Author interviews are probably one of my favourite things to share on the blog. For one, writing can be a lonely career. Interviews help to share the person behind the writing, and it can lead to rich community.
But, for two, there are so many paths to publishing. Every author's story is going to be different. It can shine a little light for the rest of us to see our friends succeed and to know that there's still hope. You can choose to publish in whatever way works for you.
So, without further ado, interviewing author Ande Pliego!
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your books?
Hello, hello! I’m Ande, author of YOU ARE FATALLY INVITED, a satirical mystery thriller that’s been called "dark Knives Out," about thriller/horror authors on a writer’s retreat gone (fatally) wrong. I’ve written five books I plan to publish and a ridiculous amount of high fantasy stories before that. I like to say I’m a YA fantasy writer who accidentally became an adult thriller author, but I’ve also written urban fantasy, gothic horror/suspense, and speculative fiction. I love anything with thrills and twists and core-shaking character arcs.
How did you get started writing?
I moved around a lot as a kid, which wasn’t the most ideal situation for keeping friends—but I had the company of my huge imagination, so from ages 12 – 15, I secretly wrote a multi-book fantasy retelling of the Punic Wars (yep, the historical ones), but with dragons and a world inspired by 15th century Italy and the Mexican Day of the Dead (like I said, big imagination, heh). I didn’t write for several years, but in 2018 my job fell through (the best thing to ever happen to me, in retrospect!). After struggling to find a new one, I finally picked up writing again, and the 20,000-word short story I was working on morphed into a 100,000-word YA speculative fiction thriller. Ever since, writing has twined so deeply with who I am, I can’t imagine a life without it.
What's the most unique part of your writing process?
Oooh, good question. Maybe how I work in a horrifying number of layers? Drafting is the hardest part for me, so I need to pound out a skeleton "hakuna-matata" draft in about two (pretty intense) months. Then I’ll revise in layers—with my first YA spec-fic thriller, it took 12 full re-writes before I signed with my agent, and then with YOU ARE FATALLY INVITED, it sold after 5 rounds of revisions—so glory be, I’m slowly getting more efficient, haha. Revisions are my happy place—I will revise all day long until someone (usually my agent) pries my manuscript from my clawed fingers.
Do you have any favourite craft books or resources?
So many! Save the Cat Writes a Novel changed my entire approach to drafting; that and Story Genius are my go-to’s when starting a new project. Donald Maass’s The Fire in Fiction and The Emotional Craft of Fiction revolutionized my revisions and taught me so much about fleshing out each scene. And of course, Stephen King’s On Writing and Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird are fabulous takes on writing life in general. For classes, Neil Gaiman’s Masterclass gave me so many practical tools when I first started out, and Adrienne Young’s Writing With the Soul workshop really helped me trust myself as a writer. Highly recommend both.
What made you choose traditional publishing? And did you ever consider self-publishing instead?
That first YA speculative fiction thriller really started everything for me—I’d only planned on writing (fantasy) for myself until I started that story. That story poured out of me, and I realized reading something like it might’ve helped me as a struggling teenager. For context, that book’s a murder mystery, but the heart of it tackles depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide—all things I’m unfortunately well-acquainted with and have been most of my life. I wrote the book I wish I could have read when I was younger: one honest about these dark struggles, but also one that would’ve helped me see I wasn’t alone and that there is hope and help out there. I really felt like that story needed to be told, needed to reach as many people as possible, so traditional publishing was the way to go for me—you never know until you try, right? That was just my initial thought, though, before I knew anything about publishing at all. Now that I’ve seen multiple dear friends go the indie/self-publishing route, I’m in awe of how they’ve done it—and know I would’ve been an overwhelmed puddle of confusion in their shoes! Indie/self-publishing requires so much more than just writing the book: you figure out the formatting, cover design, printing, and not to mention all the marketing. But if you have the drive, energy, and skill to make it work, self-publishing can be a fantastic option (and produce some amazing results, shout-out to C.G. Honer’s THESE GILDED BONES MAY BLOOM, a fantasy anthology that might be the most gorgeous book I own).
Why do you write what you write? Has your mindset changed after being agented?
The pure escapism of fantasy and fairytales always called to me as a kid, but I’ve always poured myself—my struggles, my hopes, my questions about life—into my stories. I’m a huge fan of the fear genres, so moving into the thriller space was a fun challenge I got sucked into. After being agented, there’s more strategy involved in choosing projects—my agent is my business partner, and since it’s her job to sell the book, it’s also her job to follow the trends and know what kinds of books publishers are buying right now. So we look at the ideas I know I want to write—we never just chase trends!—and see which one might have the best chance of being picked up by a publisher. For instance, pivoting from YA to adult was a strategic move we’d agreed on. I always knew I wanted to write both eventually, but while we were on sub with that first YA book, we decided to switch gears and start working on an adult so we’d have a couple eggs in different baskets. And as life would have it, that adult book sold before my YAs. One day I’ll get back to YA—and fantasy, can’t keep me away from it—but that’ll come when the time is right.
What were your expectations of publishing? How are they different from your reality?
