Inspiration Behind TELL ME LIES by Teresa Driscoll

Inspiration behind Tell Me Lies, the sixth psychological thriller by two million copy bestselling author Teresa Driscoll

Ideas for books always take time in my world. Sadly, I’m not one of those authors who can give my editor a list of five ideas and say – pick one. 

Between us, my process is a bit strange and in my writing life, it has to feel as if the story has picked me. It’s not ideal and I often wish I could work a different way but I can’t and so I’ve finally made peace with it. So this is how it goes when I’m starting a new book…

Characters always come first for me. For Tell Me Lies it was troubled Hannah – still so haunted by a childhood trauma – who first stepped into my writing room. I could hear her voice very clearly. She had this extraordinary back story. Full of anxiety. I was intrigued by her. The problem? For quite a long time, I had no idea what current story to put her in.

Next came the setting. I started to think a lot about an idyllic cottage in Cornwall that I’d stayed in with my family twice. We used to have a lot of bucket-and-spade holidays on The Lizard in Cornwall when the children were small. This particular cottage had owls hooting in the nearby woods and I adored it. But then one night, I noticed a reference in the visitor book to a ghost and I’m embarrassed to say it completely threw me. Suddenly I was listening out for every creak of the floorboard at night. This gorgeous cottage for a time (until I pulled myself together!) felt alien. 

I liked the idea of putting the two together – troubled Hannah and an idyllic cottage that suddenly turns very dark.

But I knew I needed a strong premise next. A punchy pitch. (I had enough rejection in my early years to know it’s pointless writing a novel unless it’s a book with a hook!) So this is when my process becomes infuriating and I just have to wait. And go for a lot of walks. 

You see my brain seems to be split entirely in two when I write fiction. Make-it-up Teresa and write-it-up Teresa. They feel like entirely different people and I simply can’t force make-it-up Teresa to the desk. (Believe me, I’ve tried!) The best way I can describe it is that this plot-making part of my brain is like an app which works brilliantly in the background but if I open it and confront it demanding action, it simply freezes. Won’t function. I think it may stem from my decades as a journalist. I started in newspapers and ended up fronting a BBC TV news programme for fifteen years. Back then my working life was divided into two separate processes – newsgathering…..and writing it up. 

Now as an author, my brain seems stuck in this split mode, seeing plotting as entirely separate from writing. And I’ve learned that it’s pointless for write-it-up Teresa to sit at the desk in despair asking – where’s the story. Where’s the story?

The only thing that works is to actually stop thinking about the book. To look away.  Or rather walk away. It’s when I go for a walk (or start the laundry) that all these scenes suddenly start forming in my brain. And characters whispering in my ear. It then feels as if someone real is telling me the story (as in my journalistic days|) and so I write it up in this surreal zone as if it’s all true. Bonkers, I know. But that’s just me.

And so it was with Tell Me Lies. Suddenly on a walk, I realised that Hannah, as well as having a very troubled background, was in this terrible spot. She ‘confided’ in me that her husband had had a fling at work and for the sake of their daughter, she’d done couple counselling and agreed to a make-or-break trip to Cornwall. But was she making a mistake? It was as if she was asking me what on earth she should do. Cut and run? Or give it a second go?

When I got home, I googled ‘should you ever forgive a cheating partner’ and several million links came back. All different. Aha, I thought. There’s your premise, Teresa.

So Tell Me Lies turned into this very dark twist on that eternal conundrum. Should you ever forgive a cheat? And in Hannah’s case, she only finds out in eerie Owl Cottage as her life spirals very dramatically out of control.

One final confession on my process. I always know I’m truly ready to write the book when I actually don’t want to. By which I mean that difficult scenes come to me, with very powerful emotional content, that I’m reluctant to face because I know they will be upsetting to write. (And yes – I do know this is just fiction. But I’ve explained my weird process so trust me it all feels real!) So that’s when I know the underlying story and theme are strong enough.

I can only add that I’m very proud of how the book turned out and hope readers enjoy Tell Me Lies.  My postscript is to apologise for all the difficult things I put poor Hannah through. My excuse is that it’s not my fault. It’s that make-it-up Teresa. 

And, as I’ve explained, I simply have no control over her…honestly!

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Teresa Driscoll is a former BBC TV news presenter whose psychological thrillers have sold more than two million copies across the world. Her first thriller I Am Watching You hit Kindle Number 1 in the UK, USA and Australia and has sold more than a million copies in English alone. Teresa writes women’s fiction as well as thrillers and her work has been optioned for film and sold for translation in more than 20 territories. For decades Teresa was a journalist working across newspapers, magazines and television. Covering crime for so long, she was deeply moved by the haunting impact on the relatives, the friends and the witnesses and it is those ripples she explores now in her darker fiction. Teresa lives in glorious Devon with her family and blogs regularly about her ‘writing life’ on her website – www.teresadriscoll.com.

• Tell me Lies is published by Thomas & Mercer in eBook, paperback and audio on April 18th .

TELL ME LIES

From bestselling author Teresa Driscoll comes a chilling thriller of past secrets and present terror. Deep in a rural hideaway, it’s only the owls watching them…right?

After a betrayal that sent their marriage into freefall, Hannah and Sam are desperate for a fresh start with their eight-year-old daughter Lily—and where better than picture-perfect Owl Cottage in beautiful Cornwall. But something about the holiday home stirs dark memories for Hannah…

When she finds dead creatures on the doorstep and hears mysterious knocks at the door, Hannah can’t help wondering whether someone is messing with her—or whether the past she’s been running from has finally claimed her sanity.

As the disturbing events at Owl Cottage seep out into the local community and the police become involved, Hannah turns to Sam for help, but when he dismisses her worries, she wonders if she was wrong to ever trust him. Are the memories making her paranoid, or is this something more sinister than she dares imagine?

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