Lynn Cullen

Lynn Cullen’s bestselling novels, including The Woman with the Cure, The Sisters of Summit Avenue, Mrs. Poe, Twain’s End, The Creation of Eve, and Reign of Madness, have been translated into seventeen languages and are the recipients of various honors, including NPR Great Read, Oprah.com Book of the Week, People magazine Book of the Week, Indie Next List selection, and Atlanta magazine Best Books of the Year. She lives in Atlanta.

Cullen's new novel is When We Were Brilliant.

My Q&A with the author:

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

I wrote my novel When We Were Brilliant in response to the deep curiosity I’ve had about Marilyn Monroe since I was a kid watching her in The Seven Year Itch. I’d wanted to write about her for decades but couldn’t find a way in that was unique. It then occurred to me that one of the many woman who photographed Marilyn might have some interesting insights. I was shocked to find that she’d only sat for one woman, Eve Arnold. In fact, Marilyn sought her out.

Eve was wary of Marilyn at first. Marilyn claimed that she could help Eve’s career, a big boast, Eve thought, coming from a starlet. But she soon found out that their collaboration was like nothing she’d ever experienced (nor would ever again in her highly acclaimed, 70-year career.) Marilyn brought out the best in Eve’s natural ability to draw out her subject, a gift that would come to allow Eve’s subjects to fully give themselves to her. For her part, Eve allowed Marilyn to show a side of herself unseen by any other photographer. In fact, you can easily pick out Eve Arnold’s photos of Marilyn from the rest of the field. Marilyn just looks different in them.

Twenty-five years after Marilyn died, Eve wrote a book about her time with Marilyn. In it, she said that they sparked off each other; together, they were brilliant. And hence the title of the novel, which, in a nutshell, summarizes the scope of my tale.

What's in a name?

Every character in my book is based on a real person, from Marilyn to her make- up artist, Whitey Snyder, so there was never any thought given to naming them. The challenge, came instead from putting together what is known about Marilyn and Eve-- not just the events in their lives, but how they thought and acted--to tell a story that shows the real women behind their famous facades. The result is a view of Marilyn that is as unique as Eve’s photos of her. I can’t wait for readers to discover these two truly brilliant women in the pages of the novel.

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

This book is exactly what my teenaged self would have dreamed of writing…but would have never been able to pull off. It took a lifetime of hard-won experience to understand what the lives of Marilyn Monroe and Eve Arnold could say to us.

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

The first few sentences of a novel are relatively easy to write, but it’s slow-going after that as I figure out what the story is trying to say. I rewrite everything. Repeatedly. Dozens of times. I usually have an idea of the ending before I start the book but don’t write it until I come to the actual finish. It’s a sort of bait to get me through the years it takes to write a novel.

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

For differing reasons, I can relate deeply to both of my leading ladies. I did my best to inhabit them, to the point that Eve Arnold’s grandson has said that Eve, in my book, sounds like the woman he knew and loved. But with that connection came an attachment that might explain why I get so teary just thinking about Marilyn and Eve or seeing their photos. I don’t regret it—it was the cost of writing the most authentic, honest story possible—but I am a bit of an emotional wreck.

Visit Lynn Cullen's website.

12 Yoga Questions: Lynn Cullen.

My Book, The Movie: Mrs. Poe.

The Page 69 Test: Mrs. Poe.

The Page 69 Test: Twain's End.

The Page 69 Test: The Sisters of Summit Avenue.

My Book, the Movie: The Sisters of Summit Avenue.

--Marshal Zeringue

Van Jensen

Van Jensen is an acclaimed novelist, screenwriter, and comic book writer. Godfall, his debut novel, is in development as a TV series with Academy Award winner Ron Howard attached to direct. He began his career as a newspaper crime reporter, then broke into comic books and graphic novels as the writer of ARCA (IDW), Two Dead (Gallery 13), and Tear Us Apart (Dark Horse). Jensen has written world-renowned characters, including Superman, The Flash, Green Lantern, Godzilla, and James Bond. Jensen has served as a Comic Book Ambassador for the U.S. State Department, teaching refugee children to tell their stories through comics. He lives in Atlanta.

