Q&A: Mikki Daughtry & Rachael Lippincott, Authors of ‘All This Time’

I see that there are already plans for the film adaptation! Are you able to share anything about the upcoming film or perhaps any hopes you may have?

MIKKI: I’ll be working with Lionsgate again! They were involved with FIVE FEET APART (the movie), and they’re the studio behind the DIRTY DANCING sequel I’m working on. I love, respect, and trust everyone there. But unlike FFA, the All This Time novel is being released before we shoot the film, LOL. This will be a more traditional book-to-screen adaptation. Hopefully it will strike the right chord with the viewers who loved FFA. That’s what I always hope for: a film that is well-loved by the audience for whom I’m writing.

RACHAEL: This one is all Mikki! I’m just super excited to see another story I was fortunate to work on being brought to the big screen.

Can you explain a bit about your writing process?

MIKKI: It starts with that whisper from my inner world. I don’t outline. I don’t plot out too much in advance. I find that a detailed outline severely restricts me creatively. I’m unable to flow, unable to break away from ‘the plan,’ and then my story has no magic; it has no surprise, because I didn’t allow myself the freedom to be surprised in the writing of it. I need to be able to feel, to listen, to pivot, to completely change direction if need be. I need to be able to follow the whisper, wherever it leads me. I have signposts, for sure, scenes I know must happen, and then, if I’m open and connected, and if the story is meant to be told by me, it just flows. Probably the most tangible thing I do as part of my process is make a music playlist. I spend hours listening to music, compiling songs that make me feel the way the story makes me feel. The synergy between music and storytelling is vital to me. It’s like hot chocolate on a rainy day, or a snow cone at the beach. They just go together.

RACHAEL: I’m a big planner when it comes to writing. When I get a spark of an idea, I kind of sit back and let myself experience it for a while, being completely immersed in it. I’ll listen to music, or play out different scenarios in my head, and try to come at it from different angles, just writing out small scenes or lines that come to me, trying to let the characters show me who they are and the world they live in. Then, I’ll sit down and write the first couple chapters, before outlining the rest of the story. I’m ALL about outlining. For me, it’s the difference maker between an idea being an idea, and a fully completed book. You can’t edit an empty page!

What advice would you give to someone looking to collaborate to write a book as a team?

MIKKI: Well, I have a full-time writing partner, Tobias Iaconis, with whom I’ve worked for nearly a decade. Working with Rachael was a completely different process. I met Rachael when she was brought in by Simon & Schuster to adapt my screenplay for Five Feet Apart into a novel. The film was already prepping to go into production when Rachael started the adaptation. It was crazy and wild and fun. I’d literally be making changes on set as scenes were being filmed and I’d call Rachael and send her the new pages. It was like she was adapting in real time. It was a rollercoaster, for sure. Stressful as hell, but definitely worth it.

We worked so well together, using this process, that All This Time was a no brainer. I had the screenplay written, the story was told, and I handed it to Rachael. Since we weren’t trying to concurrently film the movie, I was able to be really hands-on, do some writing myself, and totally freaking micromanage everything. Poor Rachael. I’m sure she woke up screaming more than once. But she’s the best. It’s kind of scary, if I’m honest, because the further we got into the writing of this one, the more she was able to just intuit what I would want before she even had to ask me. Now that was cool.

RACHAEL: I think a huge thing in this particular collaboration, and from my experience of working as a “team” with Mikki, is trust. When Mikki hands me her screenplays, THE STORY, to adapt into a book, it takes a lot of trust, and I definitely don’t take that lightly. I think it’s necessary for this entire process to work, and if a collaborative process DOES NOT have it, it simply isn’t going to be a successful one.

Mikki noted this, but I think it really grew to a point that we understood each other between mediums in a really cool and intuitive way. I think it was more than just having previously worked together on Five Feet Apart. There was just a deep level of understanding. Working on the same wavelength.

Why do you think audiences like to watch films and read about love stories? What do you think makes a love story special?

MIKKI: I can only speak for myself, but I think the world is such a hard place to live in sometimes. Love gives me hope that there is a softness waiting to insulate me from the sharp edges of life. It is that thing that pulls me from the brink when I most need it, and usually, when I least expect it. Love is a universal language and I’ll take it in any form: movie, play, book, poetry, music, art – bring on the love!

RACHAEL: It’s the magic of existing, isn’t it? The fact that we can meet another person and connect in a deep and powerful way. A way that can change your life, and leave a stamp on your soul. It’s at the core of everything.

I’ve seen your previous work, Five Feet Apart, described as tearjerking and tragic, but sometimes it’s nice to have a good cry! Are there any films, books, or songs that get the tears flowing?

MIKKI: LAST OF THE MOHICANS kills me every time. That’s probably, for me, the most swoon-worthy movie ever. “Stay alive. I will find you.” Just pick me up off the floor, because I’m dead. PONETTE is a start to finish cry-fest for me. I’m talking snot-sucking, ugly-face sobs. The end of THE ORPHANAGE breaks my soul. “It’s Laura!” Omigod. Just stop. I cry at least once every time I read a Kazuo Ishiguro book. Never Let Me Go still hasn’t let me go. Liane Moriarity usually gets me at least once or twice in every book she writes. As for music… there are too many songs to list. When I’m getting my melancholy on, I listen to Sleeping At Last, Cigarettes After Sex, and Novo Amor.

See also

Q&A: Neal Shusterman, Author of ‘Break To You’

RACHAEL: Are there ever! How many can I name? Coco, The Farewell, A Walk to Remember. The “Life Is a Cabaret” episode of Schitt’s Creek, and Emily Hampshire’s insane acting. Mikki recommended Saturn by Sleeping At Last to me, which is VERY All This Time, and sure to leave you in a puddle of your tears.

Is there any particular message you’d like readers to take away from All This Time?

MIKKI: I hope the story of Kyle and Marley encourages all the dreamers out there to dream with a capital D and decide for themselves what love is, what they want it to be, and what it can be.

RACHAEL: Just a belief that love can do some pretty extraordinary things.

Mikki – we just have to ask about the Dirty Dancing sequel that you’ve signed on to write alongside Tobias Iaconis. Is there anything you can share or tease?

MIKKI: Listen, I feel like I’ve stepped outside my body and this happened to someone else. DIRTY DANCING was a seminal movie experience for me, and just the thought of it kind of makes me lightheaded. Every time Tobias and I work on the script, I have to pinch myself. Unfortunately, I can’t tease anything. I’d like to keep my head attached to my body, thank you very much. Even more importantly, though, I’d like to keep my job. LOL.

Is there any book or film you wish you could have the experience of experiencing for the first time again?

RACHAEL: First thing that popped into my head was Shutter Island. I think I’m in so deep with my favorite books and movies that I’d hate to have them wiped from my brain. Part of my love for them is the existing experience.

MIKKI: I’m with Rachael here. Every time I rewatch or re-read something I love, it’s like the first time, but the knowledge of it, the “existing experience,” as Rachael said, just heightens my enjoyment.

Lastly, do you have any book recommendations for our readers?

MIKKI: I read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho at least once every two or three years. I love The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro destroyed me. Geek Love by Katherine Dunn will always be one of my favorite books. One Hundred Years Of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez is an epic that I can’t get enough of. And Agamemnon (the play) by Aeschylus. This is probably my favorite story of all time. Agamemnon is everything.