In short
Karen Slaughter discusses her writing process for crime thrillers, how she balances writing novels with being lead creative on the TV adaptation of The Good Daughter, and how she plans plot twists, drafts, and edits.
Guest backgrounds
The episode’s main guest is Karen Slaughter, a crime novelist whose books have been translated into 37 languages and sold about 40 million copies. She also created the Will Trent series (TV adaptation: Will Trent, special agent in Atlanta). No other guests appear.
Key claims
She writes in intensive cabin bursts (up to 16 hours/day for two weeks), avoids apps/technology, plots whodunits carefully but improvises emotional beats, and insists on humor to prevent scenes from feeling unrelentingly dark. She was late delivering a book due to TV editing but finished it and says “it takes as long as it takes.”
Notable examples
Her cabin routine (writing until she falls asleep), TV editing delays from lightning, remote editing from Australia/Sydney time zones, and deleting “rabbit hole” prose that didn’t propel story/characters. She’s working on North Falls series next: The Secrets We Hide (Sheriff Emmy Clifton and her sister Jude).
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOWriting Process and Environment
0:00 to 0:37
Karen shares her writing routine and the idyllic environment of her cabin.
“This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK.”
Writing Process and Environment
1:16 to 3:35
Karen shares her writing routine and the idyllic environment of her cabin.
“I'm Lucy Collingwood and you're listening to the documentary In the Studio from the BBC World Service, where we delve into the creative process.”
Balancing Multiple Projects
3:35 to 5:49
Karen discusses managing her writing and TV adaptation projects simultaneously.
“And I have internet, but none of the apps, the internet is solely to look things up or send someone a question who's a specialist in something so that I can address that in the book.”
Filming Experiences and Challenges
5:49 to 7:40
Details about filming her book adaptation and the challenges faced.
“When we first meet Karen's in London to promote her first North Falls book in which she's built a new fictional world set in a rural community.”
Nature's Influence on Creativity
7:40 to 10:10
Karen explains how nature and seasons impact her writing process.
“To be in the middle of it here was really rewarding.”
The Writing of the North Falls Series
10:10 to 14:00
Insights into the characters and plot development of her series.
“I call it my cockpit, but the feeling is more like a cocoon.”
Writing Process and Inspirations
14:00 to 19:17
Explore Karin Slaughter's writing techniques and sources of inspiration.
“And so not much time has elapsed from the last one.”
Balancing Writing and TV Production
19:17 to 27:59
Discover the challenges of writing while overseeing a TV adaptation.
“You're listening to the documentary In the Studio from the BBC World Service with the crime writer Karen Slaughter.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00Lucy Collingwood:This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK.
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1:16Lucy Collingwood:I'm Lucy Collingwood and you're listening to the documentary In the Studio from the BBC World Service, where we delve into the creative process. And today, I'm following the crime writer Karen Slaughter, whose books have been translated into 37 languages, selling 40 million copies around the world. Anyone not familiar with her books might have seen her most famous creation on TV, Will Trent. He's a special agent in Atlanta, Georgia, who notices clues others have missed. I've read several of Karen's 26 novels. They're dark and unflinching. I've stayed up late into the night reading them to make sure that everything works out in the end.
2:01Lucy Collingwood:So when I first met her last summer, I was excited to find out how she comes up with her ideas.
2:06Karin Slaughter:I have a cabin in the North Georgia mountains. And it's surrounded in nature. And I love looking out the windows. I want to be in the air conditioning because it gets very hot there. but I have giant windows so I can look at all the trees and there's mountain laurel. Occasionally there's a deer, squirrels, all these things and if it's not too hot I can leave the windows open and listen to the birds. So that's just this idyllic little setting and I love it.
2:36Lucy Collingwood:Do you have a particular routine or ideal conditions for when you write?
