Iain Ryan is an Australian writer who grew up in Brisbane, but now lives in Melbourne with his family. A crime writer – he is the author of FOUR DAYS (2015) and THE STUDENT(2017), both shortlisted for the Ned Kelly Award. his work has been previously published by Akashic Books Online, Crime Factory, Kill Your Darlings and Seizure. Ryan’s latest book is THE SPIRAL published in 2020 by Echo & Bonnier in the UK.
Kate and Iain discuss:
- Long car trips to and from the Margaret River Readers and Writers Festival
- The rules of crime fiction (and a shout out to Angela Meyer)
- Festival anxiety, festival afterglow and how long it lasts
- Defining crime fiction genres
- Typing out a chapter of Donna Tartt’s The Secret History
- What Iain has learnt from academia and the music scene
- The thermometer of shame
- Writing a Choose Your Own Adventure
- Using Scrivener
- Self publishing vs traditional publishing
- The Taylor Swift Theory
Advice:
- Get unromantic!
- Copy other people!
- Don’t worry about stealing someone else’s style!
- Write in genres!
Iain’s debut book recommendation is (perhaps unsurprisingly): The Secret History by Donna Tartt
Follow Iain on Twitter and Instagram of check out his website.
The First Time podcast 