In this interview, Stuart discusses the grief at the center of her new literary novel, Ghost Fish, her advice for other writers, and more.

Name: Stuart Pennebaker
Literary agent: Christopher Combemale
Book title: Ghost Fish
Publisher: Little, Brown
Release date: August 5, 2025
Genre/category: Literary fiction
Elevator pitch: A young woman who’s recently moved to NYC finds herself haunted by her sister, who’s taken the form of a fish.

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What prompted you to write this book?

I never quite know how to answer this question. A lifetime of being utterly obsessed with books? A draft of a completely different novel that wasn’t quite working? A move to New York? A desire to write about loneliness that felt impossible to shake? Many boring (and not-boring) shifts at many different restaurants? A line from As I Lay Dying? A crush on a bartender that took me by surprise? Is that OK to say?

How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?

The novel was originally focused on the restaurant and Alison’s experience working there, but that changed when I realized why she had moved to the city in the first place, how desperately Alison needed to reckon with the grief of losing her family. I had the idea and finished the first draft relatively quickly, in the spring and summer of 2021, but had no idea how challenging I’d find the revision process. I am not a writer who outlines anything, so my first drafts are always very messy and in need of an immense amount of work. The cast of characters and central idea didn’t change so much but we’ve tried out many different sequences of events—beginnings are hard!—and I think the story now reflects more truly what I wanted to get across with Alison’s tendency to move inward and the people who are able to pull her into the realm of the living.

Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?

I learned that there is a difference between the story one scribbles in notebooks and on computer screens and the product of a book. Writing the first draft of this story was a surreal, heady, singular experience; the book took lots of revising and many very, very smart people to make. I’m so grateful for all the perfect angels that work in publishing: from my agent to my editor to the publicity and marketing team at Little, Brown, and Grace Han, the artist who designed the extraordinary cover. Ghost Fish is a group project; I was and continue to be delighted by how many amazing people were willing to be on its team.

Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?

I never in a million years could have guessed that my first book would be a ghost story. The sister-as-ghost-fish appeared out of what felt like nowhere, as ghosts tend to do.

What do you hope readers will get out of your book?

I do think this story is a summer book. It’s slim, water-resistant, somewhat oceanic, and I hope it’s one people are able to consume in as few sittings as possible, ideally adjacent to a body of water. I recently devoured Deep Cuts by Holly Brickley in such a way that I was completely immersed and the world almost looked like a different color once I came up for air—I’d be ecstatic if I could create that feeling for another person.

My secret hope is that it makes anyone who feels alone less so, or at least less lonely in their aloneness.

If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?

Oh, I don’t know, I still sort of feel like I’m starting from scratch every time I sit down to write! I guess I wish someone had implored me not to overthink every little thing. You can’t make anything out of a draft that doesn’t exist. But now that I’m thinking about it, I’m sure someone did tell me this and I ignored it for the circus of neuroses inside of my head. Try to make a smart and generous writer friend or two, if you can. That certainly helps.

The post Stuart Pennebaker: On the Group Project of Publishing a Book appeared first on Writer's Digest.

In this interview, Erica discusses how working at The New York Times partially inspired her debut novel, Work Nights, her hope for readers, and more.

Name Erica Peplin
Literary agent: Alison Lewis, Frances Goldin Literary Agency
Book title: Work Nights
Publisher: Gallery Books
Release date: June 17, 2025
Genre/category: Literary fiction
Elevator pitch: A queer, love-starved office worker named Jane falls for a hot, probably straight intern named Madeline and makes a series of poor choices that derail her life in New York City.

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What prompted you to write this book?

I was a low-level employee at The New York Times in 2015 and I found myself surrounded by funny and flawed people that I wanted to write about. My personal life was simultaneously imploding (lots of romantic rejection and heartbreak) and although I didn’t start writing Work Nights until after I’d quit my job at the Times, I was still able to use some of my real-life experiences as inspiration for Jane, who struggles to “find herself” while balancing the sterile world of her corporate office with boozy nights in Brooklyn.

How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?

Getting Work Nights from idea to publication took eight years. And yes! The book changed a lot. Initially, I wanted to imitate Jenny Offill’s brilliant Dept. of Speculation and write a slim book comprised of short observations about office life. I quickly realized that my favorite novels are all love stories and that’s when I knew my protagonist had to be obsessed with a girl at her job. And when one love interest didn’t feel like enough, I added a temperamental musician to the mix just to create a love triangle that was extra good and juicy.

Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?

I’m still surprised this book is being published at all. It took years of revising to turn Work Nights into the book it is today, and even after my agent pitched it to publishers, there was a long period when we both thought it had been turned down. Hearing back from Gallery after I’d given up all hope for the book still feels like a dream. The other big surprise was seeing the cover. I’d sent visual inspirations to my editor, but I had no idea the cover would be so perfect. It makes me happy every time I see it.

Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?

I surprised myself constantly while writing Work Nights. Mostly, I was shocked that Jane’s decisions were so self-destructive. Slacking on the job. Lying to her friends. Ghosting dates from the internet. Jane is a mess, and I love her for it.

What do you hope readers will get out of your book?

I hope this book makes people laugh. I also hope it provokes different opinions about Jane and her behavior, and which girl she should end up with in the end.

If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?

Persevere! I think half of becoming a successful writer is just not quitting. It doesn’t matter if you’re rejected a bunch of times or if you hate your own work sometimes. Just keep doing it and something will happen.

The post Erica Peplin: On Writing Messy, Lovable Characters appeared first on Writer's Digest.

In this interview, Jennifer discusses the benefits of working with an independent publisher for her new literary novel, Just Emilia, her hope for readers, and more.

Name: Jennifer Oko
Book title: Just Emilia
Publisher: Regal House
Release date: June 10, 2025
Genre/category: Literary Fiction / Upmarket Fiction
Previous titles: Lying Together (published under maiden name, Jennifer Beth Cohen); Gloss; Head Case
Elevator pitch: Just Emilia is a time-traveling dark comedy about three women—a depressive teenager, a struggling middle-aged writer, and a lonely elderly woman—stuck inside a Washington, DC Metro elevator. As hunger, panic, and exhaustion set in, they come to realize that they are the very same person, each struggling with an unresolved trauma that continues to impact them at different stages of their shared life. Darkly funny and deeply moving, Just Emilia is a gripping tale of identity, regret, and self-discovery.

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What prompted you to write this book?

The idea initially came to me when I was briefly stuck inside a Washington, DC Metro elevator with a couple of strangers. I doubt it lasted for more than a minute, but that was enough time for me to wonder about who those people were and, should the doors fail to open, how we might be able to help each other get out. The doors did open, of course, but the idea tickled me, and I wrote the first sentence of what would become Just Emilia as soon as I got home.

How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?

As I started to get deeper into the idea, it occurred to me that—for me anyway—the most difficult person to be stuck in a situation like that would probably be myself. So, the first sentence I wrote all those years ago is probably the only sentence that hasn’t changed.

The writing of the novel took place over many years, in fits and starts. That fateful elevator ride was almost a decade ago. It took a pandemic lockdown for me to finish the full first draft of the story. It took a few more years after that—and a small army of generous friends and early readers—to get it to the place it is now.

Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?

My books have been published by a university press, a big commercial press, and self-published. This is my first experience working with an independent publisher. One of the best things about Regal House is how they value and promote community. They connect the seasonal frontlist cohorts together very early on. It’s made the experience so much richer. Our Summer 2025 cohort meets up regularly and we have a steady stream of emails going all the time. The group consists of writers of a mishmash of ages and experience—some have published numerous times and won awards, some have never had a book in the world before—and all of the novels are wonderful, each and every one (seriously! check them out!). The wisdom and support these other writers have given me has been tremendous.

Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?

There were some surprises about where my mind took me, but it would require a spoiler alert to say much about that. Suffice it to say, there were plenty of days when I would finish writing and think to myself, “Where the hell did that idea come from?”

What do you hope readers will get out of your book?

One early reviewer wrote that reading Just Emilia was a “thrill and a treat,” and I can’t really ask for more than that. (Well, someone else said “this is honestly one of the best books I have ever read.” That was nice to hear, too!). But more seriously, I hope reading Just Emilia opens up some conversations about the expectations and pressures we put on ourselves. If you could talk to your younger and older selves, what would you want to discuss?

If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?

Writing is mostly a solitary activity, but it is so much better when you have a strong community of writers together on the journey.

The post Jennifer Oko: On the Community Focus of Indie Publishers appeared first on Writer's Digest.

In this interview, Allison discusses how the delineation of genre informed her editing process with her new novel, The Phoenix Pencil Company, her hope for readers, and more.

Name: Allison King
Literary agent: Seth Fishman (The Gernert Company)
Book title: The Phoenix Pencil Company
Publisher: William Morrow / HarperCollins
Release date: June 3, 2025
Genre/category: Literary/Speculative
Elevator pitch: A young software engineer unearths a family secret involving long-forgotten magic and her grandmother’s experience running a Shanghai pencil company during WWII.

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What prompted you to write this book?

I had read Helen Zia’s incredible Last Boat out of Shanghai: The Epic Story of the Chinese Who Fled Mao’s Revolution which got me thinking about my own family history and how little I knew about it. I knew my grandparents had run a pencil company that started in Shanghai then branched out to Taiwan, but not much other than that, and definitely not the historical context. I loved the idea of pencils too, as both a form of magic and an awesome piece of technology. So, The Phoenix Pencil Company really came from a desire to learn more about that period of history, and also because pencils are really cool.

