A Book or Ten talks to... Maz Evans

Heart, humour and plenty of planning

Prior to the paperback publication of her adult debut Over My Dead Body, I had the chance to sit down for a chat with author Maz Evans, veteran children's author of Vi Spy, Scarlett Fife and the God Squad books.

Maz Evans joins our video call straight from a World Book Day event with a whole school of kids, and for a moment I wonder if that's where the energy radiating from her comes from. It becomes clear as we chat that while the props set up readily to hand - copies of her books, folders of detailed book planning - were set up for that reason, the rest is all her. She's effervescent, full of enthusiasm and quick wit, and describes herself as 50% introvert and 50% extrovert', which suits her well for the duality of life as an author. ‘It’s not uncommon that the person who wants to sit quietly in a room and write books doesn’t like being on stage in front of 500 people,’ but it's an essential part of the world of children's publishing she's been in for the past seven years, prior to the publication of her first adult novel Over My Dead Body. 

’It’s been quite funny from being quite a well established children’s author to a complete ingénue and noob in the adult space. I’ve had advantages, because I’m known to booksellers and festivals. But in other ways it has been like starting all over again, which has been quite regenerative. It’s nice to come at it with renewed vim and vigour and honestly have to work a bit harder. That’s good for the soul I think.’ 

Over My Dead Body follows Dr Miriam Price, deceased and facing fifty years stuck in afterlife limbo unless she can prove she died not by misadventure but murder. The only person who can help? Her septugenarian neighbour - and longtime nemesis - Winnie. It's a romp through death, medicine, mystery and unexpected pensioner crime rings. What struck me most about the book was its capacity to be outrageously funny while holding deeply empathetic space for the hurts and harms its characters carry through their lives and afterlives. That duality comes directly from its author, who is a ‘creature of both things. I feel things very deeply, and I tend to find most things quite funny.’

This tone carries over from her children's fiction, although she tells me there was a feeling with her debut Who Let the Gods Out of needing to choose between the humour or the heart - ‘and I really rejected that, in particular in the children's space, because kids go from comedy to tragedy inside two heartbeats. To an extent we all can, and life is not one colour. It comes naturally with my world view, and I wouldn’t know another way of doing it. Nothing about writing comes easily to anybody, but if I tried not to do that it would still happen.’ Even in the children's space, as a parent she's always been conscious of the adults who buy the books and read alongside the kids - ‘I wanted to write books like a Pixar film - I want them to have jokes for the adults. As a mum I am so grateful when someone throws me a bone. They keep you awake. My kids books are a little bit like kids books for adults. I want to unlock the inner child. So many books are sombre and serious and very wonderful for it. But it is nice to just have an unadulterated laugh and an adventure. It's nice to bring that to adult work.’

Over My Dead Body itself has gone through several guises, starting out as a screenplay ‘called After Life, such a good name Ricky Gervais had at it'. The first version of the story as a novel featured a very different version of Miriam - ‘a Katie Hopkins, she was really objectionable, hateful.’ Over the course of the pandemic, Maz took the book apart and put it back together. ‘Slightly arrogantly, I've half a million book sales behind me, I thought someone would go, Maz Evans? Show me where to sign. So it was very good for my ego and humility - crickets. And then salvation came in the guise of my now editor Toby Jones at Headline, who I adore and was the only pig in the race.’ (I find myself very grateful as a reader for Toby Jones.)  

The writing process is very similar between children's and adults for Maz - she's a planner through and through, showing me the folder stuffed with notes she has on the go for her next novel That'll Teach Her, coming February 2025 from Headline. ‘’It’s about the death of a reviled head teacher, and the murder is solved by parents WhatsApp group. I do heavy thinking and then easy writing, and I've evolved this process with every book. I have massive spreadsheets of what every character is doing in every chapter, so even if they don't appear I keep track of them and my copy editor doesn't emigrate the second they read the book. When my brain isn't taken up with the heavy machinery, it's free to come up with funny stuff. I can go off on a tangent but I've got the Sat Nav to bring me back. I plan, clear my diary and write 5000 words a day until the book is written. It's like an ultra marathon, things don't get watched, I'm like some sort of cave dweller, but then I've got it. That’ll Teach Her is a really good example of one where a lot of things changed in the course of writing it, that I can then get back into in the edit.’ 

The biggest difference between writing for adults and writing for children from her perspective is the freedom, leaving behind a little of the pressure of responsibility of writing ‘truths for the small team’. While trying always to be honest, she says, ‘it can be quite restrictive - but in the adult space, not everything has to tie up in a neat, happy ending. You can show that life is messy and complicated, a bit unresolved and a bit of a mess. As a writer I've really been able to flex my writing muscles and I have absolutely loved that.’

The central characters of Over My Dead Body wear their flaws on their sleeves. ‘I didn't want a conventional love story at the heart of it. I wanted the female equivalent of a bromance, a burgeoning powerful female friendship, with these two incredibly brilliant women. Miriam does not start off pleasant, but hopefully grows through the book. She's just wickedly funny and naughty. Winnie is a brilliant foil for her who punctures her pomposity and arrogance at every stage. Winnie's an icon. I loved writing them. Miriam's weirdly always been 44 and the book was published when I turned 44. I’d love to see it on screen, and that part for a middle-aged actress, and Winnie as a woman of colour in her 70s - we have so many incredible actresses who could play these two roles.’’

As we close our chat, I'm aware that I've started to gush, but Maz is a gracious recipient of it. ‘I sit in this box all day and make shit up - it’s a weird way to spend a life. So when you hear it’s connected, that’s so lovely.’

Over My Dead Body is out now in paperback and you can preorder That'll Teach Her as a treat for yourself next February from all good bookshops (especially your local indie).

You can follow Maz @mazevansauthor Twitter / X.

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