Happy Wednesday Everyone! Today I’m
excited to have debut author Lauren Thoman here to share about her YA mystery
I’ll Stop the World. I’m super excited to read it because I love mysteries, and
this story also involves time travel.
Here’s a blurb from Goodreads:
The end and
the beginning become one in a heart-pounding coming-of-age mystery about the
power of friendship, fate, and inexplicable second chances.
Is it the right place at the wrong time? Or the
wrong place at the right time?
Trapped in a dead-end town, Justin Warren has
had his life defined by the suspicious deaths of his grandparents. The unsolved
crime happened long before Justin was born, but the ripple effects are still
felt after thirty-eight years. Justin always knew he wouldn’t have much of a
future. He just never imagined that his life might take him backward.
In a cosmic twist of fate, Justin’s choices send
him crashing into the path of determined optimist Rose Yin. Justin and Rose
live in the same town and attend the same school, but have never met―because
Rose lives in 1985. Justin won’t be born for another twenty years. And his
grandparents are still alive―for now.
In a series of events that reverberate through
multiple lifetimes, Justin and Rose have a week to get Justin unstuck in time
and put each of them in control of their futures―by solving a murder that
hasn’t even happened yet.
Before I
get to Lauren’s interview I have my IWSG Post.
Posting: The first
Wednesday is officially Insecure Writer's Support Group Day.
Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns
without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire
can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of
all kinds!
The awesome co-hosts this month are: Jemima Pett, Nancy Gideon, and Natalie Aguirre!
Optional Question: Do you remember writing your first book? What were
your thoughts about a career path on writing? Where are you now and how is it
working out for you? If you're at the start of the journey, what are your goals?
Oh yes, I remember when I wrote my first middle grade
fantasy 20 years ago when my daughter was about 6 years old. I’d just read the
first book in the Harry Potter series and had an idea I was excited about. It’ll
probably be the only book in my life where I wrote the draft quickly.
I was so excited about the story and getting
published back then. I worked on the manuscript for about ten years.
But then I watched how some authors flourished and
others struggled to get a new publishing contract over the years as I featured
debut authors here.
And then I lost my husband and my job and became an
empty nester fairly quickly. I’ve shared about my struggles a lot after he died
and how I lost the desire to write for about six years.
Thankfully, I’m writing again. The process gives me
great joy. But after all I’ve seen in the publishing industry and everything I’ve
gone through, I’m not sure that I want to get published anymore. I’d need the
support of a traditional publisher to do it. The path to that road to
publication is filled with rejections, struggles, and a lack of control over much
of the process. Of course, there is joy too in getting a book published and sharing it with readers. But, with everything I’ve gone through in life, I’m not sure I care
enough about being published to go through it all.
I’m just taking it day by day for now. I’ll see where
my journey leads over the next years and what my goals become.
Interview
With Lauren Thoman
Hi Lauren!
Thanks so much for joining us.
1. Tell us
about yourself and how you became a writer.
Hi Natalie,
and thanks for having me! I’m a mixed-race Chinese American who was born and
raised outside of Philadelphia, PA but has lived outside of Nashville, TN for
more than a decade now. I’ve got two teenagers, two dogs, and a husband who
keeps accumulating fish tanks. We also foster dogs, so there is frequently a
whole pack of furry friends roaming around our house. In addition to writing
books, I’m also a freelance pop culture writer, writing about movies and TV for
various online publications.
Unlike a
lot of authors, I actually haven’t been a writer my whole life. Although I’ve
been a lifelong reader, and I always enjoyed writing assignments in school, I
didn’t decide to try my hand at writing a book of my own until my second kiddo
was getting ready to start preschool. I’d just finished reading The Hunger Games trilogy and had a massive book hangover, and nothing else I picked up
to read was scratching that itch. So I impulsively decided I’d just write my
own book. Nothing beyond a couple vague scenes came from that very first idea,
but it didn’t take me long to come up with another one, and that turned into a
whole book. It wasn’t good enough to snag me an agent or sell, but it was
definitely enough to get me hooked on writing. I’ve been writing ever since.
2. I’m like
you. I didn’t start writing until I became a mom. Where did you get the idea
for I’ll Stop the World?
The idea
for I’ll Stop the World came from a lot of places. First and foremost, I
wanted to write a time travel book. Time travel stories have always fascinated
me (I’ve actually written about them a
fair amount in my
pop culture
writing) so coming up with my own unique spin was
incredibly appealing to me. But of course, a time travel story can look like
just about anything, so figuring out my own was a matter of asking myself what
other elements tend to draw me into a story.
