CR 035: Gillian McAllister on Thrillers, Twists, and the Importance of a Good Hook
The New York Times bestselling author discusses her latest novel, “Famous Last Words.”
Gillian McAllister is a New York Times bestselling author whose works have been called “riveting” (Publishers Weekly), “richly layered” (The Sunday Times), and “clever” (The Washington Post). Her thrillers often land on year-end “best of” lists, her 2022 novel Wrong Place Wrong Time was a Reese’s Book Club Pick, and her 2021 release, That Night, is being adapted into a Netflix series.
Her latest thriller, Famous Last Words, is the story of a wife and mother, Camilla, whose life is upended when she learns that her husband has committed a terrifying crime. Much like McAllister’s previous works, it’s a page-turner that delivers a deliciously unexpected twist. In its starred review of the book, Library Journal called it “a first-rate, fiendishly clever suspense novel.”
In addition to promoting the book, McAllister is editing her next novel, beginning work on the one after that, and posting regularly on social media. Her Instagram account is chock full of writing tips, book recommendations, and (often very funny, incredibly relatable) glimpses into her personal life.
I recently had the pleasure of chatting with McAllister over Zoom about her writing process, how she generates ideas, and why the hook is the most critical component of her novels.
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SANDRA EBEJER: Where did the idea for Famous Last Words come from?
GILLIAN MCALLISTER: I wanted to tell a story that had the beats of a traditional action thriller, but with a female lens. So, there is a hostage situation and there are police, there are snipers, and all of that. But I wanted to also tell the story of a marriage and how it affects a woman when a man commits a crime like this.
The book is full of police work, surveillance, and hostage negotiations. How do you go about research? Do you do it all in advance or as you’re writing?
I generally reach out to somebody just to check, “Would this happen and what would it be like?” In the novel, when her husband takes three hostages, the first thing that Camilla, the main character, does is she’s called to the scene and [during] a hostage negotiation, she gets on the phone to her husband. That was a key part of the plot. So I needed to know, would you ever do this? I ask questions as I go along, but with this novel in particular, I actually did end up going on a hostage negotiation course with the guy who I was emailing, because there were so many questions. Everything I asked, he said new things that were also interesting. I just thought, “I actually need to learn how you do this.” So I went on a daylong course, which was pretty fascinating.
It’s obvious that you put a lot of thought into the locations—the warehouse, for example, where the hostage situation takes place, or Camilla’s house, where the bedrooms are downstairs and the living room upstairs. Does all of that come strictly from imagination or do you scout locations in advance?
It is mostly imagination. I think sometimes things are rooted in the unusual. You know, everybody lives in a house, largely, with the bedrooms upstairs and the living quarters downstairs. And I’ve been in some houses where it is inverted. I found it interesting, and I found it memorable, and I also found it a metaphor for the kind of upside-down world that my heroine finds herself in. But I always like to take those tidbits of interesting things that I see out and about. You know the feeling you get when you’re going to put something in a novel, because it’s just memorable and unique.
You had an entirely different career prior to becoming a full-time novelist. When did you know you wanted to be a writer?
Always, really. If you’d have asked me, age 10, age 15, age 20, I would have given the same answer, which is a writer. I didn’t know how you do that, and I needed a job to pay rent, so I became a lawyer, which was intellectually stimulating. It was very word based. I drafted contracts for a living. So it was kind of similar, [though] much more dry. But I was always working on something on the side. I had a blog in the years that everybody had a blog where I just wrote about my life, and then it went from there to fiction. So I was always trying to get published, really.
Most writers hate being on camera and do social media promotion reluctantly, but you have a very active social media presence. You’ve shared so many great videos about your writing process and your home life. Is the social media side of your work something that comes naturally to you?
Yeah. I had social media for a long time before I got a publishing deal. I’m extroverted and I’m in quite an introverted profession. [With] the funny Instagram stories, there’s no pressure. They don’t last very long, either. I like to show the kind of things that amuse me about my day and get lots of engagement with really funny people that follow me. So I really do like it. And I regard it as entirely separate to my writing profile. I’m certainly not on Instagram stories trying to sell books. I just find it amusing.
You recently shared on Instagram that in addition to promoting Famous Last Words, you’re editing your next novel and working up to the one after that. You’re also the mom of a toddler. How do you structure your day so that you are able to do all the work that you have to do?
I’m not sure there is much structure, to be honest. It’s kind of putting out the most urgent fire. First of all, childcare is always the answer. I don’t want anyone out there feeling bad about themselves because they’re trying to do it with a child at home all the time. I use the childcare that I have. And I think it does help that I’m very passionate, so it doesn’t feel like work. I have to stop myself from working on my next novel. It doesn’t feel like, “Oh no. That’s due.” I think, by and large, I like to spin the plates. I am editing my 2026 novel now, and I’m keeping my mind open to try and add to the synopsis for my 2027 novel. I get a lot of pleasure out of that plate spinning, but it’s as chaotic as everybody. I’m staring right now at an enormously overflowing laundry basket. It’s the same as everyone. My life is chaos because of the job and the toddler, just the same as it is for all working parents.
You have a series of videos on Instagram where you describe your writing process. It sounds like you typically do a lot of plotting in Excel in advance of writing. Do you follow the same process for each book?
