Kathryn Sharman: 'I love books where houses or settings play a big part on the page'
BY Maya Fernandes
28th Aug 2025
Kathryn Sharman was a student on our online Writing Your Novel – Three Months course in 2021. We caught up to discuss her debut novel, The Family at No. 23 – out now from Hodder & Stoughton.
Read on to discover Kathryn's approach to creating vivid settings, her writing routine and her advice for budding thriller writers.
You studied on our online Writing Your Novel – Three Months course in 2021. How did your time with us shape your approach to writing?
At this point in my writing career, I’d already written a couple of novels and tried submitting them with nice feedback but little success. I needed to do something to give my creative mojo a bit of a kickstart. Being selected for the CBC course gave me a confidence boost and reignited my passion for a writing project. Gaining feedback from peers and the wonderful tutors encouraged me to continue and that novel went on to be shortlisted in the Bath Novel Award and introduced me to my agent!
The Family at No. 23 is a domestic suspense novel that navigates a world of secrets, lies and social climbing, with many of the characters treading morally grey territory. What was your approach to developing characters that readers might find unlikeable – but still compelling enough to follow?
I always enjoy morally grey characters in fiction – they’re so much more realistic. I'm interested in looking at society, the perceived differences between the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ but I always want to try and present a balanced, nuanced view because it's never just a case of black or white, of good versus bad or rich versus poor. We're all just flawed human beings, perhaps inheriting a situation, trying to make the best of it, making decisions and mistakes. I think that usually someone has a very good reason for doing what they do. And that, fundamentally, is the key to all fiction. Why people do what they do and how they live with the consequences.
As for character development, when I first started writing this book, I had this mother, Iris, who felt backed into a corner and forced to do something crazy in order to help her family. I intended to write it all from her POV, as an intense psychological analysis of her internal thoughts and dilemma.
But after the first chapter, I automatically flipped into her friend Laura's POV as I just knew that she was going to be a psychologically interesting character in her own right because, regardless of how wealthy or supposedly easy life seems for her, she had her own issues and secrets too.
I think one of my favourite techniques in fiction is when you see the same event or action written from several different points of view, and each time the reader understands something completely new. Either they're privy to or they learn some more information and it allows the reader to have access to more detail than the individual characters do. This makes for a much more intriguing, suspenseful and ultimately satisfying read. Observing how different people react to the same event is also key to revealing personality and motive.
The house on Riddleston Road feels almost like a character in its own right. How intentional was that, and how did you go about using setting to create such a tense atmosphere?
I love books where houses or settings play a big part on the page, particularly when property has a story to tell, when previous inhabitants leave an imprint on a place that impacts the present day and its protagonists. So, I introduced a touch of the gothic to this novel, where the house comes to affect Iris’s psyche in different real and imagined ways.
The previous owner of the house is called Rosemary and as soon as I named that character, I could imagine her as the sort of person who was obsessed with roses, so the original walls and floors are covered with dense, floral patterns that feel claustrophobic and overpowering, adding to the haunting presence and pressure that Iris feels. Iris also finds clues to the past (and the present) in the house such as old graffiti and a lost antique earring, so it feels like the house is a participating character in the plot as well.
What does a typical writing day look like for you?
It depends on whether I’m drafting or editing. Now I’m in the cycle of writing a book while also working on the edits for another book, so I need to be flexible and flip between the two, which requires a different side of your creative brain. This is both challenging and enjoyable in different ways!
When I’m drafting a new story, I will aim for at least 1000 words a day (sometimes it ends up more or less). I’m quite peripatetic so I can work in bed (if I need peace and quiet) or at the kitchen table but am probably most productive working at my local café or in the library; both of which I try to support as much as possible.
I used to write around my 3 kids, the school run and other work commitments but now that they’re a bit older, I can be more flexible. I still like to have finished by about 4pm when family life kicks back in. I’m more of a morning writer but my subconscious will always continue thinking about the story and I’ll often send myself notes or write down ideas up until midnight.
What do you think makes a good twist – and do you have any advice for budding thriller writers on how to pull one off?
They say, ‘no surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader’ and I think this is true to a certain extent, so I never have my novels all planned and plotted out. I like to know my characters; their flaws, their secrets, their goals before I start writing and a vague sense of what the moral dilemma is but then I let them reveal things to me (and thereby the reader) along the way.
I instinctively know when a twist feels credible and satisfying and it has to be the same for the reader. It needs to be earned and feel somehow inevitable and yet be a revelation to even yourself as a writer if possible. It’s almost an ‘oh right, yes of course, that’s exactly what she’d do’ feeling.
Sometimes I will go back through drafts and ensure that the clues and hints are there. It needs to be an enjoyable rug-pulling moment for the reader rather than a totally unfair and unrealistic hazard trip that leaves the reader feeling tricked and irritated.
And finally, what’s next for your writing journey?
I signed a two book deal with Hodder and Stoughton and so, in between editing The Family at No. 23, I’ve also been writing my next novel, The Second Home, to be published in 2026. It’s another domestic suspense about property and real estate and focuses on two women at quite different ages and stages, who come into each other's lives briefly while they’re on holiday. It’s set during a heat wave on the Southeast coast and it’s about second home-owners and holiday rentals and the issues and conflicts for the local community as well as the tourists. As the mercury rises, so do people's tempers with some quite shocking consequences.
Get your hands on a copy of The Family at No. 23.
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