About Allie Reynolds
Allie’s debut thriller, Shiver, is out now! Once a freestyle snowboarder in the UK top ten at halfpipe, Allie spent five winters in the mountains of France, Switzerland, Austria and Canada.
She taught English for fifteen years, has been a London primary school teacher, bookshop assistant, barmaid, nanny and French teacher/translator. Her short fiction has appeared in women’s magazines in the UK, Australia, Sweden and South Africa. She has been a full-time writer since 2018.
Born and raised in Lincoln, England, she now lives in Gold Coast Australia near the beach with her two young boys.
Here’s a summary of Shiver from GoodReads:
“They don’t know what I did. And I intend to keep it that way.
How far would you go to win? Hyper-competitive people, mind games and a dangerous natural environment combine to make the must-read thriller of the year. Fans of Lucy Foley and Lisa Jewell will be gripped by spectacular debut novel Shiver.
When Milla is invited to a reunion in the French Alps resort that saw the peak of her snowboarding career, she drops everything to go. While she would rather forget the events of that winter, the invitation comes from Curtis, the one person she can’t seem to let go.
The five friends haven’t seen each other for ten years, since the disappearance of the beautiful and enigmatic Saskia. But when an icebreaker game turns menacing, they realise they don’t know who has really gathered them there and how far they will go to find the truth.
In a deserted lodge high up a mountain, the secrets of the past are about to come to light.”
The Interview
How did you come up with the idea for Shiver?
I wanted to write a novel with a snowy mountain setting ever since I spent my first winter in Chamonix in the French Alps, aged 22. It’s such a unique environment: stunningly beautiful, yet also incredibly dangerous. The weather can change at short notice, bringing storms, heavy snowfall and avalanches that can cut off roads and villages.
I came up with the idea for Shiver a few years ago after reading a news article about two hikers out walking in the mountains who saw a hand and two shoes protruding from the ice. They called the mountain rescue team, who uncovered the body of a man who’d gone missing years earlier. I did some research and learnt that over a hundred people were missing in the Chamonix area, their bodies believed to be up there in the ice of the glacier. It struck me that we wouldn’t know for years if these deaths were accidents or something more sinister – or if they’re really there at all.
My favourite novels are those that take me to strange new worlds. I wanted to give readers an insight into the snow sports world – a world I know so well but one rarely seen in fiction – so I decided the characters in my novel would be competitive athletes prepared to risk everything to win.
Why did you choose to write a thriller? What was it about the genre that drew you to thrillers?
I’ve always been a massive reader. Over the years I’ve read and enjoyed nearly every genre, from my mum’s Tom Clancy and Lee Child action thrillers, to Agatha Christie, science fiction, horror and fantasy, then chick lit. Around the time of The Girl on the Train I got hooked on psychological thrillers. I love the fast pace, twists, cliff hangers, small cast of characters, often with a female protagonist, and the idea that the people closest to you might be the ones you should fear the most. I find them really fun to write because you have to think outside the box and try to play mind games with the reader.
I know you have two young boys. One of the aspects of writing so many writers struggle with is time. How did you manage to find the time to write a book with kids at home?
I used to try to write when my kids had naps, but sadly they gave up naps at an early age, so I tried to squeeze writing in after they’d gone to bed and around my part-time teaching job. I basically gave up everything else in my life in order to write Shiver – my social life, exercise, TV, and to a certain extent even sleep! I don’t recommend doing that, but in my case, I’m very fortunate to say it paid off, because I landed a book deal that allows me to write full time.
Did you have a specific writing routine/process for Shiver? Has that changed at all?
Prior to Shiver, I spent twenty years trying and failing to complete various novels. My storylines always got in a tangled mess. I finally figured it was because I never planned my novels, so I read every book on writing craft and story structure that I could get my hands on and spent a whole month planning Shiver. I plotted out scenes onto post-it notes, one scene per post-it, shuffled them around to find the best order and stuck them on a giant whiteboard. There were about 75 scenes in total, in two colours, one for each timeline. (See photo.) I also completed timelines and character questionnaires. Six months later I had a finished manuscript. I couldn’t have written Shiver without planning it – the storyline was too complicated for me to hold in my head. I used the same method to plan book 2 but it didn’t go as smoothly. I had to change the plan during the writing process – even writing several different endings – so it took 18 months from start to finish.
