Write through the hard parts 💘
Today's guest is author Lauren Ling Brown.
No matter what, write through it.
Write in grocery stores and parking lots and waiting rooms. Write through failure and self-doubt, and write again. You’ll thank yourself — and one day, your readers will too.
You’ll wind up with more than just a finished draft. You’ll have a way out of your head, a way to focus on something meaningful, and a space to explore the uncomfortable truths — yes, even the ones you’d only whisper to your closest friends or bury in a journal. Because one day, someone might read your words and think, me too.
In today’s interview, author Lauren Ling Brown reveals the best piece of feedback she’s ever received, the query approach that landed her an agent, and how she finds her way back to writing when life gets in the way.
OUR SPECIAL GUEST TODAY IS…
Lauren Ling Brown
Author
The Society of Lies paperback is available now!
What’s been the toughest moment in your publishing journey, and how did you get through it?
I think the hardest moments are the ones where life happens and you have to find a way to return to your writing. For me, that was while I was writing Society of Lies. I had recently gone through a divorce, had gotten a difficult knee surgery, and was currently recovering from a hip surgery. I was writing from bed at first. It was a way to get out of my head and focus on something meaningful.
The next hardest part was finding an agent. I had written screenplays, short stories, etc. for years before writing novels, and Society of Lies was my third attempt at writing a novel, and the first to land me an agent and to be published.
How did you get your literary agent? What was the querying process like for you?
After sending my manuscript to about ten or more friends and really trying to polish it as much as possible, I cold emailed a list of agents in batches of five or ten using a spreadsheet I made in Google Sheets with each agent name, agency, a book I liked that they represented, and their query format. Personalizing each query letter and making sure that I was querying the right agent at each agency for my manuscript helped me find my agent.
What’s one thing about the publishing process no one tells you, but should?
Oh there is so much about the publishing process that I didn't know until I was in it! One myth is that you have to know someone to find an agent. I didn't!
Another one is that it's not easy once you get an agent. Revisions, marketing, publicity, and the rest of the process is a challenge... but so far, I love it and feel very lucky to have the chance to pursue this career path.
What’s the best piece of feedback you ever received? How did it change your story?
My agent told me that I needed more interiority in an early draft of Society of Lies, more thinking and feeling, she said. At first, I didn't know what that meant, but after carefully going through the manuscript, I realized that it was written more like a screenplay than a novel, and so I took months adding interiority to every chapter and actually rewriting most of the chapters.
When life gets busy, how do you protect your time to write?
This can be incredibly difficult. I try to write first thing in the morning. I also bring a notebook with me wherever I go and take five or ten minutes to write or jot down a scene idea longhand in the grocery store, at the car wash, while waiting in my car…
What’s one thing you do (creatively, mentally, or physically) that helps you stay in it when writing gets hard?
I love my thirty-minute sand timer. I'll start that and force myself to write a scene during that time. It doesn't have to be perfect or even good, but having the limited amount of time really helps me focus. I also have movement practices that I'll do when my body will allow. Aerial silks, yoga, walking around the neighborhood, these things keep my mind in a kind of flow state so that the creativity can surface rather than being occupied with other things.
Ready for feedback that takes your story to the next level?
“With Alyssa's input, I see what needs to be revised in my draft, what works, and what does not. I am encouraged to keep going after Alyssa's professional assessment.”
—S.A. Mulholland, fiction author
What is the most memorable writing tip or technique that you have heard, and how did it influence your process?
The best writing advice I've heard is that novels are built in the revision stage. For me that means, the outline is the map, the first draft is the scaffolding, and then each revision is a new "pass" of the story where I'll build one element. Maybe it's a certain character's POV, maybe it's just a focus on the dialogue, or maybe it's weaving an ethical question or theme into the narrative.
What part of the writing process brings you the most joy?
I enjoy the revision stage most. It's where I can deepen the character relationships and bring out the theme of the novel. I find drafting and the blank page stressful, but I try to keep it fun. My goal is to write books that are both entertaining and also have deeper themes and an ethical question at their center.
I want to find and explore uncomfortable truths in my characters' lives, the things that we might talk about with our closest friends, or write about in our journals. The book I'm working on now is about friendship and mother/daughter relationships...how we often assume that another person's life is perfect, but when you really take the time to understand what they're going through, we learn that everyone is struggling in their own way. That it's part of being human.
What’s a myth about being an author that you wish more people understood?
If you write a kind review of a book and/or post a picture of it and tag the author, you are helping the author immensely! Thank you to all of the readers out there who did this for Society of Lies and allowed it to reach so many people. I will be forever grateful that you chose to read my writing!
ICYMI… this week on YouTube I’m sharing how to write a perfect first line — by workshopping 18 real examples submitted by you!
I loved that LLB's answer to the first question was about returning to writing. That's where I've been most recently in my own journey, and I'm discovering so many other writers are in the same boat. Writing is a free, or at least really accessible, escape from reality and place to come home to, but at the same time, it can feel daunting. I love that LLB had a success story come out of it!
loved Society of Lies, yay!