In an age of constant information sharing, twist endings still have the power to thrill and surprise us. Leaving your reader with a rug-pulling (yet always well earned) culmination can be the difference between a three-star rating and a review with an exclamation point. (I can't promise it will always be a positive review, but hey, the more punctuation the better, right?)
I'm learning this now firsthand that PRETTY SLY has been out for almost two months. The main reaction I'm getting back from readers is "Wow! I never saw that ending coming!"
As the author, it feels good to know that I could take my readers on a true adventure with an unpredictable destination, no matter how they felt about the particulars.
So when considering where to take your mystery, don't be afraid to get it twisted. Go ahead and turn the whole thing upside down. You and your reader will be glad you did.
P.S. I previously wrote about the pressure around and considerations for writing a satisfying ending here.
Today marks the release of our very own Elisa Ludwig's PRETTY SLY, the sequel to her heart-pounding debut, PRETTY CROOKED, about teenage thief Willa Fox. PRETTY SLY, called a "crackling-good adventure" by Kirkus, asks the question, "What would you do if your mom disappeared and forbade you to come after her?" In between celebrations for her launch, Elisa bravely agreed to an interrogation about her writing process. 1) Something I'm dying to know: How did you research the terrific scene where Tre teaches Willa how to pick-pocket in PRETTY CROOKED? Heh heh. I used a combination of my own real life experience as a pickpocket victim, some shady websites and some very cool YouTube videos—there's a great BBC series called The Real Hustle, which gave me some interesting ideas for mixing up the thieving scenes. The reality is there's a lot of criminal how-to out there for the reading, but that could be a good thing, if people use it to avoid being victimized. 2) Can readers expect to see some familiar faces in PRETTY SLY (besides Willa and Aidan)? Did you pluck any smaller roles from the first book and give them a larger presence in the second book? Yes, the principle characters are all there, though the Glitterati only have a bit part, which turns the catty quotient in this sequel way down from the first book! I don't know that anyone has a larger presence but even the main characters in the first book are pretty mysterious and secretive, so the second book deepens our understanding of them—but also raises many new questions ... 3) How much downtime did you have between books? Was it easy or difficult to return to characters from the first book? I think I finished PRETTY CROOKED in February and started PRETTY SLY in May or June. Not too much time had elapsed, and I was working on copyedits and things while drafting the sequel so that helped keep everything fresh. I loved coming back to the same characters. It was so much easier to start a book in a place where I already understood my characters and their motivations. Sometimes that process alone will take a few drafts. It allowed me to focus on the increasingly more complicated plot! 4) Was your high school experience anything like the experiences of your characters? Was there a clear-cut line between the haves and have-nots? My high school experience was only similar in that I went to a private school and, as a middle class student, was very aware of class distinctions and how students communicated their status through clothing, cars, etc. While the mean girl behavior in my high school was much more subtle, there was certainly a sense that some (but not all) of the most privileged kids "ruled the school" socially. But I was definitely more of a fringe-y character than Willa. Like the Say Anything dudes say, "by choice, man." Or so I told myself! 5) What challenges did you face in writing SLY that were different from writing CROOKED? Was anything easier the second time around? I think the challenge with SLY was to make Willa's experience more difficult and keep turning those screws. This book has much higher stakes: she's in greater danger and she's also facing some really difficult emotional truths. The tone here shifts as a result, and keeping that in balance with Willa's bubbly personality and the lighter feel of the first book was at times tricky. On the other hand, I felt really lucky that SLY sends things in such a different direction that it truly felt like a whole new adventure to write. As I said, the characters were much easier the second time around, and I think I had a much better handle on the structure of the story from the very beginning. Also, it certainly didn't hurt that I was working with the same brilliant editors, so I always had their voice in my head when I was drafting, keeping me on course. 6) When you wrote PRETTY CROOKED, did you always know it would have a sequel, or did you envision it as a stand-alone? If you did map out the sequel early on, how much did the finished product of PRETTY SLY compare to your original plan? I always knew it would be a trilogy. Parts of PRETTY SLY were imagined originally as part of PRETTY CROOKED (through the first leg of their road trip, basically), but as time went on it became clear that Willa's time at Valley Prep really deserved its own book. That being said, all of the key clues except maybe a couple we added in copy edits were already in the first book when it came time to write the second. The third book was much more vaguely conceived going into it, and it probably changed the most dramatically in revisions—down to the actual answer to the mystery! 