Fiction Addiction Book Tours: "How Not To Murder Your Grumpy" by Carol E. Wyer: Interview

What was your inspiration for HNTMYG?

It was a combination of things that caused me to pen HNTMYG. Firstly, I have had a retired grumpy under my feet for a few years now. Once he left work, he moped about the house grumbling incessantly, and stopped me from getting on with anything useful. I had to resort to thinking up activities for him and then find him hobbies. He’s very difficult to please and it took a huge amount of imagination to come up with innovative ideas. Friends often used to say I should run one of those Red Letter Day sites thanks to my ability to conjure up weird and wonderful ideas. Getting Mr Grumpy to take part was the hardest. He flatly refused some of my suggestions. If you read the book you’ll guess which ones he wouldn’t take up.

Following the success of my first two novels, I received lots of emails from frustrated women who were convinced that they were also living with a man like Amanda’s husband, Phil. He is so typical of many men (including my own). Amanda spends much of the first book trying to interest Phil in any hobby possible to get him out of his perpetual state of grumpiness. After reading so many emails, I decided to write a light-hearted book that would speak to women and make them realise they are not alone with this problem. It is very light-hearted but it actually offers some great suggestions among the madness in the book. Those who have read it so far have decided to have a go at some of the more outrageous suggestions. It isn’t just a list of suggestions though, oh no...it’s much more.

Are you working on any other writing projects?  Can you tell us about them?

Yes, I am pretty busy at the moment. As well as writing bi-monthly articles for The Huffington Post and Indies Unlimited, I have just completed another humorous novel, Just Add Spice, which is with the publisher at the moment and is quite different to my earlier novels. I won’t say too much about that at this stage but it offers twists, surprises and a little more spice than I have injected into my works before now! The sister book to HNTMYG is also with the publisher and offers some sage (and not so sage) advice to women of a certain age! Finally, I am in the process of writing my third Amanda Wilson novel which should be completed by the summer.

Tell us about your writing process.

Like many writers, I plot it all out in my head way before I even begin to put anything on paper. This will involve many sleepless nights while I work out plots, characters and scenes. I play them through my head like a film. The film has to run several times before I feel I am ready to type the story. The wretched characters take over my life and I am also a complete zombie while this is going on. Ask me if there is any food in the fridge and I won’t have the foggiest. Dust builds up around the house and I forget to eat (apart from wine gums – more of that in a minute) because I’ll be too busy trying to think through the novel or book to act like a normal person.

The writing happens next, and I once I get started, I just can’t stop. In order to keep hubby happy, I have to lead a ‘regular life’ during the day and then type all night. It’s the only time I won’t be interrupted. Luckily, I am so hyped up by then I can go for quite a few nights before I need sleep. I also suffer from insomnia so lack of sleep isn’t a huge problem.

I leave the script alone once it is typed up. I take some time out before I start on edits or changes. It then takes a few more months of editing, getting feedback from beta readers and more editing before I let it anywhere near my publisher. It then goes through another rigorous process of editing, proof reading and hey presto – it gets published.

HNTMYG was different though because it required much research, and I amassed notes and trivia as I went along. You might say it has taken about five years in total to write thanks to testing out the activities on my beloved grumpy.

What's the one thing that gets you through your writing (food, type of music, etc). 

I can’t have any noise at all when I am writing. It distracts me too much and since I work over night it would probably disturb Mr Grumpy too. If that didn’t, then my singing along with The Killers most certainly would. Until I broke my bridge and shattered a tooth this month, wine gums and chewy sweets saw me through all my writing. The dentist and Mr Grumpy have now banned me from them, so I am a complete loss what to do. I suppose I could always pour myself a large glass or two of wine and see what that does. It can’t make my typing any worse than it is!

What are you currently reading?

Normally I would make a ‘pfft’ noise and say that I have no time to read, but I am trying really hard at the moment to get through my enormous TBR pile which is ridiculously high.

I’m currently reading a hilarious book by Will Macmillan Jones called Bass Instinct. It’s a little like Terry Pratchett in style and very witty. I’m thoroughly enjoying it. Normally, I am a speed reader and can whallop through a book however, it’s taking me much longer than I would like as I have to keep putting it down to do other things. There is only so much multi tasking a girl can do!