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 Michelle Kulwicki, who I know via an online group for debut authors. Michelle lives in Ypsilanti, Michigan and her novel At the End of the River Styx will be out in September. You can pre-order it here.
Why this genre? Why this age group? Why these characters?
I’ve always loved writing in a young adult space. Teenagers are so raw. They haven’t learned to shut away their emotions, they haven’t learned how to perform in public the way so many adults do. Digging into that headspace, writing characters that are allowed to wear every feeling on their sleeves, writing characters that can behave so earnestly is incredibly freeing.
Add the fantasy genre to the mix, and you’ve got a new world for them to learn in, a new world to isolate them in—which tends to give them so much more agency!
At the End of the River Styx is about conquering grief and learning to love again—both problems so many teenagers face—but set on a mythological river of death that my two MCs have access to without any influence from other people. It is for teenagers who long for love, even when they feel they’re at their most unworthy. It is for teenagers who deserve that love, despite everything. And, like all of the books I write, it is for me.
Was it a long road to get here? Do you have drawers full of previous manuscripts?
Like many, I’ve wanted to be a writer since I was a kid. I have quite the backlog of bizarre ravings written in chunky, misformed letters, telling tales of dragons and Santa Claus and unicorn dolphins and more dragons and princesses who fight dragons, and dragons who fight princesses, and on, and on. When I got older, I went on to get a partial degree in creative writing (which counts for absolutely nothing because it’s unfinished, but was fairly formative). After that, I spent many years turning all my creative attention to the illustrious AO3 which holds over a million of my very terrible, very trope-filled, very cringe words, and I’ll proudly own every single one because fic writers are AMAZING and I learned so much from them all (arguably far more than my partial creative writing degree. Okay not even arguably. Definitively).
And then in 2019 I decided that I was kind of tired of borrowing other people’s characters and wanted to try my hand at the dream I’d buried years ago: I wanted to write my own books.
I’m extremely lucky, to be quite honest. At the End of the River Styx was my first queried manuscript, and my first book deal. But yes, prior to Styx, it was a long road, filled with many years of words, many years of crushing imposter syndrome, and many years of making lifelong writer friends who have cheered me on every step of the way!
What do you wish you’d understood better beforehand, about the business?
I wish I’d known just how long everything really took. Given the fandom background, I got very used to churning out 500k words a year and hitting ‘publish’ anytime I wanted. In traditional publishing, the idea-to-shelf pipeline takes years. I started drafting At the End of the River Styx in February of 2020. It will be on shelves September of 2024. 4.5 years from start to finish, and I know people whose journeys took even longer!
When I put it that way, maybe I’m glad I didn’t realize the enormous scale of wait times … might have scared me off entirely!
That said, getting an opportunity to work on a book with CPs who believe in you, then an agent who believes in you, then an editor who believes in you? Absolutely priceless, wouldn’t change it for anything.
Any plans yet, for publication day?
I’m holding a launch event at one of my very favorite bookstores (shout out to Schuler Books for having me—absolute dream come true!). Then I’m going out with friends and family to eat so much sushi I explode. I truly can’t wait.
What’s next?
Who knows? It feels a little surreal to me, but I’ve managed to hit every author dream I ever had with this book (cue ✨vague publishing news✨). I’ve got another contemporary fantasy finished, and hopefully someone will pick it up. I’ve just started drafting a third, and I’m extremely excited about it. Hopefully someone will pick that up too.
But right now, I’m just trying to write as much as I can (an increasingly difficult activity given the fact that my real-life job has been getting more intense and I’ve got three kids who are also, big surprise, getting more intense), soak in the wins as they come and try to give myself grace on the days when all of that feels like too much to handle. Publishing is a rough ride. I’m incredibly lucky to be on it, but every now and again I consider running into the woods and never coming back.
Bonus question: Is there anything else you wanted a chance to talk about?
Can I give some book recommendations? Is that allowed? I’ve read some killer debuts lately that deserve a big shoutout!
The Wilderness of Girls, Madeline Claire Franklin, out June 11. Generational trauma, cults, mystery, monsters, and absolutely gorgeous prose that made my heart ache.
A Product of Genetics and Day Drinking, Jess Gutierrez, out June 18. Millennials, roller derby, 90s escapades, and an entire chapter devoted to Titanic. An incredible memoir filled with essays so raw and hilarious I spent half the read in laugh-tears.
Voyage of the Damned, Frances White, out in the UK already, out in the US August 20. Billed as a magical gay murder cruise, 100% lived up to that hype. Twelve heirs of magic stuck on a boat with a murder in their midst, and a feral, disaster narrator who you can’t help but love.
Lisa Tirreno 