I love stories about stories. I love reading about how books come to life, from the first flicker of inspiration to the sometimes grueling, sometimes gratifying writing process to the final, shiny copy of the book heading out into the world. If you like those kinds of stories, too, and you’d like to read about how my upcoming book featuring a haunted hotel, metaphorical(?) ghosts, grief, and romance came into being, read on.

Inspiration: The Exciting Part

My family takes yearly trips to Estes Park, Colorado, and I’ve always been fascinated by this small town surrounded by the vast, 14,000-foot peaks of the Rocky Mountains. You know that feeling you get when you’re in a place that inspires you, the feeling that you have to write A Story even though you don’t know what kind yet? I didn’t have an inkling about plot or character at this point. But visiting Estes Park made me want to write a story that captured what it felt like to be there—a story that felt simultaneously small and epic, quiet and explosive, ordinary and surreal.

Glimmers of a Plot: The Fun Part

Estes Park is also home to the Stanley Hotel, which is famous for inspiring Stephen King to write the horror classic, The Shining. As I poked around the hotel, I started thinking about all the ways something can be haunted. There’s the horror movie kind of haunted, full of jump scares and blood and terrifying twin girls who ask you to come play with them forever. But a place can also be haunted in a metaphorical sense, full of memories and history and fears of a quieter, more personal kind. I realized that a haunted hotel in Estes Park was the perfect place to set a story about my own quiet fear—the one that has rattled around inside me ever since I can remember: death and what comes after.

I’ve always wanted to believe in an afterlife, but I never could. I’d watch horror movies and as the characters ran in fright from angry ghosts, I’d think: “okay, but at least they know a spirit world exists.” I’d be alone in my grandmother’s old basement, and as the feeling of an unseen presence watching me prickled my skin, I’d feel creeped out but hopeful, too. Because it meant that maybe, after we die, we don’t truly go away.

I thought that a haunted hotel in Estes Park would be the perfect setting for a book about this complex relationship with death and ghosts and grief. But in true “me” fashion, I didn’t want my main character to suffer too much. Originally, I pitched the idea to my agent as a story about Natalie, a girl who doesn’t believe in ghosts but who has that belief shaken when her crush (who was kind of an awful person) dies, and a medium from the local haunted hotel claims he’s sending her messages from beyond the grave.

My agent pointed out that the emotional punch was missing from that set-up. My protagonist didn’t have any deep connection with her handsome jerk of a crush, so when his potential “ghost” comes back, she probably wouldn’t feel anything except generally freaked out. It was, like everything my agent says, very wise and very true. So I got rid of the crush altogether, and the person Natalie deals with losing became her best friend, Imogen. Imogen, who believed wholeheartedly in ghosts. Imogen, who always believed in Natalie’s intelligence and potential, even when Natalie didn’t believe in it herself.

That’s when the lightbulb went off. Because when Imogen’s ghost—maybe, possibly—comes back, Natalie would feel all kinds of complex things. She would deny and believe, rationalize and wonder, despair and hope. She would ask herself: Are ghosts just manifestations of grief and memory? Or are they real and waiting to tell us they’re not truly gone?

Writing: The Hard Part

After I have a general idea of plot and character, I try to write a few chapters to figure out voice and the protagonist’s personality. I’ve tried to just think through this stuff in my head, but I can never figure it out without actually sitting down to write. The process was challenging but mostly enjoyable.

And then the pandemic hit. And then I had a baby. And my world fractured into a million anxious, sleep-deprived, mushy-with-love but also terrified-of-doing-anything-wrong pieces. My thoughts rocketed away from the story I was writing and into the multifaceted emotions of new motherhood. Can I really do this? I asked myself. My parents were so good at this, why aren’t I? My brother and sister-in-law make it look so joyful and easy, why doesn’t it feel that way for me?

And then I realized, maybe these thoughts aren’t so far away from my book after all. Doesn’t Natalie struggle with belief—not just in ghosts, but in herself? Natalie’s self-doubt became a bigger part of the story than I’d originally intended as I explored how Natalie both admired and compared herself to Imogen, and how, with Imogen gone, Natalie struggles even more to believe in herself. This aspect of Natalie’s character was there from the beginning, but my specific experiences as I wrote her story helped me understand it on a deeper level.

I love how every book we write is shaped by the moment in time that we write it.

Revising: My Favorite Part

I’ve always loved revising because you no longer have the overwhelming pressure of a blank page staring at you. You have a full story with a beginning, middle, and end, and now you can make it better: tie all the threads and deepen the emotions and make the words sing or whisper or cackle or shriek.

I love getting input from my brilliant editor on how to do all that. One of the main things she pointed out was that the romance in the book fell by the wayside sometimes and that there were several key romantic moments that could be heightened to bring out Natalie’s emotional journey even more. It made total sense to me. I was focusing so much on the grief and ghost angle that I forgot about this other character (the love interest) and how he could enrich and complicate those themes even more.

I usually sit with my editor’s feedback for a couple of days, and then organize it into an actionable list. Then I read over the entire book and make note of places where I can make changes according to the list. Then I dive in!

Letting Go: The Scary, Hopeful Part

It’s scary to write about your fears, and it’s overwhelming to write about them while going through an intense new experience. I’LL BE WAITING FOR YOU was an absolute rollercoaster to write. But it feels so personal, and I’m so proud of it. I hope it makes readers think about grief in new ways. I hope it gives them a gentle hand to hold as they feel impossible, overwhelming things. I hope it speaks to them in a tender voice, telling them it’s okay to believe in ghosts or not believe in ghosts or something in between, as long as you believe in yourself.