My Q&A with the author:

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

Godfall is about a god-like being falling out of the sky, so I'd say it hits the nail on the head.

Funny enough, this was a book that I took forever to generate the title. When the answer finally came, I about kicked myself that such an obvious one had been there all along.

What's in a name?

There's a thing that a lot of writers do where they use the meaning/etymology of a name to reinforce a character's personality traits. To me, that's a bit on the nose.

I think more about how a name sounds. How it feels. There's a military head in Godfall named Conover, and I chose that because it has the hard initial C, but also is unassuming. This is a guy who is tougher than he appears.

All this said, I did name my protagonist in this giant-alien story "David," so perhaps I don't mind being on the nose.

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

Godfall is set in western Nebraska, where I grew up. The giant alien lands next to a small town, which is then transformed into the most important place on earth.

My teenage self would be surprised by this because my teenage self was desperate to escape from western Nebraska. I planned to leave and never look back. Yet here I am, writing a trilogy of novels set in just that place.

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

My general approach is that I write and rewrite the beginning of a book until it feels rock solid. I always have a plan for the whole book, of course, but I want to get the voice/tone/characters/structure all locked in place, and that takes a good bit of futzing.

That serves as a bit of a foundation, and the rest of the book builds up rather easily from there, I find.

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

I didn't plan to make David, the Godfall protagonist, an avatar of myself. But most people who read the book have commented that he's a lot like me.

Generally, I think the fun of writing is exploring the vast range of human psychology and experience. At the same time, I always want to be able to relate emotionally to them. To me, that's the key in making stories sing.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

I started my writing career in newspapers, spending a few years as a crime reporter. That probably had the most impact. I think I have a good handle on how police operate, their motivations. Criminals as well.

Beyond that, I try to live a life of engagement, interacting with others as often as I can, just generally being out in the world. You never know what little moment might catalyze a story idea.

Visit Van Jensen's website.

Writers Read: Van Jensen.

--Marshal Zeringue

Jacquelyn Stolos

Jacquelyn Stolos grew up in Derry, New Hampshire. She loves tromping through the forest and reading good books.

Asterwood is her first novel for children.

Stolos holds an MFA in fiction from NYU, where she was a Writers in the Public School Fellow. Her short fiction has appeared in Joyland and No Tokens. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and daughter.

My Q&A with the author:

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

Asterwood is a clean, simple title and I love that. It signals the novel's setting to readers, and I'm a setting-oriented writer--it's usually the detail that comes first in the pre-draft, dreamstorm stage of my work and the detail that speaks loudest in my finished books--so it feels right. I can't take credit though! There were many placeholder titles before my brilliant editor, Wendy Loggia, suggested Asterwood.

What's in a name?

So much. The novel's protagonist, Madelyn, is named for my niece. At the time, Madelyn was the only baby in the family, so of course I had to name the child in my book after her. Books take some time to write so now, at the time of Asterwood's publication, I have a daughter of my own, another niece, three nephews, and one more niece or nephew on the way. I have some work to do if I'm going to keep up the tradition of writing each kid their own fantasy! Plus, baby Madelyn has grown into a kid with her own wonderful, distinct personality that's nothing like this imagined character. I've been thinking of C.S. Lewis's famous inscription for his goddaughter Lucy in The Lion, Witch, and The Wardrobe. Girls certainly do grow faster than books, Clive!

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

My teenage self would not be surprised at all. Asterwood is a return home for me. It begins and ends in Derry, New Hampshire, my hometown, where I spent a lot of my time having imaginary adventures in the woods behind my house as a kid. While I never found a shimmering rift in time and space that brought me to a magical forest, my afternoons under that dark canopy were wild and enchanting. Asterwood has flavors of some of the wonderful contemporary middle grade authors I've read as an adult --shoutouts to Kelly Barnhill, Grace Lin, and Colin Meloy-- but I owe its bones to the authors I read as a tween and who shaped how I experience the world. Madeleine L'Engle, Tolkien, Lois Lowry, Sharon Creech, my Gods.

