Q&A with Adriane Leigh

  

 

Adriane Leigh is the author of the new novel Society Women. Her other books include The Influencer. She lives on Lake Michigan.

 

Q: What inspired you to write Society Women, and how did you create your characters Ellie and Aubrey?

 

A: Society Women was inspired by the end of a very important relationship for me.

 

I went through a phase of mourning and self-reflection as I processed the breakdown and I realized that the end wasn't something that happened all at once. It happened slowly, in a series of small ruptures over years that resulted in a wound that became too big to heal.

 

There was persistent gaslighting, and any need or boundary I set was often dismissed as "over-sensitivity" or even "mental illness" (which runs in my family).

 

As I processed the separation and spent more time alone, I realized that this was emotional abuse and manipulation meant to control me and deflect blame and attention away from my partner, and it was more a direct reflection on my partner's inability to confront their own limitations and capacity to give love freely and openly.

 

Writing Ellie's relationship with her husband was cathartic in many ways as I explored this theme, even though her experience is a more exaggerated version of what I experienced.

 

I wanted Ellie to be relatable; smart, likeable, kind, and easily controlled because of society's expectations to be a "nice girl." She unconsciously gave her power away to the men in her life that she trusted, they used her generational trauma against her, and over the course of the story she awakens to this and takes back her power.

 

I love writing women in friendship dynamics as these can be just as powerful (and destructive) as romantic relationships, so Aubrey was the perfect personality to pair Ellie with--they are yin and yang in a sense, and while Aubrey may not always be trustworthy, Ellie learns from her, even if it's "what not to do" instead of "what to do."

 

Q: The writer Shanora Williams said of the book, “Society Women is twisty and beautifully unhinged...” What do you think of that description?

 

A: "Twisty and beautifully unhinged" is the greatest compliment! I love writing morally gray anti-heroines that readers love to root for.

 

My goal when plotting every story is to create relatable leading women forced into extraordinary situations where they're forced to confront themselves and take back their power.

 

I also love a sprinkle of female rage and revenge! My main characters don't just survive, they rewrite their stories and I love that!

 

Q: Did you know how the novel would end before you started writing it, or did you make many changes along the way?

 

A: I worked with a loose outline so I did know how it would end, but I wasn't sure on the specifics! I like to leave room in the outline for surprises, I think that's where the magic happens in a story! It also makes the writing process more fun--I get to see how some of the plot unfolds along with the reader! 

 

Q: You’ve self-published many novels and now this book is being published by HarperCollins--can you tell us about your publishing journey?

 

A: My journey has been packed with surprises and twists--just like the novels I write! I self-published my first book (a romance) in 2012 after years of writing stories. The timing worked in my favor because the ebook market was just starting to take off, so that book did very well.

 

I spent the next eight years writing romance, traveling the world doing book signings and meeting readers, I hosted and organized international book conventions and made so many new book friends, and then in 2020, when the world shut down, I was slammed with anxiety and writer's block for the first time ever.

 

I realized that the only way to bust it was to take on a new challenge, and since I'd been reading thrillers obsessively since I was in high school, I committed to writing my first thriller.

 

After four years and four self-published psychological thriller releases, I had the idea for The Influencer, a story about an It Girl who loses her grip on reality after the life she curated falls apart.

 

I submitted this to a small publisher I was working with at the time, and they rejected it because they didn't feel that their readers would resonate with a main character who worked as an influencer.

 

Thankfully, I wrote the book anyway, self-published it, and soon after it went viral on TikTok and became my #1 best-selling book ever. It's now a four-book series with more books planned, and is in the early stages of becoming a TV show.

 

The main character, Shae, changed my life and I'm so thankful I had faith that she would resonate with readers on a deep level--she's disturbed and a little psychotic, but has a wildly dark sense of humor and is so relatable!

 

About a year after the first book was released, I received an email with "fan mail" as the subject line--turns out it was my soon-to-be editor at HarperCollins! She'd read The Influencer and loved it, so we had a Zoom call and hit it off. Within a few weeks, I'd signed a contract for a new book with her, which became Society Women! 

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I'm finishing final edits on The Icon, the fourth book in The Influencer series, and plan to jump right into The Idol, book 5. I love putting Shae in new situations with new characters for her to navigate. I'm having so much fun writing her!

 

I also have a new standalone in the works about a debutante with a very dark secret! That one's actually inspired by the Taylor Swift song, no body, no crime!

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: 2026 is going to be a big year! I have at least three new psychological thriller releases coming, maybe even a fourth, and will hopefully have a big announcement about The Influencer TV series coming soon!

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb