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.
This week we have Nicole M. Wolverton, who I know from an online author group. Nicole lives in the Philadelphia, PA area and her young adult horror novel, A Misfortune of Lake Monsters, will be out on July 2. 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?
Why traditional publishing vs something else? I’m comfortable in the traditional publishing space. I like having a process and people behind the scenes, bringing the book into the world. I chose a small press that’s outside the “big five” for Lake Monsters, and I think that was the way to go. Visibility is a bigger challenge, but I have more autonomy to do my own thing in terms of marketing and publicity.
For someone like me, who is easily frustrated with rigid boundaries and my own impatience—but who doesn’t want to be responsible for all aspects of publishing myself—a small press is happy medium that satisfies my aggressively organized soul. That also explains why a novel vs something else … aggressive organization lends itself to novel writing, as does the tension-building needed for longer form horror.
Also, while I’m sure watching me mime a lake monster attack would be entertaining, I’m really graceless—and no one wants to see that!
Why this genre? Why this age group? Why these characters?
I’ve been a horror fan since I was a little kid—my grandmother used to read some pretty gruesome fairy tales to me, and I was always comforted by that rather than scared. As an adult, I still find horror comforting. On one level, even when terrible things are happening in your real life, there are worse things in a horror movie … and misery does love company. On another level, horror builds the resilience necessary to face those terrible things.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, my side project was earning a master’s degree in horror and storytelling and producing a thesis project that argues horror should be mass-prescribed to help develop our coping skills before the next catastrophe. Research suggests that people who watch or read horror regularly demonstrated superior resilience during the earliest parts of the pandemic compared to people who don’t—and a lot of the reason is because consumers of art-horror regularly exercise their fight or flight muscles (and hey, practice makes perfect), not to mention that the whole reason we play as children is to learn life skills and that doesn’t change as we become adults. Play has purpose; and so do horror movies and books.
As for why, YA… well, being a teenager is horrifying in the extreme. Considering all teenagers must endure—from lack of agency to the threat of climate disaster to online bullying and beyond—there is no other age group that needs to develop coping skills more. I read a lot of horror as a young person, and I write (more or less) for an audience of one: me as a teenager. One of the things that gave me joy at that age was a very close group of friends, and so writing Lemon, Troy, and Darrin—the friend group in A Misfortune of Lake Monsters—was so fun for me. Troy and Darrin’s relationship, in particular, is based on two college friends; revisiting that friendship was like stepping into a time machine, and it serves the story well. Lemon needs ride-or-die best friends to save her town (not to mention finding a way to get what she wants out of life). Nothing else would get the job done.
Was there anything in the journey to publication that you’d built up and then it turned out to be nothing to worry about/an anticlimax?
Worrying about book two. As it turns out, the press publishing A Misfortune of Lake Monsters favors likeable characters: Anti-heroes and gray ethical areas are not their thing, and my book two is a very anti-hero, ethically gray book. Knowing that I don’t have to be concerned about developmental editing/copyediting for book two on the run up to publication for A Misfortune of Lake Monsters is an unexpected weight lifted off of me. I have time to devote to just enjoying the process instead of freaking out about what’s next.
What do you wish you’d understood better beforehand, about the business?
When I first approached the idea of seeking publication for my work over a decade ago, there was a lot of urgency attached everything for me. I put a lot of pressure on myself. I’m a different person now, with different goals. It’s okay not to internalize all the pressure of the publishing world. It’s okay to take things at your own pace and just do what makes you happy. A lot of the drama you see on social media, whether it’s coming from traditionally published authors or self-published authors or from agents, etc, is wrapped up in the pressure and urgency and scarcity that seems (rightly or wrongly) inherent in publishing. Like the GenX-er I am, I’ve given myself permission to opt-out where I want to and just be content.
Any plans yet, for publication day?
If there’s a bookstore within an hour’s drive carrying A Misfortune of Lake Monsters, my plan is to show up and sign some copies. That’s my publication day plan. I’m not having an official launch event because that would just give me agita.
That said, I have quite a few events planned for the second half of 2024, starting with a book talk at Big Blue Marble in Philly on July 19, where I’ll be in conversation with Stephanie Willing, the voice of Lemon from the audiobook! Another event I’m really excited about is at A Novel Idea, the bookstore hosting my preorder campaign—I’ll be part of a panel on August 21 on middle grade and young adult horror with a few of my 2024 debut author friends. I’ll be all over the place in the second half of the year, though, from Flemington, NJ to Wilkes-Barre, PA to Bethany Beach, DE.
Bonus question: Is there anything else you wanted a chance to talk about?
Just my general love of librarians and libraries, and all the wonderful people who run independent bookstores—in today’s political atmosphere, where a loud minority of people are insisting on legally policing everyone’s else’s reading habits, librarians and independent booksellers are true heroes and champions of the written word, not to mention individual liberties. I can’t even begin to express how much I appreciate that.
For more information, visit https://nicolewolverton.com/
Lisa Tirreno 