Q & A with Bestselling Author Laura Taylor Namey

by | Oct 23, 2021 | books, fiction, writer, writers, writing, young adult books

If you’re looking for an immersive, beautiful and expansive story about friendship (with romance), Laura Taylor Namey’s third novel, When We Were Them (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, November 16, 2021), more than fits the bill. Told over the course of one week and laced with rich memories and moments between three friends, the story is sure to resonate with teens and adult readers alike who have experienced or aspired to have deep, meaningful relationships.

Here’s a description of the novel from Taylor Namey’s website:

When they were fifteen, Willa, Luz, and Britton had a friendship that was everything.
When they were sixteen, they stood by one another no matter what.
When they were seventeen, they went through the worst.
And when they were eighteen, Willa ruined it all.

I had the pleasure of doing a Q & A with Taylor Namey, an author I’m also proud to call a friend since we met years ago at the SCBWI annual conference in Los Angeles. Here are the highlights from our email exchange.

In what ways has your writing process and daily practice changed since writing your debut novel, The Library of Lost Things?

Now that my children are older, I definitely have more time to work in longer chunks, but my workload has increased ten-fold. I think what has changed the most is having to adapt to various seasons. My day looks much different when I’m actively drafting to other times when I’m focusing mainly on promotion or editing. My new motto is a combination of a day-by-day mentality as well as completing new tasks as quickly as I can, so they don’t pile up.

What was the spark for your latest novel, When We Were Them, and what made you want to explore female friendship?

After writing two coming of age YA novels with heavy romance subplots, I wanted to stretch my wings a little and try something different. WHEN WE WERE THEM is my most complex work to date, but I felt ready for a challenge. Having a brilliant editor who knew how to push and bring out my best made all the difference.

While A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow is a tribute to my Cuban family, WHEN WE WERE THEM is an ode to my California beach girl childhood. I set the novel in the small community where I grew up. As a teen, my female friends and those relationships were so crucial to my identity and development. I wanted to celebrate a ride or die friendship between three teen girls, but also explore the way grief and loss and growing up can affect relationship, as well as the fallout that ensues when one girl leans too hard on the others. The novel asks the question, is everything they were strong enough to survive everything they’ve become?

While all of WWWT comes from you, which specific parts of which characters are most like or drawn from your family and friendships (childhood and/or current)? 

These three characters and their friendship contain bits of me, in contrast to the character of Lila Reyes from A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow. She embodies most me as a teen. Future opera star Britton shares my love of music, and Luz’s obsession with the heart and the human body and medicine is a tribute to my father who passed away from heart disease. Willa’s surfer girl and ocean loving spirit comes right from my childhood. I grew up on the beach featured on the cover.

You dive deep into the ocean (pun intended), medicine, opera, becoming a Navy SEAL, and so much more in your novel. What did you know about each of these ahead of time, and what kind of research did you have to do before/while writing WWWT? 

I knew very little about each of these aspects of my book, beyond surface level, before I started researching. Growing up in San Diego, I was familiar with Navy SEALs, used to live next door to a former SEAL. But it took interviews with active military personnel and a lot of reading to educate myself well enough to be able to include this experience in my story. The rest just took time and study, and a lot of YouTube watching. I particularly enjoyed watching hours of opera masterclasses and teaching sessions filmed at universities. Opera is such a gorgeous art form and it was a privilege to include a bit of this rep in my story.

You seem to be a master of juggling book drafting and revision as well as book promotion. What’s your typical schedule (or secret)? 

Thank you! When I’m in a drafting or promotion season, or lately, both at once, I work between eight and ten hours a day. I draft in short 45-minute increments, spending the last fifteen minutes of every hour answering emails, prepping material for workshops, or maintaining my social media accounts. After dinner, I’m usually reading or working on my critique partners’ work. I’ve tried to be better about taking weekends off, but the month before a new book comes out, I typically have to spend a few weekend hours catching up. Despite the long hours, there is nothing I’d rather be doing.

Anyone who knows you knows how connected you are to your two critique partners. How has that relationship evolved and grown as you’ve all moved from pre-published writers to agented and/or published authors?

