WEBVTT 1 00:00:07.610 --> 00:00:09.650 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: Hello, everyone! 2 00:00:09.750 --> 00:00:18.649 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: Welcome, welcome! If you can see and hear me. Please drop your location in the chat so we can see where you are joining us from. 3 00:00:20.280 --> 00:00:23.560 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: and I'm going to drop some links for you 4 00:00:23.970 --> 00:00:25.760 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: in the chat as well. 5 00:00:26.970 --> 00:00:30.799 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: and I will do that intermittently. Throughout our session today 6 00:00:32.540 --> 00:00:38.450 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: I see Maryland, Boston, Canada, Texas, Pittsburgh. 7 00:00:39.330 --> 00:00:42.409 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: California, St. Louis, Copenhagen. 8 00:00:42.630 --> 00:00:54.669 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: Kentucky. We love seeing folks from all over the globe as always, and I see a lot of familiar names here, which is great. We're so glad you're able to keep joining us this week for the live events. 9 00:00:55.570 --> 00:01:05.239 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: It looks like you can see and hear me just fine. So we're gonna get started with Louise Lunas in just a moment. First, st I'm going to go over a couple of housekeeping items. 10 00:01:05.608 --> 00:01:12.529 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: In case this is your 1st time. Here I am, Michelle, with pro writing aid, and I am so excited to have you here 11 00:01:14.700 --> 00:01:24.609 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: to access your replays this week. You will want to head to the crime week, Hub, and I'm going to drop those links again here for anybody that just came through 12 00:01:25.060 --> 00:01:36.330 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: our replays. 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So make sure that you check those out. 16 00:02:12.160 --> 00:02:17.569 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: We do have premium day this Friday, that is, for our premium and premium pro users. 17 00:02:17.580 --> 00:02:45.739 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: Any free users can upgrade their accounts by Friday morning to gain access, and anyone who will be getting access to Friday's events will receive an email Friday morning with instructions for attending. If you are a premium and premium pro user and do not receive that email on Friday morning. Email us at Hello, prorating aidcom. And we will be happy to help you out. If you have any questions about your account also. Hello, prorating Aidcom. Our support team will be happy to take a look and let you know 18 00:02:46.850 --> 00:03:05.169 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: our offer for you. This week is 15% off a yearly premium or premium pro license. If you would like to upgrade the link is on the hub and you'll have a special code. Cw, 2024 to get your 15% off, and that offer ends on July 6.th Find out more on the hub. 19 00:03:05.280 --> 00:03:10.732 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: If you would like to keep talking crime writing with us. We would love to have you in our private online community 20 00:03:10.980 --> 00:03:35.360 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: joining. It is free. You just log in with your prorating aid account, and it lets you in with this link here. It's also linked on the hub. We have the live event chat currently happening with a lot of fun writing discussions about the sessions this week, and crime writing in general, and that is also where the event recordings Page is, so that you can view replays from this week as well as past writers week. So there's a lot of great content for you there. 21 00:03:35.980 --> 00:04:03.590 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: reminders for our session today. If you have any questions you would like to ask, or would like me to ask Louise the Luna, please put them in the QA. Box, so that we don't miss them. I will be monitoring the QA. As I ask my own questions. And I don't want to miss anything in the chat. So if you have any specific questions, put them in the QA. Box, please, and if you would like to chat with fellow attendees, use the chat for that. Make sure that next to 2 you're selecting everyone. 22 00:04:03.760 --> 00:04:08.209 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: Otherwise by default, your messages will just come to the host and panelists. 23 00:04:08.230 --> 00:04:13.520 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: so change it to everyone and feel free to discuss with fellow attendees today 24 00:04:13.950 --> 00:04:19.849 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: and once again thank you for joining us. I am here today with Louisa Luna. 25 00:04:19.890 --> 00:04:38.919 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: Louisa Luna's 7th novel. Tell me who you are, was released this month by Mcdbooks at Ferrar, Straus, and Guru. She is the author of the Alice Vega series, 2 girls down the Janes and Hideout, which won the Gp. Putnam Sons, Sue Grafton Memorial Award at the 2023 Edgers. 26 00:04:39.040 --> 00:04:49.050 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: Her other novels include brave new girl, crooked and serious as a heart attack. She was born and raised in the city of San Francisco, and lives in Brooklyn with her husband and daughter 27 00:04:49.440 --> 00:04:52.560 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: welcome, we are so happy to have you, Louisa. 28 00:04:53.680 --> 00:04:55.899 Louisa Luna: Thank you. I'm so happy to be here. 29 00:04:56.370 --> 00:05:07.939 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: I'm going to just make sure I have the QA. Open here and the chat so I can see everything that's going on, and we will just dive right in. So. 30 00:05:07.940 --> 00:05:08.590 Louisa Luna: Right. 31 00:05:09.040 --> 00:05:17.699 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: 1st and foremost. What? Initially peaked your interest with writing, and then especially with the crime writing genre. 32 00:05:19.420 --> 00:05:32.519 Louisa Luna: Wow, okay. So writing in general has, you know, just been always the way that I express myself. From when I was very young in terms of 33 00:05:32.960 --> 00:05:38.420 Louisa Luna: crime writing, I really feel, no matter what I was writing. 34 00:05:39.070 --> 00:05:41.160 Louisa Luna: It was always ending up 35 00:05:41.170 --> 00:05:47.830 Louisa Luna: having elements of suspense not only in the full 36 00:05:48.240 --> 00:05:52.460 Louisa Luna: piece, but seem to seem and 37 00:05:52.680 --> 00:05:55.200 Louisa Luna: you know dialogue to dialogue 38 00:05:55.450 --> 00:05:56.410 Louisa Luna: so. 39 00:05:57.270 --> 00:06:00.461 Louisa Luna: and I also found sort of the larger 40 00:06:01.260 --> 00:06:11.089 Louisa Luna: arc of mystery, and just sort of figuring out who characters are, I think, kind of all books are mysteries in a way. And maybe I'm biased. 41 00:06:11.200 --> 00:06:14.949 Louisa Luna: So you know the leap to actually 42 00:06:15.220 --> 00:06:28.019 Louisa Luna: fitting into the genre of crime. It never seemed that far off from me, because I I just feel that within all human interaction. There's a huge element of just suspense and 43 00:06:28.640 --> 00:06:32.709 Louisa Luna: you know, unraveling of mysteries on consistently. 44 00:06:33.880 --> 00:06:39.299 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: So where do you get your inspiration? Primarily for your crime novels. 45 00:06:41.400 --> 00:06:47.599 Louisa Luna: That is a good question, because I think it varies, and it comes from, you know. 46 00:06:48.328 --> 00:06:56.279 Louisa Luna: It comes from things that are very literal like something I might read in, you know, a news item. 47 00:06:58.420 --> 00:07:05.800 Louisa Luna: you know something about a kidnapping, or a missing person, or a murder or homicide. 48 00:07:06.245 --> 00:07:08.560 Louisa Luna: But then it can also come 49 00:07:09.236 --> 00:07:27.403 Louisa Luna: from something a lot more, you know, ethereal and just sort of those. What if moments that I think everyone has, you know, if you're walking and you're you know. My mine, of course, tends to be a little dark like. Oh, what if I got Bobby right here, you know. 50 00:07:27.920 --> 00:07:28.655 Louisa Luna: but 51 00:07:30.310 --> 00:07:32.276 Louisa Luna: so it just sort of 52 00:07:32.810 --> 00:07:37.019 Louisa Luna: generates from many different sources, and then also from 53 00:07:37.050 --> 00:07:42.380 Louisa Luna: things I'm consuming books and and shows and movies 54 00:07:42.863 --> 00:07:48.096 Louisa Luna: things I find inspirational and just sort of get get me thinking and 55 00:07:48.790 --> 00:07:50.567 Louisa Luna: feeling, you know. 56 00:07:51.220 --> 00:07:55.190 Louisa Luna: I think something that's cool is, you can read a book 57 00:07:55.500 --> 00:07:56.470 Louisa Luna: and 58 00:07:57.920 --> 00:08:12.749 Louisa Luna: you know. Think about it, obviously. Oh, what if I wrote this story from my point of view, you know, and you can sort of take from that and use it as a jumping off point for your own pieces. So I've definitely done that as well. 59 00:08:14.290 --> 00:08:24.160 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: Do you have any favorite crime authors that you like to read? When you're not currently writing? Or do you read to as you're writing to gain more inspiration. 