1–What is the title of your latest release?
2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
A controversial commencement speech exposes a small beach town’s scandals and secrets, sending a young woman on a journey she never imagined.
3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
I love the beach, I’m really bad at surfing, and I like renovating old things…so I made my fictional character, Nikki Graziola, a world-class surfer who returns to the beach town of her youth to deal with the past she ran away from—a past that includes some derelict Airstream campers.
4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
Totally. Nikki is super-cool, with her unusual background, her talent at surfing, and her passion for art and design. Plus, she likes to have Frito pie for dinner, and soft serve ice cream and cones of fried clams on the beach boardwalk. What’s not to like?
5–What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Honest (painfully so which is what gets her in trouble in the first place. Athletic. Artistic.
6–What’s something you learned while writing this book?
That every town has its secrets. And that hazing is a really really bad idea.
7–Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
Both. My first draft is truly a manuscript, written in longhand with a fountain pen. I drag my notebook around for months. Then I type it up (dictation helps) and edit the typescript over and over again.
8–What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
My own homegrown tomatoes, sliced with a sprinkle of salt. Summer only, of course!
9–Describe your writing space/office!
Answer: I write all over the place—at my desk, on the sofa, and out on the patio whenever possible. When I travel, I write on ferryboats, trains, planes, and my own boat, the Sugar & Salt. Writing is the most portable profession there is. When I’m working on my handwritten draft, I don’t even need a battery.
10–Who is an author you admire?
Salman Rushdie. No living author has endured so much for his art. He’s a wonderful writer and a fine teacher, and the attacks against him are unconscionable. Even after the latest vicious attack, he is indomitable. His latest book, Victory City, is fantastic.
11–Is there a book that changed your life?
Techniques of the Selling Writer by Dwight V. Swain. It’s the first book that really cracked the code of fiction writing for me.
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.
You’ll have to roll back time to 1986! My daughter was toddling around the kitchen playing with the dogs, and the phone – a landline with a CORD – rang, and it was Wendy McCurdy, an editor at Kensington Books. She said, “We like your book, and we’d like to publish it.” Texas Wildflower was published in April 1987, and Wendy is still an editor in New York. I’ve published a book or two every year since then.
13–What’s your favorite genre to read?
Contemporary fiction, if you could call that a genre. Books that are grounded in reality about characters I can relate to and care about, making their way through a fascinating journey riddled with problems that all get sorted out in the end. I do love a good thriller if there’s not too much blood and guts.
14–What’s your favorite movie?
It’s hard to pick just one! The Shawshank Redemption. Last of the Mohicans. The Wizard of Oz. Not coincidentally, they’re all based on books.
15–What is your favorite season?
Summer in the Pacific Northwest. It’s glorious, with long days, tons of sun, not too hot, very few bugs.
16–How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
With family and friends, of course. My most memorable birthday was a surprise from Jerry. He whisked me off to Sedona, AZ for a stay, and then off to Healdsburg, CA to visit friends, and he planned it all. I just had to pack a bag.
17–What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
Bad Sisters. I think it’s on Apple TV+. It’s hilarious, heartbreaking, unpredictable, sweet, and wonderfully written. Sisters in Ireland united against the world’s worst husband.
18–What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Mediterranean. I love fresh salads, olives, cheese, legumes, and wonderful bread.
19–What do you do when you have free time?
Read. And read some more. I love getting lost in a book. When I’m not reading, I’m off on a hike with the dogs, boating with Jerry, or planning our next adventure.
20–What can readers expect from you next?
The Twelve Dogs of Christmas, coming in mid-October 2022. Brace yourself for the cutest cover art ever, and an unforgettable winter adventure.
WELCOME TO BEACH TOWN by Susan Wiggs
Beloved New York Times bestselling author Susan Wiggs returns with a compulsively readable tale of an idyllic California beach town forced to reckon with scandal when a high school valedictorian’s speech reveals secrets that shake the town to its core.
Every town has its secrets…
In idyllic Alara Cove, a California beach town known for its sunny charm and chill surfer vibe, it’s graduation day at the elite Thornton Academy. At Thornton, the students are the worldly and overindulged children who live in gated enclaves with spectacular views. But the class valedictorian is Nikki Graziola, a surfer’s daughter who is there on scholarship. To the shock of everyone in the audience, Nikki veers off script while giving her commencement address and reveals a secret that breaks open the whole community. As her truth explodes into the light, Alara Cove will face a reckoning.
Nikki Graziola’s accusation shakes the foundation of Alara Cove, pitting her against the wealthy family whose money runs the town. Her new notoriety sends Nikki into exile for years, where she finds fame—but not fortune—overseas as a competition surfer…until a personal tragedy compels her to return to Alara Cove.
As Nikki struggles to rebuild her future, she finds that the people of the town have not forgotten her. But time has changed Alara Cove, and old friendships, rivalries, and an unexpected romance draw her back into the life of the beach town she’s never quite forgotten, and where joy and redemption may be possible after all.
Women’s Fiction Family Life | Thriller Domestic [William Morrow, On Sale: June 20, 2023, Hardcover / e-Book, ISBN: 9780062914163 / ]
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About Susan Wiggs
Susan Wiggs’s life is all about family, friends…and fiction. She’s been featured in the national media, including NPR’s Talk of the Nation, and is a popular speaker locally and nationally.
From the very start, her writings have illuminated the everyday dramas of ordinary people. At the age of eight, she self-published her first novel, entitled “A Book About Some Bad Kids.”
Today, she is an international best-selling, award-winning author, with millions of copies of her books in print in numerous countries. Her books celebrate the power of love, the timeless bonds of family, and the fascinating nuances of human nature.
She lives with her husband and family at the water’s edge on an island in the Pacific Northwest, where she divides her time between sleeping and waking.
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