We were lucky to catch up with Leslie Lutz recently and have shared our conversation below.

Leslie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to start by getting your thoughts on what you are seeing as some the biggest trends emerging in your industry.

One of the most interesting trends in the book industry is the resurgence of the horror genre, especially in the young adult and middle grade market. For many years, horror for younger audiences was mostly limited to vampires and ghosts and an occasional werewolf, but what we’re seeing now is a lot of diversity–new voices, new stories, and a new taste for “weird horror,” or those scary elements that don’t fit into a traditional box. Survival stories like I Am Still Alive, by Kate Alice Marshall, or the horrific consequences of racism in The Weight of Blood by Tiffany Jackson, or even a child’s game turned deadly in Hide and Seeker by Daka Hermon–these are just a few books that break the traditional “it goes bump in the night” tale to give audiences something challenging and fresh. This is great for me as a writer, since I tend to gravitate to out-of-the-box storytelling. The challenge is to market these books so that you set up reader expectations.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m a writer of young adult novels, and I specifically write thriller and horror. My first book, FRACTURED TIDE, came out in 2020, and although having a book debut two months after the pandemic shut the world down wasn’t awesome, I was really happy with some of the buzz the book got. FRACTURED TIDE ended up as a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard pick, and it was also voted “Best of 2020” by Suspense Magazine in the YA category. I’ve been building my author brand since then, and my next book–also a scary tale, this time with rock climbing instead of scuba diving, and a completely different kind of monster–comes out in the fall of 2024. Sweetest Darkness is about a teenage psychic in a small Texas town who comes into possession of a haunted safe. Quinn, my main character, absolutely shouldn’t open it…but he will.. Chaos ensues. While I’m launching my own books, I’m also teaching writing to others, and I’m so excited that I’ll be a part of New York’s Thrillerfest this June, teaching aspiring writers all about how to write compelling scenes for the YA market. Most of all, I want to continue to build my audience and give readers books they’ll want to reread.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I wish I’d known that the lonely writer creating a masterpiece on her island is mostly a myth. Sure, there are a few storytellers out there that create great work without a lick of help, but they’re rare. Most need to test their material on an audience–those wonderful beta readers–who will tell you when your work stinks. And it does sometimes. They will also celebrate with you when it’s awesome. Great critiquers will help you bridge the chasm between the world in your head and the way your audience perceives what you’ve written. I spent a lot of years spinning my wheels because I was too shy to show people what I wrote, thinking I could do it on my own. If you’re a creative, find your people. Find your community.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

My favorite book on writing, and one that has really changed my time management, is STORY GENIUS by Lisa Cron. In so many ways, it’s transformed my process. There’s a myth out there that once you publish your first book, each one after that is just easy. After all, you did it before. Just do it again! But it’s actually tough to return to the blank page, especially with some of your time stolen by marketing the book that’s already out there. Then you have the emotional component–all the pressure to perform again. The stress can really get to some authors. The methods Lisa Cron describes in her book basically help writers develop a reliable process that keeps you from writing hundreds of pages you just have to throw away. It also has made the process of writing a book more enjoyable. And shouldn’t we all enjoy our jobs?

Contact Info:

• Website: lesliekarenlutz.com
• Instagram: @leslie_writes
• Facebook: Leslie Karen Lutz
• Twitter: @lesliekarenlutz
• Other: Tiktok: lesliekarenlutzwrites