On the other hand, my 20's self, who read and wrote spare, fragmented adult literary fiction set in the big cities I've lived in as a young adult, would fall over in shock.

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

Oh my goodness endings, endings, endings! Asterwood has had about three million different endings. Readers, what do you think of this one? If you don't like it, I can send along another to suit your taste. Maybe someday I'll publish a version with a choose-your-own-adventure finale.

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

Absolutely. Though Madelyn's named after my niece, she's certainly a young me: a day-dreamy, bookish kid who struggles to connect with other kids in her elementary school and thinks her nerdy dad is the bees knees. Madelyn lives in her imagination, as I did. Ha, who am I kidding, as I still do.

Horrifyingly--please don't run from me screaming and crying--Stella, the queen of the cannibals, has got bits and pieces of me too. Like Stella, I'm a woman of brutally deep convictions (I don't believe we should save forests by eating children! Do I need to say that?). My daughter was born while I was writing this novel and Stella became the place where I ruminated on the murderous strength of a young, scared mother's love.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

My calico cat Annie, who passed a few years ago, is Dots, Madelyn's loyal and beloved kitty companion. Trees and sunlight. I have often joked that I've engineered entire novels simply as an excuse to spend my time ruminating on the way afternoon light looks filtered through leaves moving in a light breeze.

Visit Jacquelyn Stolos's website.

Writers Read: Jacquelyn Stolos.

The Page 69 Test: Asterwood.

My Book, The Movie: Asterwood.

--Marshal Zeringue

Jenna Blum

Jenna Blum is the New York Times and # 1 internationally bestselling author of novels Those Who Save Us, The Stormchasers, and The Lost Family; memoir Woodrow on the Bench; audiocourse “The Author at Work: The Art of Writing Fiction” and original podcast The Key of Love. Blum is CEO and co-Founder of online author interview platform A Mighty Blaze and one of Oprah.com readers’ Top 30 Women Writers. She earned her MA in Creative Writing at Boston University and has taught workshops for Boston University, Grub Street Writers, A Mighty Blaze, and numerous other institutions for over 25 years. Blum interviewed Holocaust survivors for Steven Spielberg’s Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation and is a professional public speaker, traveling nationally and internationally to speak about her work.

Her new novel is Murder Your Darlings.

My Q&A with the author:

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

Great question. I think a title needs to be both memorable and applicable, and I hope Murder Your Darlings is both. Most readers know this phrase means to cut things from a manuscript that are beloved but not essential, but what they might not know is that "murder your darlings" is the original advice to writers, given by a gentleman named Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, in 1914....and then it was appropriated, and changed, by Faulkner to "kill your darlings." When I learned this, I knew my title had to be the original Murder Your Darlings, since my thriller is after all not only about ruthless writers behaving badly but about the most extreme form of appropriation.

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

She probably wouldn't be surprised at all. We love to write about sex and death and dark things, and what makes people tick, and there's plenty of all of the above in Murder Your Darlings. I do think she would absolutely love reading it, probably would devour it in one sitting in her attic bedroom, smoking out the window.

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

Beginnings! I hate them. I rarely change them, but I don't enjoy them. The first chapter of a novel is such a workhorse: it has to draw the reader in, introduce character, main conflict, atmosphere. The exception is prologues: not all of my novels have them, but the prologues I wrote came in a lightning flash of inspiration, and they've been included in my novels verbatim from the first draft, unchanged.

An ending is a reward. I always know what the ends of my novels will be, even the last lines, and I write toward them like a swimmer pushing through choppy seas (which is all that murky middle stuff). Reaching that last paragraph, that last line, is dragging myself up onto the beach and lying in the sun.

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

I do, alas, see myself in some characters. The closer a character is to me, the harder she is to write. The characters who give me the most joy are the ones who are completely unlike myself, who appear out of nowhere and demand that their stories be told. They are to me living people, and it's my job to get them out of the ether and onto the page where others can know them as well. I got lucky with Murder Your Darlings in that not one but two of the narrators, The Rabbit and William, are those out-of-nowhere characters. (Sam Vetiver, the heroine, is pretty much an alt-me. But I love her, too!)

