A Q&A with Laura Dave, Author of October Indie Next List Top Pick “The Night We Lost Him”

Printer-friendly versionPrinter-friendly version

Independent booksellers across the country have chosen Laura Dave’s The Night We Lost Him (S&S/Marysue Rucci Books) as their top pick for the October 2024 Indie Next List. 

Following their father's death, two estranged siblings must come together to uncover the circumstances of his death and the past he kept hidden from them.

“Laura Dave’s signature blend of twisty mystery, family drama, and moving love story is top-notch in this tender and profound exploration of grief, truth, trust, and forgiveness. A perfect follow-up to The Last Thing He Told Me!” said Alyssa Raymond of Copper Dog Books in Beverly, Massachusetts.
 
Here, Dave discusses her work with Bookselling This Week.
 
Bookselling This Week: These suspenseful, family secret thrillers are your style. I really want to hear more about how you build them. There's so many pieces that have to come together. Is there a place where you usually start, or is each one different?
 
Laura Dave: For me, every book starts with an emotional question that I want to explore. For The Night We Lost Him, the question is “What does it mean to be the witness to someone's life?” I know that question going in, and then I have an idea of the focal point on which that question is going to spin. Here, I knew it was going to be two estranged siblings that were going to reconnect after their father's accidental death. That first scene sort of comes to me whole — an interaction in which one sibling says to the other, “I think Dad was actually killed,” — but I don't know anything beyond that.
 
In that first draft, I discover along with the characters what the unraveling of that mystery is going to look like. Then that writing really becomes rewriting. Once I get to the end of that draft and see the dynamics at play between the characters, I often end up throwing out 70,000 of that first 80,000 or 90,000 word draft.
 
That’s a long winded way of saying the first draft is about discovery for me and finding the answer to that question, and the second draft is about connecting all the dots and how the people in the book would answer that question.
 
BTW: I love hearing how much a story has changed from first draft to release.
 
LD: There's this E. L. Doctorow quote where he says, “Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see as far as your headlights, but you don't have to see beyond that.”
 
I really think about it that way — the drafting has to lead to more drafting. When I used to teach, I would always tell aspiring writers, “What makes you a writer is as much what you're willing to throw out as what you keep.” I think we all have this idea we should be holding on to everything, but often it's what you what you let go of that leads to the story you're supposed to tell. Or at least, that's what I convinced myself of on draft 18.
 
BTW: I'd love to hear how you handle pacing. Since suspense is such a key element, how do you balance revealing things with keeping it engaging?
 
LD: I love that question. Pacing is so critically important to suspense — and to storytelling in general.
 
I always try to write books in a way that you want to read them out loud. I listen to the same song on repeat the entire time I'm writing. And for every book, it's a different song. I think it does something with pacing. It keeps me in the story, almost as if it's happening more urgently, because I'm literally picking up exactly where I left off, and the rhythm of the song moves me back in.
 
So something that I try to do in terms of suspense and pacing is let the music be a guide. When the writing's going well, the revelations come at the pace of the rhythm.
 
I also let character dictate suspense, meaning I'm more interested in character revelation than in worrying about something happening at a certain point in the plot. If you're loyal to what is actually happening with your character, the suspense follows and in a really surprising way. And because I don't know what's going to happen, I feel like if I'm surprised, then my reader will be.
 
BTW: I love that. I also now really want to try writing something with the same song playing the whole time. That's amazing.
 
LD: I think it is so incredibly helpful. It becomes a soundtrack to the story. Everyone always asks me, “Aren't the lyrics distracting?” But they're not. With my last book, The Last Thing He Told Me, I started to imagine the song as like the wedding song for Owen and Hannah.
 
And for this book, it was a Noah Kahan song called “You're Gonna Go Far.” I imagined it as if the father in the book were speaking to his grown children. What he would be saying to them, almost as an offering, “You're finding your way to me, and what happened to me, but you're also finding your way to each other.”
 
BTW: I also wanted to ask you about getting to work on the TV show for one of your novels (The Last Thing He Told Me). Working on such a big project with so many other people, versus working more by yourself on a novel like this. How does that experience compare for you?
 
LD: It's so different! I'm an introvert, and I love nothing more than having my cup of coffee, getting to my computer at 5:00 am, and working on a book. It's the job I always wanted. I wanted it since I was five years old, before I even understood what a job was.
 
I remember one day in third grade, I came home and said to my mom, “I'm going to write a novel today.” And she's like, “Well, that's great, because you'll be busy till dinner.” But I always wanted to do that. So that's my big great love.
 
Novel writing and writing for television are totally opposite. There's a huge community of people that are involved, and every day when I walked onto set, I felt this incredible gratitude that all these people were coming together to help realize a second life for this book.
 
I think people always ask, “Is it hard, handing over a novel of yours to other people in this way?”
 
And I think no, as long as you understand it's going to be a totally different thing. You have to allow for that. A visual medium has different responsibilities.
 
I'm a novelist, first and foremost, and I am also incredibly grateful to have had that experience, to work in television and to see what that's like. They're actually doing a second season of the show, but I am writing the sequel at the same time. I will not be involved in the second season, so that my head does not explode. There's a great team of writers who are involved for the second season, so I'm going to let the show be what the show is, and let the sequel be what the sequel is going to be.
 
BTW: That's so exciting. So, the sequel is what we're going to get from you next?
 
LD: Yes, the sequel is going to be coming out next fall! Actually, here’s a tidbit for your audience: part of it takes place in France. I just got back from doing research in France, which was this really wonderful experience. I got to spend time in these places that had been living in my head and to see them in person. It was really kind of magical.
 
BTW: We will absolutely be looking forward to that. For the last question, of course, we always like to bring it back around to indie bookstores. I would love to hear a little bit about the role of books and indie bookstores in your life.
 
LD: Indie bookstores play a huge role in my life! I visit my indie bookstore every Saturday morning, and I never buy less than five books. It’s DIESEL, A Bookstore, and they love to joke with me. The manager once said to me, “You're in our Platinum club, both for buying books here and selling books here! And there are no benefits.” And I said, “The benefit is seeing you guys every Saturday morning.”
 
When I said that nothing makes me happier than sitting at my desk with my cup of coffee, the only thing that rivals that is an independent bookstore. I love them. It's the first place I go in every city that I visit. I often say book people are the best people. I stand by that. Every time you step into a new independent bookstore, it feels like being at home. Almost like a home you've never been in, because it's so specific to those people. And what a blessing to be in that new community.
 
I could not love independent bookstores more, and it has been one of the great honors of my career to be chosen as the number one Indie Next pick, because they matter to me so much. I go buy the number one pick every single month, without exception, and to get to be in that company is truly a pinch-me moment. I'm so grateful.
 
Categories: 
Indie Next List Interview