CR 008: Robyn Harding on External Validation, the Dark Side of Fame, and Dealing with Haters

The bestselling author discusses her latest psychological thriller, “The Haters.”

Robyn Harding, photo by Kyrani Kanavaros

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Bestselling author Robyn Harding, widely known for penning suspense-filled thrillers, didn’t set out to write about crime. Her 2004 debut novel, The Journal of Mortifying Moments, was a rom-com referred to as “laugh-out-loud funny” by Publishers Weekly. This was followed by additional chick-lit novels—among them, The Secret Desires of a Soccer Mom and Chronicles of a Midlife Crisis. But after writing the screenplay for the 2015 film The Steps, she realized she had a fondness for darker material.

“For so long, I was writing humorous women’s fiction,” Harding says. “And then I wrote my dramedy screenplay. I realized I’m obsessed with the dark side. I love writing thrillers. I love writing twists and intrigue. I think humor can find its way through, but what I find really intriguing is thrillers and mysteries, and the dark side of human nature.”

Since 2017, Harding has published six bestselling thriller novels, including The Perfect Family (“highly entertaining domestic thriller,” Publishers Weekly) and Her Pretty Face (“creepy and compelling,” Kirkus). Now, she’s promoting her latest novel, The Haters, a gripping page-turner which follows an author, Camryn Lane, who thinks the publication of her first novel is going to change her life for the better but is soon grappling with a mysterious reader set on destroying her life.

From her home in Vancouver, Harding recently chatted with me about the book’s themes, her writing process, and what she would do differently if she had to start her career over again.

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SANDRA EBEJER: Where did the idea for The Haters come from?

ROBYN HARDING: Sadly, it comes from my personal experience as an author. Over the years, I always had a Contact Me link on my website. I’ve been publishing for 20 years. When I started, all of the messages I received were positive: “This book meant a lot to me” or “This book made me laugh.” As time went on, they got to be less positive. It felt like people were only making the effort to contact me to complain: “I didn’t like the ending” or “Too much swearing.” And then maybe two years ago, I got a really abusive message from a man who I think was mentally ill, because it didn’t really make a lot of sense. But he had read The Perfect Family and had taken offense to a scene where these kids are smoking Shatter, which is concentrated marijuana resin. He seemed to think that I’d overblown the effects of that. Then he started accusing me of being involved in all these conspiracy theories.

I was just like, I am done. I don’t have a Contact Me on my website anymore. I’m very accessible. We’re all accessible through social media. We’re also responsive, and it’s part of the job. But it just made me think, God, this is such a different time to be publishing. Then I started talking about this to other authors, particularly female authors. It feels to be a unique experience to women because I think people are comfortable telling women they’re not good enough, or they have offended you in some way. Whereas, in my anecdotal research, men don’t seem to have the same experience. But a lot of authors have gone through similar things, so I thought, “I could turn this into something really scary and timely.”

The protagonist of the book, Camryn, thinks her life is going to change in incredible ways once her debut novel is published. Looking back, did you have similar ideas about publishing?