LIZZIE FRY ON HER WRITING JOURNEY FOR 'THE GOOD MOTHER'

We caught up with Lizzie on the eve of publication of The Good Mother — find out about her inspiration for the book below!

Q: Tell us about the central premise of the book?
 
A: The Good Mother asks what you would do if your child was a serial killer . . . would you help cover it up? Report them to the police? Turn a blind eye and go into denial?

Whatever you think, you probably won’t do what my protagonist Natasha does when she discovers her son Jack is a serial killer . . . Her actions will shock you! 
 
Q: Tell us about your main character?
 
A: If you’ve read my books before, or any of my writing articles online, then you’ll know I LOVE an antiheroine. Natasha is definitely that, but she’s also a very unreliable narrator.
 
Q: What inspired the background for The Good Mother?
 
A: Like many people in the Netflix docudrama era, I am obsessed with true crime . . . but I’ve been interested in serial killers since I was very young. I loved to go into bargain basement bookstores and buy A–Zs of serial killers.

In fact, I loved serial killer books so much my high school English teacher BANNED me from doing any more book reports on serial killers . . . so I did one on Misery by Stephen King instead. 
 
Q: The Good Mother asks: nature or nurture — what do you think? 
 
A: Because I was a teenage parent, I’ve been a parent for over half my life now. I’ve had three children with very large age gaps between them, meaning I had three kids in three decades: the ’90s, ’00s and ’10s. I’ve seen a HUUUUUUGE change in this time in how parenting is perceived, especially with reference to the ‘nature/nurture’ debate.

Whilst scientists don't have any evidence for a 'psychopathy gene', they do concede it tends to run in families. There's also been some scientific studies that suggest psychopaths' brain make-up is different. These studies show psychopaths have reduced connections between the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), the part of the brain responsible for sentiments such as empathy and guilt, as well as the amygdala, which mediates fear and anxiety.

Q: Is there any basis of truth in the story?
 
A: If you follow my writing blog Bang2write, you’ll know I believe very much in authenticity. When I told my adult son I was writing a book about a young mum whose son grows up to be a serial killer, he said: ‘Oh, so you’re writing your autobiography then??’ VERY DROLL!!! (Well, at least I hope he was joking . . .).

CLICK HERE TO GET THE GOOD MOTHER BY LIZZIE FRY FOR £0.99 (UK)