Happy
Wednesday Everyone! Today I’m excited to have Kate Larkindale, part of the
IWSG, here to share about her YA contemporary Standing Too Close, which
releases on 8/5/2025. It sounds like a gripping story with high stakes, and I’m
looking forward to reading it.
Here’s a
blurb from Amazon:
Seventeen-year-old
Blue Lannigan believes in exactly one thing: his two younger brothers deserve
more than the crappy apartment and abusive, drunken mother they’re stuck with.
And when he comes home to find one brother bruised and bleeding (again), the
other cowering in terror (again) and their mother drunk off her ass, blaming
all three of them for her tanked singing career (again), Blue decides waiting
until he’s 18 to leave is no longer an option.
Deciding to hole up
in an empty house at the lake until Blue can figure out what to do next, things
get more complicated when the owner of the house arrives unexpectedly.
Especially when Blue realizes the unconscious woman they’ve tied up on the
couch isn’t a stranger after all, but someone who could give him just what he’s
looking for.
After avoiding
reality and playing house, a scene at the grocery store lands him in handcuffs
and his brothers with a social worker. Add to that losing his job and being
stuck in a group home he hates, and Blue’s sole purpose becomes finding his
brothers and getting them out of whatever hellhole they’re in. Blue’s hopes unravel, and betrayal rips his
heart in two as he tries to reconcile the role he plays in his brothers’ lives
while trying to figure out his own.
Before I get to Kate’s interview, I have my
IWSG post. Posting: The first Wednesday is officially Insecure Writer's Support
Group Day.
Purpose:
To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of
appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer
assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!
The
awesome co-hosts this month are: Rebecca Douglass, Cathrina Constantine, Louise Barbour and me!
Optional Question: Is there a genre you haven’t tried
writing in yet that you really want to try? If so, do you plan on trying it?
I read a lot of mysteries and have been getting into cozy
fantasies, which sometimes involve solving a mystery. I’d like to write a YA
cozy mystery or cozy mystery/fantasy someday. I have some ideas about the
characters and setting.
Will I ever write one? I really can’t say. I’m pretty busy
with the blog, my crocheting, and life in general lately, so I haven’t been
writing too much. I don’t know if I’ll just revise the manuscripts I’ve written
or start this new project. I’m taking it day by day and am okay with this
approach for now.
Interview With Kate Larkindale
Hi Kate! Thanks so much for joining us.
1. Tell us about yourself and how you became a
writer.
I’ve always written, ever since I was a little
kid. My first story was published in the
Kidstuff pages of our local newspaper when I was six and I never really
stopped. For a while, when I was a
teenager and young adult, it was kind of a clandestine thing I did in secret
and never told anyone about, but then I decided to try and publish some of the
things I’d written and “came out” as a writer.
After moving to a new country every two or
three years throughout my childhood, I now live in New Zealand where I work for
a company that produces live arts events and experiences. I recently pushed
myself way out of my comfort zone by becoming a group fitness instructor at my
gym.
2. Where did you get the idea for Standing Too Close?
I think this is a story I’ve been trying to
write for years, to deal with something that happened to a friend of mine. All my other attempts to write his story were
too literal and close to the bone and never worked. Standing Too Close takes the core of his story and spins it
in a very different direction to what actually happened. And I managed to finish it this time. Phew!
Your Writing Process
3. Did you plot this story out, or were you a
pantser? Share about your plotting process.
I am probably the most chaotic writer on the
planet! I can’t plot. If I try to write an outline of a novel, I
never write it because I know what’s going to happen. I tend to start by writing the scene that
sparks me the most, whether that’s at the beginning, the middle or the end. I usually don’t know when I write that first
scene, where it might end up. I just use
it as a starting point and write both ways around it until I have a book. I know it probably makes no sense to anyone
else, but this is a process that’s worked for me across multiple books now, so
I’m sticking to it.
I recently decided to try and write something
in order, from start to finish and wound up writing 30K words twice (taking the
story in different directions) before realizing it was hopeless and I’d written
the story from the wrong POV character.
So I went back to my usual messy, chaotic writing style and am
comfortably about 2/3 of the way through the new book - now written from the
other characters POV. Still not 100%
sure where it’s going to start, but I have written the ending. Always good to have something to aim for,
even if I have no clue how I’ll get there.
4. It’s fascinating to learn about your
plotting process. Blue is a complicated character. Did you know his character
when you started this manuscript, or did he develop as you wrote it? What are
your tips for writing in a story from a male POV?
A lot of Blue developed as I wrote him. Because I had my friend and his story as the
starting point, I pulled a lot of stuff from him and his brothers and the way
they related to one another, but as the book grew, the characters took on lives
of their own and no one really resembles their real-life counterparts
anymore. I really enjoyed writing Blue
because he’s very mature and old for his years in some ways, but also very,
very immature in others.
I’ve always been comfortable writing a male
POV. Most of my friends growing up were
boys and I have two sons, so I’m around male voices a lot.