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

My friends. All my friends, pretty much, are writers, and even when we're not talking about writing, when we're hiking in the woods with our dogs or working together on A Mighty Blaze (our online author interview platform) or on paddleboards, it's a constant inspiration to see how they arrange their lives in order to nourish creativity.

Also nature. Writers, including myself, are often impatient creatures. We want our books to be done now, instantly, perfectly. iI you've watched anything in nature grow, you know it doesn't work like that. Often it seems as though nothing is happening--but a seed is cracking beneath the earth, a bud forming within a tree. Things take as long as they take. I try to honor the process and accept that.

Visit Jenna Blum's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Lost Family.

--Marshal Zeringue

Bruce Robert Coffin

Bruce Robert Coffin is the award-winning author of the Detective Byron Mysteries. Former detective sergeant with more than twenty-seven years in law enforcement, he is the winner of Killer Nashville’s Silver Falchion Awards for Best Procedural, and Best Investigator, and the Maine Literary Award for Best Crime Fiction Novel. Coffin was also a finalist for the Agatha Award for Best Contemporary Novel. His short fiction appears in a number of anthologies, including Best American Mystery Stories 2016.

Coffin's new novel is Bitter Fall, his second title featuring Detective Brock Justice.

My Q&A with the author:

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

I would say it does quite a bit. Bitter Fall captures both the mood and the season in which the story takes place. While I’ve had a vague idea for the titles on each of the Detective Justice novels, I wasn’t entirely happy with what I had come up with. My publishing team has been very involved in both title suggestions and cover art concepts and I must say I’m very happy with the results.

What's in a name?

Much like book titles, I think the names of characters play a vital role in how the readers see them and even feel about them. Bestowing the characters with meaningful names, something for which Charles Dickens was well known, allows the author a subliminal way to connect with the readers on a gut level. I read the name Scrooge and it immediately conjures up the image of a cantankerous old miser. Likewise, I hope my readers get what I was trying to say by naming my main protagonists Justice and Wright. In my opinion those names add just the right amount of nuance to who the characters are and struggle to be.

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

Great question. I’m not sure my teenage self, despite wanting desperately to be a novelist, would believe it. Not the subject matter, though I have always enjoyed mystery novels, and certainly not my having had ten published novels to date. I think the other thing teenaged me wouldn’t have believed is that it would take me until age fifty-two to see my first book published!

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

It really depends upon the book. I tend to write cinematically in that I visualize the scenes playing out in my head as I write. Usually I’ll get a strong idea for an opening scene that I hope will grab the reader by their lapels and drag them kicking and screaming into the story. The rest of the plot builds off of that initial scene. I guess if there is one aspect that I may tweak or even change entirely it is the ending. Sometimes a better ending just writes itself as the story unfolds.

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

The more I write the more I’m convinced that it’s nearly impossible to draw fully fleshed out characters without inserting, or perhaps revealing is a better word, some of yourself. One of the things I’ve learned that readers enjoy is the feeling that they are right there with my characters as they race toward danger or feel frustrated while working the case. I find giving the reader some insight into how things feel and the toll of the job by way of close third person narrative adds another dimension to the stories being told. Author Joseph Wambaugh once said something along the lines of: Don’t show the reader what cops do on the job, show them instead what the job does to cops. Wise words, despite my having butchered his quote.

Visit Bruce Robert Coffin's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Katie Bernet

Katie Bernet is the author of Beth Is Dead, a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection. She’s an award-winning creative director and a long-standing member of the DFW Writer’s Workshop. As the oldest of three sisters, she’s a diehard fan of Little Women. Beth Is Dead is her debut novel.