60 00:08:25.561 --> 00:08:32.169 Louisa Luna: I'm reading all the time. And I I read a real range of 61 00:08:32.673 --> 00:08:40.660 Louisa Luna: a real range of genres. I mean, I do read a lot of mysteries, but I also read a lot of 62 00:08:42.210 --> 00:08:47.079 Louisa Luna: I I really, I would say my favorite are the ones that sort of are 63 00:08:48.410 --> 00:08:55.080 Louisa Luna: you know, bridging genres. I love the book Eileen by Osa Moshe, because it is 64 00:08:55.180 --> 00:09:01.067 Louisa Luna: a noir, but it also is a huge character study. And I really 65 00:09:01.560 --> 00:09:05.169 Louisa Luna: find these character driven stories very rich. 66 00:09:05.370 --> 00:09:06.185 Louisa Luna: So 67 00:09:07.020 --> 00:09:08.940 Louisa Luna: because I think that if you 68 00:09:08.950 --> 00:09:12.540 Louisa Luna: can hang on to a good narrator or a good character. 69 00:09:12.951 --> 00:09:34.318 Louisa Luna: As a reader, I know that I will follow that character anywhere, and I found that as a writer the same thing really. You sort of let them tell you your story. Another one I love called it came out last year, called, I have some questions for you by Rebecca Mackay. 70 00:09:34.720 --> 00:09:41.679 Louisa Luna: And I'm not sure if she did a thriller before that. But it's very character driven. 71 00:09:41.690 --> 00:09:44.990 Louisa Luna: But, however and and you know you sort of 72 00:09:45.040 --> 00:09:54.182 Louisa Luna: believe your narrator, but just sort of follow her down this rabbit hole a wonderful rabbit hole, so I guess I love 73 00:09:55.550 --> 00:09:59.480 Louisa Luna: I love stuff that sort of splits the genre open a little bit. 74 00:10:00.530 --> 00:10:03.980 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: So I do. Wanna talk about specific characters. But first, st 75 00:10:04.120 --> 00:10:06.500 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: can you kind of walk us through 76 00:10:06.640 --> 00:10:15.690 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: what what your writing process looks like? And how has it changed over the years from your 1st novel to the new novel that just came out last week? 77 00:10:16.400 --> 00:10:19.280 Louisa Luna: Oh, wow! Okay. So 78 00:10:20.480 --> 00:10:22.310 Louisa Luna: I you know. 79 00:10:22.570 --> 00:10:23.929 Louisa Luna: I think it was 80 00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:27.990 Louisa Luna: Stephen King who who divided writers into 81 00:10:28.536 --> 00:10:35.610 Louisa Luna: the planners and the panthers, the people or the plotters and the panthers, the people who outline 82 00:10:36.950 --> 00:10:44.910 Louisa Luna: and then the people who just dive in and go for it. And I've definitely always been a pamper. I am not a big outliner 83 00:10:46.630 --> 00:10:49.252 Louisa Luna: and this has gotten me into some trouble. 84 00:10:49.580 --> 00:10:50.080 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: You know. 85 00:10:50.080 --> 00:10:54.749 Louisa Luna: This is really. I have taken myself into a corner many, many times. 86 00:10:57.360 --> 00:11:00.060 Louisa Luna: However, I I 87 00:11:00.540 --> 00:11:11.369 Louisa Luna: the thing that has remained in my process since the beginning. That has always been the same is when I'm drafting, when I'm working on a 1st thing I am 88 00:11:12.260 --> 00:11:14.459 Louisa Luna: I'm getting everything down. 89 00:11:14.898 --> 00:11:21.119 Louisa Luna: And I'm just seeing what happens. And I am seeing, really trying to let the characters 90 00:11:21.450 --> 00:11:25.290 Louisa Luna: drive it. Now again, writing 91 00:11:25.610 --> 00:11:28.280 Louisa Luna: genre mystery thrillers. 92 00:11:28.470 --> 00:11:32.470 Louisa Luna: This is a little tricky because you do have to set up. 93 00:11:32.620 --> 00:11:34.619 Louisa Luna: you know. A 94 00:11:34.980 --> 00:11:41.899 Louisa Luna: pretty, not a rigid plot. But you have to set up a plot. You have to hit some staff you have to. 95 00:11:41.920 --> 00:11:44.720 Louisa Luna: You have to tell a story that's believable. 96 00:11:44.810 --> 00:11:53.950 Louisa Luna: So usually those things are happening in tandem. I'm letting the characters sort of see, I'm feeling my way around for the character. And then, at the same time. 97 00:11:54.210 --> 00:11:59.420 Louisa Luna: I'm sort of constructing a plot that you know will 98 00:11:59.540 --> 00:12:03.480 Louisa Luna: challenge the character and the character will have to navigate. 99 00:12:05.970 --> 00:12:10.629 Louisa Luna: again. This is not easy stuff, but it is something that you. 100 00:12:10.680 --> 00:12:12.609 Louisa Luna: I think, learn to do. 101 00:12:14.060 --> 00:12:17.339 Louisa Luna: As for a recommendation. I couldn't recommend 102 00:12:17.680 --> 00:12:22.239 Louisa Luna: another writer to either plot or just go for it. You know. 103 00:12:22.757 --> 00:12:26.969 Louisa Luna: Someone is gonna have to. Everyone will have to 104 00:12:27.110 --> 00:12:29.309 Louisa Luna: make that decision for herself. 105 00:12:31.400 --> 00:12:39.689 Louisa Luna: so that is definitely still the same. I think the biggest thing that's changed is that now I just sort of trust myself more. And 106 00:12:40.080 --> 00:12:42.999 Louisa Luna: I'm okay with not knowing. 107 00:12:43.100 --> 00:12:44.719 Louisa Luna: I'm okay with, 108 00:12:46.360 --> 00:12:52.569 Louisa Luna: just waiting a little bit, seeing what Joules, seeing what works and what doesn't work. And I'm also okay. 109 00:12:53.068 --> 00:12:56.499 Louisa Luna: As painful as it is. I'm okay with 110 00:12:56.860 --> 00:13:03.039 Louisa Luna: cutting huge amounts and stuff and not necessarily starting from scratch, but 111 00:13:03.080 --> 00:13:04.330 Louisa Luna: backing up. 112 00:13:04.440 --> 00:13:08.549 Louisa Luna: you know, you can sort of feel it when you're writing, and 113 00:13:09.130 --> 00:13:17.659 Louisa Luna: you know your characters are like, Hey, wait a second. That's not. That's not real. That's not what we would do so. I think 114 00:13:17.830 --> 00:13:22.560 Louisa Luna: the trust in myself and in the process has been the thing that has changed. 115 00:13:24.000 --> 00:13:40.730 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: So, since you are a pancer, do you not necessarily know the what the resolution or the twist ending? Or, you know, just kind of how the Se. If it's in a series, how it's going to let off. Do you know that in advance, or do you just kind of figure it out as you write. 116 00:13:42.730 --> 00:13:43.580 Louisa Luna: Sometime. 117 00:13:43.650 --> 00:13:47.400 Louisa Luna: So not. I'm sorry. That's so vague. But 118 00:13:49.840 --> 00:13:52.780 Louisa Luna: certain books I will 119 00:13:52.820 --> 00:13:54.439 Louisa Luna: have an idea. 120 00:13:55.041 --> 00:13:58.650 Louisa Luna: But I it's open to change, you know. 121 00:13:59.341 --> 00:14:05.769 Louisa Luna: It has to be for me, because I I have to see what's gonna happen. And I have to see 122 00:14:06.190 --> 00:14:07.000 Louisa Luna: if 123 00:14:07.120 --> 00:14:12.755 Louisa Luna: some supporting characters might really demand on being 124 00:14:14.530 --> 00:14:17.359 Louisa Luna: you know, being heard a little bit more. 125 00:14:18.900 --> 00:14:24.499 Louisa Luna: I'm seeing that people are having some trouble with the audio. I'm gonna try to pump mine up a little bit. 126 00:14:24.500 --> 00:14:25.020 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: Okay. 127 00:14:25.020 --> 00:14:27.829 Louisa Luna: I don't. I don't know if that's any better. 128 00:14:28.210 --> 00:14:34.449 Louisa Luna: I'm on my bluetooth, my bluetooth headphones. I don't know. I apologize. 129 00:14:37.340 --> 00:14:38.380 Louisa Luna: okay. 130 00:14:38.890 --> 00:14:41.910 Louisa Luna: I'm not sure we could keep going. 131 00:14:41.910 --> 00:14:44.059 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: Yeah, I think that might just be 132 00:14:44.450 --> 00:14:46.430 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: an issue with the 133 00:14:46.700 --> 00:14:49.339 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: Bluetooth speakers. 134 00:14:49.600 --> 00:14:54.280 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: We can hear you. Just so, you know, it's just a little muffled, that's all. 135 00:14:54.560 --> 00:14:55.929 Louisa Luna: Okay. Okay. 136 00:14:57.140 --> 00:15:07.459 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: So whenever you are in your drafting process, do you? What is the thing that really kind of trips you up the most with 137 00:15:07.640 --> 00:15:14.530 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: with your drafting, do you? What gets you caught up the most, or what is your least favorite part of that process? I guess. 