When did you start writing? Did you always know you wanted to be a writer?
My first ever job was a Saturday job in a bookstore, aged 14, which continued until my early twenties. Surrounded by books, I dreamt of writing one myself one day. But the owner impressed on me how hard it was to make a living from writing, so I figured I’d need a day job. Aged 18, I attempted my first novel, but only got halfway before giving up. Aged 22 I tried again, a snowy-set novel this time, whilst living in the French Alps. Later I taught English for 15 years, and wrote as a hobby. Gradually I began getting short fiction published in women’s magazines. Writing short fiction was a really great learning experience because it allowed me to experiment with plot, twists and storylines.
You have an interesting background. You were a freestyle snowboarder in the UK top ten at half pipe. Are there any ways in which snowboarding has taught you something that you use in your writing career? I imagine intense focus is one!
Yes, my snowboarding years taught me so much that I can apply to writing and the rest of my life: intense focus, resilience, determination, taking risks, discipline, self-control and so much more. I got used to taking hard falls and picking myself up, hurting and bruised, and trying again – much like you do after a rejection from a magazine or agent. I learnt to listen to my body and figure out what it runs on best. For me that means zero alcohol, lots of water, eating well, getting enough sleep and taking care of my mental health.
You’re represented by Kate Burke at Blake Friedmann Literary Agency. How did you find your agent? And do you have any advice on what writers should look for in an agent?
I found Kate Burke through the slush pile. I submitted Shiver to four agents, got four straight rejections, then revised and trimmed my manuscript, asking myself about every single word: do I really need that? Then I subbed to four more agents and got four requests to see the full manuscript.
I’d submitted to Kate because I’d heard she was very hands on editorially, which I feel is a massive advantage to a debut novelist. She had a relatively small list of clients at the time, which I hoped meant she would have more time available for me than an agent with a huge list. And fiction-wise we seemed to share the same tastes – she liked cold, bleak settings, and a strong female protagonist. After a phone call with her, to check that we got on, I signed with her.
For a more detailed account, see the article on my website.
As a debut author, what do you suggest for aspiring writers? Any advice or suggestions that worked for you?
There are so many great craft books on writing, available cheaply, or perhaps even at your local library. I tried to work on my weak areas. For example a few years ago, after trying and failing to complete several novels, I felt my weakness was plot, so I studied lots of books on story structure and plot went from being a weak area to an area of complete fascination to me. I love books like Story by Robert McKee, John Truby’s Anatomy of Story, and Save the Cat by Blake Snyder – all books based on screenwriting that apply equally well to novel writing.
Read my blog post on my favourite books on writing.
I learnt nearly everything I know about writing from reading. I love to read and analyse my favourite novels, from how many pages in each chapter, how many viewpoint characters there are, to how each scene ends and starts, to understand how they work their magic.
I also took several short online courses with Curtis Brown Creative. They were informative and enjoyable and allowed me to network with other writers who went on to beta-read my work.
What book(s) are you reading at the moment?
I always love Lucy Clarke’s thrillers because they always have strong ocean themes. I just finished her latest thriller One of the Girls, out May 2022, which was fantastic. I’m about to start Jo Spain’s latest thriller: The Last To Disappear, out May 2022. Erica Ferencik is one of my absolute favourite authors and I can’t wait to read her latest, Girl In Ice, out next month. I also can’t wait to read Sarah Pearse’s second novel The Retreat.
What book(s) most inspired you to write?
Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. It’s THE best crime novel in my opinion. It’s so atmospheric and fast-paced with the most genius plot.
So now that Shiver is out, what are you working on?
I’ve just finished my next book, The Bay, a thriller set on a remote Australian beach. Think: Point Break meets The Beach. A theme of the book is how dangerous places can attract dangerous people. It’s out in June 2022.
What do you hope people take away from reading your books?
Life can be tough at times, so I hope my books allow escapism! I want my readers to be transported to strange and fascinating new worlds, live in my characters’ shoes for a few hours and experience intense emotions from nostalgia to fear, tension, dread, suspicion, desire and hope.
