This is it, friends: the last of the 2017 Debut-to-Debut interviews! Not to worry, we’ll be back next month to get 2018 rolling with a brand new crop of debuts, but this month’s interview is bittersweet for sure. When I started Debut-to-Debut with a series of feeler emails to 2017 debut authors this past spring (“Would you be interested in this interview idea?” “Want to play?”) my own debut year felt a million miles away. Granted, it’s still a solid eight months until See All the Stars hits shelves next August, but this month’s interview marks a transition point as we send the last of the amazing 2017 debut novels out into the world with whoops and cheers and start looking toward 2018.
As those who have been following the series know, I’ve been talking to a fantastic group of debut young adult novelists this year, and as 2017 draws to a close, the fun will continue throughout 2018 and 2019—the year leading up to, during, and following my own debut. I’m so excited to share these books, and insights into these authors’ experiences, with you. You can find all the interviews in the series collected right here.
I recently corresponded with Amanda Searcy about her debut young adult novel The Truth Beneath the Lies (PRH/Delacorte Press, December 2017).
From the jacket:
Fight or Flight.
All Kayla Asher wants to do is run. Run from the government housing complex she calls home. Run from her unstable mother. Run from a desperate job at No Limit Foods. Run to a better, cleaner, safer life. Every day is one day closer to leaving.
All Betsy Hopewell wants to do is survive. Survive the burner phone hidden under her bed. Survive her new rules. Survive a new school with new classmates. Survive being watched. Every minute grants her another moment of life.
But when fate brings Kayla and Betsy together, only one girl will live.
KIT FRICK: Betsy and Kayla live very different lives, yet both girls are driven by fear: one of a killer hunting girls in her neighborhood, and the other of a person on the other end of the “black monster” phone that lives beneath her bed. Tell us a little bit about the process of crafting your heroines and their worlds.
AMANDA SEARCY: Writing Betsy and Kayla was an incredibly hard and brain-twisting process—that I completely loved. I saw Kayla and her world clearly from the beginning, and her story came to me so fast my fingers couldn’t keep up. I couldn’t stop cheering her on as she faces all the obstacles in her life.
Betsy’s story took more work. My heart went out to her. She’s been through so much and she can’t escape. She’s being terrorized by the man on the phone, and the only thing she can do is shut down. It was challenging, but extremely rewarding, to write her journey as she starts to heal and find her voice again.
From a more technical perspective, writing parallel stories was both harder and easier than writing a single narrative. I knew the ending before I ever sat down to write, so I knew what both stories had to build to. Then I wrote them like two separate novellas—which was easier, but in hindsight wasn’t the best idea. It took a lot of work to weave them together. Since the stories are running simultaneously, it was tricky to get the timing right so that the alternating chapters would line up. And if I added or subtracted a chapter from one, I had to do the same to the other. That got … messy.
KIT: One of my favorite parts about The Truth Beneath the Lies was trying to solve the mystery of how the two girls’ narratives would intersect. Where did you draw your inspiration for your twisty, suspense-filled debut?
AMANDA: I get much of my inspiration from news stories. Both big events and little tidbits I read in the paper or online. The Truth Beneath the Lies is definitely not ripped-from-the-headlines, but a real crime was what first got me thinking about it.
Several years ago, there was a series of murders that shook my community to its core. On a news report about the funerals, there was a little girl standing in the background clutching the hand of her guardian and looking bewildered. Her mother, who had struggled with addiction and lived on the streets, was one of the victims.
Kayla’s story came from that little girl. I couldn’t stop thinking about what her life might have been like if things had gone slightly differently. What if her mother had survived and gotten help?
Fast forward to that little girl as a teenager. Her mother has gotten clean; she’s regained custody of her daughter. But they haven’t escaped that dangerous world. A world where young women are being preyed upon.
Betsy’s story was inspired by a place. San Justo, TX is completely fictional, but it’s loosely based on a real town and the people who lived there. I was always welcomed with open arms (and a meal), and I could think of no better place for Betsy to be as she tries to heal.
KIT: Tell us something about The Truth Beneath the Lies that isn’t apparent from the book cover or flap copy. We want the inside scoop!
AMANDA: I had to change many of the names in the book. My subconscious latched onto certain sounds and beginning letters and soon a lot of the names sounded the same. I didn’t realize it until my agent pointed it out, but characters that occupied the same roles in each story had almost identical names. For example, Paige (Kayla’s best friend) was originally called Harper, whereas Betsy’s best friend goes by her nickname Happy. I did that for several other characters too.
KIT: What gives you the most joy about your life as a YA writer right now? What’s bringing you satisfaction at this moment in time?
AMANDA: All of the new friends I have made. The YA writing community is full of interesting and amazing people that I would have probably never met otherwise. I have learned so much from them, and I look forward to seeing all they do in the future.
KIT: The publishing journey is unique for every author, but it’s safe to say that the road to book publication is filled with plenty of surprises and the occasional curve-ball for all of us. What has surprised you most about the process of putting a first book into the world?
AMANDA: Everything. The entire experience has been different from what I expected. That isn’t to say that my experience has been bad (it hasn’t). But I had created a picture in my head—gleaned from TV and movies—of what the life of an author was supposed to be.
It isn’t glamourous. It turns out that the life of an author is a lot of work and a lot of waiting. In movies you see the author struggling to finish a manuscript. They finish it, turn in a huge stack of paper, and become an instant, celebrated bestseller. Ha! That is not the way it goes at all. (And no one appears through a random yet seemingly fated coincidence at your lowest moment to provide you with the perfect inspiration.)
KIT: Drawing from your own unique experience, what advice would you give to future young adult debut authors, or debut novelists in general?
AMANDA: My advice to debut novelists or really anyone who is writing is to celebrate everything, no matter how small.
When you are a debut author, you feel your way through this new world by watching and learning from other authors. Every book travels its own path. Some have a lot of success from the very start, others take a while longer. It can be hard to remember to celebrate your book’s successes when ten minutes later you learn that a fellow author has just (insert super amazing book news here).
Be openly happy for your fellow authors (while being inwardly jealous, because, hey, you are human), but remember that every accomplishment YOU make in your writing career is amazing and worthy of a celebration (and maybe a cupcake).
Amanda Searcy earned a BA from New Mexico State University and an MA in human rights from the University of Essex in England. She works in collection development for a public library system and loves chocolate, cats, and curling up with a good book.
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Kit Frick is a novelist, poet, and MacDowell Colony fellow. Originally from Pittsburgh, PA, she studied creative writing at Sarah Lawrence College and received her MFA from Syracuse University. When she isn’t putting complicated characters in impossible situations, Kit edits poetry and literary fiction for a small press, edits for private clients, and mentors emerging writers through Pitch Wars. Her debut young adult novel is See All the Stars (Simon & Schuster / Margaret K. McElderry Books, August 2018), and her debut full-length poetry collection is A Small Rising Up in the Lungs (New American Press, fall 2018).
The Truth Beneath the Lies is out now! Allow me to recommend your local indie, in addition to Barnes & Noble and Amazon.
Stop back soon for future posts in the Debut-to-Debut Interview Series. I’ll be kicking off 2018 with interviews featuring Rachel Lynn Solomon in January and Gloria Chao in February, then more fantastic authors throughout 2018!