How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?

I started writing in August 2020, and the book comes out June 2025, so just under five years. In the very beginning, it was a purely historical novel—there was only the one timeline, that of the grandmother growing up during WWII. I pretty quickly added the other timeline though, that of her granddaughter, a modern-day software engineer. Part of it was because the historical parts were really difficult for me to write. I wanted to do it, but also wanted to counterbalance it with something closer to my own experience. So, Monica, the granddaughter, is a lot like me—she’s an awkward software engineer with a very close relationship with her grandparents, and her narrative was also the perfect way to bring the speculative element to parallel the real world—while the grandmother has the ability to revive what a pencil once wrote, the granddaughter, as a software engineer, has all the capabilities of modern day data surveillance at her disposal.

Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?

In retrospect this has become obvious to me, but I really started the process thinking of this book as a fantasy book. It wasn’t until I started querying agents that I started hearing that it was more of a literary book with speculative elements. That delineation between genres was definitely a learning moment for me, and did affect how I edited the book once it was acquired. I did more hand-waving instead of describing exactly how the magic system worked, and really beefed up the historical details. I still don’t think the book neatly fits into one genre category, but marketable genres had never been something I thought much about, but can see more clearly now.

Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?

I consider myself as having a pretty good memory, but I realized that’s not nearly enough if you’re trying to write something historical. I knew when big things had to happen, like when Japan would occupy the International Settlement of Shanghai, that was going to be a huge shift for my characters, and of course when WWII ended, and then the Chinese Civil War would restart. But that’s not enough to get across the feeling of a time period, and for that I had to really dedicate time to research and especially to note-taking, which is something I sometimes shirk because I think I have a good memory. Turns out I really don’t, and sometimes there’s nothing better than having a pen and paper next to you while you read! I did a whole edit pass where all I did was fill in more historical details, and I could not have done that without good notes.

What do you hope readers will get out of your book?

I hope readers might consider stories and privacy more. A lot of the book is about the relationship between a grandmother and her granddaughter, where neither wants to share all of themselves with the other, for their own reasons. And I think that should be okay! I also think the desire to share stories is great as well, but things start to go awry when data hungry software is getting those stories too.

If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?

If you live near a bookstore, go to their author events! I’m lucky to live near Harvard Bookstore which has author events almost every day. It’s an amazing and often free way to hear experts talk craft, to get a sense of literary trends in general, and to support your local bookstore.

The post Allison King: On Writing Between Genres appeared first on Writer's Digest.

In this interview, Iryn discusses how her anger-fueled first draft led to a restart and ultimately to her debut novel, Everything is Fine Here, her hope for readers, and more.

Name: Iryn Tushabe
Literary agent: Carolyn Forde, Transatlantic Agency
Book title: Everything is Fine Here
Publisher: House of Anansi Press
Release date: April 22, 2025
Genre/category: Literary Fiction
Previous titles: I’ve contribute to various anthologies including, most recently, The Journey Prize Stories 33, and River in an Ocean: Essays on Translation.
Elevator pitch: Set in contemporary rural and urban Uganda, Everything is Fine Here is a bildungsroman which explores the moment when a young woman decides to assert herself outside the religious and cultural limits of her family in order to stand with her kuchu (or queer) sister and emerge—disastrously, but ultimately with renewed compassion—into adulthood.

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What prompted you to write this book?

There’s a Ugandan proverb, “When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers.” That, in a nutshell, is the situation in which Aine, the young protagonist, finds herself. She’s finally achieved the level of closeness she has always desired to have with her older sister Mbabazi, but there are societal forces pushing Mbabazi to the margins, farther out of Aine’s reach. She pushes back, but disturbing the status quo has consequences. I wanted to write this story because I hadn’t read a novel that depicted similar circumstances. I also wanted to meditate upon what happens on an individual level when a government—claiming both scientific and scriptural backing—discriminates against a group of people, perpetuating an orthodoxy that allows for those people to be called immoral, to be incarcerated, and even killed.

How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?

It took seven years before I had a draft that was good enough to show agents and publishers. The first draft of the manuscript didn’t simply record my rage; it was itself enraged, almost unreadable, and really, really, long. Rather than try to salvage parts of it, I trashed the whole thing and started again from scratch. The idea itself didn’t change, but I suppose the writing of that first draft changed me. Through it, I purged a lot of my anger and frustration and calmed down a little.