My Q&A with Bernet:

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

Beth Is Dead kinda says it all, and I like to joke that Jo March came up with the title. Beth Is Dead is a modern reimagining of Little Women as a mystery-thriller in which Beth March is murdered in chapter one. In the story, Jo has a book deal for which she needs an idea, and as she toys with writing about her sister’s death, she lands on a blunt, chilling title, Beth Is Dead. Before writing this scene, I had a bland working title for the novel as a whole, but when Jo had this idea on the page, I knew it needed to be on the cover.

What's in a name?

Because I wrote a reimagining of Louisa May Alcott’s story, I didn’t select the names for my characters, but I’m really fascinated by the name Beth and how it came to be a part of Little Women. Alcott’s characters were inspired by herself and her own sisters, but she renamed each of them except for Beth. Louisa became Jo, Anna became Meg, May became Amy—but Elizabeth remained Elizabeth. I think this demonstrates Elizabeth Alcott’s incredible impact on her sister. Alcott did however change Elizabeth’s nickname from Lizzie to Beth, and I suspect this had something to do with grief. Like her literary counterpart, the real Lizzie Alcott died of illness, but unlike Beth March, she didn’t accept her fate. I’ve read accounts suggesting that Lizzie raged against her untimely end. I imagine this must have been painful to witness, and I picture Louisa May Alcott choosing a softer nickname as she softened her sister into the angelic character we all know today. Coincidentally, my middle name is Elizabeth, and I hope readers will enjoy meeting my modern-day version of Beth March in Beth Is Dead.

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

My teenage self would probably be surprised that I wrote a mystery-thriller. Back then, I obsessed over literary fiction. But she wouldn’t be surprised that I reimagined Little Women, because I’m the eldest of three sisters, and sisterhood has always been one of the most important aspects of my life.

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

It’s funny—beginnings and endings aren’t the problem for me. The middle is the hard part. When I start writing a book, I almost always know where I want to open and where I’m going to close. Sometimes it changes, but with Beth Is Dead my first few and last few chapters had the least amount of revision.

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 pieces of myself in all of the March sisters, especially my own modern versions of them. As a writer, I relate most to Jo, but I aspire to be more like Beth. I don’t think she gets enough credit. In the original, she faces true horror—her own untimely death—and she still puts others before herself. I think she’s remarkable.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

Beth Is Dead unfolds across two timelines, before and after Beth’s murder, and in crafting that back-and-forth, I took a lot of inspiration from The Haunting of Hill House. The TV adaptation of that story is one of the most brilliant examples of non-linear storytelling I’ve ever seen. I also drew inspiration from cancel culture. In the story, the March sisters are dragged into the spotlight when their dad writes a controversial bestselling novel about his own daughters and is subsequently cancelled. I was fueled by the tension in cancel culture—the tug between justice and harm. And of course, I drew inspiration from my own sisters especially for the more tender moments of the story.

Visit Katie Bernet's website.

The Page 69 Test: Beth Is Dead.

My Book, The Movie: Beth Is Dead.

Writers Read: Katie Bernet.

--Marshal Zeringue

Gabriella Saab

Gabriella Saab is the author of The Last Checkmate and Daughters of Victory. She graduated from Mississippi State University with a bachelor of business administration in marketing and lives in her hometown of Mobile, Alabama, where she works as a barre instructor. She is of Lebanese heritage and is one of the co-hosts of @hfchitchat on Twitter, a recurring monthly chat and community celebrating the love of reading and writing historical fiction.

Saab's new novel is The Star Society.

My Q&A with the author:

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

My title, The Star Society, tells readers everything the story is about. The word “star” is, of course, a word used in association with Hollywood actors, but a red star is also a symbol of the Communist Party—something which would have provoked suspicion in 1940s Hollywood when everyone was afraid of communist infiltration, and a main conflict in my novel. The Star Society is also the name of the glamorous, exclusive parties Ada hosts for her friend group. Both the title and Ada’s Star Society gatherings reflect the overall nature of the story: something seemingly alluring and lighthearted yet, beneath it all, is it what it seems? This book, from the moment I developed it, has always been The Star Society, because the title sums up the story perfectly.

What's in a name?

