Bestselling Thriller Author Wendy Walker Talks New Audiobook, Mad Love
Part audiobook, part audio-play, Mad Love is the first of its kind for this book club! Wendy Walker talks about writing a story for listening-only, and her best advice for aspiring authors.
They were madly in love. The perfect couple.
That was the story everyone in South River believed...until Gin Talcott and Adam Archer are found shot in their bed.
Adam is dead at the scene. Gin is fighting for her life.
Detectives Greta Jessup and Finn Pate are assigned to the case. Greta has a long history with Gin’s first husband, Eddie, and is determined to protect his 18-year-old twins. Piper discovered the bodies. Daniel is missing—and so is Adam’s gun.
Shocking discoveries about Gin and Adam’s marriage quickly shine a bright light on the children—and their aunt Ruth Talcott, who has her own secrets.
The one person who might know the truth is local estate attorney Sarah Branford. Gin left a letter for her two days before the shooting which Sarah now opens:
Dear Sarah, If you’re reading this, there’s a story I need to tell you. It begins and ends with Adam. I will never forgive myself for what I’ve done....
The evidence twists and turns until the shocking truth about the Talcott family—and the killer—is finally revealed.
Mad Love by Wendy Walker is this book club's first audio-book (Walker dubs it an “audio play”)! Even if you don’t typically gravitate toward audio books (I don’t!), you can tell how unique it is after only minutes of listening to it.
The audio-play, as Wendy called it, was specifically written for listening ONLY, and is complete with different narrators for each character, as well as sound effects. Because of Walker’s dynamite reputation in the thriller world, we knew we had to give this one a go.
Read on to hear more about our February book club pick, the process of writing a not-for-print story, her journey from attorney to author, and more. Our conversation has been adapted for context and space and may contain spoilers!
On writing for audio-only
”I wrote the whole draft. It was written like a novel, and my editor said, ‘you know, we're trying something new,’ which is doing these scripted chapters…I converted six or seven chapters to be fully scripted. And I really had to learn how to do it. You have to think about [the fact that] nobody can see these characters, and I have to get all this information across about what is happening without using any narration. It's very different from a screenplay where the audience is seeing the action going on.”
Why it’s different from an audiobook
”Because of the sound effects it almost feels like you're listening to a television show or a movie…It's meant to make you feel like you are experiencing a dramatic piece. So, I think there's something that's really engaging about that, and that maybe sucks you in even more, because…your brain gets busy, like envisioning the office or the lobby and the elevator and the games and the footsteps and the coffee cups, and then envisioning what all these characters look like, putting faces to the sound of a new voice. So having this full cast of characters and all of that - I think it helps it be an even more immersive experience for people who love, love audio books. And I'm hoping that this format will bring people who like podcasts into the world of fiction audio.”
The idea for Mad Love
”[I had] this story idea in my head, and it really started with the concept of - a couple whose relationship is so toxic, that the children and the trauma they suffer and the damage would make you believe that they could actually kill their parents. Then as the story evolved, I wanted to make it really accessible. I was a family law attorney, and I had some training for high conflict custody cases. [You really learn the psychology behind] the children who are in families where there's abuse that is being witnessed, and what that does to them, the different manifestations. I had phone calls with psychologists who have studied this and written books about it. It had always fascinated me, and it felt compelling. At the end of the book, they're sort of talking about - where is it going to end, where does it end?”
How to make your work better
”I think revising is the largest part of writing. Really. Today I went in with my pencil and I was like, cutting. I'm like - rewrite this whole chapter. I’m basically editing myself. And I know when I go back in next week and I have to execute all my pencil marks on this [I’m going to have to] pretend someone else is going to do this work and just do what needs to be done to make it better.
If you have a draft of a manuscript, just give yourself a beat. I find it really helpful to print it out and read it, or at least put it in like a Kindle format and read it as if you're actually reading the book the way it would be read. It triggers something in your brain to see it anew, and you get a feel for it - it's not fast enough, or this isn't it.”
Tips for aspiring authors
”The two pieces of advice I wish I could go back and give myself: The first one is - just take a writing class, get the tools you need. The second thing is really a practical thing that I know a lot of people don't like to hear, but - [the book writing industry] is a business, and learning about the business is every bit as important as learning how to write.”
Thank you to Wendy for her time and insight! You can purchase or download Mad Love, now.