Katie Sise on Her Novel 'You Must Be New Here' and Crafting Twisty Suspense

Thematic Exploration of 'You Must Be New Here'

• 💡 The novel 'You Must Be New Here' primarily explores themes of female friendship, motherhood, divorce, and the emotional toll of raising a medically fragile child.
• 🎯 The story centers on Sloan, a mother of a medically fragile daughter, whose life is upended by the arrival of a magnetic new neighbor, leading to a rapid, intense connection.
• 🔪 The narrative takes a dark turn when Sloan's babysitter, Margaret, disappears and is found murdered, propelling the story into a suspenseful spiral.

Narrative Structure and Writing Style

• ✍️ Katie Sise describes her writing process as improvisational, akin to watching Netflix, where she discovers the plot and characters as she writes, rather than outlining.
• 🎭 She enjoys the element of surprise, not knowing the killer's identity until late in the writing process, which she likens to her background in theater and improv.
• 🧩 The novel is told from multiple perspectives, including Margaret the babysitter, Sloan the mother, and Clara, a seemingly perfect community member with hidden marital issues.

Personal Experiences and Emotional Resonance

• 💔 Sise shares how her family's experiences with loss and illness, particularly primary pulmonary hypertension, deeply influenced the novel, especially the character of Daisy.
• 💖 She emphasizes the importance of authentic representation of difficult topics like postpartum mental illness and rare diseases, stating it keeps her up at night.
• 🎭 The author also discusses the poignancy of divorce, illustrating it through a moment where a divorced character reacts to her ex-husband knocking on their former shared home's door.

Crafting Suspense and Entertainment

• 🔍 Sise's primary goal as an author is entertainment, aiming to create stories that are so engaging readers can't put them down, even amidst personal hardship.
• 🤯 She believes a jaw-dropping twist is crucial in the suspense genre, striving for originality and surprise that readers won't see coming.
• 🎭 The novel's twists are described as more subtle and darker than in her previous works, but the certainty of a strong twist guides her writing process.

Author's Journey and Future Projects

• 📚 Sise has authored nine novels, including young adult fiction and adult suspense, with 'You Must Be New Here' being her fifth adult suspense novel.
• 🚀 Her next project will explore a family mystery, intertwining past and present events, with a focus on family dynamics and a potential death that drives the narrative.
• 💡 She finds inspiration in family dynamics, relationships, and the exciting, dream-filled age of teenagers, drawing from her own life experiences and observations.