June 2024
An interview with Lauren Ling Brown, murder photography, and a real live Halley trap
What’s new
Hello, happy summer and a belated happy Juneteenth! I hope you have lots of juicy adventures planned for this time of year, which happens to be my favorite—bring me popsicles and pool reads.
Speaking of pools, if you like to contemplate noir’s obsession with them1, I recently tackled the issue in CrimeReads.
The Hurricane Blonde received a lovely review in this roundup from The Santa Barbara Independent, sharing column space with George R.R. Martin (finish those goddamn books, sir!).
The Argentinian noir, No Abras Nunca Esa Puerta (Never Open That Door) is now available on restored DVD, with commentary by moi in the special features! You can also stream on Hulu (though I do not think Hulu includes the commentary documentary, rude). And I’m not the only one who thinks the film is great—it’s been getting great reviews!
Lauren Ling Brown received a BA in English literature from Princeton University and an MFA in film production with a focus in screenwriting from the USC School of Cinematic Arts. She currently resides in Los Angeles, California, where she works as a film editor. Society of Lies is her first novel.
What tabs do you currently have open on your computer?
Preply — This is a language tutoring website that my dad told me about. He’s learning Spanish for the first time!
So, inspired by my dad, I signed up to take virtual lessons with a French tutor. I studied it for ten years in school, and am thrilled to have finally reached a point where I can understand most conversations and movies. I love learning, and think that studying a language makes my brain more creative and pliable. I also really enjoy it!
The New Yorker — I read this magazine more than any other news source (though I also read The Atlantic and The New York Times). I find that we’re exposed to so many “quick takes” online and on social media, and I try to make a conscious effort to slow down. Many of their longer articles discuss current issues in a more nuanced way, exploring many sides of an issue. I also find their profiles fascinating. People live their lives in such different ways and the New Yorker journalists capture that individuality perfectly.
Boba Milk Tea Recipe — I’m obsessed with boba milk tea and have been drinking it for years as a dessert-like treat, but I’ve never tried to make it! My favorites are rose milk tea and classic milk tea…matcha comes in a close third.
Where do you go to refill your creative well?
Writing-related:
I love to read. I have loved to read since I was a kid and escaped into stories like A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Secret Garden, Goosebumps and Judy Blume. Now I pick up either a thriller or something more literary and disappear into the world of the book until I feel recharged!
I also like to brainstorm with friends—both friends who write and friends who love to read—I find talking with others about the plot or character problems in my writing always helps.
Non-writing:
1. Gardening. It is just so peaceful and calming to plant vegetables and herbs and to watch them grow every day. It brings me so much joy!
2. Aerial silks. I’ve had a series of joint injuries (knee, hip…) which it difficult to do activities I love like hiking, dancing etc. As a former dancer, I decided to seek out an activity that didn’t bring pain to my knees since it wasn’t on the ground. Swimming was probably a more reasonable option! But for whatever reason, I discovered aerial dance, (also aerial yoga), which basically consists of spinning around or hanging from a swing-like piece of fabric rigged overhead. It’s the same fabric used in the circus art called aerial silks or aerial tissu. Over the past ten years, I’ve become obsessed with the art form and whenever I need a recharge, I like to spin around as fast as possible or come up with new dance sequences in the air.
What was the last piece of art—book, show, movie, whatever—that made you want to create something?
I’ve been watching Insecure by Issa Rae. She is just so relatable. The writing is really hilarious and smart, and I love watching the “Wine Down” afterward where they discuss the episode and thought behind it.
Some movies I love are Parasite, Get Out, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Recent books I’ve enjoyed: Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin, Where Sleeping Girls Lie by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé, and You Know What You Did by fellow debut author K.T. Nguyen
What’s the best craft advice you've ever received?
I love talking about writing craft! I want to hear all of your tips!
One, which I’ve been doing recently, is to both read and listen to my writing. I do this when I read novels, too, especially if I’m having trouble concentrating. I’ll read a hardcopy and listen to a Libby app library audiobook. When I read, I see the book in one way, and when I listen, it’s completely different. There are lots of reader-apps that will read your work back to you. I like Natural Reader or Word.
Write by hand! I used to type scenes first, and I’ll admit it is MUCH faster, but writing scenes by hand first lets my brain process the information in a different way. So if I have the time, it’s nice to write a scene by hand, let it soak for a day, and then transfer it into the computer and make some changes while I do that.
When in doubt…Save the Cat. As in…I’ll plot out the major beats of the book. I am a plotter, but I like it to be a loose plot and to re-plot and modify my outline literally every day while I’m drafting. Maybe every other day. Sometimes little revisions, other times changing major portions of the plot. The book never comes out like I want it out of the oven. So I’ll rewrite scenes over and over. Throw big chunks of the manuscript away into a holding document in case I want them back.
Tell me about the last internet rabbit hole you went down.
I’m very inspired by other art forms—like dance, painting, music, theater, poetry—and like to incorporate them into my writing.
I was working on a scene where there needed to be a piece of art on the wall, and I try to plant little easter eggs in my writing with that sort of thing. I want the art that’s in the room to relate to the book in some way or circle back around later on…so I went on a deep rabbit hole search through everything from Matisse to Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec to Basquiat.
