Orphan Black meets Margaret Atwood in this twisty supernatural thriller about female power and the bonds of sisterhood. We chat with author Sara Flannery Murphy about her latest novel Girl One, writing, book recommendations, and more!
Hi, Sara! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Of course! I currently live in Utah, in the desert, which means I constantly miss the rain, but I do see beautiful mountains and rock formations every day.
I was home-schooled as a kid. Basically, I wrote fantasy novels all day long, which is my ideal state.
I love anything horror – I call myself an overgrown mall goth.
And I now have two young kids who are unimpressed by my writing career. I once showed my book to my son in the library and he was like, “How did they get that?!”
How is your 2021 going in comparison to that other year?
Better, though there’s a wide range between “better than 2020” and “good.” On one hand, all the signs of hope are amazing. On the other hand, it’s tough to find our footing in this limbo stage before the true end of the pandemic. We’re having to crawl back into the world of small talk and travel and social gatherings, all of us a little more uncertain after a lost year of social cues.
There are some parts of life during lockdown that I ended up appreciating: like having virtual events or frequent Zoom meetups, since I’m geographically distant from a lot of friends, family, and colleagues. Maybe we can find a good balance as we return to sort-of-normal.
Quick lightning round! Tell us the first book you ever remember reading, the one that made you want to become an author, and one that you can’t stop thinking about!
The first book I ever read was Little Bear; the one that made me want to become an author was Little Women; the book I can’t stop thinking about is In the Woods.
When did you first discover your love for writing?
Probably through imitation. As a little kid, I would fill up notebooks with bad homages (okay, maybe plagiarized copies, who’s to say) of C.S. Lewis or L.M. Montgomery, because I loved the stories so much I wanted to channel that magic myself. I remember transcribing pages of my favorite books onto my dinky word processor so I could see how the words worked together. I’ve seen the idea of copying down a favorite page or paragraph given as serious writing advice, so it wasn’t the worst instinct.
Your new novel, Girl One, releases on June 1st 2021! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Superhero revenge rescue road trip.
What can readers expect?
Readers who enjoy thrillers with a sci-fi twist should feel at home here, as should readers who enjoy supernatural elements or alternate histories. I hope there’s something for everyone, and I’m honored by the early readers who’ve found different elements to love.
Girl One follows a young woman who’s the first human being born via parthenogenesis (virgin birth). She has no genetic father, but she’s grown up with an adoration of the researcher who helmed her conception through science. When her mother goes missing, a now-grown Josie sets off to find her, which means reconnecting with the other women who were born as a result of this experiment. And Josie’s also realizing that her conception had far-reaching consequences: she has powers, for example! That’s a big one. That intertwines with all these shocking things she’s learning about her past. Everything she thought she knew – about her body, her mother, her origin story, reproduction in general – is being tossed in the air and landing in new patterns.
I went into this book specifically wanting to reward readers for going along with my wild premise. It was a joy to write, and I hope that comes through.
Can you tell us about any challenges you faced while writing and how you were able to overcome them?
I started and restarted this story so many times. It almost became a joke that whenever I decided to focus on something else, I’d have a breakthrough that’d pull me back in. For example, that’s how I realized the novel needed to start with Josie’s mother missing, which gave the story the urgency it’d been lacking.
I’m not recommending that anyone abandon a project – but for me, giving up (temporarily) helped me see the issues through fresh eyes.
Were there any favourite moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
Yes! There’s a scene near the middle of the book in which Josephine and her traveling companions come across a terrifying crime scene, and gradually figure out that the people behind it are still close by. There’s a lot happening, multiple people involved in an explosion of simmering tensions. It’s an action-heavy scene that required a ton of choreography.
Before this, I wasn’t confident writing action scenes, though I admire it in other authors’ works. But once I gave it a shot, I enjoyed it. I personally think the scene turned out wonderfully (after hours of revision). Readers have highlighted it as a favorite as well. It’ll always hold a special place in my heart for pushing me to explore a type of writing I didn’t trust myself to pull off.
Did your writing process change at all with Girl One in comparison to your debut The Possessions?
That’s a wonderful question! Because I’d already published one novel, I went from writing for mostly imaginary readers (which is its own joy) to writing for actual readers, with all this real feedback – good and bad – swirling through my head. My inner critic had been supplanted by multiple outer critics. Shoving past that to actually put words to the page was daunting at first. But gradually, I got enough distance that I could glean helpful insight from readers’ responses, without feeling personally stung by it. And before I knew it, it was energizing to write with readers in mind, to make the process feel a little more collaborative.
For example, my debut novel’s protagonist was blank and guarded, but that didn’t work with Josephine Morrow’s journey at all. So I made it a goal to have an active, involved narrator. I’d go through during revisions and look for any time another character made a decision for her, or circumstances forced her into a certain path, and see if I could put the decision-making more squarely into her hands. It was such a rewarding process, and publishing one novel beforehand helped me tap into the importance of connecting with readers.
What’s the best and the worst writing advice you have received?
The best advice helped me shift my view of “likeable” characters. It’s so tricky because “how to be likeable” is a question I think about for myself, too, and now I have to apply it to these imaginary people, and it can be stifling to second-guess everything a character does: too rude? Too passive? Likeability is a complex issue, of course, but the advice that helped me was to tie it into motivation. When readers can understand the decisions a character makes – not even agree, but understand — that matters more than “likeability,” which is so hard to pin down.
The worst? Maybe when I was a younger writer and someone influential, who wrote in a much different genre, critiqued my work and specifically pointed out whenever my characters had expressions: frowning, smiling. I know those can be overused filler words, but when I panicked and weeded them out entirely, I had all these faceless robot characters who weren’t allowed to feel anything because frowning wasn’t serious or smart enough. I had to eventually relearn my own style. Be okay with facial expressions.
What’s next for you?
Right now, I’m diving into Book #3, a project that’s incredibly close to my heart. It’s a coming-of-age story that follows a group of friends who discover houses that have strange powers: we see them when they’re young, and again when they reunite, many years later, after tragedy strikes. This book takes place in the Ozarks, where I spent time growing up, and which will always hold a strange enchantment for me.
It’s been a balancing act to focus on promotion for Girl One while respecting the time demands of a new project. Every day, I visit two very different worlds and then come back to my own. But that’s such a gift, really.
Lastly, do you have any book recommendations for our readers?
For sci-fi fans, The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey came out earlier this year and is so engaging and unique. It delves into cloning in a brilliant way. For thrillers and mystery, Hollywood Homicide by Kellye Garrett is suspenseful and so fun. I blazed through it in a day. And Now She’s Gone by Rachel Howzell Hall kept me incessantly guessing – so many great, earned twists — and has a resilient narrator who won me over. And for more 1970s vibes, I read an early copy of The Ophelia Girls, by Jane Healey, which has a dual timeline between the 1970s and the 1990s, like Girl One. It’s vividly written, a beautiful exploration of art and muses and desire.