138 00:15:16.208 --> 00:15:18.361 Louisa Luna: Oh, my gosh! Editing! 139 00:15:20.090 --> 00:15:34.170 Louisa Luna: I heard a lot of writers talk about. You know how editing and revising is like such a rich, wonderful thing for them, and I know I should feel that way. But the most fun for me is like 1st draft. Get it all out. 140 00:15:34.717 --> 00:15:40.810 Louisa Luna: but everything is necessary, and revising is necessary. And and it also. 141 00:15:40.840 --> 00:15:47.939 Louisa Luna: I mean, wonderful things come out and editing, you know, like that. That is how you are bringing your piece from 142 00:15:50.240 --> 00:15:52.030 Louisa Luna: from really just 143 00:15:52.110 --> 00:16:05.635 Louisa Luna: right out of your brain. That's how you are preparing it for other people. So it's absolutely necessary. And there's no way that I think my stuff is like so great that I could just spin it up, and, you know, publish it 144 00:16:06.120 --> 00:16:17.939 Louisa Luna: A editing and revising is absolutely necessary. But often I'll just be like, Oh, I can't look at this anymore, you know. But that's also a sign that's also 145 00:16:18.706 --> 00:16:22.944 Louisa Luna: assigned that you either need to put it away for a while, or 146 00:16:25.024 --> 00:16:31.800 Louisa Luna: or just make some changes. See what happens. Try some things out. I mean. 147 00:16:32.160 --> 00:16:33.200 Louisa Luna: you know 148 00:16:33.970 --> 00:16:43.493 Louisa Luna: I do love writing. I don't love every part of the process, you know, but that's part of that's part of creating it. 149 00:16:45.115 --> 00:16:46.480 Louisa Luna: And and then 150 00:16:47.250 --> 00:16:53.739 Louisa Luna: copy editing. Also copy editing for those who don't know is when a 151 00:16:54.590 --> 00:17:17.929 Louisa Luna: copy editor who is is basically someone who knows challenging you on every piece of continuity, and also grammar and everything within your manuscript, and it just breaks my brain. But again, totally necessary. You want what you are writing 152 00:17:18.099 --> 00:17:26.130 Louisa Luna: to be clear to your reader. You want them to see what you see, you know. And so all of these elements 153 00:17:26.339 --> 00:17:32.380 Louisa Luna: contribute to that, even though they may not be super fun to do all the time. 154 00:17:33.410 --> 00:17:41.980 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: Do you work with any beta readers or critique groups? Or do you have a specific beta? Reader, that you use with all of your books? 155 00:17:43.520 --> 00:18:07.320 Louisa Luna: So I do have a group of readers, but they are. They consist of my husband, my mom, and my brother. And then actually, I'm very good friends with my agent, as he's been my agent since 2,016, and he his name is Mark Falken, and he is also a writer. So 156 00:18:07.510 --> 00:18:15.790 Louisa Luna: he is a wonderful reader and friend, and so I will bounce stuff off him all the time. 157 00:18:16.400 --> 00:18:26.579 Louisa Luna: And I'm grateful for that relationship, because I've talked to other writers. We're like you send it to your agent, you know, like, right off, I said. Of course, like he's he's my friend. 158 00:18:26.620 --> 00:18:34.400 Louisa Luna: you know, and I've also been lucky to work with wonderful editors who are also just open to reading. 159 00:18:34.850 --> 00:18:43.529 Louisa Luna: whatever I have. And then I have some writer friends who I will give stuff to, but that's usually a little bit later in the process. 160 00:18:44.024 --> 00:18:49.319 Louisa Luna: In terms of just right off the bat like. Hey? Let me know what you think of best. 161 00:18:49.440 --> 00:18:57.459 Louisa Luna: you know I'll give it to that core group, and you know my brother is really helpful, because even if it's 162 00:18:57.600 --> 00:19:04.060 Louisa Luna: terrible, he'll be like, keep going, see? See? See where it goes. And you need people like that. You need. 163 00:19:04.110 --> 00:19:09.479 Louisa Luna: You need people who will be your cheerleader, no matter what. And then you need people who will be like 164 00:19:09.990 --> 00:19:12.286 Louisa Luna: think about, you know. 165 00:19:13.300 --> 00:19:14.440 Louisa Luna: explore 166 00:19:14.600 --> 00:19:20.770 Louisa Luna: some other options. What is what is, you know. What are you trying to do here? You know people will kind of do more of a deep dive. 167 00:19:20.900 --> 00:19:33.539 Louisa Luna: so I think it's good to have a range of different people, and I absolutely would recommend bouncing it off people. But they have to be people who you trust. You know they have to be people who you trust and who are not. 168 00:19:35.360 --> 00:19:39.970 Louisa Luna: you know, who have the best interests of your your piece at heart. 169 00:19:41.470 --> 00:19:48.010 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: When you're in the weeds of editing, do you sometimes bounce between projects, or do? Do you just focus on one book at a time? 170 00:19:49.710 --> 00:20:03.280 Louisa Luna: If I'm if I'm editing a manuscript for publication, I'm usually working on a 1st draft of something else, historically or or doing a lot of reading, or just sort of. 171 00:20:03.410 --> 00:20:04.460 Louisa Luna: you know. 172 00:20:06.210 --> 00:20:13.419 Louisa Luna: finding inspiration other places. There's always a couple of things going on. It's hard for me 173 00:20:13.530 --> 00:20:15.010 Louisa Luna: to do 174 00:20:15.120 --> 00:20:21.599 Louisa Luna: 1st draft work on 2 different pieces at the same time. That is kind of challenging. 175 00:20:23.630 --> 00:20:27.340 Louisa Luna: however, if I'm in one stage with one piece. 176 00:20:27.410 --> 00:20:35.320 Louisa Luna: I can be in sort of the 1st draft stage, or of another, or just sort of like a nascent kind of 177 00:20:36.040 --> 00:20:39.570 Louisa Luna: thinking about stuff or letting it, you know. 178 00:20:40.010 --> 00:20:50.300 Louisa Luna: letting it come simmer and come to a boil on my subconscious. So yeah, it's good to have a couple of things going on. 179 00:20:50.510 --> 00:20:52.025 Louisa Luna: You're never bored. 180 00:20:52.530 --> 00:21:10.500 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: Do you vary between standalone novels and series whenever you're going into a project? Do you know, ahead of time that you envision this as a series? Or how do you decide what the plan is for that? As I know that you're a pancer, when does it feel like it needs more, and when does it feel like one book is enough. 181 00:21:11.570 --> 00:21:18.659 Louisa Luna: Well I so I've only had one series of of 3 books, and when I was writing 2 rolls down 182 00:21:18.680 --> 00:21:22.230 Louisa Luna: I knew that those characters 183 00:21:22.710 --> 00:21:24.469 Louisa Luna: could go anywhere. 184 00:21:24.952 --> 00:21:27.279 Louisa Luna: As soon as I started writing them. 185 00:21:27.470 --> 00:21:31.310 Louisa Luna: however, I think for me the best 186 00:21:31.910 --> 00:21:34.200 Louisa Luna: mode of attack is 187 00:21:34.730 --> 00:21:37.299 Louisa Luna: you can have that in mind. 188 00:21:37.740 --> 00:21:41.189 Louisa Luna: but also write it as if this is the only one. 189 00:21:42.024 --> 00:21:44.630 Louisa Luna: I'm not a big fan of 190 00:21:44.956 --> 00:21:52.880 Louisa Luna: when I'm reading or writing, I'm not a big fan of like Cliff hanger at the end of a book. You know what I mean. 191 00:21:53.219 --> 00:22:07.610 Louisa Luna: It can be open. It can be open, ended. But I find that very frustrating as a reader when I get to the end of the book. And I'm like, really, I gotta buy the next one. And I mean, this is a big 192 00:22:08.176 --> 00:22:14.410 Louisa Luna: mode of storytelling, and I think it's a little different when you're screening a show. I feel like, if you are 193 00:22:14.590 --> 00:22:17.900 Louisa Luna: giving your time to a book. 194 00:22:18.240 --> 00:22:25.879 Louisa Luna: I I feel like there needs to be some kind of reward at the end, and not and not necessarily a happy ending or a 195 00:22:26.583 --> 00:22:27.849 Louisa Luna: you know. 196 00:22:27.910 --> 00:22:45.040 Louisa Luna: ending that you want. But there needs to be some kind of resolution there. So I definitely wanted that at the end of 2 growth now, but I also knew that those characters could keep going in more. In my more recent book I definitely wrote that to be a standalone. 197 00:22:45.170 --> 00:22:47.879 Louisa Luna: Who's to say? I mean, never 198 00:22:48.500 --> 00:22:50.470 Louisa Luna: those characters. Also 199 00:22:50.560 --> 00:22:53.151 Louisa Luna: we could see them again. 200 00:22:54.170 --> 00:22:57.040 Louisa Luna: I think it comes down to like if you write 201 00:22:57.865 --> 00:23:01.339 Louisa Luna: you know, authentic dynamic characters. 