On Writing a Twisty Mystery: Interview With Author Jan Gangsei and Dead Below Deck Giveaway and IWSG Post

Happy Wednesday Everyone! Today, I’m excited to have Jan Gangsei here to share about her new YA mystery, Dead Below Deck. I love mysteries, and this one sounds like a page-turner, so I’m looking forward to reading it.

Here’s a blurb from Goodreads:

When an heiress disappears from her superyacht and security footage shows her getting pushed, the main suspect has to prove her innocence in this thrilling mystery at sea told in reverse chronological order, perfect for fans of Karen McManus and Genuine Fraud.

It was supposed to be the best-ever girls’ trip: five days, four friends, one luxury yacht, no parents. But on the final night, as the yacht cruised the deep and dark waters between Florida and Grand Cayman, eighteen-year-old heiress Giselle vanished. She’s nowhere to be found the next morning even after a frantic search, until security footage surfaces . . . showing Maggie pushing her overboard.

But Maggie has no memory of what happened. All she knows is that she woke up with a throbbing headache, thousands of dollars in cash in her safe, a passport that isn’t hers, and Giselle’s diary. And while Maggie had her own reasons to want Giselle dead, so did everyone else on board: jealous Viv, calculating Emi, even some members of the staff.

What really went down on the top deck that night? Maggie will have to work her way backward to uncover the secrets that everyone—even Giselle—kept below deck or she’s dead in the water.

Jan Gangsei crafts a compulsively readable tale of privilege, family, and identity wrapped in a wholly original mystery that will keep readers on the edges of their seats until the final twist.

 

Before I get to Tracy’s guest post, 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: Diedre Knight, Lisa Buie Collard , Kim Lajevardi, and JQ Rose!

Optional Question: What creative activity do you engage in when you’re not writing?

I’m not sure if gardening counts, but I love planting and caring for a small vegetable garden and my flower beds. I tweak the design of the beds every year.

Just recently my daughter has taken up crocheting small animals that can be finished in about three hours. I used to knit and crochet some as a kid. I want to get one of the crochet kits when my fall yard clean-up is done in a few weeks and teach myself to make some cute little animals that I can give away to my nieces and nephews and maybe donate some. I think I would enjoy doing something creative that can be finished in a few hours as a break sometimes from writing a manuscript that takes me years to finish. I’ll still keep working on my current manuscript too. Here's a few examples of what I hope to create:

Interview With Jan Gangsei

Hi Jan! Thanks so much for joining us.

1. Tell us about yourself and how you became a writer.

Hi Natalie! Thanks for having me. I’ve been writing pretty much as long as I can remember (stories were my main form of entertainment growing up in small-town Vermont!). I spent the early part of my career working in journalism and communications, but my first love was always fiction. It wasn’t until my thirties that I started to seriously pursue publication (all while raising a family and moving from assignment to assignment with my Coast Guard husband). No complaints, though! I’ve had the opportunity to live in some very cool places—Key West, New York City, D.C., Barbados—and have had many interesting experiences (all of which, I think, have made me a stronger writer). I’m now back in northern Virginia with my family, where I write full-time!

2. Where did you get the idea for Dead Below Deck?

Right before the pandemic hit, my family and I took a cruise from New York to the Bahamas. It was an amazing trip—and one that turned out to be a stark line in the sand between the before and after times of Covid. The idea for Dead Below Deck came to me during those early days of lockdown, when I desperately wished I could rewind time and go back to the before. From there, I started thinking about what would happen if a group of teens (with secrets and grudges) went on a yacht to get away from it all—but the trip ends (or should I say, begins?) with murder—and the story evolved from there.

Your Writing Process: On Writing a Twisty Mystery

3. It’s cool that you story idea came in part from a family trip. How did you plot out Dead Below Deck? What tips do you have for writers who want to write a mystery on plotting out their stories?

