Mary Kubica is the author of the new novel When the Lights Go Out. Her other novels include The Good Girl and Every Last Lie. She lives in the Chicago area.
Q: How did you come up with the idea for When the Lights Go
Out, and for your characters Jessie and Eden?
A: My initial spark of an idea was the twist itself – I
won’t say much about that for obvious reasons!
That said, I always try to dig deeply into the psychology of
my characters, which was a tactic I employed quite a bit with this book. I
loved getting inside Jessie and Eden’s minds and discovering how they were
transformed by such things as love, loss, grief and unfulfilled dreams.
I thought up Jessie first – a young woman who has just lost
her mother to breast cancer - and from her story created that of Eden: a woman
so desperate to become a mother she’s willing to do anything to make it a
reality.
Q: Do you usually know how your novels will end before you
start writing them, or do you make many changes along the way?
A: This was the first book that I knew fully well how it
would end before I began writing it. It was a change for me.
Instead of the rush that comes in figuring out the twist
partway through the book, the challenge was in working my way up to that big
ending, and making it as explosive a finale as I imagined it to be in the early
days of drafting this novel.
I’m not an outliner. I prefer the spontaneity and the
organic feel of figuring things out as I go. I also revise many, many drafts
before the book is done. It’s a process!
Q: Why did you decide to focus on insomnia in When the Lights Go Out?
A: Insomnia is something many of us can relate to. We’ve
nearly all suffered from the occasional sleepless night and know how it feels
to toss and turn all night long, as well as be afflicted by the torturous
thoughts that keep us company in the wee hours.
It was my desire to take Jessie’s grief and up the ante a
bit by letting the insomnia wreak havoc on her mind.
Q: Who are some of your favorite writers?
A: Megan Abbott, Caroline Kepnes, Megan Miranda, S.J. Watson
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I’ve just finished up the first draft of my next
novel. It’s still untitled and has a long road of revisions ahead of it,
so I can’t speak much about it – but look for it in 2019! More news coming
soon!
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: I think this sums it up! I’m just so thrilled to
finally share When The Lights Go Out with the world, and can’t wait to hear
what readers think of it!
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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