Source: Jean-Michel Basquiat's painting "Untitled" in “Contemporary Art, Media and Notoriety.” The New York Times. Accessed May 10, 2024. https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/29/arts/29iht-melikian29.html.
Source: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Salon Rue des Moulins (1894), pastel, Albi, Toulouse-Lautrec museum. Accessed May 10, 2024. https://www.artmajeur.com/en/magazine/5-art-history/henri-de-toulouse-lautrec/332941.
Source: “The Sugar Shack” (1976) by Ernie Barnes. Ernie Barnes Retrospective Brings Renewed Attentino to African American Artist Who Found Fame After Playing Pro Football. Culture Type. Accessed May 10, 2024. https://www.culturetype.com/2019/09/06/ernie-barnes-retrospective-brings-renewed-attention-to-african-american-artist-who-found-fame-after-playing-pro-football/
What have you learned about your process of writing now that you didn't know when you first started?
When I first started writing, I thought that you just write a book and it’s done. (Writing a book is hard enough!) I didn’t realize until I started working with my agent and editor and revising the manuscript that the first draft is really just the bare bones idea…and the rewrites are where you can build character backstory, a character’s journey, all the threads that make a story deeper and intricate. I love that about novel writing.
What factors have to come together for you to feel your most creative?
I need to tune out any critics and any noise from the outside world, be confident in my abilities to craft a story and malleable in my thinking, and just trust the process. A book is so cool because it isn’t like a photo, where you hit the shutter and you know more-or-less what you’re capturing. For me, at least, the story starts as what I had imagined, but with every pass and every revision the feedback from early readers and my editor, plus the character’s own motivations kind of take on a life of their own.
What's a book or movie or piece of art you wish you'd created?
I believe that each person has a unique way they see the world, and a unique story to tell. So I think art is individual to the person who created it. That sounds kind of overly-intellectual or academic, now that I’ve said it, sorry. But I just think art is so special because it reflects the way we see the world!
What would you like to shamelessly plug?
My debut novel, Society of Lies, is coming out August 13th. I’ve poured my heart and soul into it, and I am so excited that it will be out in the world!
Society of Lies is a dark academia about two multiracial sisters, born ten years apart, who are invited to join the same corrupt secret society at Princeton. It’s sort of like The Secret History meets Get Out and asks the question: How far would you go to belong?
Maya Banks, who is now in her thirties with a husband and five-year-old daughter, has her life more or less together. She returns to Princeton for her little sister Naomi’s graduation, but when she gets there, her sister isn’t answering her phone. Soon Maya learns something awful has happened: her sister has drowned.
The police are saying it’s an accident, but Maya suspects there is more to the story. As she investigates, Maya realizes that her sister’s death may have had something to do with a dark secret in her past related to the society that she was a part of when another young woman died.
If that sounds interesting, feel free to check it out! I’d also love to connect on Instagram or TikTok @laurenlingbrown :)
[Editor’s note: I got to read Society of Lies early to blurb and it was so good—if you like dark academia, you will not be disappointed! Here’s the preorder link again.]
What do you think people would be most surprised to discover you're obsessed with?
I am obsessed with gardening! I developed a love for it from my mother—who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and has an incredible garden with enough squash and lemons to feed the entire block.
My sister and I grew up climbing the plum trees in our front yard and eating fruit straight from the branches. I recently planted a little vegetable garden with bok choy, tomatoes, cucumber, peppers, and I can’t wait to watch them grow.
What are you craving to see (or see more of) in books, movies, tv, or other art?
I’d like to see a more nuanced representation of women and people of color in the thriller genre. Not just representation (which is also great!) but also more nuance in the type of characters we see.
I think there is sometimes a tendency to make a multiracial person the villain, but I would love to see more characters of all races who have complex moral codes—ones who are good in some areas and bad in others, and what makes them that way.
I also love mysteries and thrillers that have deeper questions built into them, ones that ask the reader to really examine their own life and morals. Some themes I’m interested in already exist, but I’d like to see more exploration of friendship, love, marriage (and breaking the traditional stereotypes), women’s roles, and identity.
Which book would you like to live in for a day, and why?
Oooh what a fun question. Hmm. I read a lot of thrillers, so not those! As a kid I wanted to be Eloise, a little girl who lived in the Plaza hotel in NYC (Eloise written by Kay Thompson). My mother read me that book as a child, and I think it really made a deep impression on me. I still enjoy visiting dense international cities like New York City, Paris, Hong Kong, and Rome, having the bustle of the city around me, going to museums and live performance and bookstores.
Where do you write?
I bring a little notebook with me everywhere and write scenes by hand as they come to me throughout the day. I do a lot of writing in small spurts throughout the day—in my car (parked of course!), on a long flight, at a coffee shop, in between work duties, on weekends.
My open tabs
This month I am:
Reminded by this article on Lucy Letby (alleged British killer baby nurse) that headlines can be misleading.
Whipping up support for a cool indie bookstore on Patreon!
Watching Eddie Muller, the Czar of Noir himself, in this documentary on Weegee’s deadly photography.
Learning a lot from M. L. Rio’s Substack, particularly the posts on craft.
See also: Alain Delon in tiny swim trunks.
Great interview!!
Thanks Halley! Loved chatting with you about all of this ☺️🩷