2:41Karin Slaughter:So I should preface this by saying anyone who wants to be a writer do not do this because it's very grueling. And the writers who get up and they do yoga and then they write for four hours and then they have tea and then they go on with their lives are the smart ones. And what I do is I get up and I start writing and I keep writing until I fall asleep. I mean, I eat sandwiches and things in between so I don't pass out. And then I sleep and then I get up and I do it again. And I will go to my cabin two weeks at a time and do this for sometimes 16 hours a day for two weeks straight. Sometimes I don't even go outside.
3:22Karin Slaughter:And then I go home for a week and get back in touch with my cat and do all my chores that have been accumulating. And then I go back up for another two weeks. So that's really how I've been doing it for nearly 25 years. Are you absolutely sort of in a bubble? Do you switch off all technology? Absolutely. I mean, I have a TV. I won't live like an animal. And I have internet, but none of the apps, the internet is solely to look things up or send someone a question who's a specialist in something so that I can address that in the book. But I'm very deliberate in my process. By the time I sit down, I've put in a lot of thought to what I'm going to write in that session.
4:00Karin Slaughter:So I'm not sitting around staring at my navel a lot. I'm ready to write when I get there. And when you say that you've put in a lot of thought, have you got scribbled handwritten notes? So sometimes I'll get back from like I've been touring in the Netherlands and here. And so it'll be hotel stationery from wherever I've stayed, where I've had a thought in the middle of the night and just scribbled it. And sometimes I'll get home and I'll think I have no idea what I wrote this for. But as far as the plot and the twists and the turns, I'm so careful about how that's plotted out that it's very ingrained in my mind.
4:36Lucy Collingwood:How do you manage juggling different projects? You're so prolific and you've got your television series and your novels going on at the same time. How do you manage that juggle?
4:47Karin Slaughter:You know, we'll see. Because this is the first time with a good daughter I've been on set or on set repeatedly, I should say. I'm there every time they're filming because when you write all the scripts, you have to be there every single day in case they need to change something or something's not working or you need an adjustment or a line's not landing. It's such a different part of your brain. I should say my brain. That sort of creativity feels very different than sitting down and writing a novel. And most of it is because it's very collaborative, right? Because there's no point in a Will Trent novel where Will Trent says to me, I don't understand that line or maybe this line would be better.
5:26Karin Slaughter:The location always works out. We're never going to get there. And suddenly the toilet is behind him instead of in front of him, right? and that's just the sort of thing you have happen when you're filming a TV show or it rains and you have to suddenly write everything as if it takes place indoors rather than outdoors there's all these adjustments you do on the fly and that to me is a different part of my brain that has to come up with that solution.
5:49Lucy Collingwood:When we first meet Karen's in London to promote her first North Falls book in which she's built a new fictional world set in a rural community. She's taking a short break from working as the lead creative on the TV series of her novel The Good Daughter.
6:04Karin Slaughter:There's a script that you sell, there's a script that you hone, and there's a script that you shoot from. And then there's another process of editing. The best way to describe it is you write the script in prose, you shoot in poetry, and you edit in haiku. So right now when I return home, I'm going to have another week where we're filming. We've been doing this since April, and we're now at the end of June. And then we'll all take a break, catch our breath for a few weeks and then the editing will begin. And you're going to be in the edit? I will be remotely because it's being done in Australia.
6:38Karin Slaughter:I hope I don't have to go to Australia because I need to be in Atlanta in my cabin writing my books. When you're saying you're going to be in your cabin writing your book,
6:46Lucy Collingwood:what's next book-wise?
6:49Karin Slaughter:I'm writing the next book in the North Falls series. And so I was very careful to plant some things in We Are All Guilty Here that we can follow up in in the next series. And hopefully my readers will find it propulsive and exciting.
7:07Lucy Collingwood:We promise to keep in touch so that I can see if the seeds she's planted in her first book do grow into the next fully formed plot. When we next meet, I ask how the rest of filming for The Good Daughter has gone. starring Bridesmaids actress Rose Byrne and Megan Fahey from The White Lotus.
