Sarah Beth Durst

Sarah Beth Durst is the award-winning author of over twenty books for kids, teens, and adults, including Spark, Drink Slay Love, and The Queens of Renthia series. She won an American Library Association Alex Award and a Mythopoeic Fantasy Award and has been a finalist for SFWA's Andre Norton Nebula Award three times. She is a graduate of Princeton University and lives in Stony Brook, New York, with her husband, her children, and her ill-mannered cat.

Durst's new novel is The Lies Among Us.

My Q&A with the author:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

The Lies Among Us is quite literally about the lies among us. When Hannah looks at the world, she sees it overlaid with the physical manifestations of the lies we tell one another and ourselves. A toxic sludge spills from the TV while a politician speaks. A shadowy convertible that no one ever owned speeds past her on the highway. The house she grew up in -- when she looks at it, she sees a cheerful two-story yellow house with white shutters, a porch swing, and pink azaleas. Her sister, Leah, sees a drab one-story beige house with peeling paint and a yard full of junk.

Hannah herself cannot be seen or heard by anyone, and in the wake of her mother's death, she struggles to reach out to a sister who will not -- and cannot -- acknowledge her.

It's about sisterhood, grief, and the corrosive nature of lies, as seen through the eyes of a woman who does not exist.

What's in a name?

My favorite source of names is the Social Security website. They have this baby-name statistics page where you can search for names by popularity in their birth year. I use it all time to ensure my character names match their age.

Beyond that, I try to choose names that match the character in feel. Hannah is sheltered, innocent, and kind -- so I gave her a name where the shorter central letters are visually cushioned and protected by the taller first and last letters.

Leah is more bitter, sharper -- I wanted her to have a correspondingly shorter name that also pairs nicely with Hannah, to make them aurally sisters as well as biologically.

How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your new novel?

I think she'd be very surprised. My teenage self would have expected all my books to include swords and monsters and unicorns and winged cats... and in fact, I have written many novels with all those things. (My latest epic fantasy is called The Bone Maker, and it has a bone army and all sorts of wizards and warriors. And my upcoming cozy fantasy, The Spellshop, has both a unicorn and a winged cat, as well as merhorses and a talking spider plant!) But this novel... It's a true departure for me in many ways.

This novel is my first book club fiction and my first family drama, and it was such a tremendous writing experience! In this novel, I had the chance to use the techniques I'd developed in other genres to explore an intangible concept in a concrete way, specifically the concept of lies and the effect they have on our relationships and ourselves. I learned so much by pushing myself to experiment with style, voice, and the interiority of my characters.

Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?

I can't write the book until I know the beginning. It's where I find the voice of the novel. Sometimes it flows out easily, and sometimes I write fifty or more openings, auditioning different approaches to the style, the tone, the characters, and the story. The ending usually unfurls naturally from all that I've written in the chapters before.

Do you see much of yourself in your characters? Do they have any connection to your personality, or are they a world apart?

I try to create characters who are distinct from me (and from anyone I know). They need to feel like real, unique people in order for me to write them. That said, I think it's impossible to avoid pouring some of yourself into your characters.

Writing a character a bit like being an actor -- you try to imagine what you would do, say, and feel if you'd had a certain set of experiences and possess a particular worldview, and then you try to bring the character to life (except in writing, your tool is your keyboard, instead of your body, face, and voice).

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

I always listen to music as I write. For The Lies Among Us, my playlist included a lot of Kate Bush, Tori Amos, k.d. lang, Edie Brickell, Taylor Swift, Vertical Horizon, and multiple covers of Suzanne Vega's "Tom's Diner."

Visit Sara Beth Durst's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Sami Ellis

Sami Ellis is a queer horror writer who’s inspired by the horrific nature of Black fears and the culture’s relation to the supernatural. When she’s not acting as the single auntie with a good job, she spends her time not writing.

Check out her words in the Black horror anthology, All These Sunken Souls.

Ellis's debut novel is Dead Girls Walking.

My Q&A with the author:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

I am very much a speculative fiction author, and I love, love, loved getting the chance to play around with death in a Friday the 13th-type camp story. Thus, and this is probably a spoiler to some, Dead Girls Walking as a title is quite literal. The girls are dead - and somehow, they are also walking. Gasp!

What's in a name?

The name Temple Baker came to me in full. I usually have to mix and match different names that are familiar to me (there are lots of “Imani’s” in my notebooks), but the original title for Dead Girls Walking was Temple Baker the Badass. I hated the title, but the name itself stuck - and if you read the book, you'll find that that's not all there is to her name (though she'll kill you before she ever tells you).

How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your new novel?

As a teenager, I read anything that was kept in stock at the library. That mostly means that as long as it wasn't popular – thus not already checked out – I was reading it in one sitting. I think teen me would be most surprised that I stuck to one kind of story, one kind of genre. I always loved horror, sure - but I had been reading 2 rom-coms a day back then. I inhaled Kimani Tru and Simon Pulse's entire catalogue just for fun. The idea that my adventurous tastes don't translate to my talent would probably shake teen me to her core.

Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?

Beginnings are difficult for me because they teach me, and the reader, about patience that we may not have. I have to wait to get to the fun parts I like! All of my stories are like a Jenga tower. Readers pick apart at it page-by-page, chapter-by-chapter until everything collapses on itself - and the collapsing part is the fun part for me. Bodies are found, girls are screaming, and somehow I’ve got to rebuild everything that fell apart.

Do you see much of yourself in your characters? Do they have any connection to your personality, or are they a world apart?