A few months after I started on the new draft, I was accepted in the Humber School for writers, in the Creative Writing graduate certificate program, with Alissa York (The Naturalist, Far Cry) as my mentor. I had met Alissa earlier that summer at the 2017 Sage Hill Writing Retreat here in Saskatchewan, so she was familiar with my project. Alissa is a writer whose work I greatly admire, and she’s a fellow nature nerd, so we were kindred spirits. She helped me reign in all that editorializing anger. Restraining myself allowed the siblings to, for want of a better phrase, be themselves. They poked fun at each other, made terrible errors in judgement, and took care of each other. Now their story felt more honest and true.

Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?

Some agents and publishers I queried thought the stakes weren’t high enough for Aine’s queer sibling, as if the threat of being severed from one’s family isn’t tragic enough. That shocked me. When I came out to my mum about my bisexuality, my biggest fear was that she’d stop loving me. Her rejection of me would have been more devastating than being attacked by a gang of homophobes, although I say that from the safety of never having endured such a physical violence. More than that, I really wanted to resist the grammar of violence I often encountered in the narratives of people living on the margins of society.

The suggestion, however subtle, that I should inflict more harm on my kuchu characters (or however else one goes about raising the stakes) felt to me like being told that writing literature that embodies beautiful and funny kuchu presences moving forward in the world is a privilege reserved for white writers in the global west, writers who have benefitted from the rights and freedoms made possible by the gay liberation movement. This didn’t sit well with me. I ranted about it to my family and friends for a good long while, even after the manuscript had found its right editor, Shirarose Wilensky at House of Anansi press.

Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?

The biggest surprise was the change in the tone of the story.  I’m a journalist by training, and perhaps that’s why that first draft had a formality to it—like a meandering editorial. Once the idea got through my head (thanks, Alissa!) that this was Aine’s story, not mine, I got out her way and she took the lead. Writing became an adventure then. I was always looking forward to spending time with these women, even Mama. I was often surprised (and shocked) by things they said and some of the choices they made.

What do you hope readers will get out of your book?

Nearly everyone in the news-reading world knows about Uganda’s

Anti-homosexuality Act (AHA) which grew out of the 2009 “Kill the Gays” bill. This piece of legislation has shattered the lives of many kuchu folks and left relatives and friends feeling hopeless. Still, news stories and soundbites don’t convey the whole story. But fiction does this beautiful thing where it opens a window into the lives of others, allowing the reader to look inside and make up their own minds about what they see. Everything is Fine Here ends in a way that gestures toward a new beginning because no story exists in a vacuum. There are the stories that preceded it and there will be more after. Many of the stories I’ve loved understand this at their core, that life goes on beyond the word END. I hope that Everything is Fine Here sparks dialogue about what is possible for these women as they continue moving forward in the world.

The post Iryn Tushabe: No Story Exists in a Vacuum appeared first on Writer's Digest.

In this interview, Elizabeth discusses how a dare from a friend turned into her debut novel, Ruth Run, how her views on writing a novel changed throughout the process, and more.

Name: Elizabeth Kaufman
Literary agent: Nicole Aragi
Book title: Ruth Run
Publisher: Penguin Press
Release date: April 15, 2025
Genre/category: Literary fiction; mystery/thriller
Elevator pitch: Twenty-six-year-old Ruth engineers a backdoor into a microchip so she can rob banks through their firewalls. She has $250 million stashed offshore when she realizes someone has discovered her hack and is coming after her. She runs, hoping to disappear, until she gets tired of being afraid and doubles back to confront her pursuers.

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What prompted you to write this book?

A friend challenged me to write something fun that she’d enjoy reading. I’d given up on publishing fiction, so my only goal was to make her laugh. And I was trying to sneak some technical content in there—a little fiber hidden in the ice cream. I didn’t think I could write a novel, but I hate to wimp on a dare, which she knew. This is not the stupidest thing I’ve done on impulse.

How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?

The entire process took just under two years—I started the book May 13, 2023, and it’s out April 15, 2025. The most significant plot change from first draft to final was the end. My initial ending was a lot lighter. I was so surprised to have written the thing at all, and it wasn’t going further than one person’s email. When the story turned into a novel, I wanted an ending that made sense for Ruth.

Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?

So many surprises. I’d co-authored a technical book for Wiley in 1999 and thought I knew something about the process. The first step was the same—write the book. Everything else was different. Penguin is a meticulous press, and the people have deep, sometimes arcane expertise in each step of production. So much goes into a beautiful book. And a quality audiobook—it’s a good thing that wasn’t my job. I learned I can’t use commas. My whole relationship to punctuation is more rudimentary than I’d imagined. Probably the most useful lesson was that once the text is finalized, there’s a year of mostly gut-curdling silence. It was best for me to think of Ruth as lost luggage. Maybe I’d see it again someday, but waiting for news was a fast ride to madness.

Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?

