Chances are you’ve heard of Margot Wood before. As the founder of Epic Reads, Margot knows what makes for a great read—and now she’s venturing into publishing herself with her debut novel Fresh, a vulnerable, laugh-out-loud story about freshman Eliot and her wild experiences that will suck you in from the very first paragraph. We had the chance to chat with Margot and ask her about her experience as a first-time author, her all-time favourite books and so much more!
Hi, Margot! Thanks for taking the time to chat with us! What is one book you wish you’d written yourself, one book you always recommend and one book that you think could make anyone fall in love with the written word?
The book I wish I’d written myself is Just Kids by Patti Smith because then that would mean I’d had lived the life Patti did and that would be so rad (plus it’s just an incredible book I read every year). One book I always recommend is Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore. It is the funniest book I have ever read and it was the first book I truly fell in love with! A recent book that made me re-fall in love with the written word was Luster by Raven Leilani. It was one of those books where every sentence was carefully crafted and it was just absolutely wonderful to read.
Now onto Fresh! What can readers expect from Elliot’s story?
Readers can expect chaotic queer joy! Though it will probably get the romcom label, I’d argue Fresh is more of a comedy than a romance, but there is romance too! It’s intentionally messy and chaotic and all over the place. I wanted to write something that would be easy to read, a one-sitting book that (sorry for the pun) refreshes your reading palate and gets people back into reading. Most of all I just want people to have fun while reading this book!
I couldn’t put Fresh down! Elliot is such a refreshing character and her voice really bled through the story. What was the writing experience like for you?
Thank you so much! Elliot has been living rent free in my head since 2014 and it’s really exciting that other people are finally getting to meet her! The writing experience was pure joy for me. This was my first attempt at writing a novel so I wasn’t sure if I would like the writing process or not but it turns out, I LOVED IT. I had so much fun writing this book!
There are so many memorable scenes and expressions (“tender chicken” – enough said) that had me in stitches. Without spoiling too much, did you have a favorite scene or gimmick while writing Elliot’s story?
My favorite gimmick by far are the footnotes. I had SOOOOOOO much fun writing those and I wish I could have included so many more but a lot were cut to trim things down. I also really loved being able to use design elements to enhance the story like bulleted lists, script format, font changes, etc. It’s too hard for me to pick one scene I liked the most so I’ll just list some, vaguely so I don’t spoil things: all the laundry room scenes, the dating auction, the fire alarm and all the montages!
There are some epic friend, foe and other relationship dynamics in Fresh and they’re driven by very distinct characters. If you had to encapsulate Elliot, Rose and Lucy’s vibe with one meme each, which ones would you choose?
I’ll stick to TikTok memes for this one! Elliot would be the “Oh no no no” meme, Rose would be the “Touch It” fit montage (or any outfit change trend), and Lucy would probably be really into posting “Day in My Life” videos accompanied with beautiful lofi music.
You tackle a lot of important topics in Fresh and the setting of freshman year in college definitely contribute to the depth of your exploration of responsibility, making mistakes, slut-shaming and so many more topics. What do you want readers to take away from Fresh?
I want readers to know it’s okay if they don’t have it all figured out. It’s okay to go down the wrong path and start over. It’s okay to screw up. It’s okay to be messy.
Fresh is your debut novel. What were challenges you faced when sitting down to write this book? What were some highlights looking back?
I started to write Fresh with no plan in mind. I had a cast of characters, a setting and a few scenes but I had no connecting thread to tie it all together. In the writing world, I’d be what you call a “pantser.” And because I didn’t plan things out in advance, it set me back and took me longer to figure out what I wanted to do with the story. Once I knew where it was going, it was really quick from there, but getting to that point took a long time.
The moment everything clicked and I knew what I wanted to do with this story was the highlight of my writing experience. I was in my kitchen when it hit me and it was like the clouds parted and sky became clear. I furiously wrote down the plot on a yellow legal pad and my hand couldn’t write fast enough. I took a selfie in the moment because I knew it was (as Elliot would say) a Pivotal Life Moment and I wanted to capture it.
If Fresh were to be adapted for the big screen, what three songs would have to be on the soundtrack and during which scenes from the book would you want them to play?
- thank u, next by Ariana Grande would play during Project Tender Chicken.
- brutal by Olivia Rodrigo would play in the middle, right around the intermission.
- Watermelon Sugar by Harry Styles would play at the end major moment (you know the one).
With Fresh releasing soon, are you working on another novel already? If so, can you share a tidbit about it with us?
I tend to be the type of writer that doesn’t write every day but rather goes into Extreme Writing Mode does nothing for 3 months but write furiously and crank out a full draft in that time. So, I’m waiting for Fresh to publish before I’m ready to move on to the next thing. . . but I do have some ideas! I think I’ll always stick with comedy as that tends to be my default writing style but what it will be about….we shall see!
Last but not least, share some books that surprised you in 2021 with us!
- Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid
- One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston
- Cheer Up by Crystal Frasier and Val Wise
- Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters
- Witches Steeped in Gold by Ciannon Smart
