We chat with author Rosie Sycamore about My Violet Muse, which is a razor-sharp thriller about revenge, exploitation, obsession, and the dangerous bargains we strike for power, survival, and love.
Hi Rosie! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Hello! I am from Melbourne, Australia. I spend a lot of time watching birds and talking to labradors. I get cranky when I haven’t seen the sun for a few days. I love green tea, brownies, and going to bed early. I am a Leo sun, Aries moon, and cap rising. I am terrible at dealing with crowds. I have watched Ferris Bueller’s Day Off an ungodly amount of times.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
I was thirteen, and I had a school homework task to write an opening chapter for a book. I ended up spiraling much deeper into it and continuing to write that story after school for years beyond the due date (an absolute hot mess that was never finished!).
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: The Prophecy of the Gems (Flavia Bujor)
- The one that made you want to become an author: We Need to Talk About Kevin (Lionel Shriver)
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: My Dark Vanessa (Kate Elizabeth Russell)
Your debut novel, My Violent Muse, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Surreal, glossy, indulgent, snarky, furious.
What can readers expect?
An obsessive & sumptuous art world fever dream told through the eyes of a bitingly sarcastic young woman who thinks her life is a movie.
Where did the inspiration for My Violent Muse come from?
Vibes! I am definitely more of an exploratory writer than a planner, so the earliest inspirations were all about Florence, an intense & erotic sapphic relationship, a grotesquely indulgent party, and Florence’s vision to flip the art world & its addiction to the muse on its head by taking revenge on the bodies of predatory men.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
My favorite chapter is the dinner scene (Ch.26, titled I’m an Aquarius, not a fucking cannibal). The ‘uncomfortable ensemble dinner’ (think; The White Lotus), rife with subtext and scathing dialogue, feels like an archetypal moment in fiction that sucks me in every time. I also had fun writing any scenes with Louella – she was certainly a character who forced herself into the book and I loved watching her chaos unfold.
Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?
Florence’s character posed a challenge for me, because I felt immense pressure to do her justice on the page. I knew she’d possess a magnetic kind of persona, and I realized – as someone who would much rather observe a dinner party than take part in one – the best way for me to show Florence off was through Morello’s observation and sense of awe. I also found writing the Interlude to be very emotionally exhausting, disturbing and discomforting (for obvious reasons).
This is your debut novel! What was the road to becoming a published author like for you?
A decade long road that taught me discipline and grit are the most crucial ingredients to motivation and big dreams. My Violent Muse is my first published novel, but was certainly not my first completed book! That being said, the path to publication for MVM was relatively quick – I drafted & edited in the first half of 2024, signed with my agent in the second half, and secured a book deal in early 2025.
What’s next for you?
Leaning deeper into the horror/thriller space – the weirder & darker, the better!
Lastly, what books are you looking forward to picking up? Any you’ve read so far this year that you’ve enjoyed?
I’d love to get my hands on Spoilt Creatures (Amy Twigg), Carrying (Samantha Josephs), and Fruit Fly (Josh Silver). I recently devoured Jawbone (Mónica Ojeda), and found it to be stunningly dark & dreamy, with some insanely cool cover art.