I’m a rookie and every bit of this surprised me. As a committed not-novelist, I was surprised to find I have a lot of opinions about novel writing and writing in general. I count syllables in dialogue—that was something I didn’t know about myself. I got stuck a couple of times and realized I was distracted by some idea of the story inconsistent with the characters. I’ve always been irritated by authors who say they can’t control their characters. It seems so precious when we all know who runs the keyboard. Turns out to be mostly true and I’ve had to retract my judgey thoughts about that. Probably the biggest surprise is that people like the story and say interesting things about it.

What do you hope readers will get out of your book?

Pain relief. I hope they laugh. Anything beyond that is a bonus.

If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?

I got so lucky to get an agent and a contract and a book. For people that want to publish, that’s going to seem like the most interesting part of the story. Maybe it is, but the part I could control was thousands of hours of writing that came before all that, learning how to edit my own stuff, making things no one else ever saw. I can’t tell anyone how to reproduce the insanely improbable events that turned Ruth Run into a novel. I can’t tell anyone how to write either, but that’s the job and the thing we can work on without waiting for miracles. And if you do get some publishing gatekeeper person to look at your stuff, they’re going to decide in 30 seconds whether or not to keep reading. So, my advice to writers is to write. Talking about writing is like reading about running. It’s fun, but beside the point. So, if you’re a writer reading this, stop. Go work on your own story.

The post Elizabeth Kaufman: My Advice to Writers Is To Write appeared first on Writer's Digest.

In this post, John discusses wanting to write a funny-ish book about death with his new novel, I See You’ve Called in Dead, his hope for readers, and more.

Name: John Kenney
Literary agent: Chris Bucci
Book title: I See You’ve Called in Dead
Publisher: Zibby Books
Release date: April 1, 2025
Genre/category: Literary Fiction
Previous titles: Truth In Advertising, Talk To Me, Love Poems for Married People, Love Poems for People With Children, Love Poems for Anxious People
Elevator pitch: A middle-aged obituary writer who, lost and lonely after his wife leaves him for another man, mistakenly publishes his own obituary one mildly drunken evening. Fired pending an investigation, he goes in search of meaning by attending the wakes and funerals of strangers. Also why are we in an elevator again?

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What prompted you to write this book?

It was inspired by something my brother, Tom, said the last time I saw him. He died in June of 2019 at age 65. A tall, handsome Irishman, a firefighter, on the rescue, like our father and both grandfathers. He had run into burning buildings, had saved lives. He was also a Lieutenant on the Massachusetts FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Team who worked at the World Trade Center during 9/11. He was the man. He had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and my four other brothers and I had been visiting fairly regularly. His condition worsened and Tom’s wife called to say we should visit as soon as possible.

I arrived before my other brothers. Tom was sitting in a reclining chair, a blanket over his thinning frame, but still himself—still in there somewhere, still sharp, quiet, darkly funny. We talked and after a time I heard a car pull into the driveway and looked out the window, a cold May day in New England, winter hanging on. “The others are here,” I said to Tom.

With Buster Keaton timing, stone-face, Tom dropped an arm over the chair, let his head fall to one side, and, trying to suppress a grin, said, “Tell them they’re too late.”

I wanted that, in a book. That humor, that courage, that grace in the face of the great unknown. To stop taking time for granted. I wanted to understand how to live, before it’s too late.

How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?

About three and a half years. I wanted to write a funny-ish book about death (every publisher’s dream pitch, I know). I had this idea about an obituary writer who doesn’t know how to live, who goes, as a kind of penance, a learning experience, to the wakes and funerals of strangers. I find wakes and funerals to be amazing experiences. Profound and moving, awkward and strange. Inevitably we are confronted with our own mortality during these visits. It takes one’s breath away, that this will be us one day. And yet, certainly for me, the intensity is too much, and three minutes later, upon seeing an old friend, I’m talking about the sea salt brownies at Trader Joe’s. As for the idea itself, I’m not sure it changed. But many other things changed, as they always do in my experience. Originally, I thought it would be a kind of road trip but changed that to keep it all in the five boroughs.

The characters changed as they revealed themselves, said things that were surprising to me on those infrequent days when the writing flowed, as if by itself.

Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?

I didn’t expect them to advance me $2 million and fly me First Class on my book tour. Which they didn’t. The only surprise, to me, each time, is that someone actually publishes the book. It’s a little miracle.

Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?

Always. Every time. With every character. The deeper you go, the more you reread and ask yourself who this person is and why they’re doing what they’re doing and what they want. It would be trite to say the characters are alive to me. But they do speak to me, all day, in my addled head. I was also surprised the main character died on page 9…wait…

What do you hope readers will get out of your book?

I hope they laugh. I hope they’re moved. I hope it is worth their time. I say that because that’s really the point of the book—this idea that we sometimes go through a day, a week, a year, in the expectation that we have time. As I type these words in early December of 2024, one of my brothers is in his ninth month with Grade Four Glioblastoma. He is so acutely alive and in the moment when you speak with him. He understands time in a new way. I want to remember that because I too often forget.