The post I’ll Be Waiting For You: Behind the Story appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Hi, Hazel! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?

Hello there! I’m Hazel Hayes, author of Out of Love and Better by Far. I was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, but I’ve been nomadding around the globe for the past year and a half. I’m a triple Aquarius. And I have a worrying tea addiction (currently down to six cups a day).

When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?

I can’t remember not loving stories, and growing up in Ireland I was never in short supply; we’re a nation of storytellers by nature, so every conversation was really a lesson in what would ultimately become my career. I’m so thrilled and proud to have been able to weave little strands of Irish folklore, traditions and our beautiful native language into Better by Far. I just hope I’ve “done the parish proud”, as we say back home!

Quick lightning round! Tell us:

• The first book you ever remember reading: Far Edge of Darkness by Linda Evans
• The one that made you want to become an author: The Stand by Stephen King
• The one that you can’t stop thinking about: The Time Traveller’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Your latest novel, Better By Far, is out April 23^rd! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?

Life happens in the waiting.

What can readers expect?

To cry, probably. And to grieve. But also to heal.

Where did the inspiration for Better By Far come from?

There were lots of inspirations for different aspects of the book. On a very surface level, I was inspired by a breakup I’d been through, where we chose to keep sharing an apartment until our lease was up. But that premise only acted as a backdrop for the real topic I wanted to explore, which is liminality. Liminal spaces – or life’s little limbos, as I’ve come to call them – are those in between stages of life where one phase has ended and the next one hasn’t quite begun. Like the space between grief and healing, for example. When we’re going through it, we feel like everything slows down and stagnates. We pray for it to be over so we can move on to the next chapter. But I wanted to treat this as a chapter in itself, like a chrysalis, where all the real growth and change is taking place.

Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?

What I enjoyed most about writing Better by Far was the way mine and Kate’s stories intertwined and helped to inform each other. She is an author, trying to write her second novel while going through a breakup, and during the writing process I found myself unexpectedly going through a break up (on Halloween, the same day as Kate!) while trying to write my second novel. This book was always intended to be a bit meta, but it got to be a joke just how much our lives were overlapping. The lins between Kate’s world and my own would blur constantly and she and I struggled through our heartbreak and our healing and our writing process together. The whole journey became surreally synchronistic and quite magical.

What challenges did you face while writing?

See above re writing a novel while going through a breakup. 0/10. Would not recommend. Avoid at all costs!

What’s next for you?

I launched Write to Yourself last year, and hosted my first in-person writing and wellness retreats. They’ve been going so well that I’m now adapting the syllabus for online and creating a global Write to Yourself community including online retreats, workshops, masterclasses and regular group writing sessions. So I’m super excited about all that. And I’ve also started working on book three, which I expect will be less heavy and a little more spicy than my first two novels!

Lastly, are there any book releases that you’re looking forward to picking up this year?

David Nicholls very kindly sent me an advance copy of his new novel, You Are Here (which comes out on the same day as Better by Far), and I have fallen immediately in love with it. No surprises there! I’m also very excited to read Intermezzo by fellow Irish author, Sally Rooney, as well as the new Haruki Murukami novel, The City and Its Uncertain Walls.

Will you be picking up Better By Far? Tell us in the comments below!

The post Q&A: Hazel Hayes, Author of ‘Better By Far’ appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Hi, John! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?

Hi! I’m a disabled human who lives where New York keeps all its trees. I’ve always related to monsters, be they Murderbot or Godzilla or Piccolo or the t-rex in Jurassic Park. I have a lifelong love of storytelling, and while this is my first published novel, I’ve been publishing short fiction for about fifteen years now. I’ve won a couple of awards and been translated into ten languages. Besides reading, I am unhealthily excited by history, scary movies, videogames, and pro wrestling (Kenta Kobashi is the GOAT). I am allergic to basically all pets, but if I had my choice, I would love a little shark on legs.

When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?

When I was young, I became very ill and couldn’t walk much. The illness filled my nights with pain, and often the only thing that got me through the night was reading a compelling book. It was the desire to find out what happened on the next page. Authors like Stephen King, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Michael Crichton were a lifeline for me. I’d enjoyed stories beforehand, but in that period I truly fell in love with the power of storytelling. As I learned to walk again, one of the things I pushed for was to study writing so that I could do for others what those authors had done for me.

Quick lightning round! Tell us:

• The first book you ever remember reading: The first book I recall taking off a shelf was just called PLESIOSAURS. It was an entire book just about plesiosaurs, which blew my mind. Could you believe a whole book existed just about them? I was tiny, and fascinated by the illustrations, especially the one of them using their flippers to climb onto land. I’d never thought about aquatic critters coming up onto the beaches. I have never found that book again as an adult, but it kickstarted my desire to yank every odd book off the shelves.
• The one that made you want to become an author: There was something about Stephen King’s The Wasteland, which probed his Dark Tower world and made it even weirder, and bent so many conventions. It made storytelling feel more tactile to me. Like it wasn’t just something to learn, but something to play with, and to experiment with. Not only did I love that book, but it left me feeling like I could grow if I pushed myself. Growing as writers always starts with pushing a boundary.
• The one that you can’t stop thinking about: I think about Ken Liu’s Dandelion Dynasty all the time. An Epic Fantasy where he treated the world as the main character, and so it got the most development. It wrestles with so many philosophical questions, and every answer just makes conflicts harder to resolve and wipe away. Those books have more of the truth of history than many history books.