202 00:23:01.670 --> 00:23:06.819 Louisa Luna: They can go wherever they can do whatever you want or they can do whatever they want. 203 00:23:06.920 --> 00:23:09.448 Louisa Luna: That's actually much more fair to say. 204 00:23:10.780 --> 00:23:26.759 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: So the Alice Vega series was a big break for you and for anyone who's unfamiliar. Alice Vega is just a very no nonsense, badass detective and just watching her get into these scenarios and and 205 00:23:27.030 --> 00:23:36.099 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: just get the answers she needs is just so gratifying, and I love it so much. What was your inspiration for that character? 206 00:23:38.280 --> 00:23:39.060 Louisa Luna: So 207 00:23:39.120 --> 00:23:41.350 Louisa Luna: you know she. 208 00:23:42.660 --> 00:23:52.420 Louisa Luna: So I was thinking about a lot, a few different characters, you know I would be. I have to say that calendar from Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Series. 209 00:23:52.510 --> 00:23:54.270 Louisa Luna: I thought was a great 210 00:23:54.857 --> 00:23:58.409 Louisa Luna: is is, you know, just iconic. And 211 00:23:58.600 --> 00:24:07.290 Louisa Luna: so I didn't set out trying to write someone like her. I mean, she's obviously Vegas, obviously her own thing. 212 00:24:09.490 --> 00:24:12.300 Louisa Luna: but I just felt like, you know. 213 00:24:14.810 --> 00:24:22.800 Louisa Luna: I just wanted to write someone who was very mysterious, but also could get things done. 214 00:24:23.980 --> 00:24:37.884 Louisa Luna: who was a little bit detached, you know, if you're if you are familiar with it. You know that Vegan doesn't really show a ton of emotion, but certain people bring it out in her. Certainly. 215 00:24:39.240 --> 00:24:46.229 Louisa Luna: And she's just very, very smart and very and a few steps ahead, usually 216 00:24:49.100 --> 00:24:54.920 Louisa Luna: so I don't know. I I wanted to write someone who was mysterious, and 217 00:24:55.725 --> 00:24:56.400 Louisa Luna: but 218 00:24:56.580 --> 00:24:59.785 Louisa Luna: who you would root for also 219 00:25:01.170 --> 00:25:08.199 Louisa Luna: and yes, she came in the form of a bounty. Hunter turned private investigator. 220 00:25:10.940 --> 00:25:15.360 Louisa Luna: yeah, so I could keep. But I also feel like throughout 221 00:25:15.470 --> 00:25:21.120 Louisa Luna: the 3 books I feel like she also changes, and more and actually. 222 00:25:21.847 --> 00:25:28.700 Louisa Luna: becomes more emotional for Brea, for work like she realizes that you know 223 00:25:29.130 --> 00:25:37.560 Louisa Luna: this is not a spoiler also, but that, you know, there's a lot of value in these human relationships where, at the beginning of the series. She's sort of a long wolf. 224 00:25:37.680 --> 00:25:39.615 Louisa Luna: and then, I think, 225 00:25:40.230 --> 00:25:44.279 Louisa Luna: really find a bond bonds with various people 226 00:25:44.754 --> 00:25:48.399 Louisa Luna: along the way. So that was also valuable to do. 227 00:25:50.100 --> 00:26:14.199 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: With this series. So the characters Alice is else Vegas, like the the main star, but they feel different. What kind of do you follow a specific formula so that it doesn't feel like you're just reading the same book 3 times like, How do you come up with your new ideas, and just to keep readers hooked. Are there certain elements you are, you know, reaching for of like 228 00:26:14.260 --> 00:26:18.830 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: ever special reveals or just your setting is changing. 229 00:26:20.391 --> 00:26:27.258 Louisa Luna: Well, for me the settings do change book to book, but I think that is, you know, obviously optional. 230 00:26:28.460 --> 00:26:36.939 Louisa Luna: I think that you know, if you wanted just that a series all in New York, or all you know, in a small town and 231 00:26:37.180 --> 00:26:39.909 Louisa Luna: the Midwest, you could do that, too. 232 00:26:41.150 --> 00:26:45.050 Louisa Luna: for me. As I was saying before, the biggest 233 00:26:45.680 --> 00:26:48.800 Louisa Luna: thing that differentiates 234 00:26:48.970 --> 00:26:57.899 Louisa Luna: story to story are is the sort of emotional temperature of the characters moving through these 235 00:26:58.090 --> 00:27:00.163 Louisa Luna: various scenarios. 236 00:27:02.730 --> 00:27:18.339 Louisa Luna: so you have to have them. You can't be showing the same characters, doing the same kind of stuff, feeling the same thing in every book they have to. They have to grow, you know. And so that almost 237 00:27:18.680 --> 00:27:23.540 Louisa Luna: makes the writer's job a little bit easier. Because you say, okay, like, I'm gonna 238 00:27:23.690 --> 00:27:28.712 Louisa Luna: drop this character into this story in this city. 239 00:27:30.280 --> 00:27:34.800 Louisa Luna: but at this stage she's feeling different things. And she is. 240 00:27:35.240 --> 00:27:38.270 Louisa Luna: Her relationships are different. And 241 00:27:38.875 --> 00:27:42.760 Louisa Luna: you know, that sort of tells you 242 00:27:42.910 --> 00:27:47.179 Louisa Luna: how she will navigate herself, you know, through the story. 243 00:27:48.980 --> 00:27:51.192 Louisa Luna: so that definitely 244 00:27:52.550 --> 00:27:58.359 Louisa Luna: you know, had a lot to do with. It was to see Vega kind of change as she went 245 00:28:01.160 --> 00:28:05.369 Louisa Luna: and engage in these different different stories, and, and. 246 00:28:05.560 --> 00:28:09.860 Louisa Luna: you know, start to care more as she went, and so as 247 00:28:10.965 --> 00:28:16.930 Louisa Luna: in in this case, Rebega actually cares more. The stakes really really rise. And so. 248 00:28:17.100 --> 00:28:24.125 Louisa Luna: even though, the stakes are pretty high, obviously in in all 3, because she's dealing with missing kids and missing people. 249 00:28:24.680 --> 00:28:32.770 Louisa Luna: by the time we get to hide out. I feel like she's, you know, very much involved with the 250 00:28:32.830 --> 00:28:34.669 Louisa Luna: the people who are around her. 251 00:28:35.720 --> 00:28:40.620 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: Do you envision a future for the series beyond the 1st 3 that you have written. 252 00:28:41.849 --> 00:29:05.820 Louisa Luna: I'm not working on one right now, and I actually have switched publishers. So there is no immediate plan. But I am not. You know I when I think of Vega and Cap, I have like a ton more ideas, so I will never say never on that series. But again, for now I I just stand alone and 253 00:29:07.140 --> 00:29:10.500 Louisa Luna: you know, I'm working on another thing. 254 00:29:11.010 --> 00:29:15.831 Louisa Luna: but but yeah, she's I. I don't think she's going anywhere. 255 00:29:16.270 --> 00:29:17.811 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: She's certainly memorable. 256 00:29:18.840 --> 00:29:19.170 Louisa Luna: Great. 257 00:29:19.170 --> 00:29:21.610 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: Whenever you are, you know. 258 00:29:21.820 --> 00:29:43.589 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: dealing with some of these heavy, heavy subjects like you said about missing children. Are there anything that, as a writer you just you won't touch? Or is there any topics or scenarios that just you don't feel you can write about? Regarding the heaviness of the crime and thriller genre? Or is it just kind of like anything goes. 259 00:29:44.450 --> 00:29:46.420 Louisa Luna: You know I feel like 260 00:29:47.027 --> 00:29:52.589 Louisa Luna: i i i don't think I can make a list. I think my general rule is 261 00:29:52.600 --> 00:29:55.959 Louisa Luna: I mean some of my books are are, have a lot of violence. 262 00:29:58.030 --> 00:29:59.130 Louisa Luna: you know. 263 00:29:59.640 --> 00:30:06.209 Louisa Luna: I don't really delve into a ton of explicit sexual violence or domestic violence. 264 00:30:06.770 --> 00:30:11.609 Louisa Luna: That's just a choice. I don't think there's any hard and fast rule against 265 00:30:12.250 --> 00:30:15.920 Louisa Luna: writing about those topics. I think the key 266 00:30:15.980 --> 00:30:21.159 Louisa Luna: thing, and and this is what I hold myself to when I'm writing about any kind of 267 00:30:21.747 --> 00:30:24.852 Louisa Luna: violence or crime, or or anything. 268 00:30:26.000 --> 00:30:29.579 Louisa Luna: is that you have to. As a writer you really have to earn it. 269 00:30:29.650 --> 00:30:35.969 Louisa Luna: You can't just slap it on the page. It can't be gratuitous. It has to fit with your story. 270 00:30:35.980 --> 00:30:38.119 Louisa Luna: It has to be authentic 271 00:30:40.450 --> 00:30:47.400 Louisa Luna: if you are doing it as a writer, just to make your reader win and and, you know. 272 00:30:47.780 --> 00:30:50.390 Louisa Luna: shut the book. And just to shock people. 273 00:30:50.470 --> 00:30:55.560 Louisa Luna: I don't appreciate that. As a reader you know what I mean. I I think that 274 00:30:55.610 --> 00:31:02.979 Louisa Luna: if you are building it as part of your story, if you're giving it sort of the weight that it deserves. 