Where the idea for Den of Liars began
Plus how to win one of 50 advance copies!
After a week of temps in the teens, it is now officially 67 degrees outside on this last day of February here in Texas, and the sun peeking out into blue skies feels like a loosened breath, a stretch, a contented yawn after a long night’s sleep.
I’m typing out this newsletter from the overstuffed recliner chair in the middle of a very messy office. On the floor is a minefield of crumpled pieces of construction paper, multicolor pipe cleaners, leftover Valentine’s Day stickers, and a giant squishmallow because I have four children and juggle my writing around the art projects and homework assignments and chaos that is their growing lives. I did not get enough sleep last night (I never do), and my hair looks like something died in it, but I’ve had my oat milk latte, I’ve pulled out my laptop, and I’m here! It’s time to write!
But first, I want to catch up! Shove the legos off the office chair next to me and let’s have a chat.
What I’ve Been Up To
In between battling bouts of panic around the fact that actual people are going to be reading Den of Liars soon (and that actual early reviewers already have started reading it!), I managed to come up with a book idea this week. Which, if you know me, is a Very Big Deal.
Sometimes when I talk to other authors, they’ll mention notebooks full of ideas. “How will I have enough time to write them all?” they lament, and I just take another bite of my mashed potatoes and try not to spiral because I am decidedly NOT like that. I’m sort of a one-idea-at-a-time kind of author. I’ll be walking around panicking that I don’t know what I’m going to write next, and then BAM an idea will hit me out of nowhere.
Problem is, I never know when it’s going to hit me. And sometimes I spend several months panicking that I won’t ever come up with any more ideas, that the books I’ve already written are the only books in me, and that my career is finished before it’s barely begun.
Anyway, all that to say… an idea hit me square in the middle of the forehead earlier this week, and all I can say is buckle up, folks, cuz it’s not over for me yet!
The Seeds of Ideas
I talked a bit on instagram the other day about how amazing it is that stories often start from just a single thought, a single image, a single seed. Sometimes you plant an idea, but no matter how much you water it, it just won’t grow. And then sometimes an idea seems like it’s going somewhere—maybe even pushing out a tiny shoot or scraggly leaves, only to die unexplainedly.
But every once in a while, there are the really special ideas that sprout with ferocity. That spread out branches. That dig down roots. That flower and bloom and demand their own space, their own air, their own sunlight.
Den of Liars was one such idea for me. The seed of it came to me one day as a single thought: What if there were magical brothers who were the embodiments of certain crimes? Whose magic exemplified one specific sin but also cursed them to live within its limits?
From there, the Liar and the Thief were born.
The Liar became a villain of illusion magic—the kind of manipulative deceit that could wind its vines around your heart and change the way you experienced the very world. He drew his power from the secrets people lied to conceal, gambling with them like money, wielding them like weapons. And what would a man like that do with his magic? Open a casino, of course. One filled with awe and wonder and riddles. Where he could wield all the influence the world could offer because he knew the shadows that lurked behind politicians and gang lords and fugitives alike.
And then there was his younger brother, the Thief, who could go noncorporeal at will in order to break into any building and steal from any vault. But the thing about the Thief, my brain reasoned as this story grew, was that it wasn’t just trinkets he stole. No, he also had the power to steal the words from people’s mouths, the strength in their bodies, and the feelings from their very hearts.
I remember in the early days of this idea being almost feverish with excitement as my brain built up the Liar’s Den Casino, the city where it stood, and the world that held it. As I imagined the main character, Magnolia St. James, the daughter of the city’s most feared gang lord, and the multilayered relationship she would have with the Thief as she worked as his right-hand accomplice to try to undermine the brother he had grown to hate.
From that one tiny seed that hit me out of nowhere after A Forgery of Roses came out, an entire world has grown. A cast of characters. 382 pages of a story that I laughed and cried my way through writing. And another 115,000-word draft for a sequel, too.
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I may write about magic, but honestly, witnessing this—the birth of something so sprawling and all-encompassing in my brain—is the real magic. And the fact that readers get to live in these worlds and meet these people that grew out of that tiny seed? It’s a kind of enchantment that will never ever get old to me.
Want to Win an Early Copy?
I’m excited to tell you about a few ways you can get your hands on your own early copy! My publisher is giving away 50 advance manuscripts of Den of Liars over on Goodreads right now. If you haven’t entered, please do. I would love if my newsletter subscribers were the ones to win them. <3
In addition to that, Den of Liars is also available to request on NetGalley and Edelweiss if you’re a book reviewer, bookseller, or librarian!
And, for those of you attending North Texas Teen Book Festival this weekend, the FierceReads booth will be giving away a stack of galleys at 1pm tomorrow (March 1)!
Keep your eyes out for next month’s newsletter, because I’ve got my own advance copy I’m planning to give away to one of you then! <3
Non-Writing Things
I spoke in last month’s post about my goal to make 25 recipes requiring yeast in 2025. I’m happy to report that in the month of February, I made bread bowls and garlic breadsticks, and this weekend I plan to whip up some scones for my kids to top with meat sauce and then frosting for dessert. Healthiest option? Maybe not, but Mama’s got New Year’s resolutions to accomplish!
Additionally, one of my favorite recent reads just released the other day! If you haven’t ordered (or requested from your library) a copy of The Otherwhere Post by Emily J. Taylor, I highly recommend you do! It’s a dark academic YA fantasy about a magical postal service that manages the delivery of letters between worlds! To me, it was a sort of mashup of two books I absolutely LOVED: A Darker Shade of Magic by VE Schwab and Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson. As a writer, I was totally enamored with the idea of a magic system that worked with words and writing and ink splatters and books. Like. Yes please. And, if that isn’t enough to convince you, I was so happy to see that the rest of the world agrees with me: It was named the Good Morning America Book Club Pick this month!
Once you’re done reading (and loving) that one, make sure not to miss the author’s first book, Hotel Magnifique, which was actually one of the comp titles I used to sell Den of Liars! It’s about a magical hotel that shows up in different cities every night. It sort of has circus-y vibes similar to Caraval, but in a whole new way I thoroughly enjoyed.
Looking Forward
We only have 123 days left until Den of Liars releases, which simultaneously still feels very far away while also feeling way too soon, so there’s that. But four months will probably go by so quickly, especially since things are underway behind the scenes here to make it as exciting as possible! We already have an artist doing gorgeous art for the preorder campaign, and another designing bookmarks and bookplates as stunning as the ones we did for A Forgery of Roses. Snippets are being revealed on Instagram and TikTok, and more giveaways are being planned to keep you all on your toes! Keep your eyes peeled for all of it!
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Thank you again for following along. I truly feel so lucky to be doing what I do and writing the books I’m writing, and I know it wouldn’t be possible without readers who read and support my work and recommend it to their friends and followers. You are all amazing <3
Until next month!
I enjoyed reading this. Is it wrong for me root for the Thief? I assumed I will favor the older sibling but reading Den of Liars post gravite me to the disadvantaged brother. I should reserve my judgement but still...
It truly is so magical how you described writing! Books are so magical ✨️ I completely agree with you about The Otherwhere Post and I absolutely can't wait to read Den of Liars!!! Thank you for giving us a deeper inner peek behind-the-scenes 💜