Welp, I never expected to get this far, so that was an encouraging difference! When I first started paying attention to the publishing world, so many people around me—who were not in publishing—made it seem like an impossible feat, so I kept quiet, embarrassed to pursue my "impossible" dream and fail. But I started following authors like Adrienne Young and Stephanie Garber who were very open about how they started out, and I kept thinking to myself why not try? So—all that to say, I expected getting into publishing to be impossible for the average person with zero knowledge or connections (me), but it’s absolutely not. Also when I first started out, I had no idea how many people would be involved in bringing a book to bookshelves! First, there’s your agent, who helps refine your book before sending it out to editors at publishing houses. Then, for your book to sell to said publisher, the editor has to get their team to sign off on it, which means multiple people read your book—or a portion of it—and vote yea or nay. From there, your book has a team of people behind it: there are editors and copyeditors and typesetters who format the book, there’s the art department who does your cover, there’s the publicity and marketing departments who are responsible for getting word out about your book (and getting it into bookstores), etcetera. Basically, it takes a village to bring a book to life, which is wild (and mildly terrifying) to think about when it’s just you and your laptop and the voices you made up in your head.
What would your advice be to someone who wants to start writing with the goal of being traditionally published?
Finish writing the book: set a timeline for yourself and finish that first draft, whatever it takes—proving to yourself that you can do it is half the battle. Experiment with your writing. Never stop trying to improve your craft and learning from others! Look beyond your own page: research the business side of writing, like querying, what makes a good literary agent, how publishers and editors work. Read everything you can in your genre to know the market. Read good books and bad books, picking apart the good and the bad of each. Find your people: don’t be afraid to introduce yourself to other writers. Learn to be a good beta reader for others—to give kind, honest critique, trying to understand what the writer is trying to accomplish in their words—and to receive that critique too. Learn to face rejection: it’s the worst, but it’s a writer’s rite of passage. Let it sting, then pick yourself up, see if there’s anything you can learn from it, and put yourself out there again. It will get better. You will get better. Reach out for advice! Message authors (Instagram is great for that) whose books you love and tell them what you love about their stories, and ask if they have any advice for fledgling writers. You’d be surprised at how many of them will respond. Everyone starts somewhere, and the writing community is incredibly kind and welcoming to new writers. And lastly: always, always be kind and encouraging to other writers, even if their books end up not being for you—you don’t need to be besties with everyone, but publishing is smaller than you’d think!
(Without spoilers) what was the hardest scene to write in You Are Fatally Invited?
Ooof. The Clue scene, hands down. Without giving too much away, my main characters—a group of thriller authors—are forced to play a twisted version of Clue to discover each other’s *secrets.* But, of course, half the characters are lying, and all of them are trying to figure out what each other’s done by the process of elimination. Add onto that, the scene is told from two different POVs, both of which know different things and are withholding others, and—yep. I literally drew out all the Clue cards and listed what each person was saying, and whether it was true or false. It was… a lot of fun, if fun involves lots of post-writing-session Advil and lying on the floor. Thankfully, my US editor said this scene ended up being her absolute favorite in the book.
What's your favourite thing about writing in your genre?
When I write adult thrillers, I absolutely love seeing all the twists weave together! I’m a massive fan of red herrings and misleading readers and super tiny details that come back to mean big things later. It’s harder to do all of that in YA, which still needs to appeal to younger readers and has a shorter word count, but in adult, all bets are off and I can make the story as intricate and twisty as I like. It’s delightful. But with anything YA, I LOVE the big feels. All the angst, firsts, coming-of-age struggles—there’s nothing like it, and it’s something I’ll always return to again and again. I also love playing with tension and pacing by giving each chapter a killer ending—I know I’ve succeeded depending on how many beta readers pull late nights to finish reading! Thank you Dan Brown’s Masterclass for teaching me all I know about starting and stopping chapters.
How do you balance writing, marketing, etc. with all the other life stuff that goes on?
Great question—when I know, I’ll let you know! Kidding. I’m in an odd state of flux right now, where I’m mainly editing, and the marketing/publicity side doesn’t ramp up until 9 – 6 months before the publication date, so it’ll vary, depending on the season! Right now, I try to post semi-regularly on my author Instagram, but that’s about it for an online presence. When I’m on deadline, I’m up at 5 a.m. to get work done before my kid wakes up. Then during his afternoon nap/quiet time, I’ll work a couple more hours, bringing it to about 4-5 hours a day. I can usually avoid writing late at night until the last week of deadline, during which all bets are off and I mutate into a hissing cave troll, sealed away from society with my laptop.
If you didn't write, what would you be doing for work?
I’m a full-time mom to a two-year-old hobbit, so writing aside I’d be doing that! Otherwise, I really, really wanted to go into psychology and/or criminal law, but life worked out differently, and now I can’t imagine breathing without having writing in my life. I’m so, so grateful to have found my passion and not let go of it.
What would be your author mascot?
Weirdly enough, Alexander Hamilton from the eponymous play! “Non-Stop” is my fight song whenever I’m gearing up to write or need a little motivation. Erin: A special thanks to Ande for taking the time to answer my questions! I'm looking forward to picking up You Are Fatally Invited when it hits shelves in February.
Ande: Thanks so much for having me on, Erin, and for anyone reading!
Bio
Ande Pliego is the author of YOU ARE FATALLY INVITED, an adult mystery thriller coming February 2025 from Bantam, Penguin Random House. A lover of stories with teeth, Ande writes dark adult thrillers and angsty YA fiction. She is currently settled in the Pacific Northwest with her craftsman husband and little son. You can add her debut here on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/194027519-you-are-fatally-invited or follow her on Instagram for more updates: https://www.instagram.com/andepliegowrites/
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