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I got to put together a list of my favorite female-driven noir novels of my heart and after I posted it on social media, Megan Abbott slid into my DMs with a thank you and I shattered into a million pieces and am now just a shattered million pieces of a human.
A very accurate story (at least emotionally).
I also got to share some of my gateway thriller recommendations (the thrillers you’d recommend for a friend looking to dip a toe into the genre, but who isn’t quite ready for the darkest twists and turns) with the Bookwild podcast. The conversation with Kate was a delight (as usual!) and I’m almost positive it’s time for me to read/reread some Carl Hiaasen books this summer.
Sound off in the comments: What are your gateway thrillers? What thrillers give off a really summery vibe to you?
Lori Brand is the author of Bodies to Die For, a thriller that takes a hard look at social media, the $70 billion diet industry, and the war on women’s bodies—the wars we wage with each other, and with ourselves. She is also a lifting enthusiast, group fitness instructor, yoga teacher, and software quality engineer.
In past lives, she’s been a gymnast, dancer, Playboy model, and bodybuilder. Her time in the body wars trenches led to her realization that getting strong, rather than shrinking, is the way out. In an effort to spread the word, she’s had articles published in STRONG Fitness Magazine, T-Nation, Inside Fitness Magazine, D’FYNE Fitness Magazine, and more. Bodies to Die For is her first novel.
Where do you go to refill your creative well?
The gym, both home and commercial. I find that physical movement helps clear my mind and make room for the creative process. Frequently, I’ll be thirty-plus minutes in, my brain decluttered, my blood pumping, and come up with all sorts of interesting ideas.
What was the last piece of art—book, show, movie, whatever—that made you want to create something?
I recently finished Listen for the Lie by Amy Tinter, and was so blown away that I’m now rereading it to see how she pulled it off.
The best craft advice you've ever received?
The best advice I ever received was to “write a shitty first draft.” I think I heard it on the podcast The Shit No One Tells You About Writing (highly recommended). It was such a liberating idea. Rather that getting stuck on a chapter, reworking it over and over and losing momentum, now I just plow ahead and tell myself that I’ll work out any clunky sentences, logic leaps, etc. in editing once I have a completed draft.
I wish I would have heard this advice back when I was writing Bodies to Die For. I ended up agonizing over many passages that ended up on the cutting room floor because they ultimately didn’t serve the story. But, man, some of them were so beautiful. Ripping them out just about killed me.
Tell me about the last internet rabbit hole you went down.
Bespoke ice. You can order fancy sphere-shaped ice the size of a baseball and then have something like an orange twist suspended at the center. The ice ball ends up being about the height and width of a lowball glass, and when you pour bourbon on top of it, the amber liquid coats the ice on the way down until the ball is suspended in the liquor. [Editor’s note: Color me intrigued!]
I was going to work this into a scene in my current WIP, but ended up going in a different direction. However, I’m now thinking of ordering a case of the stuff for myself (and not involving it in a crime scene).
What have you learned about your process of writing now that you didn't know when you first started?
That it’s not magic. That there’s an actual framework and structure to a story.
I hadn’t heard of the three-act structure until I had an agent. He said something like, “Okay, in Act Three, what we need to see is—” and I was like, “Wait? There are Acts? How many are there?” As soon as I got off the phone with him, I googled three-act structure in storytelling, and was stunned.
Because I’m a big reader of thrillers, I somehow (sort of) managed to follow this framework intuitively when I wrote Bodies to Die For. But seeing it all laid out like that, was eye-opening. I was like, so this is why that book or movie was so good. Now, when I’m reading, I clearly see those beats that I never knew existed.
What factors have to come together for you to feel your most creative?
I like to have at least two hours of uninterrupted time to work with no one bugging me. And I can’t be hungry.
What's a book or movie or piece of art or other you wish you'd created?
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn is my all-time favorite book. The Cool Girl screed spoke to me all the way down to my core.
What would you like to shamelessly plug?
My debut thriller, Bodies to Die For. It’s about the clash of the Bikini Bodybuilders with the Fat Activists and a series of murders that take place. But at its core, it’s about the war on women’s bodies. The wars we engage in with each other, the wars we wage on ourselves.
What do you think people would be most surprised to discover you're obsessed with?
The rights of sex workers.
What are you craving to see (or see more of) in books, movies, tv, or other art?
Sex work portrayed in a positive light. I think it’s a feminist issue. And because I’m a big proponent of “be the change you wish to see in the world,” my current work in progress delves into this. [Editor’s note: Amazing!]
Which book would you like to live in for a day, and why?
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. This was my favorite book when I was a kid. I wanted to go to that magical world where those beasts lived and partake in their wild rumpus. It was only a boat ride away, and you could come home when you missed your family.
Where do you write?
In my home office with the door shut, and you better not come disturb me unless the house is on fire.
My open tabs
Here’s something fun: Just because one of my books has been published doesn’t mean I stop thinking of ways to improve it, or things I’d like to add to it. This article on Rebecca Schaeffer’s murder—a young actor murdered by a stalker who was able to get her home address—was on my mind as I wrote The Hurricane Blonde, even though it doesn’t play a huge role in the story overall.
This Texas Monthly article has it all: murder most foul, rich people being terrible, an aunt seducing her nephew.
Probably going to have to take this film noir tour in LA sometime—who is with me?!
The second season of The Jinx wraps Sunday; if you can’t get enough, check out this great article on Susan Berman’s murder. (Much more compellingly written than the cadaver note, FYI.)
Thanks so much! Here is a link to the coolest bespoke ice that I found: https://abstractice.com/