romanticizing writing with...Alicia Thompson
"One of the most underrated skills a writer can have is the ability to just get out of their own way."
romanticizing writing with… is an interview series that offers a sneak peek into the dream scenario and the reality of an author’s writing life. In case you missed the last one, check out Chip Pons’s interview. Or catch up with them all in the romanticizing writing with… archive.
Next up, we’re romanticizing with Alicia Thompson, author of Love in the Time of Serial Killers, With Love, from Cold World, The Art of Catching Feelings, and Never Been Shipped (which came out last week!). I’m such a big fan of Alicia’s, from her books to her newsletter to her as a person. What I love about Alicia’s books is that they feel so true to who she is. First of all, they stem from her obsessions like true crime, baseball, and music, but they’re also written with such care, compassion, and humor.
I caught up with Alicia to romanticize writing, but to also find out what her research process is like and what her band name would be if she had one. She shares writing advice you’ll want to bookmark for later, and gives spot-on insights into what writing and publishing challenges really look and feel like. Let’s get to it!
Lauren Kung Jessen: Hi, Alicia! I can’t tell you how excited I am to be romanticizing writing with you. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and what you write?
Alicia Thompson: Sure! I'm Alicia Thompson (she/her), I live in Central Florida with my family including TWO cats (this is my first official public announcement lol, welcome Pickles!). I write romances that tend to be somewhat inspired by something I'm obsessed with, whether true crime or baseball or, now with Never Been Shipped, music.
LKJ: Hi, Pickles! Okay, tell us: what's your dream writing day?
AT: God, I'm always chasing it. First of all, I got AMAZING sleep the night before, somehow I managed to dream all about my manuscript without lying awake spiraling about it. Now I'm bright-eyed and excited to get to work! The hills are alive! I sit down at my keyboard, where my 110wpm typing skills can't even keep up with how the words are flowing, never in the history of creativity has one person been able to weave such a tapestry of language! Every joke funnier than the last! Every sexy moment the hottest thing you've ever read! My family can see I'm locked in and they just silently leave food and drinks at the corner of my desk, in awe of my hard work and talent and not wanting to risk breaking the spell. Wow! I write 5,000 words -- all killer, no filler -- all before dinner, with the rest of the night stretched out in front of me to enjoy as I please.
LKJ: All killer, no filler—hah! So then what's the reality of your writing day?
AT: I didn't sleep well, ironically because I was turning over the scene I planned to write that day over and over in my mind the night before. I'm getting the kids to school, I'm making coffee, I'm out of creamer, I'm running out to get some, I'm answering emails, I'm writing 150 words, I'm texting a friend to complain about how hard it was to write those 150 words, I'm reading a book for a blurb, I'm making lunch, I'm out of anything to make for lunch so I'm running out to get something, I'm answering the emails that came in response to the emails I already answered, I'm picking kids up from school, I'm writing another 100 words, I'm texting a friend to complain about how hard it was to write those 100 words, rinse and repeat.
It's not always that bad lol but it definitely can be! It's hard when your days get so chopped up.
LKJ: What book or movie or TV show shaped your view of what you thought being a writer would be like?
AT: I'll give an unrealistic example and then a shockingly realistic one.
For the first, I remember watching Wonder Boys and thinking that if you were late with a manuscript your agent would like, show up on your doorstep and harass you about it, insinuating himself into your daily life and doing whatever it took to make sure you finished your book. And your book would be on typewritten sheets of paper so god forbid you're driving and it just blows away into the river, there goes all your hard work!
For the second, there's this movie Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael where the high school guidance counselor published a book, and she makes some self-deprecating comment about how barely anyone read it. And then there's this brief scene that can still make me cry later in the movie, where you just see her taking the book off the shelf and sitting down to read it. So I've always been aware of that side of publishing -- that you can put a book out there, feel like you released it into a void, have a lot of mixed feelings about it, but then hopefully find a way back to feeling proud of that accomplishment at some point in your life.
LKJ: What kind of research do you do (for your characters, plot, writing, topical)? Do you research before, during, and/or after you draft?
AT: It varies by the book, of course, but I tend to do research at all stages! The tricky part, I think, is doing enough research before you start drafting that you are heading into the draft with some confidence, and that research can also lead to a lot of interesting stuff that informs the characters/plot/setting, etc. But then there's a point where you have to say okay, I have enough to get started, I can always fill in little blanks later or flesh things out.