7:26Karin Slaughter:I got home from London on a Friday night at seven and then I was in Griffin an hour away from Atlanta the next morning at 11. Wow. To be in the middle of it here was really rewarding. And you were there for all of that as well. Except when I was with you. I was, yeah. And it was really easy in the beginning because you know the time difference I was still on UK time but then we got to about 1am and I thought I'm not gonna make it.
7:59Lucy Collingwood:It must have been hot then as well was it when the filming was going on?
8:03Karin Slaughter:It was. I'm looking at Rose and Megan filming this scene and makeup's having to pat the sweat off them because it was just so hot and we had lightning delays so there's a rule around lightning because you don't want people to get struck by lightning like you have to wait 30 minutes after the last lightning strike. You're stuck in a trailer, you're all wet and sweaty at the same time and there's nothing to do. You're just going to wait it out. Yeah, those are the times you really want to be surrounded by people you like and enjoy their company.
8:39Lucy Collingwood:It's autumn when I hear from Karen again, or fall as she would say, but whatever the weather her writing continues. Being in the cabin, surrounded by nature, moving through the seasons is an important ingredient for her creativity.
8:56Karin Slaughter:That whirring sound is my blinds going up on the windows. I've been working in my office since around six this morning and it was still dark outside when I started and it just occurred to me that I should let some light in. Unfortunately, it's been raining since last night, so it's a bit overcast. I'm sitting in my recliner with my laptop and I can see a bunch of trees and the mountains in the distance. I think it's the kahutas. This is the time of year for leaf lovers because all the fall colors have just exploded up the mountains. In another few weeks, the opposite will happen. And you can see the color drained down as winter takes hold.
9:39Karin Slaughter:I've actually got a really pretty leaf on my table beside me that I look at sometimes just to reset myself. I read a study that found folks who take time to appreciate wonderful things from nature, like the veins in a leaf or the sound of rain, which maybe you can hear, report higher levels of well-being. So I've got this gorgeous leaf alongside notes about things for the book, which say stuff like bruising would take one to two days. I created this little area with my chair. I call it my cockpit, but the feeling is more like a cocoon. I'm surrounded by bookshelves stacked with tons of books and mementos from travels.
10:22Karin Slaughter:And I had little curved shelves built into the sides of the bookshelves so I can put things on them like a tablet that controls the blinds and the climate and the lighting, which seemed like a good idea at the time. But I've realized it's an excuse not to get up out of my chair. I've also got my office socks in case my feet get cold and a tiny lamp when I need extra light. Fun fact about me, I am very OCD. So all the cords, the tablet and the lamp and everything else are wound up and tucked away out of sight.
10:59Lucy Collingwood:Karen needs to maintain that focus as she's now splitting her attention between the book and the TV edit.
11:07Karin Slaughter:It's very weird having two full-time jobs because they're editing in Sydney. It's like a night job because they're 14 hours ahead of Atlanta. And so they're waking up when I'm going to bed and I'm having to stay up and we're watching stuff online together. In one way, it makes it more difficult, but in the other way, it's good because I write during the day. But then when I usually decompress at night, I'm talking about music and VFX and that sort of thing.
11:40Lucy Collingwood:I wondered in terms of your timeline, how much more of the process do you have on the edit?
11:46Karin Slaughter:Oh, no, we're through into January. It takes an awful long time, you know. It feels like the shooting of it is the easy part. And then just finding these turns and performances that tell the story. And so we've put the time into it to get the best that we can get it. So this is going to be my life for another few months.
12:17Karin Slaughter:I don't know if you can hear the train. I get that a couple of times a day in my office. And it's the tourists going from Blue Ridge to McKaysville. And I love hearing it. It kind of takes me out of my writing, but it's a good way to be pulled out of it. And it makes me look up from my laptop, which is always a good idea, so that my eyes get something different to look at other than words on the page.
12:51Karin Slaughter:I never think about the fact that my name's on all of them because I just...
12:55Lucy Collingwood:If you've got, you know, your name on lots of books, why wouldn't you put them behind you? Yeah, exactly.