Your debut novel, Someone You Can Build a Nest In, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?

Monstrous. Sympathetic. Funny. Affectionate. Carnivorous.

What can readers expect?

Shesheshen is a shapeshifting monster who lurks on her isthmus, living reclusively and avoiding monster hunters. After being badly injured and poisoned, she’s rescued by a kindly human named Homily, who mistakes Shesheshen for a fellow human and nurses her back to health. The more time they spend together, the closer the two get. Shesheshen never thought love was possible with a human, but that same love makes it harder for Shesheshen to hide her secret. She’s about to confess when Homily reveals why she’s in the isthmus: she’s hunting a horrible shapeshifting monster. Has Shesheshen seen it anywhere?

So far critics have called it funny, gory, sweet, Cozy Horror, Cozy Fantasy, Dark Fantasy, Romantasy, Romance, Body Horror, and Comedy. So you can expect a wide range of things! But mostly you can expect a very sympathetic monster in a wide and complex world.

Where did the inspiration for Someone You Can Build a Nest In come from?

I have always liked monsters and villains in stories. Some of them are inherently charismatic or have neat designs, but in most cases they fill odd roles in their worlds. What do xenomorphs do when no humans have landed on their planet? What is a slow summer like for a banshee? So I wanted to play with a long form story about the internal life and growth of a monster. But more than that: I wanted to explore her search for companionship and joy. The notion of this typically terrifying creature desperately trying not to blow it with a cute girl from out of town was too fun. Every scene I played with wound up expanding and suggesting more context, and more ways the two of them could grow. It had to be a novel to do them justice.

Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?

Homily and Shesheshen’s first meeting was a weird delight. It was one of those times when Shesheshen was so overwhelmed she misunderstood everything, and so she thought she was trapped in a net when she was actually wrapped up in a blanket. Her fury at being taken care of when she was sick was both so funny and so relatable. Then over the course of the novel, every time Shesheshen and Homily’s relationship expanded and one spurred the other to grow? That keep me stuck to my keyboard, to keep it going. Without spoiling it, when some of the bigger revelations happened, they turned out more dramatic and resonant than I’d ever planned. But I was sweating for them both!

This is your debut published novel! What was the road to publishing like for you?

A long and winding one! I have been publishing short fiction for fifteen years now. It was a slow boil of a career, one really weird story after another, then some breaking big or even going viral. “Open House on Haunted Hill,” about a lonely haunted house that promises to behave if someone will just live in it, felt like my “coming of age” as an author. That story won the Nebula and was nominated for so many other awards. I still dearly love short fiction and keep writing it; I have six or seven new shorts coming later this year. But the whole time, I was writing novels on the side, honing my craft. To some extent my short fiction was also proving that there was an audience for my strange, warmhearted brand of storytelling. Many agents and editors told me that sort of stuff just didn’t sell. But Hannah Bowman believed in me. She is my agent now. She rejected my prior two books but saw power in them and kept offering to see the next thing. This book here? This was the next thing. Hannah is so wise and helped shape the book to go on submission, where it wound up gathering a lot of attention and going to auction. Editor Katie Hoffman and DAW Books came out of nowhere to win it, and have done a wonderful job championing this disabled, queer, monstrous book. Many days it still doesn’t feel real! I try to remind other authors who are struggling because they’re different to keep believing in themselves.

What’s next for you?

So I can’t announce what it’s about yet, but I’m writing another novel for DAW Books. It’s about new characters and a different world, but it shares strong thematic ties to Someone You Can Build A Nest In. It’s another angle on finding kinship with monsters. Where Someone You Can Build A Nest In is principally a novel about our bodies and how we use them to our personalities, this next novel is about voices and how they express more about us than we realize. I’m excited for folks to see it!

Lastly, are there any book releases that you’re looking forward to picking up this year?

So right now I have Kelly Link’s The Book of Love sitting on my desk at home, waiting for me the second I have free time. She’s one of my favorite living short story writers and I am so psyched to see what a novel from her looks like.

Among books that aren’t out yet, M.H. Ayinde’s A Song of Legends Lost sounds like an amazing epic. Eden Royce’s Psychopomp and Circumstance digging into the horror-vibes of the U.S. Reconstruction era should be dynamite.

Some that crash to mind are Julie Leong’s Teller of Small Fortunes, Samantha Mills’s The Wings Upon Her Back (Sam just won basically all the awards last year for her short story “Rabbit Test”), Jules Arbeaux’s Lord of the Empty Isles, R.S.A Garcia’s The Nightward, and (also on the theme of nights!) Hildur Knútsdóttir’s The Night Guest. It’s such an amazing year for new fiction.

Will you be picking up Someone You Can Build a Nest In? Tell us in the comments below!

The post Q&A: John Wiswell, Author of ‘Someone You Can Build A Nest In’ appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Hi, Trish! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?

Hi, Nerd Daily! I’m just a girl from Rochester, NY who moved to California before my junior year of high school and I never left. Rochester was a special place to grow up. It also has the very best autumn. We’d get donuts and cider from Schutt’s Apple Mill before picking our pumpkins, going through a corn maze, or riding a haunted hay ride (which might have honestly scarred me for life). But as a result, I developed a deep love for Halloween and all things macabre and thrilling, really. As I got older, I thought I wanted to go to film school but that didn’t really work out, so I got my degree in English Literature from UCLA. In addition to writing, I enjoy strolling through historic cemeteries, baking desserts, and playing with my daughter. Her favorite books to read are books about ghosts and pumpkins so perhaps my taste has influenced her, for better or worse!