275 00:31:04.840 --> 00:31:27.796 Louisa Luna: Then I'll read. I'll I'll read that anytime, and it's the same with when I'm watching a movie or or a show. There's certain things that I've turned off, not because they're, you know. I'm too delicate for that. Again. You've read my stuff like I can. I can take a lot of violent material. And if you see it's not for you, it's not for you. That's also okay. 276 00:31:28.360 --> 00:31:37.623 Louisa Luna: but I will turn it off. If I don't feel like it's earned like the storytellers have not earned that for me. It has to be 277 00:31:38.380 --> 00:31:50.259 Louisa Luna: It just has to be given the space, the weight, and the respect that it deserves. It has to be well executed. It can't just be a bunch of blood and guts 278 00:31:50.340 --> 00:32:06.829 Louisa Luna: up there. Yeah, as a reader, I know I don't appreciate that cause. I don't feel like I when I'm reading. I don't like the feeling of being manipulated by the writer. I want the writer to tell me a story. I want the writer to sell me on the story. As the reader. 279 00:32:09.170 --> 00:32:16.219 Louisa Luna: yeah, that's how I feel about it. And so I hope I do that, you know, and maybe and that's up to every reader to decide. 280 00:32:17.910 --> 00:32:20.659 Louisa Luna: Again I I would only 281 00:32:21.240 --> 00:32:26.139 Louisa Luna: engage in those sort of topics if I felt like I was earning them. 282 00:32:27.220 --> 00:32:35.910 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: I relate to that a lot as as a as a book lover. You know I love the Exposition, and finding out the 283 00:32:35.990 --> 00:32:38.269 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: the mystery and unraveling. 284 00:32:38.270 --> 00:32:38.800 Louisa Luna: Right. 285 00:32:38.800 --> 00:32:44.189 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: Everything. I'm not in it for just the the blood and guts and the shock factor of it all. So yeah. 286 00:32:44.190 --> 00:32:45.570 Louisa Luna: Right, right. 287 00:32:46.340 --> 00:32:49.610 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: Whenever you're researching these topics. 288 00:32:49.740 --> 00:32:57.830 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: how do you balance? Just kind of the heaviness of the work with just your normal day to day life, and just kind of 289 00:32:58.175 --> 00:33:04.570 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: mental wellbeing like, does it ever get too dark and heavy for you when you're when you're in the middle of writing one of these stories. 290 00:33:05.210 --> 00:33:14.069 Louisa Luna: Oh, no, because it's fiction. If I was writing non fiction, if I were a journalist, you know 291 00:33:14.440 --> 00:33:35.330 Louisa Luna: a A then I think I would probably be a lot more way down. No, because this is all on the fiction side for me it's very, you know. It lives in my imagination. So yes, that is not a problem for me. There it's all just, you know, again 292 00:33:35.370 --> 00:33:41.914 Louisa Luna: working on the subconscious while I'm on the train, and while I'm you know, cooking, or whatever 293 00:33:42.550 --> 00:33:45.780 Louisa Luna: or you know, having my coffee in the morning. 294 00:33:46.310 --> 00:33:51.240 Louisa Luna: and so that is not too much of an issue for me. 295 00:33:53.340 --> 00:33:58.969 Louisa Luna: And the thing is you need as a writer. I I really do believe that you need. 296 00:33:59.470 --> 00:34:04.869 Louisa Luna: You can't stay mired in your work all the time, you know, you've you've gotta get out. 297 00:34:04.960 --> 00:34:15.300 Louisa Luna: And and the the best solution I have found for if I you're stuck at a certain point is you just have to do something else. You have to switch your focus to something else. 298 00:34:16.719 --> 00:34:27.639 Louisa Luna: I love like running and exercise, and that's really helpful to just like, get out and do something physical to get yourself moving. But if you, you know. 299 00:34:28.489 --> 00:34:42.019 Louisa Luna: do cooking, or if you do, or even if you're, you know. Don't have a ton of time if you are walking from one place to another, just to open up and and not think about what you're writing for a little bit. 300 00:34:42.438 --> 00:34:55.571 Louisa Luna: That's why I find when ideas just kind of float make their way, and when you're doing the other thing, you know, when you're. I haven't done this in a long time, but changing your baby diaper, you know you're 301 00:34:56.199 --> 00:35:04.801 Louisa Luna: You're just in the middle of something else, taking out the recycling. And you're like, Oh, okay, yeah, like, I got it. So 302 00:35:05.180 --> 00:35:07.130 Louisa Luna: your your other life 303 00:35:07.270 --> 00:35:11.740 Louisa Luna: is is pretty vital, I think, to the writing process. 304 00:35:13.392 --> 00:35:20.699 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: You mentioned that you and your agent are good friends. Can you talk us through kind of what your querying process looked like, and how you found your agent. 305 00:35:21.770 --> 00:35:23.483 Louisa Luna: Sure so 306 00:35:25.505 --> 00:35:28.130 Louisa Luna: so I've had a couple of agents. 307 00:35:29.450 --> 00:35:31.209 Louisa Luna: mark is my 308 00:35:31.230 --> 00:35:38.458 Louisa Luna: more recent agent for the Alice Vega series, and for tell me who you are. 309 00:35:40.210 --> 00:35:41.870 Louisa Luna: He so 310 00:35:42.530 --> 00:35:49.070 Louisa Luna: I had split with my other agent that I had in my twenties. I had written 3 books in my twenties. 311 00:35:49.110 --> 00:35:51.810 Louisa Luna: and I won't go too much into it. But 312 00:35:53.730 --> 00:36:16.592 Louisa Luna: You know they didn't sell very well, and and I kind of didn't know what I was doing. But I think that's a whole other podcast of webinar. So I had parted with my agent for many, many years, and then, when I was starting to write again and really get back into it and and had a completed manuscript. I 313 00:36:18.140 --> 00:36:26.507 Louisa Luna: I just started looking into agents literally just started googling and agents who are 314 00:36:27.490 --> 00:36:30.600 Louisa Luna: who did mystery and thriller genre 315 00:36:31.202 --> 00:36:35.630 Louisa Luna: and I wrote too many, just many query letters. 316 00:36:38.250 --> 00:36:39.399 Louisa Luna: a lot. 317 00:36:40.950 --> 00:36:47.930 Louisa Luna: And I hit on Mark after I think he was number. So I I think I wrote 318 00:36:48.510 --> 00:36:54.670 Louisa Luna: about 60, and I think 3 of those wanted to need the full manuscript. 319 00:36:54.890 --> 00:36:56.024 Louisa Luna: and 320 00:36:57.450 --> 00:37:04.410 Louisa Luna: Mark was the one who said, yes, but I'm so lucky, he said. So it was. It was 321 00:37:04.450 --> 00:37:06.639 Louisa Luna: took a while. The whole process took 322 00:37:06.740 --> 00:37:15.230 Louisa Luna: 18 months to do. And and the thing is is, when I finished 2 girls down I was so I had 323 00:37:15.920 --> 00:37:36.926 Louisa Luna: confidence about it, which is wonderful. But you know you need those. You need both those sides of the writer. You need the humility, and then you need the confidence. So I had the confidence that I was like, oh, I'm gonna get an agent next week like this is, gonna be great, you know. And then it took a bit longer. 324 00:37:38.910 --> 00:37:44.980 Louisa Luna: but when he yeah. So as soon as he engaged with me, I said, This is great like you. 325 00:37:45.030 --> 00:37:47.759 Louisa Luna: the most important thing. And 326 00:37:49.440 --> 00:37:58.299 Louisa Luna: this is hard to hear, but it's so true. You just need someone who is gonna go to the map for your stuff. 327 00:37:58.700 --> 00:38:05.935 Louisa Luna: who will love your stuff the way your mom loves it, or the way my mom loves it. You know. 328 00:38:06.950 --> 00:38:20.192 Louisa Luna: And you don't as much as you want that agent who is like you know, the the one who you've read about, who who rep. You know your your ideal writer? 329 00:38:20.860 --> 00:38:30.709 Louisa Luna: If they don't love it. It's not. It's just not worth it. You need someone who's gonna just love it and sell it always. And 330 00:38:31.270 --> 00:38:34.169 Louisa Luna: so you just have to hold out for that. 331 00:38:35.740 --> 00:38:43.070 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: And you said that you just are are switching publishers, or you just switch publishers. What does that process look like? How does that all work. 332 00:38:43.610 --> 00:38:55.540 Louisa Luna: Well, you know, I think it is case to case obviously my wonderful editor at Double Day, Rob Bloom last double day. And so it was 333 00:38:56.270 --> 00:39:09.317 Louisa Luna: sort of made sense for me to leave as well for this new book also, cause I was sort of taking a break from Vega, and I didn't, and Rob didn't. He went on to do 334 00:39:09.820 --> 00:39:14.709 Louisa Luna: freelance editing so on his own time he didn't go to a different publisher. 