Now that the three of us have worked on multiple projects over the last three and a half years, I feel we’re better equipped to provide support, developmental feedback, and pinpoint editing within our workspace. We are the best of friends and mutual cheerleaders, and we trust each other implicitly. I am so lucky to have them. 

What was the best part about having your sophomore novel, A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow, become a Reese’s YA Book Club pick—and a New York Times bestseller?

Being chosen for Reese’s Book Club has truly been one of the highlights of my career. The entire team is wonderful and so supportive, and the club works like a big family. I love being able to share my book across a wider platform and audience.

What has been the most challenging aspect of publishing three books in two years? And what have you learned about yourself as a writer (and a person) during that time?

Having to juggle multiple projects at once has been hard. Setting aside a draft to work on another book that might be in a different stage can be tricky. Now, I’m used to it. I’ve learned that I have a unique process that works for me and my writing style. And I’ve learned how much I truly love this job. The work is hard and long and taxing at times, but it is the only work I want to be doing.

What are some tips you have for aspiring writers to help them find ideas/inspiration for stories they’re meant to tell?

The world and the people you meet simply by living your life can provide so much inspiration. I’m also a fan of combining story ideas. The memory of a high school friend, plus a sparkling event three years ago, plus a curious letter or single line overheard at a café can be combined to create a thrilling new story. Also, ideas breed other ideas if you give them space. Jotting notes about story tidbits can unleash your creativity and many times, your mind will expand the scope of a few loose ideas into a novel worthy premise and a compelling tale.

Please share a favorite prompt or two for writers to help them get started on a new idea, or to get to know their characters better (especially those like me who are doing Nanowrimo in November).

My favorite exercise to get to know my character better is a long check list that I fiddle with before I start my book. Here is an abridged version. You should be able to answer these questions in your character’s voice.

I want most to:

I could have that except:

I am thrilled by:

I am inspired by:

I am terrified by:

I am disgusted by:

I’m most centered when:

I’m most anxious when:

My personal style looks like:

Not counting my pets, or family members, if I could only save three objects in a fire, I’d choose:

What are some of your favorite recent reads, TV shows, films or songs/albums?

Some recent favorite reads are You’d Be Home Now by Kathleen Glasgow, People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry, and Our Way Back to Always by Nina Moreno.

Professor Henry Higgins (aka Henry) is a big fan of his mother’s new novel!

Laura Taylor Namey is the New York Times bestselling author of Reese’s Book Club pick A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow, The Library of Lost Things, and When We Were Them. A proud Cuban-American, she can be found hunting for vintage treasures and wishing she was in London or Paris. She lives in San Diego with her husband and two children. To learn more about Taylor Namey and all her work, visit her website here. You can order her books wherever books are sold, and check out her preorder campaign with Mysterious Galaxy Books in San Diego here. 

Q & A with Debut YA Novelist Laura Taylor Namey

by | Sep 15, 2019 | books, fiction, writer, writers, writing, young adult books

Laura Taylor Namey is a woman on a mission. This dog loving, piano playing, former teacher is a mother of two and full time writer. She aspires to live in London someday, but right now is truly living the dream (and working her a** off) as the debut author of the brand new young adult novel, The Library of Lost Things (Inkyard Press, October 2019). Here’s a description of the novel from Goodreads:

From the moment she first learned to read, literary genius Darcy Wells has spent most of her time living in the worlds of her books. There, she can avoid the crushing reality of her mother’s hoarding and pretend her life is simply ordinary. But when a new property manager becomes more active in the upkeep of their apartment complex, the only home Darcy has ever known outside of her books suddenly hangs in the balance.

While Darcy is struggling to survive beneath the weight of her mother’s compulsive shopping, Asher Fleet, a former teen pilot with an unexpectedly shattered future, walks into the bookstore where she works…and straight into her heart. For the first time in her life, Darcy can’t seem to find the right words. Fairy tales are one thing, but real love makes her want to hide inside her carefully constructed ink-and-paper bomb shelter.

Still, after spending her whole life keeping people out, something about Asher makes Darcy want to open up. But securing her own happily-ever-after will mean she’ll need to stop hiding and start living her own truth—even if it’s messy.

