Julyđ˛: Fancasting RACHEL RILEY
...and walking through the dumpster fire with a pen in my hand
I was going to place a photo of a dumpster on fire in here to represent my life, but this campfire is so much prettier, isnât it?
July 2022 has been an absolute beast. From having our house on the market with three little ones while my husband works overtime (thanks, two people who quit suddenly đ), to dealing with waiting on some Very Big Publishing News that finally came to fruition, to handling some health issues, to walking through some difficult personal-life-type things, itâs just beenâŚrough. Also, can we just talk about 14-month-olds? Because theyâre a lot.
And when life feels rough, your writing can take a hit. Itâs sort of like Maslowâs Hierarchy of Needs. Scene structure is at the tippy-top, and itâs hard to prioritize when youâre running around making sure your baseboards are clean and your emails are checked and your local Chik-Fil-A is still in business. And all of that is even harder when you have emotional weight sitting on your chest like an anvil, making you question things you know and believe. Quarter life crises! So, so fun, are they not?!
But when Iâm incredibly drained, Iâve found that itâs actually writing that brings me back to myself again.
Not writing newsletters, or emails, or novels, even.
But writing things like random scenes from books Iâll never write. Writing poetry about, like, clouds. Writing in the journals I keep for my kids. Writing texts to friends that say little more than, âlife feels really hard right now. Can you pray for me?â
Writing is more than a job. Itâs more than a paycheck. Itâs more than a list of goals. Itâs even more than a skill.
Itâs in those moments that it becomes more like a gift. One Iâm very, very thankful for.
Iâve never consumed stories the same way other people have.
Most people around me read a book, enjoyed it, and moved along. Off to the next one. Maybe theyâd mention it to their mom; maybe theyâd throw up a quick Instagram story; maybe if they *really* liked it, theyâd go back and read the authorâs backlist. I learned quickly that most people did not read a book (or watch an episode of House) and become completely consumed by it. Thinking about it during study hall. Imagining what would have happened if things had gone differently. Bringing it up in random conversations the way girls do when they have a crush on a guy in high school.
My love of story has always been this tangible thing, and I think a lot of writers operate this way. You have to be kind of obsessed with your work to spend the amount of time with it that we doânot just in the writing, but in the editing and promoting as well. But since my tastes always leaned more contemporary than fantastic, and because my nerdiness was, ahem, closeted, I didnât hear the word fandom until I was like 24 years old.
Fandom is basically just the state of being a fan of something. When I read Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, I specifically remember telling my husband about the plot and saying, âand I guess these people, like, write fiction about stories that already exist. Itâs called fanfiction.â He looked at me as if I were quite possibly the stupidest person to ever walk the planet earth. But guys, itâs not my fault. Itâs not like thereâs Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants fan fiction. (I mean, maybe there is, now that Iâm typing thisâŚ) I feel like it was more of a Harry Potter/Star Wars/magic-land-with-wizards kind of thing back in the day. ANYWAY.
There are these whole words I didnât even know about! Fanart sites! Fan playlists! Other people who are weirdly obsessed with stories; other people who donât just consume them but devour them and then want to discuss them in extremely niche detail. Other people who donât want to finish a book and leave the world, but instead stay in it for a while. And recently, I heard the word fancast, which delighted me to my toes. Basically, itâs when people âcastâ their books with characters.
Part of me jumps at the chance to do this because Iâm a very visual writerâas Iâm writing, I âseeâ my books like their movies. I usually know very clearly what my characters look like, whether theyâre based on figments of my imagination, actresses, celebrities, people I know in real life, etc. So I love to share that. On the other handâŚI really like to cast my own reading experiences. When authors are too clear about what characters look like, it can kind of bug me. Weâve all had the experience of reading a book, picturing the characters, and then seeing the movie and having nothing line up the way you thought it would! Then, when you go back to read, the characters are kind of smooshed togetherâŚ(should I change the name of this newsletter to Overthinking It, a la Laurie Morrison? Quite possibly!)
So if you hate fancasts or the very idea of it, scroll right along. But if youâre interestedâŚhereâs some sneak peeks of the main characters of my upcoming middle grade novel, What Happened to Rachel Riley! (PS: advanced copies of the book are also currently available for request on NetGalley and Edelweiss+, if you review middle grade books!)
Anna Hunt: new girl, podcast listener extraordinaire, kind of wants to change the world but kind of wants to take a nap.
Nikola Hunt: Annaâs big sister. Fluent in coding, sass, and big sister wisdom. May or may not have the power to hack into your email and blackmail you for the rest of your life.
Maja Hunt, aka Mom: Full time lawyer, full time mom, full time not-taking-any-crap.
Jamie Hunt, aka Dad: Part time lawyer, full time dad, will remind you what real masculinity looks like vs. the toxic masculinity of many 8th grade boys.
Kaylee Nakamura: A girl at school who seems to know everything about everyone, and might just be able to help Anna solve the mystery of how Rachel went from the most popular girl in school to a total social pariah.
I feel like thatâs all the images I can attach to this newsletter without substack sending me to your spam, ha! But if you like the idea of a fancast, Iâd be happy to do more characters in future emails. Just let me know!
And if this got you hyped for What Happened to Rachel Riley, please consider a preorder. Casual reminder that preorders are very, very, very important when it comes to how well a book doesâmeaning how many books a publisher will buy from an author in the future. So thank you for your consideration!
And lastly, a book Iâve loved lately forâŚ
Kids: Loon Lake by Jonathan London is such a sweet picture book, especially if youâre a Northwoods family.
Middle graders: Iâve been looking forward to The Star That Always Stays by Anna Rose Johnson for months, and I finally picked it up at the library. Loving it so far!
Adults: Stop reading whatever youâre reading and go get Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt. I canât lie, when I first heard about this book, the octopus narrator kind of scared me off. But I picked it up on a whim at the library and Iâm *so* glad I did. It was the perfect summer read about an elderly woman who works at an aquarium, a thirty-year-old man searching for his father, and the octopus who befriends them. Five bajillion stars.
Thanks for reading along!
-Claire-