TBR [to be read] is a semi-regular, invitation-only interview series with authors of newly released/forthcoming, interesting books who will tell us about their new work as well as offer tips on writing, stories about the publishing biz, and from time to time, a recipe.
Give us your elevator pitch: what’s your book about in 2-3 sentences?
When Lily
Jeong—smothered by her parents and ignored by classmates—unwittingly aids her secret
boyfriend in a school shooting, she struggles to hide her complicity from
investigators. Forced to face the devastated survivors, she hides in plain
sight as their grief turns to vengeance.
Which character did
you most enjoy creating? Why? And, which character gave you the most trouble,
and why?
Who wouldn’t enjoy Caitlyn Moran, the girl with a pink
stripe in her hair whose dreams of becoming a fashion designer are cut short by
the shooting? Her irrepressible spirit won’t be denied.
Joe Hernandez, the first police officer to enter the school
his daughter also attends, gave us a little trouble trying to find the balance
between his backstory and his current choices. A widower, Joe’s motivation
springs not only from his love for his daughter but also from his continuing
sense of insult from childhood traumas.
Tell us a bit about
the highs and lows of your book’s road to publication.
Four co-authors (writing under the pen name Lee Anne Post)
started this project on a lark in January 2018. A month later, the Parkland
school shooting occurred, and we became highly motivated to complete the novel and
see it published. The story is told from multiple points of view, with each of
us drafting two characters. The most challenging part of co-authoring was
agreeing on edits without killing each other!
What’s your favorite
piece of writing advice?
“You must keep sending work out; you must never let a
manuscript do nothing but eat its head off in a drawer. You send that work out
again and again, while you’re working on another one. If you have talent, you
will receive some measure of success – but only if you persist.” --Isaac Asimov
My favorite writing
advice is “write until something surprises you.” What surprised you in the
writing of this book?
The gun show loophole. It astonished us and our publisher
that it is legal for unlicensed individuals to sell guns to unlicensed buyers
without any limitations or record keeping in 33 states in the US.
On the writing side, although we didn't set out to upend any genre conventions,
magical realism crept into the story.
What’s something
about your book that you want readers to know?
Because we wanted to focus on the survivors, both students
and adults, the shooter gets the least attention, only two short scenes toward
the end of the book. The setting of the story is a typical American suburb, but
we did not specify the city/state where the action takes place, because mass
shootings can and do occur anywhere.
*****
READ MORE ABOUT THIS BOOK: www.thenovelthoughtsandprayers.com
https://www.sunburypress.com/collections/all-books/products/thoughts-prayers
ORDER THIS BOOK FOR YOUR TBR STACK:
READ AN EXCERPT, Chapter 1:
www.thenovelthoughtsandprayers.com/book
