Happy Thursday my bookish friends and welcome to another ‘Under the Cover’ post! Today I am welcoming, Cynthia Murphy author of YA Thrillers and Horrors. Including her latest Signed Sealed Dead for the fans of Scream which I reviewed at the beginning of the year and was my first 5 star read of the year.

Under the Cover is where I interview some of favourite authors and authors I’ve recently read and discovered. I’m trying to refresh my blog and I love interviewing authors and getting an insight into their storytelling, hence Under the Cover was born.

I had to know on how Cynthia creates these unputtadownable horror that really give you chills. Also to fangirl over the Scream movies too. Thank you so much Cynthia.

INTERVIEW WITH CYNTHIA MURPHY

Can you share with us something about the book that isn’t in the blurb to introduce your brilliant Signed Sealed Dead?

I’m fascinated by true crime, as many people are, and SSD is based on two real-life cases: The Watcher House and The Gainesville Ripper. I wanted to explore what would happen if a teenager moved somewhere she wasn’t familiar with and was confronted by both of those things.

This is your fifth book now, what has been your highlight of your writing career so far?

Meeting readers and being invited to events like book awards and festivals is just magical, but one of my favourite things is when a reader reaches out to me on social media or through my website. I love that people have read my books and take the time to say hi or tell me that they enjoyed it! It really is the best and gives me a much-needed confidence boost when I’m drafting and questioning whether I can really write another one.

Do you have any favourite authors that inspired your writing career?

I have many! Stephen King is my ultimate inspiration, for his classics and the sheer range of his work – he’s incredibly prolific. I love Holly Bourne’s YA books and was delighted to sit on a panel with her at YALC in 2022, where she very graciously let me fan girl. I’m also a big Karen M McManus fan and was delighted when she agreed to read, and then blurb, SSD. A dream!

Do you have a favourite aspect/themes of writing a mystery/horror that you love writing?

I love layering in the unsettling elements, even when it’s not a particularly scary scene. It’s fun to make readers question a casual exchange between characters by adjusting the tone or language between them.

I loved that SSD was inspired by the Scream movies, I love them. But what else influenced your love of thriller, horror books? 

All of the Point Horror, Christopher Pike and Stephen King books I read as a teenager, along with the films that were out at that time. I grew up re-watching Scream, Blade, Urban Legend and I Know What You Did Last Summer over and over again, and I think it has definitely informed my writing!

If you were in a Scream movie, which character do you see yourself as?. Are you a Sidney – best final girl, Gale Weathers – always first on scene, Tara – survivor, Dewey – goofy but serious survivor, loveable. (Oh Dewey, I love him) or even Randy – his film theory knowledge? 

I think I’d be a mix of Gale and Sidney, determined to survive but also probably irritating everyone by bossing them around.

Your books have the best atmosphere, chills, and keep you up all night vibes, how do you create this?

It very much comes at the end of a first draft! I try to write out the bare bones of a story – a who, what, where, when, why kind of thing. Then I go back to the beginning and start to think about my word choices and the kind of atmosphere I want them to create, so I tweak things to make them a little more tense or suspicious. That is definitely the fun bit!

Whilst writing SSD, I especially loved the British girl living in the US and the lingo confusion. Did you enjoy writing this and what were some of your favourite US vs UK lingo?

I did! I had a lot of American friends at uni and I was surprised by how much could be lost in translation, especially as I was familiar with their terms for things like a bin or a pavement just from watching TV. The bangs exchange between Madison and Paige was my favourite, because I constantly read about these mysterious things called bangs in all my Point Horror books, only to find out as an adult that it just meant fringe…

I loved your characters in your book, I think the Twins were probably my favourite, did you have a favourite?

Paige is absolutely my favourite. She was really easy to write and I loved developing the supportive relationship with her parents. I do love the twins though, I would definitely want to be friends with them!

Would you ever want to write a prequel or side story or a secondary character? 

Maybe! I always like to leave a couple of threads undone, just in case I ever feel like revisiting a story. I get a lot of messages asking if there will be a sequel to The Midnight Game or SSD, because I have left those on pretty cheeky endings, but I don’t have any plans at the moment!

I’m always curious about how authors write horror/mystery novels. How do you plan? Do you know who dunnit and work backwards or does it change whilst you’re writing? 

This is exactly what I do! I think of the twist (though admittedly not always the killer) and then go back to the beginning. For my next book I’ve tried to plot it a little more than usual, which has helped, but it’s a complicated idea so it needed it!

If you could pick one of your books to be adapted, which would it be?

All of them, please! I do think SSD would translate well to screen though, it would be fab with all the creepy small-town, run-down house vibes!

You know I love to pick up your books to start my year off, will there be another for Jan 2025? Could you reveal anything about it?

There will be a book at some point in 2025 but no, I’m sworn to secrecy! I can tell you that I’m writing it at the moment but that’s pretty much it…

Thank you so much Cynthia for answering my Scream fangirling questions. I can’t wait to start 2025 with a new release.