13:00Karin Slaughter:Yeah.
13:01Lucy Collingwood:Karen's in Atlanta, surrounded by her own book covers. She tells me it's crunch time for her next North Falls book, The Secrets We Hide, with Sheriff Emmy Clifton and her sister Jude.
13:15Karin Slaughter:I'm at the beginning still. I'm almost in the middle. That's a nice place. That's when you go, oh, it's not going to be a short story. It's a lot slower going in the beginning as I'm easing back into the characters and working out who they are. Because, you know, the thing about writing a series that I really strive for is I want the characters to change with each book. And with Emmy in the North Falls series in particular, you know, she's gone through a lot of horrible things. And in the last book, she's juggling her parents aging. Her son is in his 20s and it's time for him to move out of the house.
13:56Karin Slaughter:And so she can't be in that same place in every book. Things have to change and she has to change along with it. And so not much time has elapsed from the last one. just six weeks after where we left off at a pivotal moment for Emmy. In as much as there's ever a formula to any of my writing. I mean, yeah, the formula is something really bad happens in the first chapter, right? Somebody's always going to die. There's my formula. But trying to duplicate the rubric that I set out in the first book, where you're firmly planted in one vision and then boom, you get to a different perspective. I started my first Will Trent book that way, Triptych.
14:41Lucy Collingwood:Because it's a series, you've planted your seeds, you've got your characters, you've got your kind of community. But did you have a sort of spark of inspiration of what you wanted the crime to be for this one?
14:52Karin Slaughter:Yes, I had it while I was writing the previous one, which is usually the case. And you know, Kate, my editor, I think she delights in making fun of me because I'm like, I started out, this is a standalone. And then I thought, oh, wait, well, this would be another great story. And she's like, I knew it was going to be a series. So once I realized that, I was able to set up four or five different storylines to follow through. There's a saying in writing, are you a plotter or a pantser? Like, do you go by the seat of your pants? And I am definitely a plotter as far as the whodunit part of it, because that has got to make sense.
15:33Karin Slaughter:I'm more seat of your pants on the emotional beats. I know where they're going to end up. I know where they're going to start. And then I figure out the emotional beats in between. And that's because the pacing of the plot has to dictate where those emotions fall and where some of the humor falls. You never want something that's unrelentingly dark. My guiding light in The Good Daughter is like, you know, you have to balance out with humor. It might be an editor's compunction to make the scene brief so that it keeps moving. But if you don't have the humor in that, then it's just a really downer of a scene.
16:13Karin Slaughter:And, you know, adding that humor in can brighten it in a way and make you more invested in the characters. And through character, you understand plot better, right?
Read the full transcript
16:22Lucy Collingwood:You said you're in the crunch time that you're going to head off to your cabin. And will you go thinking, I want to get to this point in the plot?
16:29Karin Slaughter:I'll always go with a goal. What matters is the quality of the writing. And so if I don't reach that goal, like this last time, I didn't get to this really important scene, but I got into the lead up to it. And I thought, you know what, you're really exhausted right now. And this scene needs more thought than you can give it. I think that's one of the most important things that I've learned as a writer is when not to write. When I go back up, I always start by reading what I wrote before. And now I can go into it fresh and it will be much better.
17:07Lucy Collingwood:How many drafts do you write? And who is your first reader?
17:12Karin Slaughter:Kate is my first reader always. I never draft a whole book and give her the book. We do it in sections. Years ago, I read this article about Margot Atwood when she starts a new book. She meets with her agent and her editor in a hotel room in Vancouver or wherever, and they talk it out. And eventually, Kate and I, by happenstance, moved into that, where we kind of just plot things out, making sure that I don't waste time going down rabbit holes. She has no qualms about telling me something's not working, which is what I need. You get to a certain level and you can just write whatever you want. But that's never been my interest.