I knew from the very beginning how I wanted the story to end, so the next step was figuring out how to get there. For me, plotting is a bit like plugging a destination into a GPS. I’ll create an initial map with the major milestones (suspects, red herrings, plot points), but there are bound to be detours along the way as I get to know the characters better. Typically, my first draft winds up being something of a super-detailed outline that I then flesh out. But every writer is different! You need to experiment and find the method that works best for you. I think I’m somewhere between a pantser and a planner (maybe I’m a plantster?). I definitely need to know where I’m headed—but I like to give myself room to explore on the way there!

4. You wrote your story in a backward mystery format. Explain what that is, why you chose to write this story this way, and any challenges it created for you.

I really enjoy books that play with narrative structures, and the yacht’s journey created the perfect framework to tell the story in reverse, from Day 5 to Day 1 of the trip. I also felt like the backwards narrative was a great way to reflect Maggie’s desire to hit the rewind button and go back in time and undo her mistakes.

Of course, there are some unique challenges to writing a story in reverse! Mainly, since the story moves back in time, you can’t have a character experience something in Chapter 1 and then reflect on it in Chapter 2, because Chapter 2 happened before Chapter 1, not after. Which also means the reveals unfold in a slightly different way since the characters begin the story already knowing what the reader will learn in subsequent chapters (it’s a bit confusing even trying to explain that—but it works, I promise! ;).

5. Reviewers have said that your plot had a lot of twists and turns and that they were surprised by the ending. How did you decide on which twists and turns to add to lead the reader down other paths?

Thank you! I’m glad to hear that. J

Adding twists and turns is the fun part of writing a mystery! In Dead Below Deck, Maggie’s not the only person on the yacht with a reason (or three ;) to push Giselle overboard. The rest of the friend group (and some of the crew) have issues with Giselle, too. Identifying those alternate suspects (and their motives) helped me plant seeds of doubt throughout the story to lead readers down other paths. At the same time, I also made sure to sprinkle in clues about what *really* happened—so hopefully the ending will come as a surprise, but in a satisfying way!

6. Do you have any book recommendations or other resources you recommend for writers who want to learn to write a mystery?

My biggest recommendation? Read, read, and read some more! There are so many amazing mystery and thriller writers out there. Some of my favorites include Ruth Ware, Gillian McAllister, Karen McManus, Maureen Johnson, April Henry, Megan Lally, Tiffany Jackson, Kit Frick, and Tana French, to name just a few! The more you read, the more you get a sense of pacing, where to include pivotal plot points, how to create a twisty ending, and what works and doesn’t work.

Also, keep writing! Plotting and pacing become more natural with practice. And it’s important to remember that a lot of the magic happens during revision—what you see in a finished book has gone through multiple rounds of editing. So don’t get discouraged or feel like your manuscript has to be perfect straight out of the gate!

Your Journey to Publication

7. Thanks for all your tips on writing a mystery. It’s hard to find enough advice on how to write them. Your agent is Mandy Hubbard. How did she become your agent?

Via good old-fashioned querying! We do have a fun history, though—many years ago when I was just starting out, Mandy was one of the first agents to pluck a manuscript of mine from the slush pile. Although we didn’t sign together at the time, I’ve always been a huge fan of Mandy’s. We reconnected when I was in the market for a new agent a few years back (querying the book that became Dead Below Deck). I was beyond thrilled that she still liked my writing, and I loved her vision for the story and my career. I like to say that it’s fitting her agency is called Emerald City, because signing with her was truly like coming home!

8. What was your road to getting your debut YA book, Zero Day, published in 2016? Has going on submission been easier for Dead Below Deck, and your two middle grade books, The Wild Bunch and Project ME 2.0?

Ahhh… the answer to this might be as twisty (and long, sorry!) as some of my favorite plots!

A quick rewind: I signed with my first agent in 2010 with The Farley Project, a humorous middle-grade story. I had high hopes for that manuscript as it had generated a good amount of agent interest and multiple offers of representation. Unfortunately, after a round of submissions that yielded some favorable rejections, we tabled it, and I focused on writing other things. I then won an audition to write a middle-grade story called The Weekenders for book packager Working Partners (best known for the Warrior series by Erin Hunter). Sadly, that project wound up homeless, too. But I’m stubborn. I continued my own writing while also authoring several books (under pen names) for Working Partners that were published in multiple languages and countries.