My main characters are twin sisters born to a Dutch father and British mother. One is loosely inspired by Audrey Hepburn, so I gave her an “A” name: Aleida, a Dutch name meaning “noble/kind,” which I thought perfectly captured Audrey Hepburn’s nature and thus my character’s. Her twin sister is Ingrid, a name that comes from a Germanic god of peace and prosperity, and Ingrid is on a quest to establish political peace by eliminating threats of communism. Their surname is “de Vos” which means “fox.” Foxes are cunning creatures symbolizing trickery and intelligence, and these sisters are involved in their fair share of trickery and deception. Finally, when Aleida moves to America and becomes an actress, she adopts the name Ada Worthington-Fox. Ada is, again, close to Audrey and Aleida and also means “noble;” Fox is the English translation of her Dutch surname; and as for why I added Worthington, Ada explains in the book: “for no reason other than I thought it sounded delightfully pretentious.”

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

Not at all! I’ve loved Audrey Hepburn since I was a little girl, and historical fiction has always been my favorite genre. My teenage self would not be at all surprised that we wrote a book inspired by both.

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

Endings are always the easiest for me, so I would say the beginning is harder and it changes more than the end, usually. With that said, my beginnings and endings tend to stay fairly the same from start to finish—it’s the middle that always changes the most heavily. But the end is what sums up the story I want to tell, so I have to challenge myself and tell it the best I can along the way. The beginning and the middle are incredibly important to lead to a satisfactory pay-off in the end, one that hopefully lives up to my goals for the story. And I try to structure my beginnings and middles in a way that, if a reader were to re-read, they would be able to pick up moments of foreshadowing or subtle details that might not have seemed significant until they know the end.

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

It depends on the character, but I usually insert pieces of myself into them—certain traits, likes, dislikes. For example, Ada is someone who feels very deeply and processes the world through her emotions, and I do the same. I’m less like Ingrid, but when Ingrid is interested in something—for her, that’s usually something to do with politics—she learns all she can about it, and that is a trait of my own that I projected onto her.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

I find inspiration in people and film, as you might have guessed by how much of an impact Audrey Hepburn has had on this book. I find stories in so many things—film and tv, people, music, travel, architecture, or even in simple, everyday moments. Inspiration can be found anywhere and everywhere.

Visit Gabriella Saab's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Star Society.

--Marshal Zeringue

Christina Kovac

Christina Kovac, author of the Watch Us Fall and The Cutaway, writes psychological suspense/thrillers set in Washington, DC.

Prior to writing fiction, Kovac worked in television news, covering crime and politics at Fox 5’s Ten O’Clock News in Washington, DC, and after that as a news producer and desk editor at the Washington Bureau of NBC News.

She lives outside Washington DC with her family. She loves morning writes with her cat on her lap, book hauls from her town library, and hiking national parks. Her favorites—C&O Canal National Park, Assateague Island, and Rock Creek Park—provided inspiration for Watch Us Fall. She’s currently at work on her third novel.

My Q&A with Kovac:

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

I don’t like to share meaning of title—that’s for the reader to decide—but I will say I chose each word carefully, purposefully. Watch. Us. Fall. The opening line is: People still talk about what happened to Addie and Josh. Some of what they say is true, some of it not; you know how people are. Watch: this is about people in the spotlight. They’re watched and talked about. Some are famous and some will become infamous. (You know how people are.) Us: This is a book about holding onto cherished relationships in conflict with each other. Who is Us? Who will Addie choose, when the choice comes? Her best friends or Josh? And then of course there is a falling action to the plot. Thus, the Fall.

More than that, let the reader decide.

What's in a name?

As it turns out, an awful lot’s in a name. Lucy, the main narrator, a kind of witness to the destruction that Josh brings into Addie’s life, is the best friend; Lucy’s the one who loves Addie best. Her name comes from the light-bringer in Paradise Lost. In fact, one of the section titles is: O Street Lost.

Josh Egan, the son of Senator Egan, comes from a storied lineage, and Egan means “bright- eyed.” He is described in the prologue as the “golden guy with his father’s face and eyes like gas burners that made you feel seen. Not everyone wants to be seen.”