7) Besides Willa's vicariously satisfying Robin Hood-esque scheme of "spreading the wealth around" at her school, there is a second, overarching mystery about Willa's mother. When you have two (or three!) separate mysteries going on, how do you keep track of each person's head space at different points of their respective time lines? Oh, man. That's only the tip of the iceberg with this series! It can be tough, that's for sure. I wish I was one of those people who used Post-Its or a big magic marker or something, but truthfully, I just used a lot of Kanye West all-caps-esque notes to myself in the text as I wrote. Stuff like "REMEMBER: SHE ONLY KNOWS X,Y and Z, HERE!!!" and "HOW THE HECK IS SHE GOING TO COME TO THIS CONCLUSION?!!" 9) PRETTY CROOKED resolves certain plot elements perfectly, while still serving as a cliffhanger. Did you get any angry letters about the ending? Was it difficult to write a conclusion that leads directly into a new adventure? Yes! Maybe not super-angry, but a lot of teasing and frustrating ones. My editors and I went back and forth about where to leave things, and ultimately decided on the cliffhanger, which has its old-fashioned charms. I wouldn't say it was difficult to write that ending but I maybe felt a bit guilty to do that to readers. I hope PRETTY SLY will satisfy them! 10) I love Aidan and Willa's banter, as well as Willa's friendship-chemistry with Cherise and Tre. Do you have particular techniques you draw on to keep your dialogue so sharp? Thank you so much! I like to read dialogue out loud (if no one else is in the house!) to get a feel for how someone might really say something. And it's definitely something I fine-tune in revision, stripping it back more and more, because most people speak much more efficiently than I actually write. 11) When is book #3 coming out? March 2015! Check out the trailer for PRETTY SLY, below, and then enter to win a free copy of BOTH BOOKS!
The countdown continues! For Day 9 of our 12 Days of Mysteries, we're thinking ahead to the new year. Pre-orders of books make fun gifts. The book will arrive seemingly out of the blue, after all the holiday buzz has died down! Play up the mystery angle: send the mystery lover in your life a holiday card (real or electronic), telling them something special is coming their way after the new year.
The following mysteries/thrillers are coming out this winter, and we think they'd make great pre-order gifts!
We're recommending . . .
GOING ROGUE, by Robin Benway(coming January 14, 2014, Walker Children)
The much-anticipated follow-up to ALSO KNOWN AS!
Being permanently based in a local New York City high school as an undercover operative has its moments, good and bad,
for 16-year-old safecracker Maggie Silver. Pros: More quality time with
her former mark-turned-boyfriend Jesse Oliver and insanely cool best
friend, Roux. Getting to spend quality time with her semi-retired and
international spy honorary uncle, Angelo. Cons: High school and the
accompanying cliques, bad lunches, and frustratingly simple locker
combinations. But when Maggie's parents are falsely accused of stealing
priceless gold coins, Maggie uses her safecracking skills to try and
clear their names. Too bad it only serves to put her and everyone she
loves in danger. Maggie and her "new team" flee to Paris where they must
come up with a plan to defeat their former allies.
FAKE I.D., by Lamar Giles (one of our bloggers here at SSA!)
(Coming January 21, 2014, HarperCollins)
Nick Pearson is hiding in plain sight…
My name isn’t really Nick Pearson.
I shouldn’t tell you where I’m from or why my family moved to Stepton, Virginia.
I shouldn’t tell you who I really am, or my hair, eye, and skin color.
And
I definitely shouldn’t tell you about my friend Eli Cruz and the major
conspiracy he was about to uncover when he died—right after I moved to
town. About how I had to choose between solving his murder with his hot
sister, Reya, and “staying low-key” like the Program has taught me.
About how moving to Stepon changed my life forever.
Falcon Lake wants
vengeance. And so, it seems, does someone else . . . An intense,
heart-rending psychological thriller to accompany the chilling and
seductive Fracture
When Decker drags his best friend Delaney’s
lifeless body out of the frozen lake, he makes a deal: Anyone but her.
Everyone but her. The lake releases her. It takes another . . .
All
their friends blame Delaney for Carson’s death. But Decker knows the
truth: Delaney is drawn to those who are dying, and she would have tried
to help Carson.
Or so Decker believes until a body lies in front
of him in a pool of water on his kitchen floor. Until he sees in
Delaney’s eyes that she knew this would happen too – and she said
nothing. Until he realises it isn’t the lake that is looking for revenge
– Delaney is part of someone else’s plan.
This powerful and emotionally charged psychological thriller follows Megan Miranda’s stunning debut FRACTURE.