I tend to
really enjoy clockwork universes, where every piece of the story is a cog that
affects something else in the story (Breaking Bad is my favorite example
of this). I love big ensemble casts, and stories told from multiple points of
view. And I like stories that keep you guessing all the way until the end. And
then in the realm of time travel specifically, I am particularly drawn to stories
that wrestle with big questions of fate and free will and how we move through
the universe, and the impact our actions and choices have on the world around
us. I also thought it would be interesting to do a time travel story where the
protagonist is left uncertain about the mechanism behind the time travel—where
he doesn’t know how or why he traveled, or what he’s supposed to do about it.
So all of those thoughts kind of tumbled around in my head for a bit, until
they eventually coalesced into this story.
About
Your Writing Process
3. I’ll
Stop the World is a mystery made more complicated because Justin travels back
in time. Share how you created the mystery aspect of your plot. Do you have any
tips and/or book recommendations on how to write a mystery?
My biggest
tip is do not do what I did and attempt to just fly by the seat of your
pants with no idea where you’re going. That just leads to a deleted scenes
folder that is twice as thick as your actual book. Definitely don’t recommend
that.
Once I
realized that you can’t just wing a mystery (at least not one that’s very
satisfying to read), I had to rein myself in and think through it a lot more
intentionally. I started with the ending—what actually did happen to
Justin’s grandparents 38 years ago, and how is he going to try to change it? Is
he going to succeed? What does a satisfying conclusion to this story look like?
After I’d
figured all of that out for myself, I worked backwards, asking myself which
characters were instrumental to that ending, and which of that group needed
their own point-of-view in order for readers to understand the full story. But
of course, if a character is going to have their own POV, they also need their
own conflict and ARC; they can’t just be there in service of the ending.
So I then had to flesh each of them out to make sure their chapters both worked
to further the overall story, and added something individually, as well as
working to make sure every character and subplot felt cohesive thematically. I
also tried to seed in little clues as early as I could that would help the
ending feel like it paid off. I did a lot of revising of earlier chapters to
weave those pieces in as unobtrusively as I could. As a reader, I always like
when a writer gives me all the clues I’d need to solve it on my own, even if I
didn’t realize it at the time. So I tried my best to do that here.
I also was
watching a lot of ensemble mystery shows at the time like Broadchurch, Mare
of Easttown, and even Riverdale, and trying to take mental notes on
what worked about those plots for me. How did they surprise me? How did they
build tension? How did they handle their reveals? I tend to play my stories out
like a movie in my head as I write, so I often tend to gravitate toward films
and TV rather than books when I’m trying to get in the right mindset for my
stories. The really bizarre thing is that even though I was watching all of
these mystery shows, I still didn’t realize I was writing a mystery. I was just
focusing on how to build toward a surprising yet inevitable ending, one that
felt both emotionally and intellectually satisfying, and it didn’t even occur
to me that of course I was following a mystery formula.
My best
advice for plotting a story with a mystery element is to ask yourself three
questions: 1) What really happened? 2) What do the characters think happened?
3) Why is 2 more compelling than 1? If you want what really happened to be
surprising, you need to make a solid argument for why your characters spend so
much of the story looking in the opposite direction. There’s got to be some
really convincing evidence leading away from the truth. I wish I’d started
here; it would’ve saved me a lot of trouble.
4. Thanks
so much for your helpful tips. I want to write a mystery someday and will
definitely use them. Reviewers have said that they couldn’t put down your book.
How did you create a page-turner?
I’m so glad
to hear that! When you’re writing, you honestly have no idea how others are
going to receive it. Especially with a story that requires readers to suspend a
huge amount of disbelief due to the time travel, it’s really a relief to hear
that people are resonating with it. All I could really do when I was writing
was make sure I wasn’t bored. Since I’ll Stop the World is written from
multiple POVs, I tried to make sure that each one had some sort of conflict
that readers would be invested in and eager to return to, which meant that I
had to be invested in it. Anytime I found my mind wandering or feeling like
I was just spinning my wheels in a chapter, I took a hard look at it and asked
if this chapter was actually working. Often, that led to me throwing the whole
thing out and starting over.
Years ago,
I heard someone say about a super popular yet divisive YA writer something to
the effect of, say what you will about the story, but she sure knows how to
end a chapter. That stuck with me, and always plays in my head when I’m
revising my chapter endings. I try to end each one on a question, maybe not a
literal question, but something the reader is left wondering about so that
they’re eager to keep going and find out the answer. Most of my chapters are
also pretty short, which I hope makes it easier for a reader to think, “just
one more chapter.” I try to avoid writing in good stopping places. If a reader
has to take a break, I always want it to be against their will.
5. I like
short chapters too. You are also a freelance writer and have a family. How do
you schedule enough time for your own writing to be productive with your
freelance writing deadlines and your responsibilities to your family?