LKJ: Your next book, Never Been Shipped, came out last week. Tell us about it!
AT: I'm so in love with this book tbh. Never Been Shipped is the story of John and Micah, who were in an emo band together that had one hit, a love song they performed at a fictional prom on a teen shapeshifter TV show. (Think like the CW shows in their heyday). Now, after being broken up for more than a decade, the band is reuniting on a fandom cruise for the TV show to perform that song again. John and Micah both carry so much baggage from their past friendship and the way everything ended, and have both yearned for each other for so long, so when they have five days at sea together . . . well, it's electric!
LKJ: You write one of my favorite newsletters where you talk about your life and what you're up to, but also music and lyrics. Every issue feels like a hang-out with you—I always look forward to them. And now you have a book featuring two musicians on the way. It feels wrong to ask you to pick only one of anything music related, so I'll ask this: If you had a band, what would the name of it be, and what would you be doing in it?
AT: I actually kind of give John my dream band assignment in the book, so I won't spoil that, but I'd be in a Paramore cover band called Paraless and I'd play guitar.
LKJ: That feels right. What are the challenges people don't often see with writing and publishing?
AT: First of all, (at least in my opinion!), it's the publishing part that is actually the hardest. You have to kind of get used to living in multiple different emotional states at any given time, have your brain divided between multiple different projects at any given time. Depending on your publication schedule and your own process, you can potentially be promoting a book at the same time that you're revising another book, or actively drafting something while you're pitching something else, etc. That's been a hard adjustment for me, because I tend to like to be as singularly focused on something as possible. And emotionally, you're also dealing with so many different ups and downs -- you just got hit with a rejection or terrible news in your inbox but then you have to be "on" for an event, you're spinning out about something behind the scenes but you're typing fun little answers to interview questions about your upcoming book, that kind of thing lol.
LKJ: “lol” - yeah…that’s super relatable. What did you romanticize about writing and publishing that turned out to be true?
AT: I always thought it would be so cool and gratifying to get the kind of message from a reader that says they really GOT your book, like on some deep emotional level they connected with it and they really understood all the things you were trying to say. And it turns out it is! Super cool!
LKJ: Love that (and it’s true, it is super cool!). How do you move past the romantic idea of writing to do the actual work? Do you have any advice or rituals or words of wisdom?
AT: I often think about how to "get out of my own way" as a writer. I think one of the most underrated skills a writer can have is the ability to just get out of their own way, but it can be hard to know just how to do that. This sounds so dumb maybe, but when I was drafting my last book I just kept thinking of Elle Woods saying, "What, like it's hard?" It helped me calm down and feel like, okay, you've done this before, this is a first draft, it doesn't have to be perfect, you're just putting one word after the other and when you've got about 90k of them or so you can stop.
I also personally like to keep a notebook for every project, where I give myself stickers for every 1,000 words, record quotes I like from what I've written, journal about how I'm feeling about it and what's coming up next, that kind of thing. It's a good motivator as I write, and also a great record for later when it's time to revise the book or even in future books when I can flip to the same word count in my previous manuscript, for example, and be like "ahhhhh yes, the emotional breakdown that occurs around 30,000 words, right on schedule."
LKJ: Ooh, that’s perfect. I’ll have to remember that saying when I start to doubt myself next. What's your romanticized writing view?
AT: I just got back from a trip to Ireland (speaking of research! did I go to Ireland because I wanted to gather more information for revising a book set there, or did I write the book in the first place as an excuse to go?). So right now, I'm daydreaming about being on that train from Dublin to Sligo with my laptop out and the countryside whipping by me. I love writing on trains.
LKJ: Same! I love writing on trains, too. You've just finished writing. What's your dream post-writing meal?
AT: My dream any-situation meal is spaghetti. Listen, I'll ride those emotional ups and downs if I can just have spaghetti at the end of it.
Thanks, Alicia! You can find her on Instagram or on her website. Also check out her newsletter, the same songs over and over.
want more romanticizing?
Stay cool this weekend! ☀️
From me to you, in the present,
Lauren
About me: I’m Lauren Kung Jessen, author of Lunar Love, Red String Theory, Yin Yang Love Song, and The Fortune Flip (more on this soon!). Connect with me on Instagram for more on books and food.
great interview!