Talk about writing an intriguing first paragraph and first page. The book grabbed me from the first line and wouldn’t let go. Tracy Sierra was born and raised in the Colorado mountains. She is an attorney who currently lives in New England in an antique colonial-era home complete with its own secret room. When not writing, she spends time with her husband and two children. Nightwatching is her debut novel and was the Spring pick of the Jimmy Fallon Book Club.
What’s the best writing advice you were ever given?
That writing is work. You have to treat it as a job, sit down and do the writing or you’ll never be a writer. It sounds simple, but it’s so tempting to treat creative work as if it’s magic, springing out fully-formed. Of course that’s not the case. It’s daily, scheduled, focused labor like anything else.
What’s the worst?
I have never met a writer who has the same process. For this reason I look askance at a lot of “process” advice out there. You can, and will, write in a different way than anyone else—so the idea that there is one “correct” way to structure, come up with ideas, outline, etc. always strikes me as a swindle.
What have you read lately that you wholeheartedly recommend?
You Know What You Did by K.T. Nguyen. I especially appreciated the examination of OCD which was realistic, impactful, and visceral. Plus, an excellent set of twists!
How about an older book—five years or more?
Going way back here, In a Lonely Place by Dorothy B. Hughes, published 1947. It’s noir, it’s told from the villain’s perspective, and you’ll never expect what’s coming because you’ll find the main character’s prejudices bleeding into your own mind prevent you from seeing what you should.
How far will you read before you stop or do you finish every book you begin?
I finish almost every book I begin. I have a couple of triggers that will make me stop reading altogether (the death of an underdeveloped female or child character being the impetus for a central story of a man’s “hero’s journey” is a trope I can’t stand, for example). But by and large, even if there’s a book I’ve stopped enjoying I will at least skim to the end, trying to figure out why it didn’t work for me, and if that might change further on.
When you begin a draft, does it go straight onto the computer or do you start with a pen or pencil, or typewriter, or…..
I brainstorm and do a brief outline handwritten in notebooks. I also like to do character sketches this way for the core cast as I work out who they are and how they will develop. Once I have an idea of beginning, middle, end, and characters, I turn to the computer to actually write. I constantly am correcting and changing what I just wrote, so writing out the actual story by hand is a non-starter!
How did it feel for Nightwatching to be chosen for the Jimmy Fallon Book Club?
It was an absolute roller-coaster. Since Nightwatching was published in February, by the time March rolled around I thought the book club possibility was well in the rearview. So to have it chosen as one of the sixteen books to compete to be the Fallon Book Club read was incredibly unexpected yet wonderful. The process of audience voting took weeks, and during that time I was hopeful, hopeless, terrified, excited—all of the feelings. When it won I was (and continue to be) so grateful, especially because there were so many amazing books it had been up against. Actually having to go on The Tonight Show was both a dream come true and one of the most intimidating experiences of my life. I remember walking out for the interview and thinking, “Wow, I don’t think I’ve stepped through a curtain onto a stage since middle school,” and then after that I remember—nothing. Or not quite nothing, since I do remember noticing that Jimmy Fallon has a monitor subtly embedded into the desk, presumably to give him prompts and let him know how he is on time. Which means that watching the interview is like watching someone else altogether. Such an unreal but incredible experience!
Listen to my interview with Tracy on Writers on Writing.
Find more on Tracy Sierra in her website and on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok: @tsierraauthor