When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?

In elementary school, my family went to Disney World for the very first and last time, and we all got a bad stomach flu. I think we only spent a day or two at the parks because we were in pretty bad shape. When I was feeling better, I remember drawing storyboards for some of my favorite TV shows like Hey, Arnold! and making up episodes to pass the time spent stuck in our hotel room. I think I especially enjoyed it because I had a captive audience. In middle school I began to write poetry. I really loved trying to string words together and make them sound beautiful. My seventh grade English teacher had me read some of my poems aloud in class which didn’t bode so well in terms of trying to woo my crushes or thwart bullies so I never did it again. The poems were all about Halloween (surprise!). I had a very encouraging high school film teacher, Mr. Marshall, whose passion for storytelling was infectious. It was the first time in my life that I seriously thought it was possible to become a storyteller. I wrote a half-finished screenplay and that feeling I had while working on it was just the best and I knew I had to at least try and pursue storytelling in some form.

Quick lightning round! Tell us:

• The first book you ever remember reading: The Twelve Dancing Princesses
• The one that made you want to become an author: The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline B. Cooney
• The one that you can’t stop thinking about: How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

Your debut novel, The One that Got Away with Murder, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?

Kissing and murder don’t mix.

What can readers expect?

The One That Got Away with Murder is a story about a new girl learning to come to terms with her traumatic past so that she can get justice for two girls whose deaths are clouded in suspicion. It’s a story about learning how to let people in again—something Lauren, my main character, starts to do when she meets Robbie Crestmont. She begins falling for Robbie before learning he was the last person to see his ex-girlfriend alive. It’s a story about monsters hiding in plain sight. Readers can expect a lot of romantic tension, a lot of suspicious characters, and a killer(s) who will do anything to keep the truth a secret. And maybe expect a gasp or two during the finale…

Where did the inspiration for The One that Got Away with Murder come from?

I remember first getting the image of two brothers with shady pasts and I wanted to know more about them, really. Lauren was my way into that. I also wanted to write a story about one of the first formative events teenage girls experience: the first time a boy or man makes you feel unsafe, and becoming aware that a lot of men are unsafe, actually. Even the ones we trust. Especially the ones we trust. So those two components were the first key nuggets of the story for me. I wrote out the first chapter to find Lauren’s voice and it really flowed and she surprised me. Or rather, her coping mechanisms surprised me. The first chapter hasn’t changed too much from that first draft.

Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?

I enjoyed writing Lex. Perhaps because I’m most like her. She’s the ‘parent’ friend, so to speak. She’s trying to take care of everyone else around her and sometimes that comes at the expense of putting herself first. And she’s so so different from Lauren.

The scene on the boat, when Lauren is at Lake Monarch for the first time, was really fun to write because it’s a huge moment. Lauren has just made this disturbing discovery but she has to pretend like everything is perfectly fine for her own safety and sanity and I loved exploring how she felt on the inside versus the outside.

There are a couple of chapters that break POV and those were fun to write. But I guess I won’t say more than that!

This is your debut published novel! What was the road to becoming a published author like for you?

It’s been about a decade-long journey for me! I first seriously began writing novels in college and queried after I graduated, but my writing was not ready for prime time. I spent the next eight or so years writing quite a bit. I wrote a lot of short fiction and experimented with genre and POV and voice and published a few of those. I wrote several manuscripts to try and figure out what kind of writer I was. A couple of years ago, I had finished a coming of age/mystery YA novel that I felt very confident about and knew I was ready to shoot my shot again. I began querying and received my first full request and so I thought that was a good sign. In the very beginning of that process, I had a very random and kind of uncanny encounter that set off my publishing journey: I met my now agent’s sister at my grandmother’s funeral in State College, Pennsylvania.

We got to talking in the receiving line. I mentioned I was a writer, and she said her sister was a literary agent. She connected me to Kristin and I asked Kristin for her best publishing and querying advice. After our call, Kristin asked me to send along my query package and she ended up loving it. I did a R&R before she signed me along with her colleague, Stephen. We went on submission with that book and I began working on MURDER. MURDER ended up being the one! So, it really all began with my grandmother’s funeral, I suppose. She loved the arts and I remember her picking me up from the State College airport one time and she was holding a copy of one of my published short stories. She was very proud. It feels special and meant to be.

What’s next for you?

I’m working on a new young adult thriller with a main character who is very different from Lauren in a lot of ways, but she has her own baggage, too, I suppose! I love her dearly. I won’t say too much because it is not an announced project but I’m really enjoying the departure from my debut and seeing how much I’ve grown as a writer since the first draft of MURDER.

Lastly, are there any book releases that you’re looking forward to picking up this year?

Oh gosh, there are just SO many good ones coming out over the next few months but I’ll try to name only a few. I can’t wait to get my hands on Meredith Adamo’s stunning debut NOT LIKE OTHER GIRLS. I’m also eagerly awaiting THE LAST BOYFRIENDS RULES FOR REVENGE by Matthew Hubbard, PERFECT LITTLE MONSTERS by Cindy R.X. He, THE BLONDE DIES FIRST by Joelle Wellington, and LOOKING FOR SMOKE by K.A. Cobell. I’m also a huge Casey McQuiston fan and can’t wait to devour THE PAIRING.

Will you be picking up The One That Got Away With Murder? Tell us in the comments below!

The post Q&A: Trish Lundy, Author of ‘The One That Got Away With Murder’ appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Hi, K.T.! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?

