Anna Snoekstra is an award-winning author and screenwriter. She is the author of Only Daughter, Little Secrets and The Spite Game. Her novels have been published in over twenty countries and sixteen languages. She has written for Meanjin, KYD, Lindsay, SMH, LitHub, The Griffith Review and is a profile writer for The Saturday Paper. Her most recent novel is Out of Breath (2022) and in 2023 she released her first audio drama This Isn’t Happening.
Ahead of her in-person masterclass on Editing your Crime Novel, Anna answered some questions about her latest project, the writers she admires, her writing routine and more.
1. Tell us more about your latest project and what inspired you to write it.
My new novel The Ones We Love, comes out in May next year. I can’t wait! I wrote the whole first draft on my tiny balcony every morning at dawn during lockdown. It’s about an Australian family that moves to Los Angeles. The mother and father attempt to cover up a crime for their adult daughter, only to find themselves blackmailed by an unknown witness.
Writing this book was everything I needed at the time. An escape (it was great to imagine being in a pre-pandemic California rather than freezing Melbourne), and a focus on human connection. Even though this is a thriller, it is all about love, and the sometimes drastic things we do to protect the people we adore.
2. What role have books played in your life?
I was a quiet, shy kid. I had issues with my hearing and had a lisp that I found terribly embarrassing and therefore preferred not to speak too much. Books were the place I found connection and escape.
A friend told me recently that she thinks that loaning people books is my ‘love language’, which really rang true! I have a few friends who come to me for recommendations, since I have amassed a fairly sizable library. I genuinely find pure joy in picking out a book for someone based on what they are going through in life and what kind of story I think might offer the right kind of catharsis or distraction for them in that moment.
3. Whose writing do you admire?
At the moment, I’m reading a lot of translated Japanese fiction. Authors like Banana Yoshimoto and Haruki Murakami have a spare matter-of-fact style that also evokes such magic. I have huge admiration for authors that can say a lot with a little. I am reading their work slowly, with a pencil, to try and unpick the magic.
4. Self-doubt seems to be part of being a writer. What’s one piece of advice you’d give to another writer about how to overcome it?
It’s important to think about what you’d do if you are never published (or never published again). If that was taken away, would you still want to write?
The publishing side of writing can be incredibly tough, even after your debut. Try your hardest to compartmentalise that part of the experience in terms of both your time and mental energy. If you can do that, then so much of that pressure and self-doubt dissipates. Your writing will be bolder, more real and less rushed.
5. What does your writing process and routine look like?
At the moment, I am mostly writing by hand. I like the portability of a notebook as well as the way it frees you since there is no delete button. I also can type a lot quicker than I can handwrite so it forces me to go slower but not self-edit. I hate how much time in a day I spend with screens in front of my face, so it’s also a way to get back in touch with the elemental, dreamy nature of writing.
As far as a routine, I don’t have one right now. I just write whenever I have a spare ten minutes or three hours. I am completely addicted and will do it any chance I get.
6. Can you tell us a bit about what you’re currently working on?
I’m currently working on an audio novella about a journalist with a twelve-month-old baby who begins investigating a cold case homicide that happened in a ski resort in 1980. I’m about halfway through. I’m loving all the research of looking at eighties ski fashion! I have a 12-month-old baby myself, so I’m feeding off my own experiences. I usually try and write with a lot of distance, so this is new for me and both liberating and challenging.
7. What are you hoping participants of your workshop will take with them?
I have put together everything I know about how to write a compelling suspense novel. From little hints and tricks to bigger plot and character concepts. I hope that the participants come out of the workshop buzzing with creative ideas on how to make their novel even more mysterious, suspenseful and thrilling.
Places are still available for Anna’s Editing Your Crime Novel masterclass. Members of Writers Victoria receive up to 37% off the full price of all clinics, workshops, seminars and courses. Writers experiencing financial and social barriers to developing their skills are encouraged to apply to The Writers Victoria Fund for subsidised attendance at workshops and clinics.