Author Biography | Interview | Books by this Author | Read-Alikes
Laura McHugh is the internationally bestselling author of The Weight of Blood, winner of an International Thriller Writers Award and a Silver Falchion Award for best first novel, and Arrowood, an International Thriller Writers Award finalist for best novel. Her work has also been nominated for a Barry Award, Alex Award, Goodreads Choice Award, and Pushcart Prize. McHugh's latest novel, The Wolf Wants In, will be published in August 2019. The author lives in Missouri with her husband and daughters.
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Lucy's voice is convincingly young adult. Did you find it difficult to write in her voice? What kind of preparation did you do?
That made me laugh, because I sometimes forget how far removed I am from being a young person. Lucy is the youngest of the narrators, but her voice came to me first. I didn't do any formal preparation, though I think a few things in my everyday life gave me a foundation to work from. I kept a journal throughout my teens, and I still remember how I felt and acted at that age. I tried to channel my 17-year-old self to an extent, though only a few bits and pieces of me ended up in Lucy's character. Some of my favorite books are adult novels with young adult narrators, and I kept those in mind as I was writing Lucy's sections. And I'm not sure whether this really helped or not, but as the youngest of eight kids, I spent years observing (spying on) my teenage brothers and sisters.
Did the evil side of this novel get to you at all while you were writing? Give you nightmares?
I didn't have nightmares, but I did spend an unhealthy amount of time worrying about the dangers that await my daughters out in the world. My oldest is in elementary school, and I won't let her walk home from the bus stop...
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