17:52Karin Slaughter:I want to learn. I want to grow. I think it's one reason why I've had longevity in my career is I always want to be challenged. Because it's just not possible to deliver a perfect book. You have to have editorial advice. So it's really hard to say the number of drafts. Everything is a draft until it's published, I guess.
18:13Lucy Collingwood:When you're in your cabin, when you're writing something scary, do you ever spook yourself?
18:18Karin Slaughter:No, because I know what's going to happen. Fear is from the unknown. Now, that's not to say that I'll be like lying in bed and I'll hear a noise and I'll think, oh, it's a serial killer. That's a thought all women have, right? Men are like, oh, a branch just fell. And women are like, I'm going to die now. So I do have those thoughts, but never really from what I'm writing.
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19:22Lucy Collingwood:You're listening to the documentary In the Studio from the BBC World Service with the crime writer Karen Slaughter.
19:30Karin Slaughter:So I am driving up I-75 to go to the North Georgia mountains and I've been listening to Emmylou Harris because we have been tossing around an Emmylou Harris song for the title sequence of The Good Daughter. called All My Tears. It's a beautiful song. It's making me think about a woman I knew many years ago, Miss Virginia. She had a bookstore in the South. If there's an older lady involved, you're going to have to call her Miss. She was a great storyteller, and she loved the South, and she loved my books, which I was really grateful for. And she said to me, you know, you can never really write about the South without writing about religion and being a godless person, except when bad things happen.
20:16Karin Slaughter:Obviously, I believe in God then. I kind of bristled at that. And I found repeatedly in my writing that she was absolutely right. And so that made me think of this Emmylou Harris song, because it talks about being in my father's arms and wash away my tears. And it's such a beautiful song. We're definitely going to use it in the show. And of course, Miss Virginia wins out because it's got that good old time Jesus as well.
20:44Lucy Collingwood:Karen's pattern of working with her trips to the cabin to write in intensive bursts has served her well over the years. But now it seems that alongside the added pressure as TV showrunner, something has to give. She's back in London and has a confession to make.
21:02Karin Slaughter:Well, I'm very ashamed to say this is the first time in my life I was late delivering a book. And it's because of the show, because I was tied up with the editing process. And fortunately, my editor, Kate, said, you know, it takes as long as it takes. So I finished it about a week ago. And I'm so proud of it. It was really difficult because I wrote during the day and then we're doing post on The Good Daughter at night. It nearly broke my brain. But I said to Kate, the most important thing is this book can't just be delivered. It has to be fantastic. And it has to do these things I want to do. And she was very patient.
21:42Karin Slaughter:She said, oh, it'll be fine. It'll be fine. That's her catchphrase is, it'll be fine. And I know it's like watching a swan underneath the water. They're pedaling furiously. So long way of saying the book is delivered. I'm going to copy edit it on my way home from London and then start thinking about the new one. How do you know when it's finished? That's a very good question. And I always think about a phrase I heard a long time ago, that the difference between a painter and an artist is an artist knows when to quit painting. The goal of my career from the first book has been to write the best book I can at the time.
22:19Karin Slaughter:And, you know, you have to give yourself some grace about things going on in your life. But you do have to keep that goal in mind, or at least I do. I have woken up at 3 o 'clock and called Kate at her 8 o 'clock and said, I just really need to change this one word. And she's like, okay. Or very often my Dutch translator will send me an email and say, do you realize that you had someone set a bag down on a counter twice, like on page 3 and page 6? And it's crazy because it's been proofread. It's gone through so many people reading it in-house. and still stuff like that gets through just because, you know, no one's perfect.
22:59Lucy Collingwood:So you've just seen the cover for the first time for the new UK edition. What were your first impressions of the cover?
23:06Karin Slaughter:Well, I really love it. The woman who does the jackets here is a Scottish woman. And she's very blunt, which I love. And she'll tell you if something's not working. And she's done most of my jackets recently. And a lot of times, because the UK publication date is before the US, the US will take cues from jackets. And they did that in this case, too, because there's a house on it. Any American looking at that house would say that's not an American house. And, you know, the American version looks much more like an American house.