I see my younger self in my characters. Temple is hardheaded and frustrated with everything, including herself. It makes her lash out and fight people who are only trying to help her. I wasn't exactly that girl all the time, but there were plenty of times I was. I had friends that were that girl. I've had students that were that girl. And those people just needed someone on their side for once, even when they were acting out. So I tried to write Dead Girls Walking with love love, instead of tough love, for some girl to find it when she needs it – since I’d probably be the same at that age.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

Dreams influence me a lot! I used to have frequent hallucinations around when I went to sleep and woke up (they’re called hypnogogic and hypnopompic hallucinations), and eventually I decided - "Well, I'm a horror writer, so let's write some of these down." I used to have this one particular hallucination that was recurring, which had never happened to me before. I would keep waking up and there would be math all over my walls. Scribbled, in-depth math like a professor's chalkboard. I would always get out of bed to run to read it, but by the time I reached the wall I would be too awake and the hallucination would dissipate. I used that one in Dead Girls Walking.

Visit Sami Ellis's website.

My Book, The Movie: Dead Girls Walking.

--Marshal Zeringue

Heather Gudenkauf

Heather Gudenkauf is the Edgar Award nominated, New York Times & USA Today bestselling author of ten novels including Everyone Is Watching, out this week. Her debut novel, The Weight of Silence, was an instant New York Times bestseller and remained on the list for 22 weeks. Gudenkauf’s critically acclaimed novels have been published in over 20 countries and have been included in many Best Of lists including Seven Thrillers to Read This Summer by the New York Times, The 10 Best Thrillers and Mysteries of 2017 by The Washington Post, Amazon Best Book of 2022, GoodReads Most Anticipated Mysteries of 2022.

My Q&A with the author:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

I think the title, Everyone Is Watching, is a sneaky teaser into what the novel is about. It begs the reader to ask the following questions: Who is being watched? Who is doing the watching and why? Readers quickly learn that the story centers around five strangers who travel to an isolated location to take part in a high-stakes competition reality series for a chance to win ten million dollars. And to make things even more interesting, the show is being live streamed worldwide.

What's in a name?

I often find coming up with names for the characters and the settings particularly challenging. I spend an excessive amount of time agonizing over the right name for a character, a city, or a town. For Everyone Is Watching, I knew I needed to create the perfect name for the estate where the reality series One Lucky Winner takes place. I finally settled on Bella Luce, which means beautiful light in Italian. Here, we have this gorgeous Italian villa in the middle of wine country USA, and initially, the contestants are completely mesmerized by its beauty. Little do they know what dark secrets the estate holds.

How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your novel?

My teenage self would not be surprised to learn that my chosen genre is mystery/thrillers. I have loved reading them since I was probably much too young to do so. I consistently raided my dad’s side of the bookshelf and snagged titles by Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Jonathan Kellerman, Elizabeth Peters, and John Grisham.

Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?

I typically have little trouble beginning or ending a book; along the way, both typically go through extensive editing. For Everyone Is Watching, I knew that the story needed to start with each character receiving their invitation to take part in One Lucky Winner – a reality show that had the potential to change their lives. Ultimately, I only included one of these scenes to keep the book's pace moving. As for the ending – I can't remember exactly how many iterations I went through to finally land on the fitting conclusion – lots of versions ended up on the cutting room floor. I've finally come to an uneasy acceptance that this is just how I write – messily and with many false starts and wrong turns. All I can say is thank goodness for revisions.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

While writing Everyone Is Watching, I watched too many hours of reality television to count: Survivor, Alone, The Challenge, Big Brother, The Amazing Race, and so much more! What did I learn? As a society, we are obsessed with fame, notoriety, and competition. As we watch these shows, we begin to feel like we know the contestants beyond the superficial. We sit on our sofa-sized thrones in front of our screens, christen the heroes, and disparage the villains. We choose sides. I explore this idea in Everyone Is Watching, along with the question – what would you do for ten million dollars?

Visit Heather Gudenkauf's website.

Coffee with a Canine: Heather Gudenkauf and Maxine.

Coffee with a Canine: Heather Gudenkauf & Lolo.

My Book, The Movie: Not A Sound.

The Page 69 Test: Not A Sound.

The Page 69 Test: Before She Was Found.

The Page 69 Test: This Is How I Lied.

The Page 69 Test: The Overnight Guest.

--Marshal Zeringue

Joanna Goodman

Joanna Goodman's novels include the #1 national bestseller, The Home for Unwanted Girls, which was on The Globe & Mail’s Fiction bestseller list for more than six months, as well as The Forgotten Daughter and The Finishing School, both national bestsellers. Her stories have appeared in The Fiddlehead, B & A Fiction, Event, The New Quarterly, and White Wall Review, as well as excerpted in Elisabeth Harvor’s fiction anthology A Room at the Heart of Things.

Originally from Montreal, Goodman now lives in Toronto with her husband and two kids.

Her new novel is The Inheritance.

My Q&A with the author:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

I always write my novels with a “working title” that never makes it to publication. Once the novel is complete, the real title inevitably reveals itself to me. With The Inheritance, my original working title was The Gold diggers. I meant that to be tongue-in-cheek, since the novel is about a mother and daughter’s decades-long battle to inherit from her billionaire father, who died intestate. Because Arden was his illegitimate daughter, the courtroom drama spans from the early eighties to the present, thrusting them into the spotlight and making them vulnerable to being seen as scammers and gold diggers.

Just before the book came out, I changed the title to When We’re Millionaires, which I felt catapulted the reader into the heart of the book’s theme, which is the idea of life being on hold while we chase down our goals, as opposed to actually living in the present. (When I lose ten pounds. When I have a New York Times Bestseller. When we inherit millions…)

All the characters in The Inheritance are in a kind of purgatory as they wait year after year, decade after decade, for this money to come in. I loved the idea of exploring how Virginia, the mother, would hand down that legacy to her daughter - well intentioned, but is it the right choice?

