Warning – possible spoilers! (Tiny ones, though, and I’ll try to avoid even those; I swear I’ll give my best not to ruin it for you… :-))
It is such a pleasure to have Lia Louis as a guest on the blog today! She has written several books I enjoyed quite a bit, such as Eight Perfect Hours and Dear Emmie Blue. And the latest one, The Key to My Heart, will probably be on my top 5 books of 2022 list.
What I love about her books is that they always stay with me for a long time. I find myself years after still thinking about the characters.
At this point, she’s an auto-buy author for me, and of course I wanted to know more about her writing process, what she likes and doesn’t like, as well as any plans she has for her future novels. (She mentioned emails, and I’m not so secretly hoping it is a secret pen pals, which is my favorite trope 🤩.)
Author Q&A with Lia Louis
The Key to My Heart is coming out soon. What can you tell us about it that is not already in the blurb?
Ohhhh, that’s a great question! I would say that the book features probably my favourite “end scene” I have ever written. To say anymore would spoil it, and I wouldn’t want to do that! Haha.
What part of the book did you have the hardest time writing?
I found some of the scenes where Natalie’s emotion is very grief filled and raw quite hard and draining to write, but I always feel like if I’m “feeling” while I’m writing, that the reader should feel it too and that makes for an authentic reading experience. (Although I always apologise to readers who I’ve made cry!)
Would you and your main characters get along?
Hahaha totally! (Although Natalie is so much cooler than me…)
What helps you stay focused while you are writing?
Playing white noise and brown noise (which a friend recently recommended!) really helps me focus. I’m very easily distracted and a master procrastinator, so I do need to put certain things in place to keep my butt in my chair!
But mostly it’s breaking things down into small sizeable goals. So 1000 words at a time, or one scene to edit per day, etc. If I look at a blank document and think “I have to write 100,000 words to make this a reality”, it can totally make me freeze with fear!
What is the most impactful moment you experienced as an author?
Oh my goodness, I think every time a reader writes to me and tells me they loved my book. I mean it. It makes my heart sing every time! It’s just a total honour, and one I dreamed of my whole life…
If you could do an interview with any author, living or dead, who would it be?
Louise Rennison. She’s sadly no longer with us, but she was and is one of my heroes!
What traits in others are you attracted to?
I am a hugely anxious over thinker and I think because of this, I am drawn to people who don’t sweat the small stuff – and the big stuff too! The people who tend to shrug and go “ah, what’re gonna do? It’ll work itself out.” I find them calming and fascinating all at once, haha.
If you had to describe yourself in just three words, what would those be?
Anxious over thinker? Haha. No, okay. Daydreamer. Introvert. Romantic.
When was the last time you Googled yourself and what did you find?
I haven’t googled myself in a LONG TIME and I found only nice reviews and interviews and things at the time! I don’t think I’ll bother again. I’ll keep the nice memory, haha.
What can we expect next?
I’m not sure I can say too much yet but it’s a book with emails at its centre and I am having SUCH fun writing it!
#MyFavoriteBookish Tag with Lia Louis
Favorite trope: Arghhh, so hard to choose! I love enemies to lovers, and friends to lovers. And “only one bed” of COURSE
Favorite character: Ahhhh, I would say… as much as he’s a bit of a villain, Daniel Cleaver in the Bridget Jones books is a PERFECT believable hate-him-but-love-him character.
Favorite movie adaptation: The Notebook, except I can’t watch it ever again because it rips my heart out.
Hardcovers or paperbacks? I’m going to go against the grain and say to read, always my kindle, but to hold in my hand and sniff and collect and never open for fear of hurting them: hardbacks!
Buying or borrowing books? Buying!
Bookmarks or dog-ears? I do dog ear my paperbacks, I’m sorry to say!
Audiobooks – yay or nay? Yay! I love listening to non fic on audio!