PRETTY SLY, by Elisa Ludwig (coming March 18, 2014, Katherine Tegan/Harper Collins) Yes, a shameless plug for another one of our own here! This isthe second book in her PRETTY CROOKED trilogy!
Willa Fox was told to stay out of trouble. In fact, it was an order from a very serious juvenile court judge.
However,
that was before Willa found her house ransacked and a mysterious email
from her mother telling Willa she had to leave Paradise Valley for a
while and not to come looking for her. Willa knows her mom’s in danger
and that no one at school will miss her after her recent sticky-fingered
stunts with the Glitterati. So with the help of her pal Tre and with
her degenerate crush Aidan as her wingman, Willa violates her probation
and hits the California highway in search of her mom.
But when
Willa and Aidan’s journey turns dangerously criminal and they wind up
being the focus of a national manhunt, they realize it’s sometimes
easier to escape the law than the truth—and that everything Willa
thought she knew about her mom, and her life, was wrong.
Pretty
Sly is Elisa Ludwig’s fast-paced sequel to Pretty Crooked, the second
book in a trilogy that’s pitch-perfect for fans of Ally Carter. With a
daring heroine who has one-of-a-kind spunk, a roller-coaster Bonnie and
Clyde romance, a thrilling mystery, and a shocking twist ending, this
book will have readers rooting for Willa as she makes the wrong choices
to do the right thing. Fans will be eagerly awaiting the series
conclusion.
I'm working on the final installment of Willa Fox's adventures right now and hitting the typical Third Book Problems. By the time you write up to the end of a trilogy, the plot should thicken, the emotional stakes should be raised even higher and it all needs to resolve in a satisfying way that does the previous two books justice. Yeah, no biggie.
One of the trickiest things I find about maintaining the mystery at this stage is knowing too much. Obviously, as the author, you know exactly what's going on and how things will end up, and all the intricate backstory that explains everything. But sometimes that knowledge can be a burden. I find that in the early drafts I tend to lead the reader right to the X that marks the no doi. It's only in the revision process that I can start to detach, complicate the situation, create some red herrings or some incorrect assumptions.
Struggling with knowing too much? Here are a few tricks I have learned and some questions to ask yourself:
1) How could a reader misinterpret the existing clues? Can your MC get tripped up by a detail or two?
2) Is there dialogue that can be more elliptical? People don't always speak in a literal manner and your characters shouldn't, either. Can you play up a misunderstanding?
3) Are there mini mysteries within your overarching mystery that can be teased out to distract your reader and your MC from the truth?
4) What qualities, characteristics or motivations can you add that might complicate the reader's opinion of the possible suspects?
After seeing the cover for PRETTY CROOKED as a JPEG on the sidebar of our blog for so long, it's a real thrill to spot our first sleuth's debut novel out in the wild, as a real book, in a real boosktore. This copy was spotted at Brookline Booksmith in Massachusetts. Check out Elisa's awesome shelfmates -- Marie Lu! Lois Lowry! L.K. Madigan! The Glitterati of YA books!
It's been so fun running PRETTY CROOKED week here at Sleuths Spies and Alibis to celebrate the launch. We're so proud of Elisa and wish her and her book well, and we can't wait for PRETTY SLY next year.
A reminder: Our two giveaways continue, but you're almost out of time!!
GIVEAWAY #1: Enter to win a signed ARC of PRETTY CROOKED. See the Rafflecopter thingie below:
GIVEAWAY #2: You still have two days to get entered into our Pretty Crooked Mystery Swag Box giveaway! We are giving away THREE Mystery boxes like the one pictured here!
To enter, simply watch the Pretty Crooked book trailer below and then answer the question posed in the trailer in our comment section -- details welcome! Comments must be posted by midnight EST March 18th, 2012. Winners will be announced in our Mystery Monday post on March 19th, 2012.
This week Internal Affairs is on the case! We’re turning our interrogation spotlight on our own Elisa Ludwig, whose debut PRETTY CROOKED (Katherine Tegen Books / HarperCollins) is out in stores today.
PRETTY CROOKED is the first of a three book thriller/mystery-series about Willa Fox, a teen girl who turns Robin Hood, bilking her rich classmates and re-distributing it in the form of care packages to scholarship students.
Elisa studied writing at Vassar College and Temple University. Even though she had to extensively research pick-pocketing techniques to write PRETTY CROOKED, she remains a law-abiding citizen. She likes in Philadelphia with her husband, Jess, and her cat, Beau a.k.a. Bread. When she’s not writing for teens, she’s cooking or writing about food for The Philadelphia Inquirer and other publications.