In the end, The Inheritance best captured the soul of the book in its entirety, from the literal courtroom inheritance case to the idea of legacy as an inheritance. Its conciseness won the day.

What's in a name?

So much can be conveyed about a character or a place with just a name. Getting it right can be the difference between an iconic character versus a forgettable character. I spend a ridiculous amount of time choosing the names of all my characters, and when called for, fictional towns like Denby, New York.

The main characters in The Inheritance are the mother, Virginia Bunt; eldest daughter, Tate Bunt; and youngest daughter and main protagonist, Arden Bunt.

I actually address older sister, Tate’s name, in the novel, because it says a great deal about her mother:

"Beauty mattered a great deal to Virginia. Tate was named after another very beautiful person, Sharon Tate. At the time, they didn’t know that Sharon Tate been stabbed to death, only that she was gorgeous."

As for Arden, the younger sister, I chose the name because it’s unique, pretty and unconventional, qualities embodied by Arden herself. I love that it rhymes with garden, conjuring up all kinds of feminine imagery. The name Arden also speaks to her mother’s quirky, individualist nature. No common names for Virgina’s daughters! Naturally, their names would be as wacky and idiosyncratic as Virginia is.

Their last name, Bunt, was named after someone I know. The moment I met her and heard that name, I knew it was going to show up in one of my novels. The name Bunt is like a punch. It has so much going for it - it’s short, powerful, comedic. Virginia, Tate and Arden Bunt are names that I really believe enhance the characters and add to their dimensionality.

How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your new novel?

Teenage Joanna would not be the least bit surprised by The Inheritance. I wrote my first novel at nine years old, and then started many novels throughout my teen years. I used to write blurbs and reviews of these novels as though they were already published. So, the fact of this novel’s existence would not be a shocker. As for the content of The Inheritance, young Joanna would expect that adult author Joanna would be writing exactly this kind of novel. I write pretty much the same themes and types of characters I wrote and read back then. My characters are always women and girls, and they are always struggling with acceptance, self-worth and purpose. I used to read tons of Judy Blume back in the day, and what I loved best about her writing was her female characters. They were so real and authentic, and they were always living through familiar struggles that I could relate to, which is exactly the kind of books I write.

Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?

I find it so much harder to write endings. The beginning is the very best part. I’m fresh and excited and the idea is bursting out of me. The first few chapters of The Inheritance literally wrote themselves, mostly because I already knew my characters, and it was just a matter of introducing them to the reader, and establishing that inciting incident to kick th ebook into high gear. While I always have a clear idea of the ending, it often happens that my characters and my story veer in a completely different direction than the original outline, and I can be as surprised by the endings as my readers are. Without revealing too much about how The Inheritance ends, suffice to say, by the time I got to the last chapter, my original ending fell by the wayside, which feels a bit like flying without your pilot’s license. It’s scary.

The other challenge in writing a good ending is achieving the perfect balance between leaving readers with a positive, uplifted feeling that is also plausible and realistic. I’ve never been a fan of the classic happy ending, and yet it really matters to me that I end on a note filled with possibility and hope; more like a version of a happy ending, grounded in real life. This for me is inevitably requires the most amount of editing and fine-tuning.

Do you see much of yourself in your characters? Do they have any connection to your personality, or are they a world apart?

In a word, yes. I often joke that every lead character I write is some version of myself, or, at the very least, she will go through a similar struggle to ones I have experienced in my own life. Frankly, I can only write what is authentically real to my own experience. In that sense, I always have a deep connection to my characters. In The Inheritance, I feel the most connected to Arden as the mother of a teenage daughter, and also as the daughter of a mother who handed down a very complex legacy that I’ve had to navigate as an adult. So while Arden and her experience as the illegitimate daughter of a billionaire are completely fictional, her experience as a mother and daughter are very much connected to me.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

The greatest influence on my writing is travel. I travel a lot for work and am always inspired by something on a trip - whether it be the place itself, an experience at a museum or the type of people I encounter, there is something about stepping foot outside my own familiar world that seems to unlock a flood of creativity and inspiration. So much of The Inheritance was inspired by one of my trips to New York City. On that particular trip, we walked and walked, from the City Center, with all its court houses and government buildings, to Wall Street, and then through Chinatown and little Italy. We also went to Brooklyn on that trip, and I knew immediately that Arden would grow up in Brooklyn, and that her stepfather, Hal, would have a home there. Just about everything I experienced on that trip wound up in the novel - whether it was the Surrgoate's Court where the inheritance case unfolds, or Joshua’s apartment in Battery Park, or Hal’s little house in Midwood, all those seeds were planted on my travels.

Visit Joanna Goodman's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Inheritance.

My Book, The Movie: The Inheritance.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ron Corbett

A former radio host and newspaper columnist, Ron Corbett’s first book of fiction was Ragged Lake, the debut novel in the Frank Yakabuski mystery series, and an Edgar Award nominee for Best Original Paperback.

The father of four, Corbett is married to award-winning photo-journalist Julie Oliver and still lives in his hometown of Ottawa, Canada, where he writes the Yakabuski stories from the study of a century-old house, “not far from a good river.”

Corbett's new novel is Cape Rage.

My Q&A with the author:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

This is an interesting question because Cape Rage was not the working title for this book. It had a longer, more literary title, and I’m not going to tell you what it was. I’ll see if you can guess it. I believe you can. There are enough clues in the book. It’s a line from a Bob Dylan song – from "Brownsville Girl" – and the line is right in the book. I thought it was a powerful line, what a person will do in the name of revenge, and the book started with that title, the very first thing, that freaking title, so when my publisher said, Ron, uh umm, don’t know how to say this, but, we, how do we say this politely, -- we hate it – I was shocked. Who was it that gave that writing advice -- the first thing you need to do is kill your babies? I thought I understood that expression, but I really didn’t. Not until the debate over the title of this book. In the end, I came to understand the only people that would truly understand the original title would be me, and people who had finished reading the book. But that’s not the purpose of a title. A good title should tell you something about what you’re going to read. And Cape Rage does a much better job of that. It tells you that place is going to be important to the story. It tells you that violence and anger and vengeance is going to be part of the story. And it’s a title I came up with, so I’m happy with it.

What's in a name?

I did give a lot of thought to the name Danny Barrett. I have two series going, the other being the Frank Yakabuski mysteries, which are set on the Northern Divide, in Canada. The Divide is a real place, which I have fictionalized, but I’ve kept many of the real details, including that there are many people of Polish descent up there, including my detective. Yakabuski is a common name along the Divide, and in the Ottawa Valley – which is not that far from where I live. So, when I started the other series, I wanted a simpler name. I wanted hard consonants. I wanted a first name that could be a diminutive. I played around with all that and came up with Danny Barrett. An interesting thing about that name, and which I’m looking forward to playing around with later – it’s his undercover name. It’s not his real name. The reveal on that will come in a later book.

How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your novel?

I think my teenage self would be surprised I didn’t get away with the Dylan title. I don’t think much else would be a surprise. I have always loved mysteries, and adventure stories. I am still reading those stories. I am lucky enough to now be writing those stories.

Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?

This is another question, like your first, that has some background to it. These are some interesting questions. A bit out of the norm. I almost always start with the ending of a story, and then work backwards. In the first Danny Barrett book, The Sweet Goodbye, one of the final scenes, the one with Travis Lee and Pearl Lafontaine, that was the first thing I wrote. In the first Frank Yakabuski book, Ragged Lake, the first thing written was the final scene, almost the final line. Most of my novels have been like this, and if not the final scene, some scene well into the book. The one exception is Cape Rage, which started with an early scene, one of the villains being shot in the back and left for dead in the woods, although he’s not dead, and that starts the revenge plot. The problem with starting with an ending is you need to back it all up – it’s like pushing a car uphill. There must be an easier way. I say that a million times while writing a novel. I tend to come up with scenes and then need to stitch them together. I envy people who envision stories from beginning to end. I envision scenes and then need to connect them.

Do you see much of yourself in your characters? Do they have any connection to your personality, or are they a world apart?

I think Danny Barrett is a world apart. I could never be an undercover police officer. Although he’s like a lot of characters I love reading about. I’ve spent a lot of time reading. That’s part of a writer’s life. Does that count? Frank Yakabuski would be a little closer, mostly because he lives and works in places I would recognize and feel comfortable in. I could be in a canoe with Frank. I could be in a tavern with Frank. I’m pretty sure I’ve met Frank.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

I’ve already mentioned Dylan. I think he’s shown everyone how to be a true artist. True Gen as Hemingway used to say. That would be another inspiration, although obviously literary. I guess Dylan, with that Nobel, would have to be called literary as well. My wife, Julie Oliver, is a photojournalist from Belfast. She’s my rock and I’d be nowhere without her. I have four children, all of whom I love and love me and that blows my mind, how lucky I am it turned out that way. I was a journalist for 30 years, but journalism died and that makes me sad. I’m still looking for the one true sentence. It's out there. All this inspires me.

Visit Ron Corbett's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Sydney Leigh

Sydney Leigh has had a myriad of jobs, from running a small business to teaching English across the globe. She has travelled the world solo, where her daring spirit has led her to jump out of airplanes, dive with sharks, and learn she would never master a surfboard. Leigh served on the Board of Directors for Crime Writers of Canada from 2019-2021. She is a member of Sisters in Crime and International Thriller Writers.

Leigh's new novel is Peril in Pink.

My Q&A with the author:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

The title of my book, Peril in Pink lets the reader know two key things. First, that something bad is going to happen. It’s a murder mystery, so that’s a plus. Second, that the book has a fun vibe. This is a story about Jess, a woman who quits her job and partners with her best friend, Kat, to open a Bed & Breakfast. Jess and Kat paint all of the doors of the B & B pink to help establish their brand (and the title of the book!). Of course, when someone is murdered during the opening weekend, Jess feels compelled to get involved and becomes an amateur sleuth in the process.

No one is going to read the title and think this is an angst-fueled spy novel or a literary thriller (two genres I love to read but cannot write). Like the story, the title is light and playful.

My working title as I wrote the book was Petty in Pink, a play off of the 1980s movie, Pretty in Pink. The publisher changed it and I was okay with the change since Petty in Pink could imply a variety of genres. I want readers to know this is a crime fiction novel, albeit one without graphic violence. Known as a cozy mystery, the title suggests no tissues will be needed while reading this book.

How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your novel?

My teenage self would be very surprised by my novel. In high school I was a horror fan, through and through. If I had to predict which genre I’d write, it would be horror without a doubt. But adult me doesn’t have the stomach to write such things. While I still enjoy reading and watching horror, I wouldn’t be able to sleep if I was thinking about things that scared me all night.

Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?

I love to write the beginnings. It sets the tone, and kicks off the fun. My favorite part of writing is the banter between characters and the start of my books are full of that. Ensuring all the loose ends are settled and solved is trickier. Not that I mind it, either. But it’s tougher for me to write and I definitely end up changing it more.

Do you see much of yourself in your characters? Do they have any connection to your personality, or are they a world apart?

The funny thing is the more I write the more I become like my amateur sleuths. I don’t mean getting involved with murder investigations, but I ask more questions and allow my curiosity space to bloom and grow. I love asking people questions that I may not have had the courage to ask before. Nothing mean-spirited or too personal, but I’m curious to understand people’s reactions and feelings.