Hi everyone! I’m a former magazine editor and debut psychological thriller author. I grew up in a small town in northeast Ohio. After graduating from Brown University with a very practical degree in Art Semiotics, I bounced around between NYC, Taipei, Beijing, Shanghai, and San Francisco. I’ve now settled in a small town in Maryland with my family and our rescue terrier Alice.

When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?

Like most writers, I was a voracious reader as a child. I didn’t fit in well in my claustrophobic semi-rural Midwest school (my graduating class had about 50 kids total) and spent most of my time daydreaming. Daydreaming = non-written fiction. As a magazine editor, I enjoyed shaping interviews and secondary research into compelling features.

Quick lightning round! Tell us:

• The first book you ever remember reading: A FLY WENT BY by Michael McClintock
• The one that made you want to become an author: ON WRITING by Stephen King
• The one that you can’t stop thinking about: I NEVER PROMISED YOU A ROSE GARDEN by Joanne Greenburg

Your debut novel, You Know What You Did, is out April 16^th! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?

The Shining meets Celeste Ng

What can readers expect?

YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID tells the story of Annie Shaw, a first-generation Vietnamese American artist whose life unravels following the death of her mother. Annie’s long dormant OCD comes roaring back, but this time—the intrusive thoughts in her head might just be coming true. When a rich art patron disappears, the police investigation zeroes in on Annie. Spiraling with self-doubt, she distances herself from her family and friends, only to wake up in a hotel room—naked, next to a lifeless body.

YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID wraps compelling themes of intergenerational trauma and mental health around a traditional thriller framework. I call books like these, “thriller PLUS” (think: The House in the Pines by Ana Reyes, The Leftover Woman by Jean Kwok). Page-turners that also make for great book club discussions.

Where did the inspiration for You Know What You Did come from?

I had just read Stephen King’s “On Writing” where he talks about prompting yourself with a simple question, “What if…”? So, while walking my dog I let my mind wander. I have obsessive compulsive disorder which involves unwanted, intrusive thoughts. I asked myself, “What if…my most disturbing intrusive thoughts came to life?” This was the springboard for YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID. Annie’s battle with disgust-driven contamination-based OCD in the novel mirrors my own.

Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?

Writing about Annie’s mental health struggle was emotionally difficult but satisfying. OCD is usually treated lightly in the media—the quirky germaphobe or the lovable “superstitious” friend. But in many cases, OCD is a dark and debilitating experience. My raw portrayal pulls no punches. I want the reader to experience the psychological horror of what it feels like to be a prisoner in her own body. Seeing the world through a different lens is a magical experience, and it’s how we begin to connect and empathize with each other.

This is your debut published novel! What was the road to becoming a published author like for you?

Thankfully, I went into the debut experience cold. I didn’t research publishing or seek out information on social media. And whenever I happened upon any advice tinged with negativity or pessimism, I stopped reading, listening, and tuned it all out. I focussed on one step at a time. One chapter at a time until I finished the manuscript. Then I queried and went on sub to publishers. The entire process from typing the first word to launch took place over three years.

What’s next for you?

I’m working on my next psychological thriller featuring complex characters that reflect our multicultural reality. I may or may not be drawing on my previous experience in the world of beauty and fashion (Shhh!).

Lastly, are there any book releases that you’re looking forward to picking up this year?

I was lucky enough to read advance copies of Kellye Garrett’s Missing White Woman, Lauren Ling Brown’s Society of Lies, and Lily Samson’s The Switch—these were all dark, fantastic fun! I’m looking forward to reading Bodies to Die For by Lori Brand, If Something Happens to Me by Alex Finlay, and Someone in the Attic by Andrea Mara—all of which are on my TBR shelf.

Will you be picking up You Know What You Did? Tell us in the comments below!

The post Q&A: K.T. Nguyen, Author of ‘You Know What You Did’ appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Hi, Carter! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?

Sure! I’ve been writing for over twenty years, having started one day as an attempt to solve a riddle I posed myself. Ten published books later I’m finding my groove in the psychological-thriller market, having hit the USA Today bestsellers list and having won numerous awards. In addition to my writing, I’m the founder of Unbound Writer, a company that offers one-on-one coaching, writing retreats, and online classes. I live just outside Boulder, Colorado.

When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?

It wasn’t until I was 33, though it was in my 20’s that I first fell in love with books (most notably Stephen King and James Clavell). I never had any dreams (or experience) to become a writer, but on that fateful day when I posed myself a riddle and tried to find an answer, the result was a 400-page manuscript that I wrote in just three months. That book never sold, but it made me stop in my tracks and think: maybe this is what I’m supposed to do with my life.

Quick lightning round! Tell us:

• The first book you ever remember reading: Damn, I’m not sure I can think back that far. But I remember the first book I loved in school was The Princess Bride, which we read in 7^th grade.
• The one that made you want to become an author: No particular book–I just learned I loved to create my own stories. I think most authors take their inspirations from many books, in addition to movies and TV shows.
• The one that you can’t stop thinking about: The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Your latest novel, The Father She Went to Find, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?

Road trip gone terribly wrong.

What can readers expect?

They can expect a unique character in Penny Bly, who’s a 21-year-old savant with exceptional mental abilities. They can expect to find Penny struggling mightily when she ventures outside the comfort of everything she’s ever known to search for her father. They should be prepared for some violent scenes, but those are a small part of the story. They can expect a lot of emotion and questions about what it means to search for and find happiness.

Where did the inspiration for The Father She Went to Find come from?

