12 Comments

I thought the lists of "the one who..." throughout the book were so impactful. They were all anonymous except the one reference to Martha Moxley. Why did you choose to break the format and use the victim's name in that one instance.

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I found the Robbie Serenho reveal to be so surprising, especially after the chapter of Bodie's speculation and she literally splits his consciousness. The "reveal" chapter of Robbie is equally good. Which one did you write before the other? Did you have to come up with his alibi after discovering he was the killer? TL;DR - how did you sequence the writing and conception of the two chapters?

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I was intrigued by Bodie's relationship with her ex-husband and wondered what inspired it. It's an unconventional set up that at first seems low-conflict, but then when his "cancellation" happens, it puts her in a really interesting, complicated position. In your mind, what was their backstory?

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{NOT IN SPOILER CATEGORY]

Is everything we know about Judy Garland all wrong?

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How did you reconcile leaving Denny out there undiscovered? I started to think he is the unresolved loose end standing for all the men who always get away with it, but then thought that was terribly moral-judgment-y of me. What are your thoughts?

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I was so proud of myself for figuring out faster than Bodie that Denny Bloch had been having an affair with Thalia that I think it made me less likely to consider anyone else as a suspect, which made me particularly blindsided by the reveal of Robbie as the killer. Was waiting so long to reveal Denny's predation a deliberate choice to mislead the audience, or am I both smarter and dumber than I think I am?

Also, how much fun did you have dropping blatant signs as to who the actual killer was (including the woman wearing a shirt that literally says "the boyfriend did it") knowing that the reader would almost certainly not take them seriously?

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Hi Rebecca, Maria Hardin here. So great to see you in Charlotte!

Do you find your theatre training helps your writing? When I’m writing dialogue I have to block out everything. Like I have to have the set, and I’m telling folks “you’re stage right, he crosses down left.”

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I really enjoyed the book, and as someone who's writing a crime novel with minimal violence in the present (which is how I classify yours, I could be wrong), I wanted to know if you felt like you needed to increase the present-day action for Bodie to up the tension, or if, for you, it was more about the journey as it unfurled and letting that be what it was?

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I’m curious about how you made the decision to have the narrator address Denny Bloch? I thought the device worked really well, but it was an interesting choice given that he didn’t end up being the killer, just another man who got away with abusive behavior.

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I loved this book SO much, Rebecca! I have a nerdy punctuation question - why didn't you use quotation marks in Omar's podcast interview (Part 2, Chapter 6)? I met you last week in St. Louis (Abby's NIAY student).

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When did you decide that the (wrongfully) accused character would stay in jail?

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How do you plot out/ keep track of your work/characters/multiple storylines? I was fascinated by the complexity of your characters, especially the second half. Do you make charts? Excel spread sheets? Index cards? Do you print out everything and make notes? I’m writing a more complex book right now and despite doing everything I mentioned above, going into word and scrolling is part of the awful process! (On second draft with editor, so it’s no longer in scrivener.) Just curious about your process because I loved this book so much!

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