I also love trying new things which is what got me into writing in the first place. My characters, on the other hand, are more set in their ways. Also, I’d say I’m more reserved than Jess. Although we both have a goofy side. When I’m not writing, for example, I enjoy taking improv classes. To have a space where silliness and imagination runs free appeals to me. Not so sure Jess would enjoy doing something so out of her comfort zone.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

I love reality TV. There, I admitted it. Selling Sunset, Love is Blind. Yes please. That’s not all. I love seeing movies in theatres because I’m completely absorbed into the story. All genres. And TV has lots of great stuff I enjoy. I love Murder, She Wrote, The Goldbergs, RuPaul’s Drag Race, and Never Have I Ever, to name a few. And my favorite podcast, My Favorite Murder, is definitely an influence.

Visit Sydney Leigh's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Clare McHugh

Clare McHugh is the author of two historical novels, A Most English Princess and The Romanov Brides. After graduating from Harvard College with a degree in European history, she worked for many years as a newspaper reporter and later magazine editor. The mother of two grown children, McHugh currently lives with her husband in London and in Amagansett, New York.

My Q&A with the author:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

I feel so lucky to have landed on the perfect title for this novel! What better title than The Romanov Brides for a book that brings to life on the page the momentous decisions made by two German princesses, the sisters Ella and Alix of Hesse, to marry into the Romanov family, imperial rulers of Russia.

How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your new novel?

I think that my teenage self would be delighted to see that I achieved my dream of publishing an historical novel. In fact, The Romanov Brides is my second. In 2020 I published A Most English Princess, about Vicky, Queen Victoria’s eldest daughter.

Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?

Beginnings are so challenging. So much about a story’s scope, intention, and tone is established in its first chapters, and must be perfectly rendered in order to draw the reader in and retain his or her attention. I find it particularly difficult to choose where in a character’s life to begin, because I love to write childhood scenes. But a little of that can go a long way for readers! For The Romanov Brides I ended up removing 15,000 words from the book’s first section so as to “cut to the chase” of the action more rapidly. I must have rewritten the initial chapters twenty times over. By contrast, I find the second half of any book easier to write because once the first half is in good shape, one is set up unspool the action deftly and end it.

Do you see much of yourself in your characters? Do they have any connection to your personality, or are they a world apart?

Both Ella and Alix are characters with whom I share personality traits—inevitably so, I believe! They are my creations, although I depended on their letters and the contemporaneous memoirs written by others to render them historically accurate. Like Ella, I tend to be a people pleaser (even more so when I was younger.) I am attracted to an artistic temperament, as she was, and once I love a person, I am, like Ella was, loyal to the hilt! Ella has a capacity for faith that I lack and a kind of pride that comes with royal status which is both out of reach to me, and, I fear, unappealing. But characters are never perfect, and if they are, they are flat and boring. I share Alix’s longings for love and security, and her desire to be understood. Her stubbornness, her iron will, and her insistence on being right I certainly relate to—although having lived much longer than Alix did, I hope I have learned to soften these tendencies!

Visit Clare McHugh's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Romanov Brides.

--Marshal Zeringue

Rachel Lyon

Rachel Lyon is author of the novels Self-Portrait with Boy—a finalist for the Center for Fiction's 2018 First Novel Prize—and Fruit of the Dead. Lyon's short work has appeared in One Story, The Rumpus, Electric Literature’s Recommended Reading, and elsewhere. She has taught creative writing at various institutions, most recently Bennington College, and lives with her husband and two young children in Western Massachusetts.

My Q&A with the author:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

Fruit of the Dead came to me through researching the myth of Persephone. While in the underworld, Persephone eats six pomegranate seeds, sometimes referred to as "fruit of the dead," an act that, without her knowledge, binds her to the place for eternity. Every time I revisit the myth I'm offended on Persephone's behalf that nobody tells her, on entry, "Hey, just be aware, the food here is cursed, stay away from it," or, like, offers her any paperwork to look over, any fine print. In my book, the 18-year-old Cory, an analogue for Persephone, is given an NDA to sign, but becomes hooked on a (fictional) drug that her employer, a pharmaceutical CEO, has yet to bring to market. He describes it as, "a highly effective, highly popular, highly pleasant, highly safe, frankly groundbreaking painkiller. Greater efficacy. Fewer side effects. Longer relief. Plus, you know, between you and me, it’s a good time. Not too good. Just good enough, let’s say. Granadone is so safe we used it in a cocktail at the company Christmas party. Vodka, soda, bitters, a splash of pomegranate juice, a slice of lime. Tasty—kind of plummy—and so potent you felt like you’d transcended this earthly sphere. We called the cocktail Fruit of the Dead. I mean, come on. Irresistible, right?" So the titular phrase refers not just to the mythical seeds, but also to this fictional, drug-spiked cocktail, which Cory very much enjoys.

What's in a name?

In mythology, Persephone is also known as Kore, or "The Maiden,” so the name Cory felt like a close contemporary cousin of that moniker. I named her mother Emer for its assonance with the word Demeter. Their last name is Ansel, which is a Germanic name that has some relationship to the idea of divinity. Rolo Picazo is probably the most outlandish name in the book. He's my proxy for Hades, but his name is actually a relic of a much earlier version in the book, when it did not yet have any relationship to the myth. In that version of the book, my antagonist / romantic interest was a writer. His first name is derived from the candy, because he's seductive, a sweet-talker, if you will. I gave him the last name Picazo, which some think may be derived from the Latin "pica," or magpie, as a nod to an idea I got from my dad. My father is also a writer, but works in the realm of art history and criticism; he has a thing about magpies, who are supposed (according, apparently, to folklore alone) to be great collectors and hoarders of things, particularly bright and shiny objects. I toyed with other names for Rolo once it became clear that there was no turning back from incorporating the myth, but I kept referring to him as Rolo Picazo accidentally, so, in the end, it just felt right to leave him that way.