We have to admire Elisa's grace under pressure. She took being interrogated by a fellow detective very calmly...
Here's the transcript of the proceedings:
Kristen Kittscher: Your protagonist Willa Fox takes to crime in order to upend the classist social structure at an elite prep school. Though her motives are noble, she’s still a lawbreaker. To what extent was it challenging to have a “criminal” as your protagonist in a book for teens?
Elisa Ludwig: It was fairly challenging, for sure. I wanted Willa to be likable and sympathetic and I wanted readers to root for her, but I also didn't want to go condoning thievery as a real solution to problems. So it was a tricky line to walk. In the end, I like to think of it as a fantasy read—it's just fun to put yourself in Willa's shoes and imagine what it would be like to do what she does—without the risk of getting caught, of course.
Kristen Kittscher: Pretty Crooked has a tight plot and fantastic pacing. You mentioned in previous interviews that you didn’t used to rely on outlines before, but you did while writing this novel. Can you tell us a little bit about your transformation from a “pantser” to an outliner, and what you learned in the process?
Elisa Ludwig:Yes, I was a diehard pantser. Even when I had an outline, I always deviated from it, preferring to let the characters guide me. Pretty Crooked and its sequel are so action-packed that they demanded a more structured approach. For the first time I used a very detailed outline so that just about every aspect of the story was thought out ahead of time. In the end, using the outline made the writing process so much more fun. I would approach the keyboard knowing exactly what I had to do and since I'd thought it out scene by scene, there was very little angst about decision-making. That meant I could concentrate on the fun stuff, like filling in the details and sprucing up the dialogue. I still struggle with the amount of work that has to go into an outline up front, and I can't always understand the ramifications of characters' actions until I'm actually writing it through, but I think outlining has helped me understand a lot more about the structure of novels.
Kristen Kittscher: Willa Fox undertakes various complex capers in Pretty Crooked. She picks pockets and locks, and even breaks into a mansion. We’re in The Interrogation Room, after all, so we have to ask: how did you learn so much about stealingJ?
Elisa Ludwig:I researched everything online. While it probably would've been more fun to go on ride-alongs, not knowing any real criminals was kind of a limitation. Instead, I pretty much stuck to Google, blogs and some very interesting YouTube videos. I must admit that I had a great time, too.
Kristen Kittscher: Pretty Crooked sets up a tantalizing mystery that will extend into PRETTY SLY, the next in the series. What challenges did you face in setting up a mystery in one book and carrying it into the next?
Elisa Ludwig:It was tricky because you don't want to disappoint the reader by leaving everything hanging dramatically but on the other hand Pretty Crooked had so much going on as it was with Willa's story that the mystery had to remain more of a C plotline. Some mystery series are devoted to smaller more episodic mysteries in each book with one overarching mystery carrying across them. In this case, it's more like one mystery leads to the next.
Kristen Kittscher: Even though there’s a mystery at Pretty Crooked’s heart, it’s also contemporary YA. Can you talk about how you approached balancing suspense with description of Willa’s social world and conflicts?
Elisa Ludwig:Yes, at the end of the day this novel is set in high school, so it had to have all of the trappings of cliques and classes and cafeterias (though in this case, it's a fancy one). Willa's desire to become a thief comes out of her social interactions so all of that had to be in there and had to be emphasized before she could go doing any of her badass maneuvers. So I think it became a unique challenge, setting up this world in a familiar way while trying to cue readers that this book was going to take a different turn at some point. I guess the key was trying to keep the story rooted in Willa's head and what matters to her.
Kristen Kittscher: Willa’s both a detective on the trail of a mystery and a lawbreaker. Who’s your favorite fictional sleuth? Your favorite literary rebel?
Elisa Ludwig:Hmm. Favorite fictional sleuth would have to be Cassie Maddox from the Tana French books because she's tough and smart and complex. As far as rebels go, I will go with a book I read recently: Pierre Anthon from Nothing by Janne Teller. He's the kid that dares to suggest that nothing matters and he pays the price for his rebellion, but I found him fascinating and I wanted to know more about him.
Kristen Kittscher: Lastly, what upcoming events or writing projects would you like us to know about?
Elisa Ludwig:Well, I have a bunch of readings/signings/talks lined up for March and April (details on my website, www.elisaludwig.com). And PRETTY SLY is on its way for next March. Now, onto the third book!
Thank you for having me, Kristen and fellow SSAs! It's been fun to be on the other side of the swinging light!
You'll be happy to know that Internal Affairs has cleared you of the charges, Elisa. Thanks for taking the time to talk with us.
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