Short
answer: I don’t? That’s tongue-in-cheek, but honestly, I am frequently
intimidated by writers who seem like they have the schedule juggling down to a
science, and I most definitely do not. There are plenty of days (or even weeks,
or months) where I feel like I haven’t been productive at all, or at least not
in the way I wanted to be. So I think it’s important to state up front that I
tend to have grand intentions of scheduling in enough time for all the things,
but the reality is that some days I’m successful and some days I’m not and most
land somewhere in between.
That said,
I took several months off from freelancing when I sold I’ll Stop the World because
I knew I wouldn’t have the time or brain power to be able to keep it up while
going through edits. I just recently reached out to a few of my editors and
told them I’m ready to start picking up some pieces again, but I definitely
need to keep it light. The issue for me isn’t so much blocks of time as it is
mental capacity. If I’m spending mental energy writing articles, I don’t have
any left for creative writing. And it also takes me time to shift mindsets from
one to the other. So even though I’m picking some freelancing back up, I’m
trying to be protective of my time and only working on it one or two days a
week, and only in the mornings. (I can never write creatively in the mornings
anyway; I just stare at the blank page until after lunch.)
My kids are
both in high school, so the bulk of my writing time happens during school
hours. It’s not how I’d write if I was single and childless; the words flow the
easiest for me at night, after dinner. But that’s my family time, and after the
kids are in their rooms for the night, time for me to spend with my husband. So
even though I’m a slower writer during the day, I’ve forced myself to try to
fit it all in there. Nights and weekends are for family and rest. Unless I’m on
a tight deadline, of course, in which case all bets are off.
Your
Road to Publication
6. Holly
Root is your agent. How did she become your agent and what was your road to
publication like?
Holly and I
actually went to college together, but didn’t know each other very well at the
time. But when I first started writing, I read a slew of books that turned out
to all be by Holly clients, even though I hadn’t planned that at all. So that
told me that had very similar tastes! And she did remember me from college
enough that we were Facebook friends. Still, though, the first time I queried
her (with a fantasy novel), she passed. It just wasn’t there yet. I queried her
again with my next book, and she signed me on that, but it didn’t sell. We went
on sub several times, with a few different projects, and none of them sold. The
passes from the editors were always very nice—over and over, I heard that the
writing was good and the story was good, but it just wasn’t a fit for their
list/the market/whatever—but after a while, even a glowing rejection just feels
like a rejection.
I wound up
taking a few years off from creative writing entirely, which is when I started
freelancing. I signed with Holly in 2014, and by 2018, I was just tired and
discouraged and needed to take a break for a while. I didn’t write a word of
fiction again until the summer of 2021, when I decided to finally finish this
time travel book I’d been working on on-and-off since I first signed with
Holly. I finished it by the beginning of 2022, and we revised it together
before sending it out on sub that March. She told me it would likely be months
before we heard anything back, since such was the state of publishing after two
years in a pandemic, and that didn’t phase me at all, since I was used to being
on sub for ages, and for nothing to ever come of it. I really had no
expectations anymore; I just figured I’d finished the book, I had an amazing
agent, so why not?
But then we
heard from one of the editors within 24 hours that they were very interested,
even though they hadn’t even finished reading yet. Within the next couple
weeks, we knew of several others who were preparing to throw their hats in the
ring. But then the pre-empt came in from Mindy’s Book Studio, and it was just
too good to pass up. So that’s the one we wound up taking. It was all extremely
fast and unexpected and more than a little weird.
7. How
awesome that Holly and you knew each other in college. What was the process of
going on submission like? What tips do you have for other writers going on
submission?
As I
mentioned above, I’ve had several very different submission experiences.
Several that led nowhere and took a really long time—probably around a year
each, all told—and one that landed me a book deal and was done in two weeks. It
was nerve wracking each time, although the last time was probably the easiest
in terms of keeping my hopes getting too high, ironically. I’ve been to
acquisitions with multiple books, only to have them not get over that final
hurdle.
My best
advice for other writers going on submission is to just try to let it go and
trust your agent (if you have one). Once you’ve written the best book you can,
the rest is totally out of your control, and you can tie yourself into emotional
knots trying to figure out what’s going on in every editor’s head when the
reality is that there’s nothing more you can do to sell that book or figure out
if it’s going to sell.
If you get
an offer, great! If you get multiple offers, amazing! If you get rejections,
you can revise if there’s a common theme in their feedback—your agent is your
best guide in figuring out whether there’s anything actionable in there, or if
it’s just not the right fit—but sometimes there really isn’t anything you can
do other than write the next book. Trust me, I find it super hard to follow my
own advice, and am constantly sitting on my hands to avoid hounding my agent
for updates that she probably doesn’t even have. But once a book is out on sub,
the only thing I actually have control over is writing the next one, and my
mental health is definitely best when I can focus on that instead of the one
that’s out of my hands.
