We chat with author Victoria Helen Stone about Follow Her Down, which is a riveting novel of suspense where decades of doubt, fear, and suspicion won’t let a woman overcome her trauma.
Hi, Victoria! Welcome back! How have the past two years been since we last spoke?
It’s been two years?! Wow. I’ve been doing a lot of reading, a lot of writing, and I’ve taken quite a few roadtrips, including one all the way from Utah to the East Coast and back. Road trips are a great way to see the country, and the long drives and gorgeous views allow me to do a lot of brainstorming for stories. I have all the time in the world to find new settings and think of wild plots.
Your latest novel, Follow Her Down, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Murder, conspiracy, isolation, prickly protagonist.
What can readers expect?
Follow Her Down is the story of Elise Rockwood, whose entire world exploded twenty-five years earlier when her teenage sister went missing. At age thirty-five, Elise returns to her small hometown to finally face her demons and try to get her life together. Her quest for healing implodes when her former lover is found murdered in the same place where her sister was killed. Now the police want to know if Elise was involved, and her brother is convinced the deaths are connected by a dark conspiracy. Elise finds that the past can’t be trusted, and the truth about what really happened is still unspeakable.
Where did the inspiration for Follow Her Down come from?
I’m fascinated by the stories that aren’t told in most true crime tales. I want to know about the people left behind. How their lives are affected by trauma. For me, Elise was the starting point for this book. Imagine being a ten-year-old in a household whose focus is, rightfully, on a kidnapped sibling. Imagine the psychological and emotional trauma of that. Elise has been in a lifelong state of fight-or-flight since the moment her sister went missing, and her entire identity in her hometown is being the sister of a missing girl. When she finally returns to face the past, another murder brings all that trauma right back.
What was your process when it came to plotting and writing Follow Her Down?
I always start with backstory, so I spent weeks imagining Elise’s life in the decades before the book. I did a lot of brainstorming and research into what personality traits might come from trauma and fear and emotional neglect. After that, I started building out the bones of the plot and figuring out how Elise would react to different instigating events. All of that planning took months, and once I started putting the story on paper, I wrote from page one straight through to the end in about four months!
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
I loved being in Elise’s head. She’s a fighter, which might not endear her to everyone in her life, but I really loved her scrappy, armored heart. She’s made a lot of mistakes and despite her best attempts at improvement, she’s still self-sabotaging. But there’s nothing I love more than watching a flawed protagonist try save themself and turn things around.
What are some of the key lessons you’ve learned as a writer since your debut?
I’ve learned to really trust my voice and my instincts. I love writing character-driven books with a very deep point-of-view. The books I’ve written that start with a plotline instead of a protagonist have been successful, but I feel like I never truly get to know the characters in the way that I like. Now I give myself all the time in the world to develop that part of the story before I start writing.
What’s next for you?
I just finished the first draft of my next book! The working title is Bald-Faced Liar, and it will be out in 2025 with Lake Union. Bald-Faced Liar is about woman who lived through the Satanic Panic as a child and trusts her true self to no one. She hides from her trauma by making up tales about herself to others. But her carefully constructed life is slowly dismantled when someone begins relentlessly exposing her past.
Lastly, what books have you enjoyed so far this year and are there any that you can’t wait to get your hands on?
Now that I’m done with my latest manuscript, I’m so excited to ready Sociopath: a Memoir by Patric Gagne. My Jane Doe series is from the point-of-view of a functioning female sociopath, so I’m fascinated to hear her story and see if I got close to the mark.
Earlier this year I re-read the entire Murderbot Diaries series by Martha Wells. It’s definitely a lifetime favorite for me. I recommend it to everyone whether they read sci-fi or not. It’s so good.
I’m currently right in the middle of reading Almost Surely Dead by Amina Akhtar, and I’m blown away by the story and the quick pace of multiple timelines and points-of-view. What a treat.
