Tell us a little about yourself and your background? 

I’m a thriller writer from Melbourne, Australia. I’ve published four books in my main Jack Emery conspiracy thriller series and three books in my Mitch Herron action thriller series. I’ve also published a standalone psychological thriller – Eyes on You. 

I’ve also got a fun career as a policy advisor, which I’ve been doing for about 10 years. I’m down to part time in that job now, so I’m lucky I get to work two jobs that I love some of the time. It keeps the days full, that’s for sure.

Outside of writing, it’s the usual story. I like to travel, run, read, socialize with friends and family and also play games a little. 

Which writers inspire you? 

Heaps!

Probably the writers who’ve most influenced my own writing style are Tom Clancy and Vince Flynn for the Emery series, and Robert Ludlam and James Patterson for the Herron series. 

Do you work to an outline or plot or do you prefer just see where an idea takes you? 

I always outline, usually in great detail. I find it hard to write well if I don’t know where the story is going, so writing a novel is a job in two stages for me: Plot out the major beats and then write it. It’s a process that works for me.

In practice, I find that when I’m writing a book, I often drift away from the plan a little. New ideas come along, or what I thought would work doesn’t. So I’ll pause a few times during the writing process to adjust the plan. 

Why did you choose assassins and how was the process of creating them? 

I wanted the Herron books to be short, sharp and full of action. I thought a redemption arc for an assassin might be a fun idea to play with, and I had a great time writing the series. He starts the series as a cold killer, a fairly evil guy, but there’s hints of something more. As the series goes on, he starts to question who he is and what he’s doing, and turns his guns on his old bosses. 

What did you loved more of writing this series? 

The action sequences have been a lot of fun to write. Mitch Herron is a deadly assassin, whereas my other main character – Jack Emery – is a journalist. It opens up the playbook of what’s possible a little more.  

How did you feel when you finished Mitch series, or is there going to be more of him in the future? 

There’ll be more. The fourth will be out later this year. It’s set amidst a civil war in Fiji. 

What can we look out on the future for new works? 

I’m working on the fourth Herron novel as we speak, as well as a couple of secret projects for traditional publishing that I can really talk about. One will be out very soon, while another is a long way off. 

How can readers discover more about you and you work?

They can visit my website: www.stevepvincent.com and sign-up to my newsletter there. 

I’m also on Facebook (@stevepvincentwriter) and Twitter (@stevepvincent).