If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?

I’m not great at giving advice. I can only speak to my own neuroses and insecurities, where, for a long time, I looked to others for validation. (This does not end well.) What I would say is listen to yourself and trust yourself. Believe in the writing. It’s such a remarkable thing to be able to do. To get the words right, to lasso those feelings, those seemingly ineffable moments that connect with a reader, move them, make them laugh, alter them just a bit. What a thing.

The post John Kenney: Listen to Yourself and Trust Yourself appeared first on Writer's Digest.

In this interview, Boris discusses the frustrations that inspired his new literary novel, The Unwanted, his hope for readers, and more.

Name: Boris Fishman
Literary agent: Henry Dunow
Book title: The Unwanted
Publisher: HarperCollins
Release date: March 25, 2025
Genre/category: Literary fiction
Previous titles: A Replacement Life; Don’t Let My Baby Do Rodeo; Savage Feast
Elevator pitch: A family in flight from civil war in an unnamed country, the lies they tell to protect each other, and how those lies slowly destroy them as a family.

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What prompted you to write this book?

My frustration with the simplistic saint-or-villain narratives around migrants in this country.

My frustration with how little some Americans understand or care about what’s going on in other countries, even though America’s actions often have so much to do with why people from those countries seek shelter in places like the U.S.

My rejection of the idea that an author should write only about people like him.

How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?

Four years. I began writing it in the summer of 2021. Initially, the entire novel was supposed to focus on the dramatic relationships formed by a group of migrants from different parts of the world settled in the same hotel in a European processing point like Italy. That slowly became only a part—Part II—of the current novel.

Also, the concrete place markers fell away. It became an unnamed country with sects whose primary identifying characteristics I also don’t specify.

Finally, Part III turned into a kind of revenge thriller. The earlier parts are also full of incident and move quickly, but Part III has an especially intense velocity, and a different feel to the prose. Some find it a strange graft on the first two parts. Others think it’s the best part of the book.

Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?

I wrote this novel during an impossibly unstable and trying time in life. I began it in transitional housing as a professor of creative writing at the University of Montana; the housing was so poor that our child slept in the laundry room and my mother harassed me every day that our daughter was going to become poisoned by laundry chemicals.

Then we moved into another rental, where our second child was born, and Russia’s fascist war against Ukraine began—my wife and I alternated staying up nights with the baby, and I used what little sentient time remained to try to advocate for Ukraine, and write some pages of my novel.

Then we resolved to move back to the East Coast, where we became that dubious thing known as homeowners, which is equivalent to having an extra job or child. I had spent the 35 years since moving to America living in this part of the country; I had wanted terribly to leave it, and now I was back, because after my wife followed me to two places, it was time for us to focus on her career, which was much likelier to flourish in New York than Montana. (She’s a psychotherapist.) I had given up my teaching job; I had no income; we had two very small children; I was maintaining a home I had no desire to inhabit in a place I had no desire to return. The list goes on but suffice to say there were many dark days.

Despite all this, I managed to put in my hours at the writing desk almost every day. It was among the few experiences of hope during that time—the dignity and nobility of the creative process were there to be felt if only I managed to put myself in the chair. This answer is actually the opposite of the one you’re seeking because, blissfully, there was no surprise in this. Perhaps only a good mother’s love is more generous than the generosity of said creative process, the way it waits for you with its gifts no matter how you abuse it by stress, distraction, or neglect.

I don’t know if I wrote my best novel because I was in such a bind rather than despite of it, but I know that The Unwanted is my best novel. It is also certainly the darkest.

What do you hope readers will get out of your book?

I hope they interrogate their notions of migrants—what we owe them and what they owe us. I hope they ask themselves what they would do in the same circumstances. I hope they reflect on the origins of this country as a centuries-long process of illegal immigration and existential violence against the people who lived here before us. I hope they wonder why we excuse in our own behavior what we don’t in those who have less power than us—and whether that’s strength or the opposite. I hope they think, and say, to themselves and to another person: “There but for the grace of God go I.” I hope we all wake up and ask ourselves when we became so cruel.

If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?

Marry someone rich.

The post Boris Fishman: On Writing His Darkest Novel Yet appeared first on Writer's Digest.

In this interview, Hannah discusses the difficult decision to leave her agent and find someone who had the same belief as she did in her new literary thriller, Killer Potential, her hope for readers, and more.

