By John A. Tures, Professor of Political Science, LaGrange College

Just over the border from Cobb County, earlier this month, readers packed FoxTale Book Shoppe to hear two nationally-recognized authors, Megan Miranda and Wanda M. Morris. At a time when critics claim nobody is reading anymore, both ladies showed the crowd how to have “the write stuff.”

Miranda emphasized the importance of starting with relatable characters, what really matters to them, and what they are afraid of. “I would opt out of most of my thrillers,” she admitted, noting the challenges her characters face. But for her latest release, You Belong Here, she states that she would be in it. Her main character is a ghost writer. For each strength, there is a weakness. Her protagonist is independent-minded, but less likely to seek help from others.

When questioned about how realistic to make the characters, Morris pointed out the importance of making them different enough from the person they are based on. “I had a person read it who had a character based on him in the story, and he didn’t see himself in it,” she told the audience.

When covering the writing process, Miranda described her system as “organized chaos,” and that she would write herself into corners, always asking the “What if” question. Her story The Last House Guest (A Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club Pick and New York Times bestseller) required at least four drafts. “If I know who did it right off the bat, so will everyone else.” She also focuses on writing one book at a time, instead of a story-juggling act.

One may think that to be successful, you need to be single, or at least shut away from family. But while raising kids, Miranda wrote novels during their naps, thinking of ideas during the walk back after taking the kids to school. After moving from Boston to North Carolina and becoming a science teacher, she wrote YA novels about kids involved in science class and paranormal activities. Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park got her hooked on the idea of writing science-based thrillers. Now her stories focus on adult characters wrestling with mysteries from the past.

Both noted the importance of having a writing space. Miranda added that her science background led her to use a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet for structuring the plot. “You have to do the work up front, or you’ll have to do it in revisions,” she pointed out.

Morris got the audience interested with her latest novel project, set between Atlanta and DC, involving slain parents and missing kids, with detectives racing to find them. The only time the audience seemed upset all evening was to learn that the release date would a year or two away. Morris and Miranda laughed when noting that readers who meet them would say “You’re such a nice person. How can you write such dark stuff?”

When asked about getting started, Miranda admitted a fear of rejection, confirmed by so many agents and publishers saying “no” at first. It’s hard to imagine such a scenario for this popular author.

It was something I was interested to hear, as I wrote my first novel, a thriller, during the pandemic. Megan Miranda was the first author I started reading while working on my own story. During the book signing, she pressed for more details about my novel and what it was about, which was very kind. But given what she had to overcome, perhaps it wasn’t surprising that she and Wanda Morris would be so supportive.

John A. Tures is a professor of political science at LaGrange College in LaGrange, Georgia. His views are his own. He can be reached at jtures@lagrange.edu. His “X” account is JohnTures2.