5. It’s cool you feel so comfortable writing
from a guy’s POV. You have a day job in addition to being a writer. How do you
juggle the two and keep writing manuscripts that are ready to be submitted to
your editor regularly?
I actually have two day jobs and finding time
to write on top is often a struggle. I
get up at 5:30 every morning so I can get time to write and do writing-related
chores (like doing this interview… it’s 5:45am here as I write this) before I
have to go to work. I also make sure I
get some time over the weekends to write, even if it is just one
afternoon. And I occasionally take a day
off work to devote to writing and take my laptop to the library or somewhere
else quiet and work for a full day.
I’m lucky to have a fantastic critique group
too, as well as an established group of readers who give me feedback and help
me whip my messy-ass first drafts into something resembling an actual book.
Your Journey to Publication
6. Your publisher is Evernight Teen. How did
you get your first contract with them? What has it been like submitting
subsequent manuscripts to them?
My first published novel, An Unstill Life, was published by a publisher that went
out of business about 18 months or so after publication, so I was looking for
opportunities for that book and submitted it to Evernight Teen because they
took previously published work if you had the rights. It was a great process and the book sold
reasonably well, so when I had my next one ready to go, I decided to send them
that too.
All the books I’ve published with Evernight
have been “editor’s picks” and I feel like I have a pretty good relationship
with them now. I like the fact I get a
lot of input into the cover art and can usually work with them to pick a
release date that works with my marketing and publicity timeline.
7. I know from following your blog that you’re
also trying to find an agent to represent you. Why did you decide to do this,
and how are you tackling this?
I’ve had an agent before and I really miss
having that kind of partnership in my career.
I went it alone after losing my last agent because the whole experience
was horrible and quite traumatizing, but it’s been long enough now, that I’m over
that, I really want to have someone in my corner with me again. I don’t feel like I can advance my career to
the level I’d like to without an agent’s help.
So I’m back in the query trenches, looking for
an agent for a book that is kind of a spin off from Standing Too Close in the sense that some of the research I
did for that book led to me finding the story I wanted to tell in A Stranger to Kindness.
Promoting
Your Book
8. How
are you planning to promote Standing Too Close? How have your marketing
strategies changed over the years?
I’ve
worked with a company called Itsy Bits Book Bits on my last couple of releases
and had great results from a 3 week online book tour, so I’m doing that around
release week in August. I also reach out
to book bloggers to get reviews - reviews are so important! I’m in that process now, since I have ARCs
available. And of course, there’s social
media. I’m not great at social media and
I don’t like it much, but it’s an unfortunate reality these days, that you have
to do it. So, I’m trying to be more active
across the social platforms I use and to post about the book once or twice a
week until release day.
9. That’s
great that you found a company to arrange your blog tours. What are you working
on now?
I’m
writing a new novel which doesn’t have a firm title yet. It’s about a couple of kids living on the
street and the friendship they develop.
I’m calling it a platonic love story and it’s told through one of the
characters’ journal entries as he tries to keep himself from becoming a drug
addict while managing chronic pain.
And then
I surprised myself by also starting an MG novel. I’ve never written for that age group before,
but this story just wouldn’t leave me alone, so I started writing it. No idea where it’ll go, but it’s kind of fun
to have something a little more innocent to work on when I need a break from
the other book which is quite dark and heavy.
Thanks
for sharing all your advice, Kate. You can find Kate at:
Blog: http://katelarkindale.blogspot.com/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4086706.Kate_Larkindale?
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Kate-Larkindale/author/B00HWQDU4S?
BookBub: https://partners.bookbub.com/authors/5227615/edit
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorKateLarkindale
Instagram/Threads/Bluesky:
@Vampyr14
Standing Too Close is available for pre-sale now at all your favorite e-book
retailers and will be available in print in around September.
Giveaway Details
Kate is generously offering a pre-order of an e-book
of Standing Too Close for a giveaway. To enter, all you need to do is be a
follower of my blog (via the follower gadget, email, or bloglovin’ on the
right sidebar) and leave a comment by July 12th. If I do not have your
email (I can no longer get it from your Google Profile), you must leave it in
the comments to enter the contest. Please be sure I have your email address.
If you mention this contest on Twitter, Facebook, or other
social media sites and/or follow me on Twitter or Bluesky or follow Kate on her social media sites, mention this in the comments, and I'll give you an extra
entry for each. You must be 13 years old or older to enter. This book giveaway
is International.
Upcoming
Interviews, Guest Posts, and Blog Hops
My
schedule is a little lighter this month because I’m going to visit family with
my daughter this month.
Monday, July 7th I have an interview with author Natalie
Richards and a giveaway of her MG Survive This Safari
Monday, July 14th I have an interview with debut author Sarah Mendonca with a giveaway of her MG An
Enchantora's Guide to Monstros & Magic
Wednesday, July 16th I’m participating in the Hip Hip Hooray
Giveaway Hop
Monday, July 28th I have an interview with author Marzieh
Abbas and a giveaway of her MG Aarzu All Around
Wednesday, July 30th I have an agent spotlight
interview with Taj McCoy and a query critique giveaway
I hope to see you on Monday!
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