Taut, twisty, and viciously entertaining, Who’s Maud Dixon is a classy psychological thriller about how far into the darkness you’re keen to go to say the life you all the time wished.
We had the pleasure of chatting with debut creator Alexandra Andrews all about Who Is Maud Dixon?, e book suggestions, writing, and extra!
Hello, Alexandra! Inform us a bit about your self!
I’m a lifelong New Yorker, and I simply revealed my first e book. I spent nearly fifteen years desirous to be a author whereas truly writing little or no, which, it seems, shouldn’t be one of the simplest ways to develop into a wildly profitable novelist. (Who knew?) I lastly got down to write this novel in my early thirties whereas pregnant with my first little one, and all that pent-up frustration grew to become the premise of my plot. Who Is Maud Dixon? is a couple of younger outsider within the New York literary world who’s satisfied she’s destined to develop into a well-known author. When she lands a job because the assistant to the world-famous novelist Maud Dixon, she decides to take a shortcut and steal her life.
After the chaos that was 2020, have you ever set any objectives for this yr? If that’s the case, how are they going to date?
My aim is to loosen up a bit. I had my second little one final March—on the very second New York shut down truly—and I spent a lot of 2020 in a state of panic. Being stressed didn’t actually assist something or anybody, and it nearly definitely made me a worse dad or mum. So I’m making an attempt to sit back. Does anybody understand how you truly do this?
Fast lightning spherical! Inform us the primary e book you ever keep in mind studying, the one which made you wish to develop into an creator, and one that you may’t cease interested by!
- The primary e book I keep in mind studying: The Debtors
- The one which made me wish to develop into an creator: Slouching In direction of Bethlehem by Joan Didion
- The one which I can’t cease interested by: A Confession by Tolstoy
Your debut novel, Who Is Maud Dixon?, is out now! If you happen to might solely describe it in 5 phrases, what would they be?
Assistant steals well-known creator’s life.
What can readers anticipate?
Thwarted ambition, energy struggles, and snappy dialogue. Plus an premature dying or two.
Are you able to inform us about any challenges you confronted and the way you had been capable of overcome them?
I used to be beset by self-doubt once I got down to develop into a author. I might reread my drafts and be so disgusted by them I’d simply quit. I used to be lastly capable of end Who Is Maud Dixon? as a result of I didn’t let myself have a look at something I’d already written. I simply saved transferring ahead. Then, in some unspecified time in the future, I had lastly accrued sufficient pages that I knew I wouldn’t throw them out. That’s once I went again and made edits. And on a extra sensible stage, my pc was stolen from my residence one night time whereas I slept, and I misplaced my most up-to-date draft. So having to rewrite all of it was sort of a bummer.
What’s your writing course of like?
I procrastinate, procrastinate some extra, lastly write up a scene, determine to alter my complete plot, do useless analysis, write one other scene, change again to the primary plot, and spent the remainder of the day napping.
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What’s the most effective and the worst writing recommendation you will have obtained?
I can’t keep in mind receiving any particular writing recommendation, however I do have sure tenets I attempt to keep on with: Be clear, be temporary, don’t use too many metaphors, maintain the motion transferring… the same old suspects.
What’s subsequent for you?
I’m engaged on my subsequent novel, which entails doing loads of crossword puzzles whereas not writing a novel.
Lastly, do you will have any e book suggestions for our readers?
With out even pretending to have an organizing precept: Each e book by Peter Cameron; The Index of Self-Harmful Acts by Christopher Beha; Misplaced in Thought: The Hidden Pleasures of an Mental Life by Zena Hitz; Muriel Spark’s brief tales; Transit of Venus by Shirley Hazzard, Uncanny Valley by Anna Wiener, Second Place by Rachel Cusk (not that she wants me to get her identify on the market…)