I had the pleasure of doing an email interview with my lovely friend whom I had the pleasure of meeting several years ago at a Society for Children’s Book Authors and Illustrators annual conference. Read on to learn about her writing journey and why she loves #pitchwars and her critique partners (not necessarily in that order).

EZ: At what point in your life did you know you wanted to write for children and young adults? And when did you know you were a writer?

LTN: I have always felt like a natural writer, even if I didn’t have the logistics figured out until a few years ago. I am a former teacher, and I found myself using a lot of literature in my classroom lessons. I began to long for the chance to write my own stories. About five years ago, I started writing a young adult novel (this one will forever live in a drawer). I’d had no formal training, but I used that work to find out what I really did need to work on more. I got help, read a ton, and decided that I wanted to focus on the young adult age group. I love the emphasis on coming-of-age themes, high-concept storytelling, and exploring complex and relevant topics.

EZ: What has been the best part of  transitioning from a pre-published to a published author?

LTN: I have such admiration and respect for career authors, and creators who consistently come up with beautiful and compelling content. Being able to take my small place beside them, with the word Published next to my name, is an incredible experience.

EZ: How do you fit writing into the rest of your life (and fit the rest of your life into your writing)?

LTN: I am blessed to have a supportive family, and the opportunity to write full time right now. I work best in the morning, so having a new teen driver in my home has helped to free up some of my time to build up my word count before lunch time. I take breaks to take care of my home and family, and to squeeze in a workout. Admittedly, I don’t watch a lot of TV. I am usually writing, or reading during down time.

EZ: What are your favorite kinds of books to read, and how do they inspire your writing?

LTN: I love books that stick with me long after I’ve finished them. I enjoy a wide variety of authors, age groups, and genres. Make me care, feel, and want to chat about your book all day and that’s my idea of a winner. I believe all writers need to actively read other writers. I am most inspired by other authors in the areas of scope and opportunity. There are so many ways to attack and deconstruct even the same topic in drastically different ways with differing points of view. Reading more only confirms my belief that so many possibilities lay in front of our pens.

EZ: Can you describe your experience with #pitchwars on Twitter?

LTN: I was a 2017 #pitchwars unofficial mentee. Besides working with a fantastic mentor who became the first person to work on THE LIBRARY OF LOST THINGS, #pitchwars brought me into a supportive community of writers. This is the real prize in any online contest. Put your work out there. Meet fellow writers. Team up and share and hone your craft together, and know that you are not alone in your struggles and hopes.

EZ: You are a big fan of your critique partners. How did you meet them, and what makes your partnership work? What advice do you have for other writers who want to work with critique partners or groups?

LTN: I have two fantastic critique partners that work with me almost every day. We met because we were all 2017 #pitchwars unofficial mentees. We began chatting privately on Twitter DM, and became lifelong friends through sharing our work and supporting one another. What sets our group apart is that we don’t wait until we finish a novel to edit or weigh in. We are always working together on our three individual manuscripts. We plan together from idea-up, talk through issues, name towns or characters, and share snippets of our writing as we go. When I get stuck, I can ask a question directly from the point of concern. My partners already have such a deep knowledge of my manuscript, plot and theme, and character arcs, that they can weigh in quickly. And I do the same for their work.

For those who would like to join or form a group like this, hang out on private writer’s boards or the community groups associated with social media programs, such as #pitchwars. Put yourself out there. It might take some time, but you will find your people. It’s okay if you try out a CP and that person isn’t quite right for you. Keep sharing and investing in others.

How will you know if you are collaborating with the best people for you? Your perfect CPs will be similar enough to you and your work that they share a taste level and basic skill level. But they should be different enough that they can expand your scope and contribute to your growth. A good CP walks beside you, while also possessing the tools to push you. My CPs and I are the best of friends, but when it’s time to work, we give tough feedback with love.

EZ: What are you currently working on? And where do you see yourself in five years?

LTN: Right now I am almost finished with the draft of a secret junior novel. I’m hanging out in the young adult contemporary world for a while, and hope to have a few books side-by-side on shelves in five years.

To learn more about Laura Taylor Namey and The Library of Lost Things, visit her website. You can also find her on Twitter and on Instagram. Stay tuned for Namey’s sophomore novel, A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Sweaters and Stars (Simon & Schuster, Fall ’20) and future titles as well!