We chat with Hannah Capin, author of The Dead Queen’s Club, Golden Boys Beware (also published as Foul Is Fair) and her upcoming YA paranormal thriller I Am Margaret Moore that will test readers’ perception of sisterhood and truth. We got to ask Hannah about her writing process, reading pet peeves and so much more!
Hi, Hannah! Thanks so much for joining us! Why don’t you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Hi! I’m so excited to talk with you and with readers. About me: I’ve been a storyteller for as long as I can remember—through writing as well as music and dance. I’ve always loved creating characters, relationships, and worlds, and I often say the reason I’m a writer is so I can live a million different lives within my own! When I’m not escaping into fiction (my own or someone else’s), I love running, rowing, and exploring new places—whether that means taking a trip to the other side of the world or finding a hidden gem in my own city.
Now, onto I Am Margaret Moore! What can readers expect?
The unexpected, I hope! IAMM has one twist readers might guess, but a second at the very end that was the seed for the whole book. Stepping back from plot (and avoiding spoilers!), the book has some elements my readers might already be looking for: sisterhood, revenge, an exploration of teenage girlhood, conversations about sexual agency. But the world of IAMM is very different from my previous books. I’m excited to welcome readers into the Marshall Summer Naval School, with all its secrets and traditions. Many of my reviews have called the book “lyrical,” and it’s definitely voice-driven—if you like literary fiction or novels in verse, you’ll love my protagonist, Mar, who’s an aspiring poet and whose voice really reflects that part of her.
I Am Margaret Moore has a paranormal element that is quite the twist. Do you have any favorite paranormal elements/stories you can’t get enough of?
It’s funny—I never considered the book paranormal until my team at Wednesday Books framed it that way! And that informs my answer: while I don’t read a lot of straight-up paranormal, I love books that read like contemporary thrillers or literary fiction but slide into territory where you’re not entirely sure what’s real and what isn’t, and where the lines between reality and fantasy and imagination and metaphor blur. I love Tana French’s books for that exact reason, especially The Secret Place—I didn’t read it until after I’d written IAMM, but it felt like coming home when I did, because it’s also set in the sort of closed-off world of a girls’ school, and it centers on a bond of female friendship so strong it turns a little magical. As far as YA is concerned, I love The Walls Around Us (and the rest of Nova Ren Suma’s work) for the same reason. And beyond books, I tore through the first season of Yellowjackets for another dose of near-supernatural sisterhood.
And speaking of reading, do you have any reading pet peeves? Tropes or things you just can’t get behind?
The only thing that really bothers me in fiction (or television, film, or any other medium) is using violence and trauma, especially sexual violence, for shock value or as a cheap way to indicate “character development.” Obviously, I don’t shy away from writing about these things in my own work, and many of my favorite books explore these themes, too—but there’s a huge difference in delving into the intent and impact of violence and trauma, rather than just throwing something into a scene gratuitously. I would never want my treatment of these themes to feel exploitative.
I Am Margaret Moore has quite the atmospheric setting – just like your other two books! How do you manage to create such a “vibe” for your settings?
I feel like my writing process is a little cinematic. I tend to see scenes and settings visually, and I always write with a manuscript soundtrack playing. I usually even know what director I’d see framing and lighting the world my characters inhabit. So for IAMM, I grounded the writing in this sense of eternal summer, ethereal lighting, and a sort of dreaminess to reflect Margaret as a narrator and the almost magical world of the summer camp where the book takes place. IAMM is very Sofia Coppola—whereas Golden Boys Beware (or Foul Is Fair) is very Quentin Tarantino.
I Am Margaret Moore is your third novel. How did the writing process differ from The Dead Queen’s Club and Golden Boys Beware for you?
Every book has its own process! One big difference with IAMM was that I wrote the first draft faster and with more intensity than anything else I’ve written—I was fortunate to have a couple of months where I could focus completely on the manuscript, and I was spending that summer at the lake that inspired the setting for the novel. So I was almost living inside the story, and this enabled me to disappear into it in a way that made the writing process just work.
Speaking of writing, you have some very strong themes like friendship, revenge, truth and betrayal in your stories. Where do you draw inspiration from and what keeps you writing even when writer’s block is lurking?
I don’t really believe in writer’s block. My writing process has periods of intense work and periods in which I’m not necessarily putting words on the page, but I’m doing other things that are just as important: traveling, living, having experiences that will turn into future manuscripts. I often describe my writing as a little bit “method”: once I’m set on a project, I do everything I can to immerse myself in the world. Several years ago, for example, I wrote a manuscript about best friends who are competitive divers, and diving wasn’t something I had any familiarity with. So after I’d done a lot of preliminary reading and interviewing, I worked for a summer at a diving academy, spending the day helping run activities and doing some of the workouts the athletes were doing, and in the evenings hanging out with fellow staff, all of whom were incredibly accomplished divers—Olympic and NCAA athletes and coaches. And for manuscripts set somewhere very specific, I’ll spend a good portion of the development or drafting process in that place, even if it’s somewhere I’m already deeply familiar with.
If I Am Margaret Moore were turned into a movie, what songs would you need to be on the soundtrack and (without too many spoilers) during which scenes would you love to have them play?
I’m definitely a writing playlist maker! My IAMM soundtrack is here, and there are several songs that were on repeat for certain scenes. “Bottom of the Deep Blue Sea” by Missio is the unofficial theme song of the book for me, and two other Missio songs capture the later sections of the book, where Mar goes a little feral—“Animal” and “Anthem for the Broken.” I also love “This Is What Makes Us Girls,” by Lana Del Rey, and “Green Light,” by Lorde, for the sense of summer and sisterhood and anticipation early in the book. And for a more literal answer, there are two classic songs that feature in the manuscript: “Summertime,” by Billie Holiday, and “Eternal Father Strong To Save,” which is the Navy Hymn and the tune the girls of Deck Five use for their deck anthem.
With I Am Margaret Moore releasing soon, are you already working on another project? If so, can you share a tidbit about it with us?
Yes! I’m revising a manuscript I’m absolutely in love with, and while I can’t share any details yet (and I can’t guarantee it will ever see the light of day—that’s the way this industry works!), I can say that it has to do with a world that was hugely important for me as a child and teenager and still is: ballet. For a number of reasons involving its setting and current context, the revision process may be a bit complex, but I believe deeply in this manuscript and I hope I’ll be able to share more soon.
Last but not least, do you have any book recommendations for our readers?
I have to shout out two very dear writing friends of mine: Laurie Elizabeth Flynn and Julia Lynn Rubin. Julia’s Trouble Girls and Laurie’s All Eyes on Her are both amazing YA novels that dig into the same themes my books explore: female bonds at their best and worst, sexual agency, and the way the world views young women. And for knock-you-over beautiful writing in the YA space, I’m in love with anything Elizabeth Acevedo writes, especially With the Fire on High—her voice is absolutely stunning.