I do, generally. I use the boxes in Excel as a storyboard. What I like about that is I’m quite a visual kind of learner. I like to be able to look at the narrative arc of my book, but I also need to be able to edit it. I have done index cards. I did index cards with Wrong Place Wrong Time, which had the kind of structure that demanded them. But I do a lot of thinking and moving around and often change the narrator at the very, very early stages. What I like about doing it electronically is you don’t have to commit to the story. You can keep it wide open and just be like, “Actually, I’m going to change all these boxes and move them over here.” That appeals to me in that kind of free plotting that you need to be able to do, I think, to write a thriller.
Do you know going in what the ending is going to be?
I like to and I have a better writing experience when I do. It can be a headache depending on what the hook is. Like, my next novel has an initial domino, and then it can go anywhere from there. I like the creative freedom of that, because there can be multiple endings. But in other books, it’s hard to find a surprising ending. Those are the ones that really give me a headache, because I always want to innovate within the genre and to surprise the reader, and they’re the ones where I repeatedly have do-overs on the ending. So I don’t always know [the ending], but I do prefer to.
I’ve interviewed many authors, and they all start with something—a title or a character or a question, for example—that serves as the initial idea for the book. How does it start for you? Do you have a question in mind? Or is it a character? Where does the germ of the idea begin?
It is always the hook, really, for me. I don’t know how I would write a novel without a hook, because the hook is the question that you answer over the course of a novel. So, why would your husband take three hostages? It’s pretty much answered on the last page. I think in that conceptual way. I do sometimes have images or scenes that I want to write, but in general, I anchor myself to that hook, and that’s where I go, right to the end of the book.
Can you talk about how you push through those moments when you run out of steam, and you feel like the book is not going anywhere?
Usually, there’s a problem with the book. I’m quite an energetic person, so if I’m not writing, it’s because there’s a fundamental problem with the book. That’s the worst thing that happens to me, and it does happen regularly, because I can’t write if I’m not emotionally invested in the characters and the plot. And sometimes I don’t know why I’m not. I’m just not. It’s often about believability, or I’ve written in a synopsis that somebody kills someone else for revenge, and then in the actual scene of it, I’m like, “But people don’t really do this. I wouldn’t do this.” And then you have to take enough backward paces to the point where you’ve lost your way. I do that repeatedly, and it is very difficult. But I think being honest with yourself about, what is this feeling I have when I’m writing and why does it feel kind of icky? I do have an impulse sometimes to just carry on, but actually it is better to take those backwards steps and work out what’s gone wrong.
On one of your Instagram stories from a few years ago, you shared that you read a Poem of the Day that gets sent to your in box. And you commented, “I think novelists have a duty to seek out interesting ideas and stories and words.” What are some of the ways that you find inspiration or generate ideas for your work?
Wow, I’ve never been asked that before. The Poetry Foundation will send you a poem for free every day. I like it, because it never takes more than five minutes to read a poem. And so often they have a twist. Especially more modern poems, the last line is usually a twist. I think it’s an exercise in structure.
Other than that, I do deliberately try and read a lot. I’m reading The Secret History at the moment because I’ve never read it. I was like, “This is a seminal work of literature, and I want to know what hit with it.” I do the same with any storytelling. I recently discovered a podcast called This is Actually Happening, and it’s just stories. Each episode is [something] like, somebody was burgled, and they tell you exactly what it was like when they met the intruder, or somebody was involved in a hit and run. It’s just visceral human stories, and that, I think, can help to know that you can look at complicated plot twists and narrative devices, but actually, if readers care about a character and something compelling is happening, however simple, they will keep turning the pages. Those kinds of things help me to remember that.
You mentioned the book that you’re reading now. Who are some of your writing influences or your favorite authors?
I read a book at the very start of my career called Apple Tree Yard by Louise Doughty and it really helped me. She was writing the kind of fiction I want to write, where it’s about an affair, but they’re in court and you don’t know why. You just know it’s a criminal charge. It’s ended badly, and it literally was a relationship put on the stand in court. I found it very formative, because it was really that cross between emotional fiction and crime. And I, on the regular, read Lisa Jewell. I really like to read Ruth Ware. I recently read a book called Nightwatching by Tracy Sierra that I absolutely loved. So generally, [I read] the sorts of things that I like to write, that cross of emotional fiction and thrillers.
You went through a lot of rejection at the start of your career. And then you got a two-book deal from a major publisher and your career suddenly picked up steam. If you could go back a decade or so, knowing what you know now, would you do anything differently?
Probably not, because I am scared to change the past. You’re talking to somebody who’s written a time travel novel [laughs] so I’ve obviously thought too much about this, but I wouldn’t want to alter where I am now, because I look back and think I’ve had a lot of good fortune and a lot of lucky breaks. But also, there have been several moments where I do think I made the right decision. Writing that time travel novel was a risk, but it propelled my career into a different sphere, and possibly it wouldn’t have done that at another time. I don’t know. I do think that it’s normal to feel like you get better with each book. My earlier books are much more simple and less twisty, and I definitely have developed as a writer who wants to write much more conceptual fiction at this stage.
What is your advice for aspiring novelists?
I always say finish the draft, which is slightly contrary to something I said earlier, but I notice—and I was the same—that aspiring writers tinker with the first 20,000 words for months. I think it’s a kind of perfectionism. It feels good. Of course, it is important to get the book right, but you can’t edit a blank page. And for me, and I have to say this to myself sometimes, now is the time to know it isn’t going to be perfect. I just have to go on to the end.
To learn more about Gillian McAllister, find her on Instagram.
To purchase Famous Last Words, click here.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
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