How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your new novel?

I find this a really compelling question, and not just because my main protagonist is a teenager herself. I hope that my teenaged self would feel seen and respected by my treatment of this fictional teenaged girl. But I fear she'd feel embarrassed, overexposed. Cory is a vulnerable character. She makes poor decisions, lacks some self-awareness, fumbles socially, and is written intentionally as a girl with a healthy sex drive. I imagine teenaged Rachel would probably be mortified by all that. Then again, I loved lush, highly descriptive books when I was a teen—Nabokov, Gabriel García Márquez—and, in the sections written from Cory's perspective, my book does, I think, reach or at least intend to reach a similarly luxuriant, elevated register. So, if she didn't know it was written by the woman she'd someday become, maybe she'd enjoy it. I hope so.

Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?

Oh, endings, for sure. But in this case, I think I revised the opening of the book more obsessively. I was clearer on how the book would end than I was on where, precisely, to enter the story.

Do you see much of yourself in your characters? Do they have any connection to your personality, or are they a world apart?

I drew on my own experience to write both Cory and Emer. Personality-wise I don't know if I'm very much like either of them, but they are certainly derived from me. For instance, I was not a failure in school, as Cory is, but when I was in school I certainly blew off the odd assignment, and sometimes took for granted that the consequences of whatever minor slackage I was guilty of just would not be that bad. Nor am I the type-A executive director of an international NGO, as Emer is—I am not obsessive, as she is, or damaged beyond repair by trauma—but I do love a spreadsheet, and I do, sometimes, perseverate on things, and I've certainly experienced some unpleasant things. I think of fictional characters, in general, as, kind of, cherry-picked, finite distillations of certain traits and experiences belonging to the author. Real people are, you might say, infinite. We are always changing; a character—who is made merely out of a few thousand words, who is subject to the constraints of a constructed plot—cannot change.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

This book was influenced by many things. The trials of Jeffrey Epstein and the Sackler Family. The #MeToo movement. The births of my son, and then, two years later, my daughter. My sobriety. The pandemic, of course. Non-literary inspirations are as infinite as we are, I think.

Visit Rachel Lyon's website.

The Page 69 Test: Self-Portrait with Boy.

My Book, The Movie: Self-Portrait with Boy.

The Page 69 Test: Fruit of the Dead.

--Marshal Zeringue

Melanie Maure

Melanie Maure holds a Master’s in Counselling Psychology and lives in central British Columbia. She is second generation Irish and spends a great deal of time in Ireland, which is an enduring source of inspiration for her work.

Sisters of Belfast is Maure's debut novel.

My Q&A with the author:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

The title Sisters of Belfast encompasses the story quite well. If anyone is interested in stories set in Ireland and or the complex connection between sisters, then they will know what to expect to a certain extent. This was not the original wking title, which was far more obscure—lovely but obscure. And thanks to my brilliant editor, who knows the world of books and the importance of a title, especially for a debut novel, we came up with Sisters of Belfast to draw the reader in. Perhaps the original title will work for a second or third book!

What's in a name?

I adore the lyrical sound of an Irish name. Aelish was initially Aoife, but I knew from my experience as a reader that a tricky name can cause a reader to stumble, disrupting the flow if they are unfamiliar with the pronunciation. Aelish, like her name, is a subtle yet complex character. She is soft and still holds an internal power. Looking back now, I cannot see her with any other name. Izzy, on the other hand, is straightforward with sharper edges. And so the sound of the name suited her. Choosing names is the most fun part for me as a writer, and it is how I meet them and form them in my mind. I’m not sure if other authors are this obsessed with the names, but I certainly am. It is where I begin.

How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your new novel?

As a diehard Stephen King fan, I know my teenage self would be surprised. And she would probably have something snarky to say about the book’s exploration of spirituality, seeing as I thought I had it all figured out at that age. I was a know-it-all little punk who wanted to be as far away from her mother’s religious beliefs as possible. Hmm? Sounds like Isabel.

Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?

Endings are more difficult as I love a book that wraps things up nicely and with respect to the story. This can be difficult to do when you have so many characters in the story. I also don’t like to feel rushed into an ending when reading. You can feel it when a writer is rushing to finish, and it can be dissatisfying. I understand the need for a great beginning to bring a reader in, and I feel that a great ending will keep them coming back for more.

While the beginnings are easier to write, they definitely get more editing and tightening. By the time I get to the end of a story, I am deeply intimate with the story and its characters, and so the beginning needs a deeper polish to reflect this depth of intimacy that has grown over several years. It is like bending a straight line into a circle and ensuring the ends match up.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

Music is and always has been central to my life. I am one of those freaky people who can hear a song once, maybe twice, and will remember the lyrics. If I could choose any other form of written expression, it would be to write song lyrics. This pertains to my writing because I adore a song that immediately throws me into an emotional state. This is what I strive to create in my writing. I hope my readers feel deeply and remember the characters after leaving this fictional world.

Just like songs have a unique feel, I believe a great book has the same power. There are certain books I have read through the years, and although I may not be able to recall specific details, I remember well how it felt to be in the story.

Visit Melanie Maure's website.

The Page 69 Test: Sisters of Belfast.

My Book, The Movie: Sisters of Belfast.

--Marshal Zeringue

S. E. Porter

S. E. Porter is a writer and artist. As Sarah Porter, she has published several books for young readers, including Vassa in the Night. Projections is her adult debut. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and daughter.