23:38Lucy Collingwood:And how much say do you have in what goes on the jackets?
23:42Karin Slaughter:You know, I cared quite a lot in the beginning about controlling that, because I come from a graphic design background. I owned a sign company before I became an author. And I'm a prolific book buyer. So I feel like in America, my opinion should matter more. It's very rare that a U.S. and a U.K. jacket match because people buy different things. In the U.S. for a while, you would never put someone's face on a jacket because that would be down market. But in the Netherlands, they have a woman's face all the time. I remember one year my Taiwanese edition had a dog on it, and there wasn't a dog in the book, but they're like, people like dogs, and I'm like, okay.
24:22Lucy Collingwood:Is there anything that you would draw the line at?
24:26Karin Slaughter:Well, I really hate the color orange, but a lot of my books have orange in them, so I just have to keep my mouth shut.
24:34Lucy Collingwood:Apart from the time pressure, did anything come up with this second book that you weren't expecting?
24:42Karin Slaughter:I did a little bit of a rabbit hole on this because I, for a week or two, lost sight of what I wanted to do. And then that's why there's a delete button. It could be the most beautiful writing in the world, but if it doesn't propel the story or the characters or say something about where they are in their journey or anything like that, then it doesn't belong. I deleted it, but I didn't get rid of it completely because there are things that I might recycle into another book. without spoilers why did you end up going down that rabbit hole well your girl is old and tired and I think I just thought this would be a really interesting thing to do but it was the wrong book and it didn't work that was not the time for experimenting I just needed to keep my focus and my deliberateness and one thing I've learned that I didn't realize about myself but everybody who knows me has said, duh, is I'm incredibly focused when I lock in and I am very good when I only have one thing.
25:44Karin Slaughter:That's why I go to the cabin and just focus on the work and the writing. And that's what matters. Being pulled away at night and not having that time to reset and think about what I wrote during the day, you know, as I'm watching something on TV that doesn't take a lot of attention in the background, thinking about what I've written, where I'm going to go the next day. And not having that reset time really screwed with my process.
26:09Lucy Collingwood:When we last spoke, you were having these kind of midnight conversations with Australia. What's happening now?
26:16Karin Slaughter:So when I delivered the book on a Sunday, the Monday after we had our final mix, which is where it's basically our final creative on the last episode, it was such a moment of, I mean, relief, but triumph. And I was in the studio in Atlanta and I could see everybody in a Zoom in Los Angeles, in Australia. And we were all just like, they had champagne and I had tea. We were all just really close to tears because it was such a journey. And we're just so proud of it. I think from a creative standpoint, it's one of the most fulfilling things I've ever done outside of writing. There are moments when I write certain books when I finish them.
26:57Karin Slaughter:and this is one where I think, yeah, I've gone to a new level creatively. And this was all so new to me to do this show. But I feel like anyone who's read the book will watch this and they'll feel the spirit of the book in a way that a lot of adaptations lose. And part of that was just because I killed myself being in the middle of it and holding all of those narrated threads in my hand to make sure that they stay tied together. Do you ever think my brain's too full? I'm going to have like a month off? A month probably would drive me insane. I'm a very get stuff done sort of person. Like I had this really sweet lull where Kate was reading and nobody in Australia needed me and it went on for three or four days and I was like, you know, I could probably write a short story.
27:47Lucy Collingwood:She never stops. You've been listening to the documentary In the Studio with Karen Slaughter from the BBC World Service, produced and presented by me, Lucy Collingwood. I'll be keeping my eyes out for the Good Daughter TV series later this year.
From the publisher
From her secluded mountain cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Georgia, USA, best-selling author Karin Slaughter crafts stories which keep millions awake at night. She tells Lucy Collingwood how she works best – at her bespoke ‘cockpit’ desk, a couple of intense weeks at a time, where she juggles the tv-adaptation of her book The Good Daughter and her latest thriller The Secrets We Hide.
