On the Cusp is a regular series I do on this blog, comprising an interview with another writer who’s about to become a debut novelist. I send them the standard list of ten questions and ask them to please pick five, and to also answer the bonus question, which is just to talk about anything else they’d like to, since that usually leads to unexpectedly interesting answers.
This week we have Paula Gleeson, who I met online but is a fellow Australian author! Her debut thriller Original Twin will be out this May. Pre-order it here.
Why did you pick traditional book publishing? Why not self-pub or even some other art form, to tell this story? Interpretive dance, perhaps? A computer game? A series of sculptures? Why a novel, with a publisher?
It’s a fair question given I started my career in the film/TV industry and could have easily written this as a feature film or TV series instead. Except, for me, this was always a novel and my dream since I was a little girl was to be a published author. I chose traditional publishing because it felt like a good fit for me given I love the business side of things as much as the creative and I wanted to have a support team (agent, editor etc…) around me rather than going it alone. I’m too tired to go it alone anymore.
Why this genre? Why this age group? Why these characters?
For me, the characters will always dictate everything that follows. So if they tell me it’s a thriller or mystery, then I’ll happily oblige. Same with the age group. My debut thriller Original Twin is an adult novel with a crossover feel given the age of the protagonists, but I also write in the YA and MG space.
I am an intuitive writer and never plot or outline, so along with a very basic idea, my characters tell me all their secrets. Original Twin was no different. It started with a whisper, late one night. A persistent girl. Saying she had a story to tell me and to pay attention because she wasn’t the most reliable of narrators. Oh, and she had a twin sister. Their names were May and June, one born just before midnight on May 31st and the other just after on June the 1st. That’s where it all began. I knew nothing else. They were a handful, those sisters, but I listened and slowly, a whole book appeared.
Was it a long road to get here? Do you have drawers full of previous manuscripts?
Yes, and yes! It felt like a long road to get here because of how many years I had wanted to take novel writing seriously and just never gave myself permission. It wasn’t until I was burnt out from my production work that I knew I had to give it a shot and see if I could pivot professions at a later age. I wasn’t an overnight success by any means. Finding my first agent and then losing her equally as quickly when she was fired, having to write another three manuscripts until I found my current agent and amazing advocate Gwen Beal at UTA. My first manuscript on submission to editors didn’t quite make it past multiple rounds of acquisitions and I had to rewrite another manuscript to then finally get a two-book deal with my current publisher. Now Original Twin will come out on May 28. Exhausting, but totally worth it.
What do you wish you’d understood better beforehand, about the business?
That almost every single thing, at every single stage, no matter who your agent or publisher is, will be out of your control. For someone like me who came from production and would be in control of just about everything, this has been the biggest learning curve. It’s about learning when to push back, when to ask questions, when to advocate for yourself, and when to just go with the flow.
What’s next?
Right now, I am almost finished my draft of my Book 2 under contract. This one will be out May, 2025. It’s going to be just as twisty as my debut and hopefully I can share more details soon. I am also on submission with a YA mystery and hope to shop my horror film script to production companies soon.
Bonus question: Most writers on their path to publication think about giving up at some point. Was there anything that made you feel this way? What kept you going?
I’ve thought about giving up many times. Many, many times. Rejections can really take their toll after a while and writing manuscript after manuscript with no agent or guarantee can feel really isolating. I also seriously considered giving up when my first agent sent me a one-line note on my current revisions which read: I am going to teach you how to write. Ouch. That one line took any confidence I had and annihilated it. Even though I kept writing and kept going, I would often give that line much more power over me than I care to admit.
How I kept going was fortitude, plain and simple. Fortitude will be your new buddy as you receive rejection after rejection. Heartbreak after heartbreak and want to give up one million times. Receiving rejection on your creative works is never easy and always feels personal—it’s not. Even once you reach those big milestones: finishing your novel, getting an agent, selling your book, there will aways be the next mountain to climb. Grab fortitude by the hand and never let them go. Besties for life.
Lisa Tirreno 