Name: Hannah Deitch
Literary agent: Stephanie Delman, Trellis Literary Management (U.S.); Emma Finn, C&W (U.K.)
Book title: Killer Potential
Publisher: William Morrow (Harper Collins)
Release date: March 18, 2025
Genre/category: Literary Fiction; Mystery/Thriller
Elevator pitch: After stumbling into the brutal crime scene of her SAT student’s parents in their Los Angeles mega-mansion, a down-on-her-luck tutor is forced to become a fugitive alongside the mysterious woman she finds tied up in this rich family’s closet. Killer Potential is a 21^st century take on Thelma and Louise or Bonnie and Clyde: These outlaws are queer burnout formed gifted students once destined for greatness, now wanted for murder.

Bookshop | Amazon
[WD uses affiliate links.]

What prompted you to write this book?

I was living in San Francisco at the time I came up with the idea. I had just moved there during the pandemic and was working my first ever non-gig work job as an editor at a mobile gaming studio: I took a leave of absence from my PhD program to take the job. It wasn’t a lot of money, in retrospect, but it was more money than I’d ever made before, as a tutor or a server or a TA in my English department. I thought my gig-work days were behind me, but I found myself working 10-hour days, often on weekends, and I could still barely afford the tiny closet of a studio I’d been so excited to rent. I started applying for tutoring jobs, figuring I could squeeze in students whenever I had a spare hour or two on evenings or weekends. It was a pretty bleak prospect, especially since I barely had any time outside my full-time job as it was. In the middle of applying for these jobs I suddenly found myself opening a Word doc and jotting down “SAT tutor discovers murdered rich family and kidnapped woman in closet”—you know, super normal, healthy-brain stuff. I started writing the book almost immediately.

How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?

Around three and a half years in total. I wrote the first draft in about three months, from roughly December 2021 to February 2022. I was working full-time so I usually wrote on the weekends or whenever I had a minute during the week. I finished the draft right before I moved back to LA, and I put it away for a few months: I was still working that same job, and on top of that I’d returned to my PhD program and was teaching two nights a week, living in hotel rooms while I looked for housing—absolute insanity, would not recommend, but the good thing was it kept me extremely busy during that period where I had the first draft on ice and was trying desperately not to look at it all the time, so I could get some more clear-eyed distance from it.

That summer I gave it to my agent, who did not like it at all. She didn’t think the previous novel I’d sent her worked either. I felt pretty devastated and stuck: That was now two novels that I being told to shelve, plus the one I’d signed with which we hadn’t been able to sell. So, I was O for 3. Not great. Ultimately, I decided it was time to leave her—which was terrifying, as any author who’s gone through the querying process knows. It took me years to get signed. But I thought this new book had some promise and I wanted to see if there was another agent who felt the same way I did. I started querying again in late summer 2022. My birthday is right after Thanksgiving, and that day—no joke, my literal birthday—I got an email from my number one choice asking to meet on Zoom. I low-key thought it might be a prank. I signed with her and we did a whirlwind revision after Christmas on my week off, sent the novel out in February 2023, and then there was a bunch of surreal meetings and an auction and a series of very cool things that I still don’t think I’ve 100 percent accepted as reality. As far as whether the idea changed, from the beginning I knew the fundamentals—who these characters were, the answer to the whodunit, the why of it all, the ending—and those big ideas never changed, though the story beats and structure underwent some major changes, especially the middle section.

Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?

Everything was a surprise. I didn’t have any connections in publishing: Every step of the querying process, for example, I stumbled through using Google. Publishing is pretty opaque from the outside looking in, in my experience at least. I very much relied on my agent, who patiently shepherded me through the insanity of going on submission and contracts and foreign rights and everything that’s come since.

Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?

Not in the drafting phase, but I learned a lot about my writing tendencies during revision. I’ve written a few novels before this one, and revised with critique partners and friends, but this was the first time I’d actually worked with an editor. That entire process was a huge learning experience. I guess I edit pretty hard. Unless I was explicitly told something was working fine, I would assume it’s bad and blow it up—which is obviously not the move: These people bought your book, they like it. It took me a while to accept I didn’t need to completely overhaul every sentence. Rejection’s an important part of the process, it gives you tough skin and teaches you how to take criticism, but I think internalizing a lot of failure had produced some bad, weird habits. It definitely took a minute for me to understand how to listen to and accept more positive feedback.

What do you hope readers will get out of your book?

Every reader is different and is going to come to this book with their own histories and their own experiences and insights and tastes—I don’t presume to know what takeaways they’ll arrive at. All I can really say is what was on my mind pretty much 24/7 when I was writing it, which were the urgencies of paying bills and making rent. That’s what’s on the minds of the characters in this book, too, and it will be for most readers as well, because that’s the reality of the world we live in. Most of us are deeply concerned about if we’ll be able to afford housing and pay off our debts and survive on our tiny paychecks, and yet strangely it seems like there are never enough novels where those economic demands take center stage, or even make it to the page at all. In my experience as a reader, that lack can feel really alienating—if there are other readers that feel that way, there’s hopefully something in this novel for them.

If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?

