Welcome to 2025! We’re kicking off a new year of The Writing Process with an interview with author Abigail Taylor. Abigail is a writer from Texas, known for writing short stories and novellas. She has had her writing featured in Writer’s Digest, Globe Soup, Fractured Lit, Sixfold Magazine and many others. Her sophomore book is due this year, with Wild Ink Publishing. When she’s not writing Abigail loves to spend time outdoors in nature or cross stitching at home with her cats, dog, and sassy rooster.
In 2025 you’ll be releasing your YA historical horror novel, Maryneal, 1962. What drew you to the genre and wanting to write in this space of the publishing market?
I’ve always been drawn to paranormal and historical settings. When I set out to try my hand at YA and horror, I didn’t look at what was trending at the time or try to project what I thought might be popular by the time my book was ready for the querying trenches. I wanted to stick to something I would have enjoyed reading when I was younger.
Can you tell us about the book’s plot? What do you love about it? Any teasers you’d like to share?
Warned by a soothsayer at a traveling fair that something evil is about to come to Maryneal, sixteen-year-old Delah Nix chalks it up to carnie theatrics and ignores the woman’s suggestion to leave before dark. But then her sister savagely is attacked on their way home and her murder leaves the small farming community stunned. The authorities scramble to place the blame on a deranged man, the carnival workers, and even the nearby Indigenous community.
Delah, however, starts to suspect that something supernatural is afoot when a childhood friend, bitten in an attempt to save Delah’s sister, gains powers and a thirst for the county’s livestock. As much as he is enjoying his super speed and perfect hearing, Delah senses there will come a point of no return and begins to desperately search for a way to save her friend before he hurts himself or the girl they both love. With the full moon approaching and no salvation in sight, Delah is faced with an unconscionable decision: If she can’t find a cure, she’ll have to kill the boy next door.
Maryneal, 1962 isn’t your first piece of published writing, as your debut novella came out in 2023. Given you’ve been writing for a while now how has your writing evolved over time? Do you remember when you started writing or the first piece your wrote?
I definitely remember my first novel. I had it in my head to write about a musician where the first half of the book was just a series of rumors and gossip articles strung together. Eighteen-year-old me thought I was being fun and clever, especially when it came to dropping all the easter eggs and references to pop culture. Of course, I didn’t realize that these ‘easter eggs’ were actually rubbing shoulders with plagiarism and the good idea I had was all vibes and no plot. It’s a bad book that I hung on my heart for too long, but I’m glad I wrote it and tinkered with it as long as I did because I was able to find my voice.
My first few short stories and my failed novel suffered terribly from white room syndrome and tired tropes. Don’t even talk to me about my poetry! Most of it was horrible and clunky. However, my very first publication was a poem requested ‘as is’ at a workshop. It did my ego a great deal of service but that same workshop, the late great Barrie Neller pulled me aside and said, “Read more.”
As someone also working in marketing in publishing, how do you balance work and writing? Do you have dedicated, carved out time, or a routine you try to stick to? Does it change project to project?
How do I balance work and writing is an unrelenting question! The marketing aspect is a new and exciting avenue for me. I’m still getting my sea legs but with the way my day job is structured, I have several chunky breaks throughout the day. I do my best to keep my morning break for reading and my afternoon break for editing or reaching out to book influencers and reviewers. In the evening, when I don’t have to go back out to work, that’s when I work on my own writing. Having a day job where I have to leave my computer and be physically active for a few hours is a great way to reboot my brain and compartmentalize tasks. Sometimes it does change from project to project. If the only project I have is my own writing, then I use my breaks to read for joy and to construct a playlist that I can listen to that will put me in the atmosphere of my story.
If I’m truly honest, I miss when I worked overnights at a gym. There I wrote between 10pm-6am every night. It was glorious and uninterrupted!
Are you a writer that solely works on the computer? Or do you have a bunch of stationery and notebooks housing your ideas? Do you use any specific tools or items to help you write?
When I’m working on my personal projects, I like to do things by hand. Even with backing up my drafts I’m always worried I’ll lose something without a physical copy. (Don’t ask me if my notebooks are organized. This would defeat my argument.) When it comes to my ghostwriting projects, I do all of it on the computer and email copies to myself. That way I can get the first draft back to the client faster. I don’t have any special tools except for my phone, which I use to quickly fact check some piece of information I can write in the margins of my drafts.
Some writers love listening to noise or music, others don’t. So, are you team music or team silence?
I think in a perfect world I would be team silence but because I have pets who insist on making loud mac and cheese noises next to my ears, I put on background noise. Chet Baker if I really need to focus. I like cooking shows and youtube reaction channels if I’m just putting around. I also create a playlist of music for each book that I write. This way, when I’m at my day job, I can listen to something that will put me in the setting or the characters’ moods. It’s the best way for me to get into the zone, so that by the time I’m back to my writing, I go straight for it without wasting an hour staring at a blank page or a screen.
What parts of writing do you find the most challenging? What do you find easy?
Finding the beginning of a story and the protagonists are the most difficult for me. Most of the ideas I get come in the form of a catalyst or an ending. I’ll get inspired by a flash scene, a shadow pantomime and sometimes it stays that way until I can find out who those shadows are and how they got there.
Can you tell our readers about your writing and editing process itself? Are you a planner or a pantser? Are you a super organised writer or messy, in the moment, seeing where the flow goes type?
I’m a messy gardener. Once I figure out my story (finding the beginning and the protagonists), I will have a bullet point outline. Usually it’s just a sequence of events without detailing the emotions or staging/locations. Think of it as Dr. Who’s fixed point in time. There are rows the seeds go in but the rest of it is all vines and flowering plants.
