We chat with author Emily Layden about Once More From The Top, which is a propulsive, layered novel about the meteoric rise of a legendary pop star and the secret she’s kept hidden for fifteen years, for fans of Megan Abbott and Daisy Jones & the Six.
Releasing on September 10th, Once More from the Top is more than just a thrilling read. It is lyrical, poetic, and offers a fantastic inside-look at the music industry and the price of fame. There’s plenty of suspense, but is it a mystery? Or something else?
While it’s true that Once More From The Top begins with a plot-level mystery—the question of what really happened to this mega pop star’s childhood best friend—it’s not a procedural, and that’s because I think its greater mysteries are psychological ones: About what makes great art; about how to be successful in a creative field; about how to be authentic, especially in an era when the personal has been made performative, especially for women. Those were always the questions I wanted to explore, and I thought that “what if a famously confessional pop star has a deep, dark secret?” was a fun way in. Would that secret come out through her music? How would her fans react? What would happen to her career? How much of themselves does a famous person owe us, anyway?
How much did you know of the music industry before you wrote this book? What was something that surprised you about it?
I didn’t know much about the music industry, although I assumed it would have a lot in common with Hollywood and publishing—industries where there is an inherent tension between art and capitalism. But what I was really interested in was the songwriting process, which felt magical to me as an outsider: Where does a melody come from? How does someone build out a production? What surprised me was that all this had more in common with novel writing or screenwriting than I could have imagined; at the end of the day, these are creative processes, and they depend upon discipline, collaboration, bravery, and a willingness to fail and fail and fail before you get something right.
Was Taylor Swift a primary inspiration for Dylan Read’s character? Which other singers and celebrities did you study and consider while writing the novel?
I am a lifelong Taylor Swift fan, and while Dylan is informed by that fandom, she is equally a result of my fascination with any artist who has been labeled “confessional” or had her songwriting described as “diaristic”—in an often (at least mildly) condescending way (like Joni Mitchell or Olivia Rodrigo); any artist whose ambition has opened her to criticism or questions about her authenticity (like Beyoncé or Dolly Parton); any artist who has found herself struggling along the impossible tightrope of manufactured intimacy that contemporary celebrity demands (like basically all of them).
There were so many unexpected twists and turns in this story. Did you know from the start how you planned to end the novel? Are you a plotter or a pantser?
I’m a big believer in the vomit draft: I get everything down, fast, start to finish, because (to paraphrase Joan Didion) writing is how I figure out what I’m thinking. I then outline the second draft, because by then I’ve sorted what book I’m really trying to write.
You’re also a screenwriter—how does screenwriting differ from novel-writing for you?
I think a lot of people talk about the importance of dialogue or the necessary economy of screenwriting, but for me the major difference is that in screenwriting structure is king. Every scene should move character or plot forward, and there is an act structure intended to pace key beats and to keep the audience engaged. I don’t follow this pattern when writing a book, but I think the attention to structure in screenwriting has made me a better novelist.
Have you considered songwriting? The lyrics you showcase in the novel are really powerful.
Thank you! This means so much. Nashville, I’m available.
What did you do to put yourself inside of the mind of a character who is so famous? How were you able to write from that perspective?
Writing is all about tapping into what you know. I’m definitely not a global pop icon, but I am someone who is—because of the nature of her job—expected to present a version of herself on the internet, and someone whose art (perhaps because of her gender) is often read for her real life or her real thoughts or her real feelings. It’s on a much, much smaller scale, but I do think a lot about the difference between who I am and how some external version of myself might be interpreted, which is (I imagine) one of the core tensions of fame.
Small town vs. big city—what would you say about your choice of setting?
I think the juxtaposition in Once More From The Top is between small town and fame—Dylan lives in Nashville, LA, and New York, and while they each have their distinct personalities, they are facsimiles for industry, and all places where Dylan exists primarily as a celebrity. In her hometown of Thompson Landing, there’s a different kind of lens—and I think the microscope of a very small town and the spotlight of mega stardom have more in common than we might think.
Can we expect to see Dylan Read on screen anytime soon? Who would you cast if you could choose anyone?
I can’t say much about this! But if Joni Mitchell needs a writer for her biopic, my DMs are open.