My Q&A with the author:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

The title Projections takes readers into the heart of the story, but through the side door. The projections of the title have a double meaning: they’re primarily the magical recreations of his young self that the sorcerer Gus Farrow sends back to the ordinary world. But they’re also his fantasy version of the protagonist Catherine, his inability to see her for herself. I wanted the title to be The Projections, but my publisher thought it was more dynamic without the article!

What's in a name?

I loved picking the names in this book! Angus and Gus are named, ironically, for the Celtic god of love; they consider themselves great romantics, but their version of love is utterly corrupt. Anura, the giant frog immigration officer in the city of sorcerers, has the scientific name for the order of frogs. Madame Laudine, a magical artist who makes enchanted fountains, is named after the Arthurian Lady of the Fountain. And Nautilus, the city of sorcerers, is named that both because the spiral of a nautilus’s shell follows a universal order, and also because the magic of the assembled sorcerers creates the city the way a nautilus makes its shell with its secretions.

How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your new novel?

When I was a teenager I wanted to be an artist, so my teenage self would be a bit surprised I’d written a novel at all! But my great loves as a reader were fantasy and modernism, then and now. A work of literary fantasy like Projections is exactly what she would have wanted me to write.

Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?

Writing a beginning tends to feel like magic, as if a voice from somewhere beyond was suddenly flowing through me. It’s intoxicating, but as the story reveals itself I often realize I didn’t get everything right in those opening pages, and I go back to fix them. Endings are harder in a way, because there isn’t that delirious sense of a new adventure. But by then everything is pretty dialed in, so they don’t need much revision.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

In the case of Projections, some of the influences include the history of Spiritualism in America, which I had to research for the book. I was amazed by everything I learned about it. The aesthetic of Nautilus is reminiscent to me of women surrealist painters, especially Leonora Carrington. I’m also a member of a longtime Burning Man camp, and the portrayal of Nautilus is both a homage to Burning Man and a critique of its problems!

Visit S. E. Porter's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Angela Crook

Angela Crook is a novelist and mother, from Cleveland, Ohio, who loves writing dark thrillers that often involve the exploration of the inner workings of family relationships.

Her new novel is Hurt Mountain.

My Q&A with the author:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

Originally the title for my book was called Hurt Farm, but, much to my surprise, I learned that farm provokes a negative response in reader, so it became Hurt Mountain. Considering all actions lead to the mountain, I'd say it does quite a bit of the heavy lifting to take the readers into the story.

What's in a name?

Delilah was a significant choice for a name because of the biblical connotations. Hurt is a religious fanatic, his whole world view is based on his religious beliefs, so him choosing the name Delilah was important to highlight that part of his character as well as to convey his obsession for the girl.

How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your novel?

As a teenager, I was well into my life-long love of all things Stephen King, so my teenage self would find my novel very on brand. In fact, my teenage self would urge me to push harder and go further into the dark side of my writing.

Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?

Since it seems most of my story ideas begin with a character, beginnings are often easier for me. It more than anything else stays pretty much the same throughout the editing process. I tend to actually have a pretty good idea where the book starts and how it ends, before I start writing. It's the middle that changes the most. This tends to be where new characters come out to play, and those nasty inconsistencies seem to hide so well. The middle is all about finding my way to that ending that I started with. But I always try to have an open mind when it comes to changing the ending, because you don't really know, until you get there.

Do you see much of yourself in your characters? Do they have any connection to your personality, or are they a world apart?

I am happy to say, that me and my characters are worlds apart.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

My writing has always been influenced by music, family, and what's going on in the world around us.

I love a good soundtrack to a book and even if there is not music throughout, it'll always show up in one form or another. Whether it's the song playing over and over on the car radio in the car Delilah was rescued from, or the song that reminds Brandon and Lisa of their love, music definitely has it's place in this book and any other book I've written.

Follow Angela Crook on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.

My Book, The Movie: Hurt Mountain.

--Marshal Zeringue

Gwendolyn Kiste

Gwendolyn Kiste is the three-time Bram Stoker Award-winning author of The Rust Maidens, Reluctant Immortals, And Her Smile Will Untether the Universe, Pretty Marys All in a Row, The Invention of Ghosts, and Boneset & Feathers. She's a Lambda Literary Award winner, and her fiction has also received the This Is Horror award for Novel of the Year as well as nominations for the Premios Kelvin and Ignotus awards.

Originally from Ohio, Kiste now resides on an abandoned horse farm outside of Pittsburgh with her husband, their calico cat, and not nearly enough ghosts.

Kiste's new novel is The Haunting of Velkwood.

My Q&A with the author:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

I feel like the title of The Haunting of Velkwood definitely sets the stage for what sort of book this is. You immediately have the imagery of The Haunting of Hill House, to which this novel definitely pays homage. Plus, the word Velkwood isn’t immediately recognizable, so it establishes a little bit of mystery right away.

This book was very different for me because usually, I know exactly what I want to call a work fairly early in the process. With this novel, however, I never quite clicked with a title during the writing process. I believe the working title that I sent to my publisher was The Velkwood Girls. It was decided that was a little vague, so we went back and forth on some options before The Haunting of Velkwood was suggested. Since I’m such a huge Shirley Jackson fan and this novel owes such a great debt to her work, it really seemed like the ideal title for the book. So big thanks to Jela Lewter at Saga Press for suggesting it!

What's in a name?

For me, names are always such an exciting part of the writing process. For the eponymous Velkwood, I remember coming up with that one very early on. It was a word I’d never heard before but somehow felt familiar at the same time. In particular, I wanted something that sounded unusual and earthy and maybe even a little spooky. Plus, with the title of the novel being an homage to The Haunting of Hill House, Velkwood is bit of a nod to the Blackwood family from Jackson’s other classic novel, We Have Always Lived in the Castle.

