Tara Laskowski: Starting Over Halfway into a Deadline
Tara Laskowski is the author of The Mother Next Door and One Night Gone, which won an Agatha Award, Macavity Award, and Anthony Award, and was a finalist for the Mary Higgins Clark Award, Left Coast Crime Award, Strand Critics’ Award, and Library of Virginia Literary Award.
She is also the author of two short story collections, Modern Manners for Your Inner Demons and Bystanders, has published stories in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine and Mid-American Review, among others, and is the former editor of SmokeLong Quarterly. Tara earned a BA in English from Susquehanna University and an MFA from George Mason University and currently lives in Virginia. Find her on Instagram.
Tara Laskowski
Photo by Ron Aira
In this post, Tara discusses the inspiration behind her new locked-room style thriller novel, The Weekend Retreat, her advice for writers, and more!
Name: Tara Laskowski
Literary agent: Michelle Richter
Book title: The Weekend Retreat
Publisher: Graydon House
Release date: December 26, 2023
Genre/category: Thriller
Previous titles: One Night Gone, The Mother Next Door
Elevator pitch: A wealthy family’s celebration at their luxury winery estate becomes a weekend to kill for in this delicious and atmospheric suspense novel that’s Lucy Foley meets The White Lotus.
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What prompted you to write this book?
I wanted to write a locked-room style book where a small group of people are isolated in a place when bad things start to happen. Many of these types of books take place on an island or on top of a snowy mountain, but I wanted to do something slightly different. Then, my husband and I were driving to a winery one afternoon and my cell service went out and I thought, “a winery would be a great place to get ‘trapped’ because it’s luxurious but also remote.” So, that’s where the kernel of the idea started.
The book is set at a remote winery and estate owned by a wealthy family. They go there every year to celebrate the birthdays of their twin siblings. Only this year, things don’t go as planned … and trouble rumbles on the horizon even louder than the thunderstorm that’s brewing.
How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?
It took me a little less than two years for this one. That was mostly because I wrote most of a draft and then decided the concept wasn’t working for various reasons and threw it out and started over about halfway into my deadline. (Zero stars, do not recommend.) It took me a very long time to come around to the characters here. This book takes place during a short amount of time—three days—and so the characters and their relationships were super important. I spent a very long, long, long time developing all those relationships and connections.
Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?
I feel like I learn something new every time I write a book. Usually this learning is painful, though! In this case, to go back to what I was saying earlier about character, I learned that I really need to spend more time upfront developing my characters and understanding what makes them tick, what they want, who they are at their core, and what their relationships are to each other. I tried to develop that stuff as I wrote this book, and I ended up having to go back and revise and change a lot of things that I probably would not have had to do if I’d done more of that work upfront.
I also didn’t know how it was going to end until about a week before I had to turn in the final draft! Talk about night sweats!
What do you hope readers will get out of your book?
Above all else, I hope they are entertained! I hope they laugh a little, are surprised a little, stay up a little later than they wanted to in order to read just one more chapter.
If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?
The writing and publishing journey is a deeply weird process. Focus on what you can control—creating the best piece of writing you possibly can, something that brings you joy and feels like you—and try not to obsess about the rest of it.
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