And Addie James? I have no idea where her name came from. She was just fully formed and named, the moment she stepped onto the page.

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

Not much. My teenaged self would be thrilled. My mother gave me her box of old Nancy Drew novels as soon as I could read. I stole Rebecca from her shelf when I was twelve. I loved covering crime when I covered news in the District—it’s infinitely more honest than politics. I was destined for mysteries and psychological thrillers, I think.

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

I find it all hard. I change both a lot, but the beginning I will cut down and keep cutting until I find a fast entry point.

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

None of these characters are me. Although I do have Josh Egan’s obsession with truth and terror of disinformation and this awful age of misinformation we live in. It’s our trigger. Actually, the entire reason I wrote this novel.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

I get a lot of inspiration from my past work in news in the District and also from the natural world. I love hiking and climbing. I love the C&O canal and the Potomac river. When I was hiking on a barrier island along the coast of Maryland, I saw an enormous tree along a back bay, and there were four girls clinging to it and laughing and bumping up against each other. I kept thinking about those girls and that tree—and ultimately the girls became Addie and Lucy and Penelope and Estella, and I moved that tree to the banks of the Potomac (in my novel) and made it their secret place.

Visit Christina Kovac's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Cutaway.

The Page 69 Test: The Cutaway.

Writers Read: Christina Kovac (March 2017).

My Book, The Movie: Watch Us Fall.

The Page 69 Test: Watch Us Fall.

Writers Read: Christina Kovac.

--Marshal Zeringue

Cara Black

Cara Black is the author of twenty-one books in the New York Times bestselling Aimée Leduc series as well as the WWII thrillers Three Hours in Paris and Night Flight to Paris. She has won the Médaille de la Ville de Paris and the Médaille d’Or du Rayonnement Culturel and received multiple nominations for the Anthony and Macavity Awards; her books have been translated into German, Norwegian, Japanese, French, Spanish, Italian, and Hebrew.

Black's new novel is Huguette.

My Q&A with the author:

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

The title, Huguette, to me, encapsulates the book. This is Huguette's story all the way. We're with her on her journey as a young woman after Liberation in Paris, 1944 through the post war era in France to the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival in 1958.

What's in a name?

Huguette is an old fashioned French name. So many people have told me 'that's my grandmother's name' or 'my great-aunt was called Huguette'. So it's quite time specific to the post WW1 era and the 1920's, 30's when it was a popular name. We know names go in and out of fashion but so far, Huguette's name hasn't come back in style.

I discovered this name from conversations with Denise, who'd lived in Paris during the Occupation, when she talked about her best friend, Huguette. They'd worked together in a restaurant during the war. Denise told me she and Huguette shared so many experiences, confided in their fears and had become best friends. Sadly they lost touch after the war. So in honor of Denise, who has left us, I've 'found' Huguette for her.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

Films definitely have and continue to influence my writing. Black and white films from the 40's are my go to. The Third Man, by Sir Carol Reed, is my favorite film. I watch it every year, and use the film in a writing class I teach to illustrate how place and setting anchor the story in Vienna and using writing techniques to translate the visual to the page.

I love watching newsreels from the time I'm writing about. In Huguette, I discovered a treasure trove in the French film archives documenting daily life in post war France.

Visit Cara Black's website and follow her on Instagram and Threads.

The Page 69 Test: Murder at the Lanterne Rouge.

My Book, the Movie: Murder at the Lanterne Rouge.

The Page 69 Test: Murder below Montparnasse.

The Page 69 Test: Murder in Pigalle.

My Book, The Movie: Murder in Pigalle.

My Book, The Movie: Murder on the Champ de Mars.

The Page 69 Test: Three Hours in Paris.

The Page 69 Test: Night Flight to Paris.

Writers Read: Cara Black (March 2023).

Writers Read: Cara Black (March 2024).

The Page 69 Test: Murder at la Villette.

My Book, The Movie: Huguette.

The Page 69 Test: Huguette.

Writers Read: Cara Black.