Promoting
Your Book
8. How are
you planning to market your book?
I am
fortunate to have a great publicity team that is handling most of that for me.
I’ve been sharing positive reviews and mentions on my social media, boosting
sales, that sort of thing. Occasionally I’ll do a giveaway. And since I’m already
used to pitching freelance articles, I’ve done some pitching of my own when I
get an idea for something I might want to write that ties into my book. But
mostly, I’m letting my publicists focus on the marketing, while I focus on the
writing. Marketing is not my strength, so I’m happy to defer to the experts
there.
9. How have
you been planning for your book’s release in the year leading up to its
release? What advice do you have for other debut authors?
I joined a
debut group, the 2023
Debuts, which been a great resource in letting me
know what I should be doing when, and has also connected me with some amazing
other debut authors. I’ve had a lot of fun planning my launch party, which will
have already happened by the time this interview publishes, so I hope it went
well! I roped several other local author friends into participating in it with
me, which makes it feel a little more like a party, and also less intimidating
for me, since I won’t be the sole focus of attention. I’ve also been
researching book festivals I may want to apply to, since I have always loved
attending those as an audience member and would love to finally participate as
an author!
Otherwise,
I’ve just been taking my own advice and working on the next thing. I finished a
proposal for what I hope will be my second book, and then moved on to drafting
a new book after I sent the proposal on to my agent. In between, I’ve been
responding to interview questions (like this one!) and writing guest posts that
my publicity team sets up, but mostly I’m trying to enjoy this period of
relative quiet when I don’t have anything under contract, nothing on deadline,
and can just enjoy the anticipation.
My best
advice for other debut authors is to work on the next thing, and try not to be
an island. Join a debut group, for sure, but also plug into your local writing
community (or even a virtual writing community, if you don’t know any local
writers). I’m fortunate to have a wonderful group of local writer friends at
all stages of publication, and we try to meet together to write and commiserate
at least once every week or two. My family is so supportive of my writing, and
I’m incredibly grateful, but publishing is just a deeply weird and confusing
profession and industry, and no one gets it like other writers. My writer
friends offer invaluable support, understanding, and encouragement for me, and
also help keep me grounded when I start to spiral—which I think all writers are
a little wont to do.
10. What
are you working on now?
I’m back to
drafting right now, and am working on a book that’s very different from
anything I’ve written before, while still being very me. This one is a horror
book for adults (although there are still some younger characters in there),
set in a post-apocalyptic haunted house. It’s got even more narrators than I’ll
Stop the World, because apparently I am simply incapable of keeping my cast
small. I’m having a ton of fun with it. I hope people get to read it someday.
Thanks for
sharing all your advice, Lauren. You can find Lauren at her official website, and on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Giveaway Details
Lauren’s publisher is
generously offering a hardback of I’ll Stop the World for a giveaway. To
enter, all you need to do is be a follower of my blog (via the follower
gadget, email, or bloglovin’ on the right sidebar) and leave a comment by April 15th. If your email is not on your Google Profile, you must leave it in the
comments to enter the contest. Please be sure I have your email address.
If you mention this
contest on Twitter, Facebook, or your blog and/or follow me on Twitter or Lauren on her social media sites, mention this in the comments and I'll give you an
extra entry for each. You must be 13 years old or older to enter. This book
giveaway is U.S.
Upcoming Interviews, Guest Posts, and Blog Hops
Thursday, April 6 I’m participating in the Dancing in the
Rain Giveaway Hop
Monday, April 10 I have an interview with debut
author Meg Eden Kuyatt and a giveaway of her MG contemporary Good
Different
Wednesday, April 12 I have an agent
spotlight interview with Roma Panganiban and a query
critique giveaway
Monday, April 17 I have a guest post by debut author Justine Pucella Winans and a
giveaway of her YA thriller Bianca Torre Is Afraid of Everything
Monday, April 24 I have an agent spotlight interview with Jennifer Chen Tran and a query
critique giveaway
Hope to see you on Thursday!
In fact, I kind of hate the pressure to “write every day” like we
all have the motivation to get up at the crack ass of dawn and journal or jot
down ideas or whatever go-getters expect you to be able to do at 5AM. If that’s
you, awesome. Sincerely, I might make jokes about it but if it makes you happy,
it’s golden. If it helps you, hell yeah, keep doing it. However, if that’s not
you, you’re not any less of a writer. It’s okay. Seriously. 
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