Penny just popped into my head one day and I couldn’t stop thinking about her. I didn’t know anything about this person except that she was 21 and a savant. I was in the middle of writing another book at the time, and I told myself, “if I’m still thinking about this person when I’m done, I’m going to write about her.” Months later she was still there, so I sat down with a blank Word document and tried to figure out who the hell she was.

Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?

One of Penny’s abilities is to draw with an almost photographic realism. She doesn’t even know how she does it; she simply visualizes dots appearing in her mind as she stares at a blank piece of paper, and she just touches the dots with her pen. The first time I wrote about her doing this I had the greatest time. I think I had to cut it down quite a bit because I got too carried away.

What’s next for you?

My next book is titled TELL ME WHAT YOU DID and comes out January 2025. It’s a dark thriller centered on a popular podcast host being hunted by the same person who killed her mother.

Lastly, are there any book releases that you’re looking forward to picking up this year?

I can’t wait to read Stuart Turton’s THE LAST MURDER AT THE END OF THE WORLD. Stuart’s a helluva writer.

Will you be picking up The Father She Went To Find? Tell us in the comments below!

The post Q&A: Carter Wilson, Author of ‘The Father She Went to Find’ appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Hi, Erhu! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?

My pen name is Erhu Kome, a short form of my lengthy birth name. I like to write stories with fantastical elements and a dash of romance. I am an anime enthusiast and I love when I find a good comedy or procedural TV show to binge watch.

When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?

I discovered my love for writing in primary school when I decided to write down the Disney movies I had watched in prose form. The first story in the notebook was of course, Cinderella, lol.

Quick lightning round! Tell us:

• The first book you ever remember reading: Sugar Girl by Kola Onadipe
• The one that made you want to become an author: Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
• The one that you can’t stop thinking about: The idea I’m currently working on.

Your YA fantasy debut, The Smoke That Thunders, is out April 9^th! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?

Cozy. Exciting. Unforgettable. Insightful. Entertaining

What can readers expect?

They can expect to be transported to new world, to learn new things and to be entertained.

Where did the inspiration for The Smoke That Thunders come from?

In my second year at university, I could no longer lie to myself and focus on what I went there to study. I hated it. My grades suffered. I knew I wanted to write but I was stuck. In a way I wrote this book to free myself from feeling stuck. I believed I could do it and I never gave up. I wanted to write a story about a girl who is determined to go after her dreams just like I went after mine.

Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?

I really enjoyed writing about the time when Naborhi meets the talented girls at The Red Tapestry. Working there really opened up Naborhi’s mind and her world.

Can you tell us a bit about your worldbuilding process?

I’m a plotter so I outline before I start writing. I ask myself, where and who am I drawing inspiration from? (Usually from my tribe, the Urhobo people)  And then I go from there. I start with my main character. I picture her interacting with her world, her family, and the story comes.

What’s next for you?

More fantasy books. After writing The Smoke That Thunders I told myself I won’t write fantasy again. I didn’t think I could do it. But here I am already putting down words for another YA fantasy novel lol.

Lastly, are there any book releases that you’re looking forward to picking up this year?

Yes, The Longest Autumn by Amy Avery. The premise is fascinating!

Will you be picking up The Smoke That Thunders? Tell us in the comments below!

The post Q&A: Erhu Kome, Author of ‘The Smoke That Thunders’ appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Hi, Stephen! Welcome back! How have the past 2.5 years been since we last spoke for My Heart Is A Chainsaw?

Last two and a half years have been full of book events. Just wall-to-wall. Which is how I like it. My favorite places to be are: with my family; on the trail on my mountain bike; bookstores and libraries; walking my dog; and on the floor of a convention, under the tents of a festival, in the halls of a conference, and, okay, a most favorite place is also the big, smooth concrete floor of a roller-skating rink—especially when Van Halen’s cranked loud and the lights are down low, and somebody out there has glow-in-the-dark wheels on their skates, and anything can happen.

Quick lightning round before we dive in! Tell us:

• The first book you ever remember reading: Where the Red Fern Grows, by Wilson Rawls. Fourth grade. Took me three check-out periods to get through it. Changed me forever.
• The one that made you want to become an author: The Wolfen, by Whitley Streiber—specifically, those chapters in the voice of the grandfather wolf. They were my bible, when I was twelve years old. I’d never been as amazed by anything.
• The one that you can’t stop thinking about: Probably Bastard out of Carolina, by Dorothy Allison. I come back to this one regularly, to, you know, use my mind, my brain, try to figure out its magic. But each time I just fall in, ride this story, forget I’m even reading at all.

The Angel of Indian Lake is the final installment in your Indian Lake Trilogy and it’s out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?

Fast, bloody, full of heart.

What can readers expect from this final installment?

The third installment of a trilogy always has to up the stakes and kill people we thought couldn’t die. I knew this going in, knew I’d have to do all that. In Chainsaw, Jade was fighting for herself. In Reaper, she was fighting for her friends, for this family she’d cobbled together. In Angel, she’s having to fight for her community—for Proofrock. And of course I had to adhere to Randy’s rules for the third in a trilogy, too. They were very helpful. This is my first time doing this, I mean. I needed a lot of help.

Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring one last time?

I was surprised that Lemmy was back, yeah. It was so great watching him move across the classroom, stand on the dam, lean over the railing of this next yacht. I mean, it’s always great hanging with Jade and Letha, and it’s wonderful just to remember Mr. Holmes with them—I miss that guy—but I think Lemmy was the real surprise for me, this time around. I looked away from him long enough that he grew up, became his own person. It’s like that James Dickey poem, “A Birth,” where, “Inventing a story with grass, / I find a young horse deep inside it.” I’ve been inventing this story with blood and water, snow and machetes, but, fording through all that, I never expected this six-and-a-half foot tall lumbering dude in a curl-brimmed cowboy hat to be smoking a cigarette and glaring up at me, more there in his eyes than I ever planned.