--Marshal Zeringue

Lexi Alexander

A corporate communications professional by day and a romance writer by night, Lexi Alexander has found plenty of ways to put her English degree to use. Born in Romania and raised in the Motor City by a family of engineers, she loves to write characters who dream big, hustle hard, and conquer the odds. And when she’s not dreaming up romance novels and book boyfriends, she’s cheering from the sidelines of her sons’ sports games or perfecting her margarita recipe!

Alexander's new novel is Dead Set on You.

My Q&A with the author:

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

A title can make or break a book – so choosing the title for Dead Set on You was many iterations in the making. In fact, my original working title was Hating You, Interrupted, because I knew from the beginning I wanted something that telegraphed rivals-to-lovers energy (“hating you”) with a twist in the relationship (“interrupted”), plus a nod to the supernatural hiccup at the heart of the story: my heroine waking up as a ghost tethered to her former friend, now rival.

Along the publishing journey, the title changed to Dead Set on You. This was also many ideas in the making – there’s a notepad with all the scribbled options shoved into a desk drawer somewhere. As for Dead Set on You – it does so much work as a title. It signals the paranormal element, keeps the romantic tension front and center, and still winks at the rivalry at the core of the book. I’m biased but I also think it’s sharp, memorable, and gives readers an immediate sense of what kind of ride they’re in for.

What's in a name?

Evie Pope came to me fully formed—voice, name and all her quirks! “Evie” felt soft and approachable, while “Pope” had a crispness that mirrored the control and structure she clings to. What readers don’t see right away is that her name carries a personal history she’s chosen to rewrite for herself. I don’t want to spoil it, but I will say: Evie Pope is the name she claims when she’s trying to shape her life into something new. It’s simple on the surface, but the meaning underneath is more complicated—just like her. A character’s name is as part of the character as their personality and physical traits!

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

My teenage self would absolutely lose her mind knowing she’d grow up to be a published author—and it wouldn’t surprise her one bit that I wrote a rivals-to-lovers romance with a dash of the unexpected. That was my comfort zone as a reader. I devoured anything with banter, tension, and that something extra. Beauty and the Beast was probably my gateway: two impossibly opposite characters forced into proximity, challenging each other, changing each other, while being so very physically different. Belle and Beast walked so Evie and Raf could run! Teen Lexi would be thrilled that I finally wrote the exact kind of story I used to obsess over.

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

Beginnings are always the hardest for me. I usually start with the end in mind, so figuring out the exact moment where a story should begin—and where I want a reader to first meet the character—is a much trickier task. It’s not just when you introduce them, it’s how. Those opening pages are where you build the connection that convinces a reader to follow you anywhere. If you don’t get that right, the ride never takes off. So yes, beginnings get rewritten the most, because they carry the weight of the entire emotional journey that follows. It's why Dead Set on You has had at least ten first chapters!

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

I sprinkle parts of myself in all my characters. It’s never a one-to-one match, but there are bits and pieces of me scattered throughout every character I’ve ever written. Evie holds the parts of me that crave control, that want to achieve every goal, and that quietly worry about getting it right—because we don’t always. Rafael, on the other hand, reflects the side of me that wants to live fully, make moments matter, and make people feel seen. And yet he’s also wildly different from me: he’s effortlessly charming and can talk his way out of almost anything. Meanwhile, I’d be mortified to even attempt half the things he does. So they both contain pieces of me, just magnified and rearranged in ways that make them feel entirely their own.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

Romance movies—especially romantic comedies—have been a huge influence on my writing. Rom-coms are my favorite way to decompress and escape into the joy of watching two people fall in love. They all have a recipe that makes them so good: the banter, the mishaps, the slow unraveling of defenses. There’s a comfort in knowing what you’re signing up for, and yet every great rom-com still surprises you emotionally. I think that blend of predictability and delight is something I’ve carried into my writing. When I sit down to watch a rom-com, I know I’ll walk away feeling a little lighter—and that’s the feeling I hope my stories give readers, too.

Visit Lexi Alexander's website.

--Marshal Zeringue