An Interview with…Spy Thriller Author T. A. Maclagan
I’m so excited to welcome T. A. Maclagan to the blog today! I’m a massive fan of her Alexandra Gastone duology and can’t wait to find out more about her.
Hi T. A!
Tell us a bit about you and your books. What do you write?
I wrote a YA spy duology, but am currently branching out and trying my hand at YA contemporary. That said, it feels a bit weird not to have my protagonists kicking butt on a daily basis.
Do you meticulously plan your books or free-write and see where you end up?
I’m all about the planning. I’ll spend several weeks planning out a book and doing extensive outlines. Things might change as I write, but the plan helps me get started. I have no idea how the pantsers do it. I’d end up with a pile of word mush.
They Call Me Alexandra Gastone was your debut novel. Where did the idea for this book come from?
I got the idea a few years before I even pondered writing a book. I was watching the movie Salt with Angelina Jolie. In it, she’s a Russian sleeper who was placed in the U.S. as a young child with the goal being a job at the CIA as an adult. There’s a small snippet of the movie that shows her being placed as a child and that got me thinking what it would be like to be a teen sleeper, which led me to wonder what would happen if they were activated early. From there, Alexandra Gastone was born.
I always love sequels, and the follow-up, My Name Is Milena Rokva, blew me away. How easy was it to write the conclusion to your duology, knowing that book one was already out there? Did you feel under more pressure than you did when writing the first book?
I’d already mapped out where I wanted the story to go, so I pretty much knew whe
re I wanted to take Alexandra’s journey. There was a bit of pressure in that I was very aware of wanting to please fans of the first book. I didn’t want to let anyone down, but at the same time I didn’t want to play the book too safe and not have my readers be surprised.
I absolutely loved your Alexandra Gastone duology. What’s next for you?
I mentioned earlier that I’m writing a YA Contemporary, which is fun and something that’s pushing me to grow and dig deep as a writer. But I’m also currently plotting a new standalone thriller because evidently I love killing my characters!
How do you go about editing? What’s your process?
I know that a lot of authors draft their whole book and then go back and edit later. That is so not me. I’ve found that I’ll write about a quarter of the book, and then I’ll reach a point where I start to lose the thread (even though I’ve basically plotted the whole thing beforehand). I’ll then go back and edit. Finished editing, I’ll write to about the 50% and 75% mark, stopping to edit at each milestone. By the time I’ve completed the novel, I have a pretty good first draft.
What are you currently reading? Any juicy recommendations?
I just finished I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson and was completely blown away! I was listening to the audio book and actually purchased a hard copy after I was finished because I wanted to read it again. I almost never want to read anything again, so this was huge for me. Nelson’s prose completely sucked me in and sent my mind to crazy good places!
If you couldn’t be an author, what would you be?
I have a Ph.D. in anthropology, so I’d probably go back to teaching. As a huge travel junkie I’d also be interested in managing a University study abroad office. I studied abroad a lot when I was in school and each experience helped to shape and challenge me. I’d love to share that with students and encourage them to take risks!
Tell us three interesting facts about you.
I’ve gone hang gliding and sky diving and love to travel but I absolutely hate to fly. I’m a bundle of nerves whenever I get on a plane. It’s a completely irrational fear, but I can’t seem to help it.
I live in New Zealand, but I’m originally from Kansas. I met my Kiwi husband when I was doing my dissertation research in New Zealand.
I’ve seen every episode of Buffy at least 3 times, all except the Beer Bad episode which I pretty much hated.
What’s the one event that you think shaped you the most as a writer?
I think writing my dissertation was the turning point for me. I’d never even considered writing a book (it seems too daunting) until I finished this massive dissertation that was completely dry and boring. I figured if I could write 300 pages of anthropological mumbo jumbo, then I could surely write something fun with some butt-kicking and kissing.
If you could say one thing to your eighteen-year-old self, what would it be?
I’d tell myself to take more risks. I was a fairly guarded person and my 18 year old self would have never taken a creative writing course, for example, because my grade would be too subjective and up to the whims of the teacher. I only took classes I knew I could get an A in and because of that I missed a lot of challenges I think would have been good for me. Similarly, I never asked out guys I was interested in because “oh no” they might reject me. But the older I’ve gotten the more I realize, so what. Rejection is not the end of the world.
What’s your advice for aspiring writers?
Read a lot and take notes on story structure. Also, don’t let a fear of rejection keep you from going for it. Not everyone is going to like what you do, but do it for those who will.
And T. A. Maclagan’s running a rafflecopter giveaway at the moment!
Click below to enter! One person will win a $15 gift card–and who doesn’t want a gift card?
Buy T. A. Maclagan’s books…
Plus, They Call Me Alexandra Gastone is $0.99 for the rest of September! Go and grab a copy now!