335 00:39:15.970 --> 00:39:22.439 Louisa Luna: So I couldn't really imagine doing any more with the Alex Vega series without him. That's how 336 00:39:22.550 --> 00:39:24.460 Louisa Luna: that's how close we 337 00:39:24.861 --> 00:39:49.919 Louisa Luna: writers work with their editors. That's how closely I worked with him, you know, is that I I really couldn't imagine doing another book without him at this time. Another Vega book. So I had already been working on a stand alone, and thought, this is just a graceful, you know. Good time to to part from double day. And then. 338 00:39:50.683 --> 00:39:55.479 Louisa Luna: I worked with Daphne Durham, who's another really 339 00:39:55.600 --> 00:39:58.879 Louisa Luna: amazing editor at Ncd. And and 340 00:39:58.890 --> 00:40:02.346 Louisa Luna: she felt, and similarly, 341 00:40:03.490 --> 00:40:11.420 Louisa Luna: to what I'm saying about an agent going to the map for your stuff. You want an editor who loves it and who wants it to be the best book 342 00:40:11.510 --> 00:40:17.239 Louisa Luna: it can be. And I knew from my very 1st conversation with Daphne that that 343 00:40:17.600 --> 00:40:19.320 Louisa Luna: she was the one for 344 00:40:19.370 --> 00:40:26.049 Louisa Luna: tell me who you are that she she wanted, you know just she understood everything I was trying to do. 345 00:40:27.220 --> 00:40:32.619 Louisa Luna: within that very 1st conversation. And she told me, I mean, this is 346 00:40:32.720 --> 00:40:38.840 Louisa Luna: this is just a funny anecdote, she said, Yeah, I was reading it on my phone 347 00:40:38.910 --> 00:40:54.127 Louisa Luna: as I was looking. If she was getting her toes done, she was getting a pedicure, and she just said she kept like swiping on the phone as like the lady was working on her toes. So I'm like, all right, that's what you want. You want to just keep slapping. 348 00:40:54.580 --> 00:40:59.359 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: We have a couple of audience questions I'd like to get to. Terry asks 349 00:40:59.530 --> 00:41:03.940 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: as a pancer, how do you realize the end is the end. How do you end? 350 00:41:05.050 --> 00:41:06.450 Louisa Luna: Okay. 351 00:41:08.530 --> 00:41:10.669 Louisa Luna: So again, there's no 352 00:41:10.820 --> 00:41:17.540 Louisa Luna: sort of hard and fast rule that goes for everything. So I will just talk about my experience specifically 353 00:41:17.580 --> 00:41:20.720 Louisa Luna: when you wrote down, I had a 354 00:41:20.780 --> 00:41:23.169 Louisa Luna: end point in mind. 355 00:41:23.710 --> 00:41:25.000 Louisa Luna: Now. 356 00:41:25.750 --> 00:41:33.480 Louisa Luna: as I was working my way through the story, it became clear that that end point was actually a midpoint. 357 00:41:33.880 --> 00:41:35.040 Louisa Luna: However. 358 00:41:35.230 --> 00:41:41.219 Louisa Luna: I was able to incorporate it. But then this whole other part of the story opened up. 359 00:41:41.600 --> 00:41:44.000 Louisa Luna: So I think if you 360 00:41:44.050 --> 00:41:47.836 Louisa Luna: if you have an idea of the ending. 361 00:41:48.680 --> 00:41:51.819 Louisa Luna: I think it's okay to write towards that. 362 00:41:52.343 --> 00:41:56.030 Louisa Luna: As long as you just keep it a little bit open for yourself. 363 00:41:56.630 --> 00:42:08.260 Louisa Luna: and then when you get as you get closer to it, you may find that it doesn't fit anymore, or like I did, you put it in there anyway, but then you keep going past it. 364 00:42:11.160 --> 00:42:20.550 Louisa Luna: And I don't mean to sound like a fortune teller, but I'll just say it will become clear if you're staying true to your characters, and I think that 365 00:42:20.610 --> 00:42:25.430 Louisa Luna: how those panthers operate because you're you're doing more character driven stuff 366 00:42:25.550 --> 00:42:28.010 Louisa Luna: if you're staying true to the characters. 367 00:42:28.441 --> 00:42:34.469 Louisa Luna: Just keep pushing through, and I know it sounds terribly, terribly vague, but it's still project to project, I think. 368 00:42:35.044 --> 00:42:37.565 Louisa Luna: But I appreciate your question. 369 00:42:38.360 --> 00:42:44.163 Louisa Luna: and just keep going for it. Just keep yeah. And and again, 370 00:42:44.720 --> 00:42:48.330 Louisa Luna: you just have to keep trusting yourself and just 371 00:42:48.640 --> 00:42:51.959 Louisa Luna: keep pushing through, even if you're just doing little like 372 00:42:52.000 --> 00:42:55.819 Louisa Luna: Lego, brick by Lego brick like. Just keep making your way through. 373 00:42:57.590 --> 00:43:07.259 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: Tammy asks, Do you have a routine for writing like 2 HA day, or 1,000 words, etc? And do you need a quiet place to write or stimulation? Or does it vary. 374 00:43:08.290 --> 00:43:17.469 Louisa Luna: It totally varies, and it varies book to book. And I live in Brooklyn, it with my husband and daughter, and we live in a very tiny place. 375 00:43:17.710 --> 00:43:28.861 Louisa Luna: so I don't really have an office. I have a cold, and usually sometimes I will put my like noise canceling headphones back in the cold 376 00:43:29.350 --> 00:43:49.409 Louisa Luna: in terms of time allotted. You know, I've only been doing this 25 years, and I have to say I should really get some sort of a routine. I don't have one, so tell me who you are. I was actually the Mo, the one that just came out. I was actually the probably more disciplined than I had ever been. 377 00:43:50.640 --> 00:43:54.989 Louisa Luna: because I don't know that story just really came out of me like really quickly. 378 00:43:55.010 --> 00:44:04.610 Louisa Luna: So I would get up early. I have a day job. I would get early up early before my day job, and I would write for about an hour. I find that 379 00:44:04.620 --> 00:44:07.429 Louisa Luna: writing 1st thing in the morning. 380 00:44:07.470 --> 00:44:11.800 Louisa Luna: as painful as it is, is sort of when my best stuff comes. 381 00:44:11.970 --> 00:44:24.580 Louisa Luna: you have to figure out what works for you. I've also found it's really good. Just don't beat yourself up about it. If you can't make your. You know you have wives, you have paychecks. You have kids. You have 382 00:44:24.860 --> 00:44:30.040 Louisa Luna: other things, you know. Most of us. Most of us do. Very few of us can 383 00:44:30.380 --> 00:44:43.569 Louisa Luna: just right when the spirit moves us, you know I'd like, shut out everything else. I think you have to do what works for you, but I do think that it is useful. If you find, for example, that you do your best writing 384 00:44:43.630 --> 00:44:44.939 Louisa Luna: at midnight. 385 00:44:45.030 --> 00:45:06.019 Louisa Luna: Then I think it's a great idea to try to give yourself. Set up your life so that you could maybe get some writing done at midnight for me, for 1st thing in the morning it would involve me not watching TV super late at night and going to bed early, and I you know I'm hit or miss on that. 386 00:45:06.330 --> 00:45:11.230 Louisa Luna: maybe for my next book. I don't know. I'll get better at it. We'll see. 387 00:45:12.100 --> 00:45:19.620 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: Takara asks, how did you say that you found your agent? You mentioned Google? But are there other resources for finding a good agent. 388 00:45:20.540 --> 00:45:25.259 Louisa Luna: You know there was. I can't remember Michelle. Maybe you know there was 389 00:45:26.680 --> 00:45:30.130 Louisa Luna: lifting, and I can't recall what it's called. 390 00:45:30.230 --> 00:45:31.629 Louisa Luna: but it was like 391 00:45:31.690 --> 00:45:55.550 Louisa Luna: agent hmm. Agents, publishers, I forget what it was called, but it was just sort of like, maybe writers digest. I don't recall, but it was just sort of a general listing. I'm sure there are some resources out there. In the old days what I think was poets and writers. Magazine would have like a list of agents. 392 00:45:55.970 --> 00:45:58.410 Louisa Luna: or maybe it was called Agent query. 393 00:45:58.540 --> 00:46:00.859 Louisa Luna: we're called. Does anyone know? 394 00:46:01.713 --> 00:46:07.396 Louisa Luna: Anyway, it was a there was just a list of agents that 395 00:46:08.300 --> 00:46:10.860 Louisa Luna: would sort of tell you 396 00:46:10.890 --> 00:46:20.790 Louisa Luna: what genres they covered. But then it's also good to do a little bit of research in so far as and I did. I remember doing that. 397 00:46:20.970 --> 00:46:30.189 Louisa Luna: Go to the website of the agent. Look at the other writers. They represent query tracker. That sounds familiar. I think that's it. 398 00:46:30.846 --> 00:46:31.840 Louisa Luna: Thank you. 399 00:46:33.050 --> 00:46:48.300 Louisa Luna: that does sound familiar to me. Also think about the writers you love, and if you are writing that genre or or trying to emulate them a little bit. Not not word enough, you know. Style for style. 400 00:46:51.140 --> 00:46:54.080 Louisa Luna: go find out who their agents are. 401 00:46:54.280 --> 00:47:01.989 Louisa Luna: and write to them, you know. Send your query to them. That is also a good a good strategy. 