The drawback to this as someone who tends to write in historical settings, the messy part really is something of an explosion. There’s margin notes that I have to shift through and I have to constantly go back to the internet or my reference books to make sure I haven’t mixed up my historical dates. It’s a price I’m willing to pay. I’ve found over the years that if I am too strict with how I think a character should act in a situation or where they should be, the story is stiff and unbelievable. If I allow them to shape their reactions and their environment as they move along in the world, it ends up being a better first draft. Then the editing stage is all about pruning away the dead bits and rotten fruit.
How do you handle feedback from beta readers or your editor? How does it shape your finished work?
When it comes to beta readers, I’ve learned that if three or more of them point out the same thing and say it doesn’t work for them, then it doesn’t work. If it’s less than three, then it’s a personal opinion. Having other people read the work is such an integral part of the process! A good beta or editor will bring fresh perspectives that you might not have experienced before and can help deepen the motivation of your characters and enrich your world building.
I’ve had beta readers and editors that clearly hadn’t read the material, which can be frustrating. I do try and find something worthwhile to take from the negative experiences. I have a strong support network, so I have a safe space to complain and get all my ya-yas out. After that, I can deal with the feedback on a professional level. Luckily, the negative experiences are far and few between.
With Maryneal, 1962 coming in 2025, can you share the process it took you to write this novel, when you started it, and how long it took from ideal to finished novel?
This book has had such a rocky journey. I wrote the first draft way back in 2017. I decided to make a pivot in genre and age category after about a decade in the query trenches with various other projects that just weren’t getting where I needed to be.
The process of the first draft was easy, but going back through and making sure I didn’t reference a song or movie that hadn’t released, or a point in history that hadn’t occurred yet, or was so momentous that it would take away from the story itself, (There’s a reason I didn’t pick 1963!) took a lot more time.
I started querying a year later, after working through all the edits I received from my critique partners. After two years of no movement or falling flat, I shelved the book and moved onto pitching my next project, which I had been writing while sending out queries for Maryneal. Publishing is a game of luck and it really is all in the timing. One agent I sent to, who expressed an interest in the exact comps I had, rejected me and ended up leaving the industry after a scandal. Another agent (who had turned out to be that first agent’s client) requested a full, then sent a form rejection and left agenting the following year. Had either of these people signed me, I’d be back in the trenches again either way.
It wasn’t until I had debuted my novella, The Night Begins, that a friend in my 2023 debut group suggested I pitch one of my shelved novels to her publishers. I dusted off Maryneal, 1962 and sent it out. The contract came into my mailbox just a week before Christmas that same year.
I’d like to say the novel is finished, but as of this interview, I’m still in the editing process with Wild Ink! Besides, as the saying goes, art is never finished. It is simply abandoned.
After you publish this book, what are you planning to write next?
I have a few irons in the fire, but there are two that I’m most excited for! One is a companion (not a sequel) to both Maryneal, 1962 and my next book, A Home in Tishomingo, which will come out in 2026. There is also a haunted house story I’m working on set during the golden age of Hollywood.
“It’s important to remember that comparison is the thief of joy.”
What’s your best piece of advice for aspiring writers?
Other than read often and widely?
It’s important to remember that comparison is the thief of joy. Everyone’s journey is different. Don’t stress on the social media presence. With the modern publishing industry, there is a lot of pressure to have an audience and a platform but if all you’re not careful, you’ll have cultivated a huge following but have no art to show off. Find a support group, whether in online writing clubs or in groups that meet at your local library. If you ask advice from an industry professional, take it to heart and do with it what you will but don’t follow the advice up with ‘Yes, but’. There’s no need to set mental roadblocks up for yourself before you’ve even made an attempt!
Are there any authors or books that have inspired your writing?
Absolutely! Just to name a few authors: William Goldman, Louise Erdrich, Tana French, Mike Carey, Gail Carson Levine, Hemingway, Thomas Hardy, Esi Edugyan, Stephen Graham Jones, Frank McCourt, and Donna Jo Napoli.
As for books, there are two series I must point to as formative material that shaped the creative side of me before I realised I wanted to be a writer: Dear America and Goosebumps.
What are you currently reading?
I’m reading Babel, Or the Necessity of Violence by R.F. Kuang. I’m enjoying taking it slow to really marinate in the material. I’m not sure what I want to read next but I have a stack of TBRs I need to get through. So I’m spoiled for choice.
Anything else about writing you’d like to mention about the craft of writing:
I’ve found that a lot of authors who don’t write hard sci-fi or fantasy overlook the importance of world building. Contemporary authors especially! We take for granted that most of our readers live in the modern age and write under the assumption that the average reader will stop and look up something that they aren’t familiar with. It simply isn’t the case. For example, I’ve never been to New York. So, if I’m reading a book where a character takes the F train, I might have a vague idea of a subway but I’m hard pressed to know if it’s heading south or west or how many passengers have their enormous dogs strapped in backpacks. Writers write because we have unique perspectives and experiences. Don’t sacrifice world building just because it isn’t fantasy! Use all the senses to lay the groundwork and ensure the reader is fully involved in the story.
Thanks so much to Abigail for sharing her perspective on writing. Her new book Maryneal, 1962 will be releasing in June, and if you’d like to follow her writing journey, check out the links to her social media below.
Maryneal, 1962
Abigail Taylor
Publishing June 3, 2025 – Wild Ink Publishing
For more writing advice and tips click here.
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