My number one advice is to read eccentrically, but with purpose. Of course it’s important to be well-versed in contemporary fiction, whatever your genre might be, but give yourself permission to read outside of that, too. Read nonfiction. Read criticism and theory and essays. Read internationally. Read the classics. Revisit your favorites. I’m not super prescriptive about my own reading list, but generally there’s at least four or five going at once, and they’re almost always wildly different (right now: a history of the Salem Witch trials, several books on tarot—I’m doing witch stuff—some Lucia Berlin, some John Berger, some Hanif Abdurraqib, and an oral history of early 2000s emo music). You got to keep it weird. 

The post Hannah Deitch: On Accepting More Positive Feedback appeared first on Writer's Digest.

In this interview, Amy discusses how the COVID pandemic naturally weaved its way into her new literary novel, Animal Instinct, how early drafts were more surreal in nature, and more.

Name: Amy Shearn
Literary agent: Julie Stevenson / MMQ
Book title: Animal Instinct
Publisher: GP Putnam’s Sons
Release date: March 18, 2025
Genre/category: Literary fiction
Previous titles: Mom Blogs; Dear Edna Sloane; Unseen City; The Mermaid of Brooklyn; How Far Is The Ocean From Here
Elevator pitch: Animal Instinct follows Rachel Bloomstein, a recently divorced mother exploring online dating during the spring of 2020, as she seeks fulfillment through various relationships and creates an AI chatbot named Frankie. Ultimately, Rachel learns that real-life connections are more complex and meaningful than any program she could design.

Bookshop | Amazon
[WD uses affiliate links.]

What prompted you to write this book?

Like my main character Rachel, I found myself newly divorced during the pandemic, and mulling over these same issues of dating in one’s 40s, what was or was not acceptable in such scary times, and the role of technology in my very-online life. I was thinking a lot about the stories we’ve told ourselves as a society about love, coupling, and relationships, and what new stories we might be able to create. I found myself constantly talking with my female friends about the absurdities of marriage, sex, and the unexpected truths of divorce, and I wanted to explore and expand those conversations on the page.

How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?

I started writing it in the summer of 2020, which is when it’s set. By the time I was finished writing the first draft a few years later, it felt like a work of historical fiction, and I was glad I had sketched out so many details as they were happening and/or fresh in my mind, because I had already forgotten many of them—the particular tang of revolution in the air, the constant sound of helicopters overhead in New York, the weird six-feet-apart culture of social interactions in pre-COVID-vaccine days, the fear and uncertainty that defines wild historical moments before we know the whole story arc.

That said, I did at first try to write this novel without the pandemic in it. But as I wrote that early COVID-less draft, I realized that Rachel’s actions didn’t quite make sense without the context of the pandemic. The ever-present fear and danger, the forced isolation of New Yorkers stuck in little apartments, the way all the sirens and news stories and other daily reminders of our bodies’ fragility made us refigure our relationships with our lives—the ever-present reminders, in other words, that life is short and so fragile—all of these inform and motivate a lot of her actions.

Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?

I had published my two most recent books with a (wonderful, beloved) indie press, so this is my first time back with a Big Five publisher in a while. I didn’t know if anyone would want to publish a book that’s about the pandemic, and also about dating and love and sex. There’s a lot of sex in this book! So, it’s a weird combination of things—the high highs and low lows of life in our time—and I was relieved/surprised/fascinated that a bigger publisher was willing to take a risk on this unusual novel.

Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?

In early drafts, the book was a bit weirder and more surreal than its eventual iteration. The AI chatbot that Rachel creates became sort of monstrous and malevolent, and there was a whole slew of other monsters as well, that she was either hallucinating or actually seeing around town. I suppose this seemed to me a clever way to externalize her fear and uncertainty. My agent, who is an amazingly astute reader and editor herself, was the one who suggested that these surreal elements weren’t necessary. This is a book about Rachel figuring out, in a time of intense crisis, how she wants to live her life, rediscovering her sexuality and orientation to relationships and the shape of her existence. I realized it was kind of radical to let a woman’s life story be enough.

What do you hope readers will get out of your book?

I hope that it’s an entertaining read, first of all. There are so many ways people can spend their time, and it’s an honor when someone devotes their time to anything I’ve written—I want reading this book to be an engaging and lively experience. I hope that people will feel seen by it—especially women who are not feeling necessarily seen in their daily lives. I hope that it’s a call to invite more fun and sex and adventure into our lives. And I hope that it’s a way to process this wild time we all just went through—in so many ways it feels the world has moved on from the pandemic without really processing—without reliving it in a depressing or traumatic way. I think this is possible to do, and it feels like a major project of our current moment.

If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?

You have to write the thing that you want to read.

The post Amy Shearn: You Have To Write the Thing That You Want To Read appeared first on Writer's Digest.