Fast forward to 2014: Disney-Hyperion contacted my agent in search of an emerging author to write a thriller about a politician’s kidnapped daughter. I had just a few days to come up with a sample, which I eagerly sent off with some additional plot ideas (then crossed my fingers!). Shortly after, I was offered the contract (yay!)—and then had about six weeks to turn in the first draft (eek!). Needless to say, I got busy writing! And in January of 2016, Zero Day hit shelves!

Meanwhile—seemingly out of nowhere and some four years after its initial submission—Simon & Schuster acquired The Weekenders, renaming it The Wild Bunch. I finished writing that book while edits were underway with Zero Day, and it published in 2017.

I then had an out-of-the-blue idea to breathe new life into The Farley Project. I did a quick revision, and we went back on sub (a full seven years after the initial submission!)—and happily, that manuscript was acquired by Simon & Schuster, too! The book published in 2019 as Project Me 2.0 (and will always hold a special place in my heart as the story I could never give up on!).

Dead Below Deck was a bit more straightforward. I signed with Mandy, revised the story, and we went out on sub. Within a matter of days, we had interest… and then an offer, and another offer… (exciting, but nail-biting times—incredibly grateful to have Mandy in my corner negotiating the details!). Ultimately, we sold to HarperCollins and the book releases on November 19!

The moral of the story? Publishing is very cyclical. Trends come and go, and a manuscript that doesn’t sell one year might wind up with an offer seven years later! Patience, flexibility, and a dedication to improving your craft are key. (Also, never give up!)

Promoting Your Book

9. How are you promoting Dead Below Deck? How have your marketing plans changed for your books since your debut book was released?

That’s a very interesting question! I think the publishing landscape in general has shifted quite a bit since my debut—with mergers, layoffs, changes in chain bookstore buying policies, etc. There’s always been an element of book marketing/promotion that has fallen to the author, but I think it’s safe to say that it’s increased over the years as publishing staff has shrunk and become (even more) stretched thin.

While my awesome Harper team handles much of the behind-the-scenes marketing for Dead Below Deck (trade review submission, catalog placement, bookstore sales, etc.), I’m also working with an independent publicist to help get the word out. We have some fun blog posts and Q&As scheduled (like this one!), plus several podcasts and interviews lined up. I’ll also be holding book launch events—one close to home in Fairfax, Virginia; another in Key West, Florida, where I used to live, and which is also a port stop in Dead Below Deck!

10. How has your involvement with your social media platforms changed over the years? Why?

When I first started writing, Twitter was the place to be, Instagram was still in its infancy, and TikTok didn’t exist at all. Now, we all dream of our books going viral on TikTok and landing on the Barnes & Noble #BookTok table, right?

I used to be more active on X when it was Twitter and there were more author chats and that sort of thing going on (miss those, to be honest!). I still post there, but not as often, and I’ve started to be more active on Instagram. My Facebook page is mostly where I keep up with family and friends. I don’t have a TikTok account, though the BookTok community does seem very cool (and if anyone wants to make Dead Below Deck go viral, no complaints! ;).

11. What are you working on now?

Currently, I’m working on another mystery set in a boarding school that’s a bit more of a romance than Dead Below Deck – a romystery, if you will. Hoping to have that in my agent’s hands soon!

Thanks for sharing all your advice, Jan. You can find Jan at:

www.jangangsei.com

www.x.com/jangangsei

www.instagram.com/jangangsei

Giveaway Details

Jan’s publicist is generously offering a hardback of Dead Below Deck 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 November 16th. 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 follow Jan 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

Saturday, November 9th I’m participating in the Super Stocking Stuffer Giveaway Hop

Monday, November 11th I have an agent spotlight interview with CoCo Freeman and a query critique giveaway

Saturday, November 16th I’m participating in the In All Things Give Thanks Giveaway Hop

Monday, November 18th I have a guest post by Elisa Stone Leahy and a giveaway of her MG Mallory in Full Color

Wednesday, November 20th I have an agent spotlight interview with Courtney Donovan and a query critique giveaway

I hope to see you on Saturday!