402 00:47:03.950 --> 00:47:08.230 Louisa Luna: I think that you know. I think that agents 403 00:47:08.400 --> 00:47:14.529 Louisa Luna: appreciate you doing a little bit of research and not just cold 404 00:47:14.800 --> 00:47:23.762 Louisa Luna: calling all a pool writing, although I did plenty of that. But as long as it's somewhat appropriate to what they're doing. 405 00:47:24.470 --> 00:47:35.262 Louisa Luna: and you have to follow their rules. Obviously, if they want 3 pages, send them 3 pages if they want, you know a paragraph. Send them a paragraph, I mean, it seems brutal. 406 00:47:36.250 --> 00:47:46.943 Louisa Luna: And I'm assuming it works for some people. I'm assuming it works, but they're saying it for a reason, and you don't want to get a sort of disqualified 407 00:47:47.820 --> 00:47:51.970 Louisa Luna: yes, correct acknowledgments will have 408 00:47:52.610 --> 00:47:55.310 Louisa Luna: their agents usually in there. 409 00:47:57.940 --> 00:48:06.039 Louisa Luna: so. Yes, I would recommend all of that. Do a little bit of research, do? But again, don't you know? 410 00:48:07.730 --> 00:48:18.280 Louisa Luna: it's very. When I I remember when I was doing this process, you have to really balance that, you know, with your life like, how much time are you going to spend? 411 00:48:19.670 --> 00:48:21.440 Louisa Luna: sort of doing the 412 00:48:21.980 --> 00:48:32.149 Louisa Luna: the deep dive on agent research. So do a little bit. Don't do a ton. Don't let it take over your life, but do enough so that you're sent it. 413 00:48:34.660 --> 00:48:35.330 Louisa Luna: It's. 414 00:48:40.300 --> 00:48:43.006 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: Sorry. My zoom screen just froze. Okay, 415 00:48:44.126 --> 00:48:51.859 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: we have an anonymous question. Do you know your twist before you write? Or what's your process in finding and writing, the twists. 416 00:48:56.070 --> 00:49:00.870 Louisa Luna: I would say some, I know, but most I don't. 417 00:49:01.170 --> 00:49:02.370 Louisa Luna: So. 418 00:49:03.120 --> 00:49:16.620 Louisa Luna: and they they'll hit me, and they're really fun. They're really fun when they do again, because I'm a pancer. I'm assuming that plotters also do twists. 419 00:49:17.190 --> 00:49:30.939 Louisa Luna: and you know, half off to them for not making it seem contrived for me as a reader. The best thing, the best best thing is being genuinely surprised 420 00:49:31.040 --> 00:49:32.099 Louisa Luna: and not 421 00:49:40.770 --> 00:49:45.206 Louisa Luna: reveal. You don't know how they're gonna get there, you know. 422 00:49:46.370 --> 00:49:49.290 Louisa Luna: So for that I am just 423 00:49:49.540 --> 00:49:56.180 Louisa Luna: so grateful when it works out. So for me. I usually some, I know, but I would say the best one. 424 00:49:56.280 --> 00:49:59.110 Louisa Luna: I don't know until I'm big process. 425 00:49:59.260 --> 00:50:02.369 Louisa Luna: and the again 426 00:50:02.550 --> 00:50:08.205 Louisa Luna: using a character driven piece. The characters are really driving it. 427 00:50:09.700 --> 00:50:18.179 Louisa Luna: so it will come to you. I think you can if you're starting out, and you want to say, Oh, I'd like to, you know 428 00:50:18.400 --> 00:50:20.229 Louisa Luna: this would be a cool twist. 429 00:50:20.530 --> 00:50:25.500 Louisa Luna: Throw it in, and then just be open to changing it and tweaking it. 430 00:50:25.550 --> 00:50:31.849 Louisa Luna: and maybe another, maybe from that twist that you planned something else will emerge. 431 00:50:31.960 --> 00:50:35.469 Louisa Luna: So yeah, the most fun ones to me. 432 00:50:42.350 --> 00:50:51.419 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: Sorry my zoom screen froze again. I did hear the end of that, though. As a reader, I when I read a crime or a thriller. 433 00:50:51.450 --> 00:50:52.510 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: I 434 00:50:53.050 --> 00:50:59.000 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: try try to stop myself from trying to think of you know who did what, but I still do it, and I get so. 435 00:50:59.000 --> 00:50:59.680 Louisa Luna: Word. 436 00:50:59.680 --> 00:51:05.299 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: I get so mad if I figure it out ahead of time. So I love being genuinely surprised. But. 437 00:51:05.300 --> 00:51:05.680 Louisa Luna: Yeah. 438 00:51:05.680 --> 00:51:12.562 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: It's so hard to not try to figure it out anyways, even though you want that surprise at the end. So. 439 00:51:13.215 --> 00:51:13.540 Louisa Luna: Talk. 440 00:51:13.540 --> 00:51:24.059 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: To to you've and all of the other thriller and crime writers who successfully just have that that punch at the end of that book that really just knocks your socks off. I love it. 441 00:51:24.350 --> 00:51:25.299 Louisa Luna: Well, the S. 442 00:51:34.620 --> 00:51:42.299 Louisa Luna: Oh, the gym teacher did it, you know, like, and you're like we only saw him for a team like how 443 00:51:42.410 --> 00:51:54.850 Louisa Luna: well, who? How did he do it? You know what I mean? So it also has to be authentic, and that's the that's the balance is like it has to be real, otherwise it can't just be like a random twist. 444 00:51:54.920 --> 00:52:06.266 Louisa Luna: That's no fun, either. Yeah, I don't know. It's it's a tricky one. It's a tricky one. But yes, it's the most fun as a reader to just be like no way. 445 00:52:07.754 --> 00:52:22.649 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: We have another anonymous question they say, do you have to do? You have a go to detective or police officer to help get the story right? Is there somebody that you collaborate with or ask questions whenever you're writing. 446 00:52:23.440 --> 00:52:31.369 Louisa Luna: For 2 things done I engaged with a friend of mine. He is actually a cop 447 00:52:31.440 --> 00:52:33.870 Louisa Luna: in Wisconsin, so 448 00:52:33.900 --> 00:52:40.389 Louisa Luna: I just add, I wanted him to read it, and I asked him a few just very basic 449 00:52:40.520 --> 00:52:41.690 Louisa Luna: questions. 450 00:52:44.120 --> 00:52:53.259 Louisa Luna: also my books, even though there's an element of police procedural. They are not super duper nuts and bolts 451 00:52:55.120 --> 00:52:59.229 Louisa Luna: procedure, you know. Police procedural. So 452 00:52:59.300 --> 00:53:01.739 Louisa Luna: I took a lot of creative license. 453 00:53:01.770 --> 00:53:05.250 Louisa Luna: And basically what I ask, my Pop friend, is. 454 00:53:05.730 --> 00:53:17.199 Louisa Luna: this doesn't have to be probable that this could occur just possible, like, just within the realm of your experience of possibility. And he said, yes. 455 00:53:17.290 --> 00:53:24.415 Louisa Luna: totally, I said, it doesn't have to be something I don't. It just has to be realistic. I found 456 00:53:25.320 --> 00:53:28.460 Louisa Luna: Obviously, there are other writers who really 457 00:53:28.610 --> 00:53:36.831 Louisa Luna: go in and ride in the back of the cop car, get really, really do the richer price thing and get super into it. 458 00:53:37.530 --> 00:53:42.300 Louisa Luna: I've never really had access to that. And then I also just not 459 00:53:44.790 --> 00:53:50.389 Louisa Luna: I'm just not engaged with it on that level, because there aren't the type of books that I write. 460 00:53:51.490 --> 00:53:56.999 Louisa Luna: you have to make that decision for you. I think the most important thing, though. 461 00:53:57.903 --> 00:54:03.330 Louisa Luna: Whether in terms of research and in terms of interviewing people. 462 00:54:04.053 --> 00:54:05.460 Louisa Luna: When it's 463 00:54:05.490 --> 00:54:10.420 Louisa Luna: coming out in your writing, you have to sell it to your leader, you know. 464 00:54:13.410 --> 00:54:35.980 Louisa Luna: Even if you are not a cop or have not interviewed a cop. It just has to be realistic enough and come off as authentic enough cause, as my cop friend pointed out, he's like. Don't worry about it. He's like cops. Don't read mysteries. I was like, oh, what do you read? And he's like, I read nonfiction. He read like presidential biography. 465 00:54:36.000 --> 00:54:41.030 Louisa Luna: That's what that was he was like. Don't worry. We're not going to be rooting it. So, you know. 466 00:54:41.270 --> 00:54:43.410 Louisa Luna: I mean, I don't know if that's true. Maybe. 467 00:54:43.410 --> 00:54:45.436 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: I guess they need an escape, too, from. 468 00:54:45.690 --> 00:54:46.460 Louisa Luna: Exactly. 469 00:54:46.460 --> 00:54:50.249 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: So maybe they go and read romance. Who knows? 470 00:54:50.250 --> 00:54:52.469 Louisa Luna: Exactly, exactly. 471 00:54:53.410 --> 00:55:02.069 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: We have another question, how do you ensure your story? Is faithful to the tropes of the crime fiction genre, without slipping into cliches. 472 00:55:03.350 --> 00:55:07.009 Louisa Luna: Oh, well, thank you. I hope I don't slip into 473 00:55:07.090 --> 00:55:17.889 Louisa Luna: clich cliches and I know that I sound like a broken record here. But it really comes down 474 00:55:18.600 --> 00:55:24.432 Louisa Luna: to character on writing a full pair. Fulsome character. 475 00:55:25.950 --> 00:55:36.900 Louisa Luna: with detail. Just a ton of detail and that's, I believe what will set you apart from the cliche. The other thing I 476 00:55:36.920 --> 00:55:52.740 Louisa Luna: do I try to do, and that I encourage you to do is when you find yourself walking into a cliche, turn the other way. You know what I mean like. If you find yourself writing a scene where you have, like a top looking character at a bar. 477 00:55:53.220 --> 00:55:56.339 Louisa Luna: have him open his mouth and have him 478 00:55:56.360 --> 00:56:04.940 Louisa Luna: have a really high voice like Mickey Mouse, or just let's do something, even if it seem, even if it's not a comedy, even if it doesn't seem, you know, absurd. 479 00:56:05.100 --> 00:56:14.079 Louisa Luna: Turn the cliche, just turn it around, go the other direction. And that is I I have found just a really good thing I haven't seen in 480 00:56:15.060 --> 00:56:16.160 Louisa Luna: Hide out 481 00:56:16.200 --> 00:56:22.481 Louisa Luna: where I have cap. Who's who's Vegas sometimes business partner, 482 00:56:23.530 --> 00:56:26.680 Louisa Luna: and sometimes boyfriend, and he goes 483 00:56:26.800 --> 00:56:29.830 Louisa Luna: to interview a woman. And I 484 00:56:30.656 --> 00:56:59.469 Louisa Luna: I was trying to remember I and I was writing it, and I was like, man. I can't have another scene where, like Cap is like going toe to toe with someone arguing. So I just made this woman the most agreeable, like woman in the world, and she was like sure come on in, and she had her cat, who is screaming, Who's in heat like in the sea. And so it was really. And I kept it. It was really fun to write, because it just turned from every 485 00:56:59.550 --> 00:57:05.490 Louisa Luna: almost every scene I've ever written in terms of like every scene Vega and half after, like 486 00:57:06.080 --> 00:57:10.680 Louisa Luna: talk themselves into these rooms. You know what I mean, and that's you know, it's like this one is just 487 00:57:10.770 --> 00:57:17.349 Louisa Luna: we're gonna have them come right in because all of everything about our life. It's just gonna be the easiest team. So 488 00:57:17.550 --> 00:57:27.800 Louisa Luna: you can do that, too, like you can just just turn your cliche right around. And that's also provides a huge, wonderful surprise for your readers. 489 00:57:28.780 --> 00:57:37.789 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: So when you say about a lot of character detail, we have Michelle in the audience who just asked, Do you use character journals for your characters, or do you just know them? 490 00:57:40.271 --> 00:57:42.180 Louisa Luna: I get to know them. 491 00:57:42.450 --> 00:57:53.999 Louisa Luna: So as I am writing them I will get to know them, and putting them in various situations, seeing how they behave. 492 00:57:54.060 --> 00:58:01.560 Louisa Luna: trying out like trying on outfits for them. You're trying on different modes of behavior. 493 00:58:02.210 --> 00:58:14.669 Louisa Luna: And you will eventually get to know who they are for me. I don't do that ahead of time, really I don't. I don't say you can start with like an image and a couple of details. 494 00:58:14.700 --> 00:58:23.950 Louisa Luna: and I also find that bringing in a couple of thinking about, if you come up with like a couple of experiences they may have had as a kid 495 00:58:24.240 --> 00:58:27.490 Louisa Luna: that's helpful, because then you can say, like. 496 00:58:27.750 --> 00:58:31.619 Louisa Luna: what kind of adult grows out of that kind of experience. 497 00:58:31.810 --> 00:58:37.059 Louisa Luna: If you have someone who, you know, got lost at 6 flags for a day. 498 00:58:37.230 --> 00:58:38.380 Louisa Luna: and 499 00:58:38.700 --> 00:58:43.169 Louisa Luna: either had a great day or super traumatic day, you know. 500 00:58:43.270 --> 00:58:48.540 Louisa Luna: That will determine kind of what kind of person this kid is like. 501 00:58:48.990 --> 00:59:13.930 Louisa Luna: or this person might grow up to be the kind of kid who gets lost with 2 flags and has an absolute blast and like eat ice cream all day, and rides the rides and froze up and still has a blast, or the kid, who is like crying in the bathroom, like both of these kids grow up to be different people. So I find that that's very helpful, like, just think of a couple of things, and that's just a jumping off point, you know. 502 00:59:15.830 --> 00:59:18.279 Louisa Luna: again. I will always argue for 503 00:59:18.410 --> 00:59:31.689 Louisa Luna: these things, growing organically as opposed to writing them out ahead of time. But you do have to do what works for you, and if if the latter or I'm sorry, yes, it's the 504 00:59:31.730 --> 00:59:33.380 Louisa Luna: latter works out 505 00:59:33.530 --> 00:59:35.699 Louisa Luna: better for you, then you should go for it. 506 00:59:37.010 --> 00:59:58.349 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: So we're almost out of time. But I don't wanna end without you getting to talk about more about your new book. Tell me who you are. You said on Instagram that it's your 1st stand alone in 20 years. So that's a big deal. What teasers can you give the audience about it. And I'm gonna drop the link in the chat again so that you all can go to her website and order a copy. 507 00:59:58.770 --> 00:59:59.870 Louisa Luna: Thank you so much. 508 01:00:00.426 --> 01:00:03.689 Louisa Luna: So tell me who you are is 509 01:00:05.320 --> 01:00:14.619 Louisa Luna: about a psychiatrist in Brooklyn named Dr. Caroline. That's what she has her patients call her. She thinks she knows what's best for everyone 510 01:00:15.032 --> 01:00:25.099 Louisa Luna: her patience and everyone in general and generally has her life under control. Until she gets a patient who comes in and says. 511 01:00:25.634 --> 01:00:33.220 Louisa Luna: Drops a couple of confessions in his session. He says, I'm gonna kill someone, and I know who you really are. 512 01:00:33.670 --> 01:00:36.940 Louisa Luna: and so so begins 513 01:00:38.600 --> 01:00:39.570 Louisa Luna: a 514 01:00:39.740 --> 01:00:41.910 Louisa Luna: current mystery as 515 01:00:41.930 --> 01:01:01.179 Louisa Luna: she tries to find a kidnapped woman and or tries to help the police find a kidnapped woman and also there's a dual timeline element. So we also see her when she is a kid growing up in Wisconsin, and and was the 516 01:01:01.755 --> 01:01:03.495 Louisa Luna: was a witness to 517 01:01:04.290 --> 01:01:08.989 Louisa Luna: or was very close to a violent crime there. So 518 01:01:09.470 --> 01:01:11.790 Louisa Luna: you will definitely 519 01:01:12.950 --> 01:01:26.469 Louisa Luna: love, you may not love her. You may love to hate her, you may love her, you will definitely keep reading, she will definitely make you laugh, and and I promise you will not get the twist. 520 01:01:27.040 --> 01:01:30.130 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: Oh, I can't wait. I preordered it right away, and. 521 01:01:30.130 --> 01:01:31.870 Louisa Luna: Yeah, and I feel so. 522 01:01:31.870 --> 01:01:36.939 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: I I'm still so deep into the Alice Vegas series that I don't want to leave it. But it is not. 523 01:01:36.940 --> 01:01:37.550 Louisa Luna: Like some. 524 01:01:37.550 --> 01:01:42.559 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: On my Tbr, and I can't wait to read it. But I highly recommend. 525 01:01:42.590 --> 01:02:01.719 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: I highly recommend the alas! Vega series to to all of our series. Lovers in here. It's just it's so good and we are. We are out of time now. But please head to Louisunacom. Check her out on Instagram at Louisuna, writer and please 526 01:02:01.960 --> 01:02:22.389 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: just show her some love on her Instagram, and and with her book Sales we just love supporting and lifting up authors. So thank you again for being here. It was so lovely getting to meet you. After reading and and just loving your book. And so this is just so so much fun. And I'm just so glad that you were here. 527 01:02:22.930 --> 01:02:31.540 Louisa Luna: Thank you so much, Michelle, and I'm seeing all these thanks popping up in the chat, and I want to say, Thank you all. Keep going. Keep writing. 528 01:02:31.710 --> 01:02:32.810 Louisa Luna: Thank you. 529 01:02:34.000 --> 01:02:49.960 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: Yes, I just wanted. I took a little screenshot of some of our positive feedback, so I just love to save it before we end. But then thank you again, everybody for coming. We do have another session in an hour, and we will see you there. So, thanks again to everyone, and we'll see you in a little bit. 530 01:02:50.210 --> 01:02:51.320 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: Thank you.