Was there anything you cut from the trilogy that you would have love to have kept in?

Oh, man, so much was cut. For good reason. But I do miss it. What I miss most, probably, is, in Chainsaw, there used to be fifty pages or so—as I remember it—that was all about the Founders doing this big media event where they swim the lake, to show how remote and inaccessible Terra Nova is. And how cool they are, of course. It finally didn’t earn its keep, had to be left behind. But it’s still there, for me. There was also a version of Reaper where Gal, like Jade and Letha and Armitage, was a slasher expert. So, she wrote this paper detailing the formula, the conventions. She ended up having to be re-rigged such that she didn’t know any movies. But I miss that chapter.

What was it like finishing the trilogy? How did you celebrate?

My ritual for finishing a book has been, since 1998, to go out into the world and find some fried zucchini to celebrate with. That’s one of my favorites. In the early 90s I worked at a seed-research facility, so me and a crew were always driving up and down pump roads, through cotton and sorghum and wheat. For a while we had this guy with us who had the best, most amazing eyes—he could see way out in the fields to where the farmers hid their gardens. You have to hide where you’re growing vegetables, as everybody steals them. But this guy on our crew, you couldn’t hide your vegetables from him. He’d spot them, we’d stop the truck, and we’d hunch over low as we could, run out there, and then crash back at top speed, holding all the zucchini and squash and okra to our chests we could. And when the farmer was on our heels, that just made it better. I think that’s why I celebrate with fried zucchini. Because it reminds me of getting away with something . . . just barely, by the skin of my teeth. That’s what finishing a novel is, for me. Maybe someday I’ll grow up and, I don’t know, be better, less a kid stealing vegetables, running away with the biggest grin on my face. But, no time soon.

What do you love about writing within the horror genre?

I really like the visceral response horror can elicit, provoke, extract. Being able to mess with how someone turns the lights off on the way to their bed? Man, that’s the highest honor. And letting them laugh along the way, and cry, and grin, and both wish they were in this story and be thankful they’re not—I love it so much. I’ll forever be writing horror. In horror—I think Bryan Fuller says this somewhere?—the stakes are cranked high from the get-go, to operatic proportions, which is always verging on melodrama. But, like Richard Hugo says, you’ve got to toe that line. Leaning over it, that’s where the good stuff is.

What’s next for you?

I Was a Teenage Slasher in July. It’s set in 1989 in Lamesa, Texas, maybe forty-five miles from where I grew up. And, Lamesa’s where I did a lot of growing up. The narrator of Teen Slasher is this guy Tolly, who’s seventeen—my age in 1989. This is a very personal novel, to me. I mean, they all are. But this one, it feels a lot like autobiography. Except for all the killing. But, too, we all leave bodies behind, don’t we? People we hurt. People we should have been there for better. People who tried to help us, and finally couldn’t. That’s where Teen Slasher lives and tries to breathe.

Lastly, are there any book releases that you’re looking forward to picking up this year?

Was gonna say Nick Roberts’s Mean Spirited, but it just came out. But, if anyone hasn’t got that one yet, I say get it. The velocity it moves at is, to me, just how a horror novel should move. It grants the story this momentum that just carries you along. But, as for a book still on the way: Rebecca Roanhorse’s Mirrored Heavens, the third in her Between Earth and Sky trilogy. I’ve read it, but I’m so anxious to see other people reading it, and living it. This, to me, the best fantasy trilogy since Katherine Arden’s Winternight.

Will you be picking up The Angel of Indian Lake? Tell us in the comments below!

The post Q&A: Stephen Graham Jones, Author of ‘The Angel of Indian Lake’ appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Hi, Sarah! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?

I grew up in Michigan but have lived over half my life in Florida, where my hobbies include watching my dogs chase lizards (they almost never catch them) and trying to stop book bans. I write what I call speculative suspense: character driven novels that have propulsive plots and some kind of futuristic tech or superhuman power as a catalyst.

When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?

Very early on! My author bio mentions the slightly Wednesday Addams-ish 35th birthday present I gave to my dad, but I’d been writing and drawing comic-panel stories since I could hold a pencil. (I still draw at about the same skill level.)

Quick lightning round! Tell us:

• The first book you ever remember reading: This is random, but when I was a kid we had a multi-book bound anthology of mostly European fairy tales, which included stories like The Rose and the Ring, Childe Rowland, and other deep cuts. I only remember a few of them but they definitely made an imprint.
• The one that made you want to become an author: Firestarter by Stephen King.
• The one that you can’t stop thinking about: Annalee Newitz’ The Future of Another Timeline, which provides an all-too-realistic look at the society we get when women lack agency and bodily autonomy—and inspiration for taking those things back.

Your second novel, When I’m Her, is out March 26^th! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?

Freaky Friday with Tom Ripley.

What can readers expect?

Plenty of twists and turns in a story about friendship, revenge, and a grudging alliance against toxic males.

Where did the inspiration for When I’m Her come from?

The body swapping piece is just an extreme extension of the human desire to have what someone else has. I was also thinking about how women are so often set up to envy and be in competition with one another, even when they’re friends, and I wanted to both play into and subvert that.