As for my main character Talitha, I briefly knew someone years ago with that name, and I always thought it was so unique. I don’t know that I’ve come across it again since then. Talitha seemed like such a singular character in the novel, someone who’s become isolated from the rest of the world, so it seemed appropriate to give her a name that also didn’t fit the mold and separated her from other people. As for Brett, I’ve always thought it was such a lovely name for a girl. More specifically, Ava Gardner played the character of Lady Brett Ashley in the Hemingway adaptation, The Sun Also Rises, and I couldn’t help but imagine that my character of Brett has some of that fiery Ava Gardner energy, so that felt like the perfect choice for her.

How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your new novel?

Probably not too surprised. I’ve always been a huge fan of horror, so the fact that I’ve written a novel about a ghostly neighborhood would probably be right up my alley during adolescence.

Mostly, though, I think my teenage self would just be so incredibly thrilled that I’m a writer for a living. It felt like a difficult, nebulous goal when I was young. I wasn’t sure how you could even navigate the publishing industry and make that career a reality. It’s been so exciting to be able to become a writer. Even with its ups and downs, it’s such an incredible honor to spend my days like this.

Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?

I probably change my beginnings a bit more than my endings. Especially with The Haunting of Velkwood, I tinkered with that first chapter a bit to make sure that the reader gets to know Talitha right away and also to ensure that you’re pulled into the central mystery of what happened to her and the neighborhood where she grew up.

On the other hand, I knew very early on how I wanted the book to end. To me, it felt like the last chapter, even the last two chapters, were the only place these characters could end up. So writing the ending was much easier for me, even if it’s a fairly emotional finale. I was really dedicated to seeing these characters through the last of this ghostly mystery.

Do you see much of yourself in your characters? Do they have any connection to your personality, or are they a world apart?

I definitely see a lot of myself in my characters. I sometimes think that most of my characters are segments of my own psyche in one way or another. In The Haunting of Velkwood, Talitha definitely represents how much I’m always trying to move forward from the past, even if I don’t always succeed as much as I’d like. Brett represents my determination to keep going, no matter the odds. And the supporting character of Enid is the part of me that always felt like an outcast growing up.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

I’m a big fan of photography, so I definitely look to people like Cindy Sherman, Bill Owens, William Eggleston, and Jo Ann Callis for inspiration. I’m also a tremendous fan of film, so I’m always watching movies for inspiration as well. I adore David Lynch, Sofia Coppola, David Cronenberg, and some of Terence Malick’s early films as well as lots of horror cinema, including Hammer horror, the Universal horror movies, and Val Lewton’s films. Truly, though, I can find inspiration anywhere—from a walk in my backyard or a trip to the art museum or just a drive to a new place. There’s so much inspiration lurking everywhere; sometimes, I feel like I just have to open my eyes and find it.

Visit Gwendolyn Kiste's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Haunting of Velkwood.

--Marshal Zeringue

Claire Coughlan

Claire Coughlan has worked as a journalist for many years, most recently for publications such as BookBrunch and the Sunday Independent. She was a recipient of the Words Ireland National Mentoring program, funded by Kildare Arts Service and the Arts Council. Coughlan has an MFA in creative writing from University College Dublin, and she lives in County Kildare with her husband and daughter.

Coughlan's new novel is Where They Lie.

My Q&A with the author:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

My husband came up with Where They Lie, the title of my novel. I knew it would work the moment he said it. It evokes the essence of the book, which is a crime story, a mystery. The action starts when a young female journalist, Nicoletta Sarto, answers the phone at the Irish Sentinel newsroom in Dublin just before Christmas in 1968. The bones of a missing woman, Julia Bridges, an actress who vanished twenty-five years earlier, have been found, and Nicoletta starts chasing the story. So, where they lie refers not only to the recovered human remains, but also to the secrets and lies that have been buried for a quarter of the century, which Nicoletta is about to pull out into the light.

What's in a name?

I love naming characters, and I think names are very important. Nicoletta Sarto, my main character, is Irish-Italian, so she has an Italian first and last name, which sets her apart from her contemporaries. She has become wary about the explanation she’s expected to give well-meaning people when they ask her where she’s from. There’s a road near where I live in Naas, a town in Co Kildare, Ireland called Sarto Road, and I walk past it all the time. Sarto was the surname of Pope Pius X and was presumably given to this stretch of housing by an Irish Catholic builder many years ago. Sarto is also an Italian profession originated surname and means ‘tailor.’ I named Nicoletta’s on/off boyfriend Barney King, as a nod to Stephen King, of whom I’m a massive fan.

How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your new novel?

I don’t think she’d be very surprised at all. Though I hope she’d be proud - teenage me wrote a lot but didn’t show it to anyone. I think this is exactly the type of novel she would devour as a reader.

Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?

Beginnings are harder, definitely. I change them constantly, right up to the moment of turning in a draft to my publisher, as there are thousands of entry points into a story, it’s almost impossible to find the one that’s just right. You know where you are with an ending. What I found with my debut novel was that the end scene came to me quite early on. I wrote it out, and it stayed pretty much as a guiding true north all the way through the drafts.

Do you see much of yourself in your characters? Do they have any connection to your personality, or are they a world apart?

There’s probably a bit of me in all my characters; I don’t think I’d be able to write them otherwise. Though the beauty of writing fiction is that your characters can say and do outrageous things you’d never get away with in real life, and I’m actually a fairly quiet, reserved person. To write fiction convincingly takes a leap of faith and imagination, this is a given. But it also takes empathy to create vivid, flesh and blood characters that the reader wants to spend time with.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

Too many influences to name! But the main ones for this novel would be Twentieth Century Irish history, the Italian language and culture, rock music of the late 1960s/classical pianists of the 19th Century, feminism.

Follow Claire Coughlan on Instagram.

The Page 69 Test: Where They Lie.

--Marshal Zeringue