Gabrielle Lord

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Gabrielle Lord was born in Sydney in 1946, and is a writer of thrillers and crime fiction. She went to school at Kincoppal Rose Bay School at Rose Bay, and later to the University of New England in Armidale, where she did her Honours degree in Victorian Literature. Among other careers, she has worked as a teacher, and as a public servant with the Commonwealth Employment Service. By her own account, she resolved to become a writer at age 30, once she had some "experience of life". Her first two writing projects were not marketable, but she learnt her craft, and her third novel, Fortress was an instant success. Its success and associate film rights allowed her to pursue a full-time writing career. Gabrielle enjoys the acquiring the factual knowledge and detail associated with researching her mystery novels. Her other interests include walking, meditation, singing, and gardening. She lives in a beach-side suburb of Sydney and has one daughter and four grand-daughters.

Author's Comment: The world is full of [writing] ideas, newspapers, gossip, noticing things...ideas are ten a penny. The hard part is taking an idea and then pinning it down into a story line. Just like making a cake or building a house, a book must be planned, from the rough plans on the back of an envelope, to a more formal planning stage, to the 'scaffolding' and the foundations, the structure, the plot and the creation of characters. This part takes a lot of time and thinking. Then I have to go out to find the information I need - it might be spending a day with the police dogs...[or] speaking with a lawyer in order to get something legally 'right' in the book. Then I start writing because by that stage, I know where I'm going. Of course, I might deviate from my plan if a better idea emerges, scrap what I've done and rewrite. That gets me to first draft... Then it's a matter of just going over and over...[after] perhaps six drafts or so, the MS is ready to be seen by a professional editor.

Nationality: Australian