in her writing process. She aims to create realistic, multidimensional characters by weaving together emotional, suspense, plot, and character development seamlessly. Reflecting on her writing, she ensures consistency in character portrayal throughout her books, revisiting each character's evolution to maintain authenticity and reader engagement.
Crafting Compelling Stories and Continuous Improvement
Slaughter emphasizes the importance of continuously improving as a writer by focusing on storytelling, societal reflections, and character depth. She aims to deliver immersive narratives that resonate with readers on an emotional level. Despite her success, she remains critical of her own work, noting areas for improvement and carefully integrating diverse elements like word choices and societal themes into her books to enhance storytelling.
Crime-writing behemoth Karin Slaughter is here with our first ever writer's routine! With over 35 million copies of 17 books sold, in over 36 languages, Karin is one of the world's most popular thriller writers. Her new novel, 'The Good Daughter', focuses on a woman's attempt to come to terms with a traumatising childhood, and explores what being a defence lawyer is like in small-town America. Although the subject of the book is pretty harrowing, the interview is mainly about over-used words, Willy Wonka and how she gets her work done. Also, the first of our Distinguished Diaries feature sees us look at how Founding Father Benjamin Franklin got his work done. PLUS, there's some music on in the background that will hopefully transport you to a back-street French cafe, where you mumble out something that sounds like, 'Croque Monsieur, s'il vous plait', but you'll get served 2 packets of crisps and a glass of apple juice. @writerspod writersroutine@gmail.com