During the writing process I thought a lot about friendships between women and the friendships that I have had. A lot of the time friends are similar to each other in their values, life stages, cultural touchstones, etc., which is why they become close to begin with. But occasionally you get these odd couples who have inequalities between them and/or the personalities are complete opposites. For obvious reasons these are the most interesting narratively. The relationship can easily become toxic if one person is using their social power in the wrong way, which happens between Mary and Elizabeth.

Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?

I had my main character in my head from the beginning. Mary is this disaffected, very isolated woman who desperately wants to connect with people but can’t stop getting in her own way. I embraced the challenge of making her compelling and even relatable, without making her likable. I also wanted to see what she would do once she actually got what she thought she wanted.

I also really enjoyed writing Elizabeth, because I’m a very straightforward person and it was interesting to try and get into the mindset of someone who’s always working an angle and who has learned through bitter experience that appearances are everything. I did research on the online influencer sphere, and that world is just wild to me. It’s so far outside of my experience and values it might as well be on another planet.

The male characters were interesting to create, if a little depressing since they’re kind of a panoply of toxic masculinity (most of them, anyway #nospoilers). And I had fun playing with the tropes of the various genres I’m working in, sometimes turning them on their heads.

What are some of the key lessons you’ve learned as a writer between your debut and your latest release?

The main thing I learned was that writing a book under contract is really hard! My process didn’t actually diverge that much from my first novel, but because I had people waiting I felt like I was taking way too long and being way too inefficient (why couldn’t I just have skipped those second and third drafts?). It took me until I’d come out the other side to really internalize that it takes however long it takes and you have to trust the process. It helps if, like me, you have a patient editor.

Craft-wise, I approached writing WHEN I’M HER as more of a thriller than my debut, the first couple drafts of which were fairly meandering and literary. So I learned a lot about concrete stakes, pacing, and structure, especially as regards a dual timeline novel.

What’s next for you?

I’m currently working on my next cross-genre novel, which includes elements of grounded fantasy, tech thriller, and second-chance romance.

Lastly, are there any book releases that you’re looking forward to picking up this year?

A Love Song for Ricki Wilde by Tia Williams, The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed, Those Beyond the Wall by Micaiah Johnson, The Art of Catching Feelings by Alicia Thompson, A World of Hurt by Mindy Mejia – and so many more. There are always more amazing books than there is time to read them.

Will you be picking up When I’m Her? Tell us in the comments below!

The post Q&A: Sarah Zachrich Jeng, Author of ‘When I’m Her’ appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Hi, Nikki! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?

By day, Nikki Payne is a curious tech anthropologist asking the right questions to deliver better digital services.  By night, she dreams of ways to subvert canon literature. She’s  a member of Smut U, a premium feminist writing collective, and is a cat lady with no cats.

When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?

Man, when I first realized I had this deep love for writing and storytelling, it wasn’t like there was this one magical moment. It was more like a series of little moments, you know? Growing up, stories were all around me—TV shows that felt like they were speaking directly to me, those daydreams where I’d zone out and create whole worlds, and yes, those intense Barbie play sessions where drama was on another level. It was all storytelling, and I was all in.

Quick lightning round! Tell us:

• The first book you ever remember reading: The first book that really stuck with me? “The Monster at the End of This Book.” It just kept me in suspense no matter how many times I read it
• The one that made you want to become an author: What made me want to become an author wasn’t exactly a book. It was the power of stories themselves—the ones from every part of life, including those TV shows and my own wild imagination during those Barbie playtimes.
• The one that you can’t stop thinking about: And a book I can’t stop thinking about? That’s tough because there are so many, but “Famous Adopted People” by Alice Stephens was such a dark, funny, absurd, and poignant story

Your latest novel, Sex, Lies and Sensibility, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?

Smoldering, hilarious, yearny, compassionate, and diverse

What can readers expect?

It’s about two sisters hitting a major life snag, finding out they’re the outside kids and losing everything but a chance to save a rundown property in Maine. But it’s not just about saving the house—it’s about them navigating love, especially when a mysterious indigenous tour guide Bear throws my main character, Nora, for a loop. It’s passion, distraction, and a deep dive into what it means to fight for what you want.

Where did the inspiration for Sex, Lies and Sensibility come from?

I wanted to explore the concept of Black girls facing exile, their resilience, and what it means to fall in love when you’re up against the wall. I wanted something to feel a little like a cross between  Issa Rae’s “Insecure” and “Schitts Creek”

Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?

Writing this book, there was this beautiful moment I adored crafting—Bear and Nora, running, falling in love, recognizing each other’s needs for love and care. It was about physical and emotional connection, and it was everything.

This is your second novel! Were there any key lessons learned between writing the two?

From my first to my second novel, the biggest lesson was to stay away from reviews. They can infect, sure when they are bad, but even when they are good, they burrow deep into creative places where they shouldn’t.

With it being Valentine’s Day, what’s your top three romance movies?

“Pride and Prejudice” (2005), “Kuch Kuch Hota Hai,” and “Abbott Elementary” for that mix of romance and realness.

What’s next for you?

Oh, I’m diving into a sexy murder mystery. Keep your eyes peeled.

Lastly, are there any 2024 book releases that you’re looking forward to?

And books I’m hyped for in 2024? Kristina Forest’s “The Partner Plot,” Kennedy Ryan’s “This Could Be Us,” Etta Easton’s “The Kiss Countdown,” and Myah Ariel’s “When I Think of You.” It’s gonna be a good year for books, y’all.

Will you be picking up Sex, Lies and Sensibility? Tell us in the comments below!

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