Kia ora,

Grab a cuppa and settle in! Today we have a former fellow Rebel and all-round lovely person, Lisa Towles in the hot seat.

Who are you?
I’m a writer and a musician living in northern California with my husband and two cats, Coffee and Marmalade. Most recently I’ve written psychological thrillers and political thrillers, and they’re predominantly standalones. What makes me tick? Puzzles! I like when my brain has to untangle something complex, making order from chaos. 

Favourite genre/s to read or write? 
Thrillers/mysteries/psychological suspense

Please tell us about your latest work:
Right now I’m in the last half of another crime thriller, though it further develops one part of the Codex story (my June 2024 release), this one’s really a standalone thriller. 

Do you like chocolate fish?
I love fish, and I don’t really eat sweets, but I have a friend who brought me some Queen Anne Strawberry Marshmallow chocolate fish once and it was truly something to behold. (They’re the best!)

What’s your main character like?
Funny, snarky, razor sharp, a psychologist with a law degree (yikes LOL!) who’s spent his life running away from himself

• Would you go to the pub with them? Absolutely
• Would you have them over for dinner? Yes but he would be the kind of guest who asks for a lot of extra things that aren’t on the table
• What music do they listen to? Jazz and blues
• What type of car do they drive? My main character lives in San Francisco’s iconic Haight Ashbury area and there’s nowhere to park there (or anywhere in San Francisco, really) so he doesn’t have a car. He spends a lot of money on rideshares and annoys a lot of people borrowing their cars
• Are they a series character? I don’t know yet. He will tell me when we get to the end of the book. I sorta hope so ☺

What piece of advice would you give a new writer?
This is a hard thing to do as a new writer but I wish someone had told me this early on. My advice is to write exactly what you want to write about when you’re first starting without regard for what’s publishable, marketable, etc. What you need, in the beginning, is a lot of practice to develop flow and fluidity. The skill and craft will come later. 

What part of writing do you find the hardest?
Tying all the strings together in the last few chapters. Even if I’ve plotted these out carefully, things happen – inspirations, new epiphanies, new connections, and sometimes it’s dizzying to keep it all straight and create a cohesive story. 

Have you ever had lolly cake?
No but I’ve heard of it and it looks interesting and easy to make. (You don’t actually bake it, right? – Right, no baking involved!)

Pantser or outliner?
I’m sort of half and half right down the middle. Though I do a lot of characterization, I don’t spend a lot of extra time plotting out where I’m going to go ahead of time. I do plot as I’m writing to plan where I’m going in the short term, like driving with your low beams on. 

Do you write in silence?
I need silence to write, but sometimes I do listen to thriller movie soundtracks to simulate the mood of a scene I’m writing (like the Jason Bourne movies, etc) 

Do you like to listen to audio books?
Yes, especially on my long commutes to and from work. They’re a perfect distract from big city traffic. 

Have you ever visited New Zealand?
No, but I would love to!

Dogs, cats, guinea pigs, or some other type of pet?
Two cats, brother and sister, Coffee (girl) and Marmalade (boy)

Where do you write?
In my house and back yard on an old, rosegold Macbook Air. I edit on a newer, larger computer that’s situated properly at a desk. But I don’t want writing to feel like “work” – I want it to feel like “play” so I keep my smaller laptop mobile and I can take it wherever I want. 

Thank you for inviting me! Delighted to be here and I love this series. 
Thank you for playing along!

You can interact with Lisa in the following places:
Website:
Facebook:
TwitX:
Insta: