Karen M. McManus is a #1 New York Times and international bestselling author of young adult thrillers. Her books include the One of Us Is Lying series, which has been turned into a television show on Peacock and Netflix, as well as the standalone novels Two Can Keep a Secret, The Cousins, You’ll Be the Death of Me, and Nothing More to Tell. Karen's critically acclaimed, award-winning work has been translated into more than 40 languages. 

THE CREATIVE PROCESS

Tell us about some of the teachers that were important to you when you were finding your voice as a writer?

KAREN M. McMANUS

Well, I had a wonderful teacher in second grade who kind of inspired me to start writing and really stuck with me through elementary school and beyond as I made attempts to find my voice, but think part of the reason it never really went anywhere for me as a young person was because I was too afraid to share that with anyone except for that one teacher. I never showed friends. I didn't even really show family. I just always felt that it wasn't quite good enough. And so the thing I always tell writers now if they ask for, you know, "What's one tip?" It's let someone else tell you no, because I just told myself no for pretty much my entire young adulthood. And once I let other people tell me no, they did a lot, you know, but that is how I got better.

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I always think in ensembles. I like to think about the team as almost its own character. It has its own arc and people need to have points of connection with each other. They need to have points of conflict with each other, and somehow all of that needs to tie together at the end. So it's starting broad and then eventually narrowing down to the nitty-gritty of what actually happens in a story and how it affects the people involved.

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I do use a beat sheet, which is a screenwriting tool, and I find it very helpful. When I start getting to that point where I think I understand the characters, and I'm trying to get into the nitty-gritty of the plot, I will start planning out those moments like what's the inciting incident? What's the midpoint? What's the next reveal? What's the climax? And then the interesting part for me is figuring out the character beats in between those. So what's happening internally with this character, and what's happening in the relationships between all of the main characters that are somehow related to either this reveal or this red herring or something that's moving the mystery along, but also is moving character development along as well.

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It's a really exciting thing to make it all the way through and to have so many talented people work on your book, but TV is a different medium. And there's changes that are made that you're not necessarily a part of, but it does create another universe for your storytelling. And with season two, it was always going be difficult to use One of Us is Next because there's a time jump, and there's different characters. And then I think some of the changes that were made in season one really made it impossible. So now they're two separate paths. And I think that's fun for readers to not know what's going to happen, but I think they'll also know that I'm working on a third book for the One of Us series. And to me, that's how it all ends. 

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As a very young person, that was when I first got interested in writing, I was about eight years old. When I had a teacher who asked us all to write a story, I thought–What? Write a story? You can do that? That seemed very magical to me. And I loved it. My teacher encouraged me to continue with that, and I did for quite a long time. And in high school, I did set that aside a little. I had been a very quiet, introverted kid for a lot of my life, and in high school, I came out of my shell a little, and I saw writing as one of those things I did as a kid, but it wasn't something that I was going to do anymore because I had other interests.

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They are young adults.  They're written for young adults, but I think they're for everyone. And I certainly hear from a readership that's very diverse, and I think the common theme that people tend to come back to is that they do see themselves at least a little bit in some of the characters. Maybe not who they are today, but who they were at one point, and the characters are always going on a journey that parallels the mystery. So it's not just about solving the crime. It's about figuring out who you are. And also figuring out your relationships with the other people who are caught up in this crime with you.

Photo: Kaitlyn Litchfield Photography

This interview was conducted by Mia Funk and Abigail Gray with the participation of collaborating universities and students. Associate Interviews Producer on this podcast was Abigail Gray. Digital Media Coordinators are Jacob A. Preisler and Megan Hegenbarth. 

Mia Funk is an artist, interviewer and founder of The Creative Process & One Planet Podcast (Conversations about Climate Change & Environmental Solutions).