1–What is the title of your latest release?
2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
Grieving after her father’s death, a young woman seeks solace in an Outer Banks beach town of North Carolina where her best friend’s family runs a small inn. The family welcomes Charlotte with chowder dinners and a cozy room, but her friend Evie has a looming life change of her own, and soon Charlotte seeks other attractions to navigate her grief. Will she, like in some television movie, find her way back through a romance, or are there larger forces at play on Hatteras Island?
3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
I’ve loved the Outer Banks of North Carolina since I was a little girl, where my family would camp every summer. As I started to write, I would set my stories in my favorite places as a way of writing myself into them. I began to realize the hefty metaphorical aspects of the setting the more I wrote. Where else can you write a coming-of-age story where you can actually see the physical landscape change!
4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
I would. Despite her grief, Charlotte is still funny, plus we’d have a good time talking about books.
5–What are three words that describe your protagonist?
I’d describe Charlotte as introspective, sensitive, and poetic.
6–What’s something you learned while writing this book?
I leaned into the science of coastal ecology for this book, so concepts like swash zones, rippling runnels, singing sand, and the layers of the ocean were fascinating concepts. I also dipped into astrophysics just a bit!
7–Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I’m a recursive writer. I often get myself moving by thinking that all I have to do is read what I’ve already written. Once I’ve read, I start writing from the point I left off, then when I get stuck, I go back and read again and write forward from there. During that process I’m constantly editing for word choice and flow. I will say, though, at about the halfway point in this novel, I just pushed forward and finished a draft then revised it much later.
8–What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Really good sushi.
9–Describe your writing space/office!
I love writing in coffee shops and quiet public spaces. I have a series on my Instagram where I’m rating the strength of the WiFi, crowd levels, caffeine options, and comfort of the chairs in various places.
10–Who is an author you admire?
Jill McCorkle is such a wonderful writer and lovely person.
11–Is there a book that changed your life?
Lee Smith’s The Last Girls because it was the book that introduced me to her as an author, which led to discovering the rest of her books, which led to entering the Lee Smith Novel Prize, which changed my life!
12–Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)/Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
I was visiting family in Texas over Christmas; it was a cold, dark day and we were driving down the highway when I noticed a voicemail from an unfamiliar phone number. We pulled into a McDonald’s where I called and got the news that I’d won the Lee Smith Novel Prize and have my book published.
13–What’s your favorite genre to read?
I just love literary fiction and upmarket fiction. I also love memoir and creative nonfiction, and I love turning to YA when the world gets to feeling like it’s too much.
14–What’s your favorite movie?
I have a hard time picking favorites, so I’ll go with old favorites like The Goonies and The Princess Bride.
15–What is your favorite season?
I’ve always loved summer—swimming, beaches, ice cream, fireflies, campfires. There’s just something magical about it. Though I will say I could handle a little less southern humidity.
16–How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
I like spending time with family and friends, and I have a policy of not cooking and avoiding dishes and laundry on my birthday!
17–What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
I’ve recently enjoyed Palm Royale and The New Look on TV, and Brene Brown’s podcast.
18–What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
I’m really feeling Mediterranean cuisine lately.
19–What do you do when you have free time?
I love to get together with friends, read, watch movies, and go to Pilates class.
20–What can readers expect from you next?
I’m not done with Evie and Charlotte yet. I’m working now on a book that explores how they evolve into middle age. I’ve also got a couple of essays in the works and a short story about Blackbeard!
THE BADDEST GIRL ON THE PLANET by Heather Frese
Evie Austin, native of Hatteras Island, North Carolina and baddest girl on the planet, has not lived her life in a straight line.
There have been several detours–career snafus, bad romantic choices, a loved but unplanned child–not to mention her ill-advised lifelong obsession with boxer Mike Tyson. Evie is not plucky, but when life’s changes smash over her like the rough surf of the local shoreline, she muddles through–until that moment of loss and longing when muddling will no longer suffice. This is the story of what the baddest girl on the planet must find in herself when a bag of pastries, a new lover, or quick trip to Vegas won’t fix anything, and when something more than casual haplessness is required. The Baddest Girl on the Planet is inventive, sharp, witty, and poignant. Readers will want to jump in and advise this baddest girl on the planet–or at least just give her a shake or a hug–at every fascinating turn.
Coming of Age | Women’s Fiction Southern | Small Town [Blair, On Sale: March 2, 2021, Hardcover / e-Book, ISBN: 9781949467161 / eISBN: 9781949467383]
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About Heather Frese
Heather Frese’s fiction, essays, and poetry have appeared in Michigan Quarterly Review, The Los Angeles Review, Front Porch, The Barely South Review, Switchback, and elsewhere, earning notable mention in the Pushcart Prize Anthology and Best American Essays. She received her master’s degree from Ohio University and her M.F.A. from West Virginia University. Coastal North Carolina is her longtime love and source of inspiration, her writing deeply influenced by the wild magic and history of the Outer Banks. She currently writes, edits, and wrangles three small children in Raleigh, North Carolina.
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