TESSA TALKS BOOKS

All answers to the listed questions came from Hannah Mary McKinnon. Be sure to check back tomorrow for my review!

1. ABOUT ONLY ONE SURVIVES

• Back cover:

Becoming the star is easier when the rest of your band is dead…

All drummer Vienna Taylor ever wanted was to make music. If that came with fame, she’d take it—as long as her best friend, guitarist Madison Pierce, was sharing the spotlight and singing lead. And with their new all-female pop rock band gaining traction, soon everyone would hear their songs…

Except, on the way to an event, the Bittersweet’s van careened off an icy mountain road during a blizzard—leaving one member dead and another severely injured.

In order to survive the frigid night, the rest took shelter in a nearby abandoned cabin. But Vienna’s dreams devolved into a terrifying nightmare as, one by one, her fellow band members met a gruesome end…and Madison simply vanished in the night.

What happened to the Bittersweet? Did Vienna’s closest friend finally decide to take center stage on her own terms?

She doesn’t want to believe it.

But guilty people run. 

• What did you prefer writing: character or plot?

Personally, I find it impossible to separate them because they’re intrinsically linked. I typically start with the plot, and as I thought about it and built on my “what if…” scenario, Vienna’s character took shape and guided the story. I couldn’t have grown one without the other.

• Did any of your characters “speak” to you?

All. The. Time. I “heard” (i.e. imagined) conversations between my characters, or they’d nudge me to get my butt in my chair and tell the story. Sometimes I’d go to bed with a plot point bugging me and by morning it was be solved. The brain and sub-conscience are wonderful tools indeed.

• What surprised you as you wrote ONLY ONE SURVIVES?

How much I enjoyed crafting the different pieces for the book, meaning newspaper articles, blog posts, radio interview transcripts, and social media comments. The majority of Only One Survives is told from drummer Vienna’s point of view, so adding these elements was a fun and interesting way to show what was happening from a different perspective. The radio interview transcripts, in particular, were a blast to write because I could vividly imagine the characters chatting to one another.

• What’s this about free bonus material for ONLY ONE SURVIVES?

I’m so glad you asked. The wonderful HarperCollins team and I put together downloadable, free bonus material that includes a Dear Reader letter, discussion questions, a Spotify playlist (listen here), lyrics I wrote for six of the Bittersweet songs mentioned in the book, as well as an extended conversation with me about the novel. 

The bonus material looks gorgeous and is a way for the reader to extend and enhance their experience with Only One Survives. Visit https://hannahmarymckinnon.com/book-short-stories/only-one-survives/ for the download, or click here.  

• How did you go about writing the lyrics for the Bittersweet’s songs?

I’ve never written lyrics before, so the first thing I had to do was understand how a song is structured. Next, I put myself in Vienna’s shoes and used lyrics to convey how she saw the world, and how she felt about everything going on in her life. It was a fascinating and exciting experience as well as a huge challenge. I hope to continue writing lyrics as I thoroughly enjoyed it. Once I started, I didn’t want to stop.

2. WRITING CAREER

• Your first book was published in 2016. At what point in your life did you realize you wanted to be a writer?

Not until my forties when we came to Canada and my start-up HR company failed. I had a decision to make—keep working a corporate job or try something new. I plumped for the latter and I love my second career so much, I can’t imagine doing anything else.

• Why do you write thrillers as Hannah Mary McKinnon and romantic-comedies as Holly Cassidy?

My first novel, Time After Time, was a romantic-comedy, and I switched to suspense and thrillers thereafter. I love thrillers and writing them is a fascinating experience as I delve into a fictional criminal’s mind. It can get very dark in there, so writing funny holiday romantic-comedies as Holly Cassidy counterbalances that. Plus, Christmas is my favorite holiday. The pseudonym, meanwhile, helps my readers distinguish my work.

• How much has your life changed since becoming an author?

When I worked in corporate, I rarely had the opportunity to be truly creative. That being said, I loved working on different projects, e.g. opening a subsidiary in Germany or managing the merger with another company. I adored being in a new situation and figuring out how to work through it. I guess it’s similar to writing a book in that sense—my characters are always in a new scenario, and I have to help them get out of it (or not, depending…)

• Describe a typical day of your author life

I’m not sure there is a typical day, which is also why I love this career so much. I might be walking around while muttering to myself about a new plot, pushing through the first draft of a novel, working on edits, designing graphics, interacting with readers on social media, asking people some seriously weird questions for research, or perhaps attending a conference. Most of the time it’s a combination of any of the above.

3. PROCESS

• Tell us about your plotting process

I’m very structured in my approach to outlining and follow a combination of Save the Cat by Blake Snyder, and the Plotstormers course I took with www.WritersHQ.co.uk Essentially, I break my story into small steps, from beginning to end. While I don’t come up with every single plot point or twist, I have the basics, which help me move from one chapter to the next. I also “interview” my characters, have a photo gallery, and build a map of the area I’m dropping my characters into. Typically, this process takes me around a month, depending on the book.

• How much research do you do in advance? 

I don’t do a lot of research before I write but tend to put placeholders for areas that need fleshing out and go back to them after I’ve finished my first draft. That way I’m not spending hours on facts that don’t make the cut, or getting sidetracked by facts which are interesting, but potentially irrelevant to the story.

• What did you know about the music industry before writing ONLY ONE SURVIVES?

Nothing! However, one of my childhood friends, Roger, manages artists and has worked in the music industry for 30 years, and he graciously let me pick his brain, and read an early version of the manuscript. The fabulous character Roger Kent is based on him, right down to his favorite artist George Michael.

• ONLY ONE SURVIVES is full of great music—what did you listen to as you wrote the book?

Funnily enough, I didn’t listen to music as I wrote. I find anything other than instrumental chill out music too distracting. However, I listened to a lot of rock and pop rock when I wasn’t working on the novel, which I found energizing and inspiring. Nothing changes my mood or evokes a memory faster than my favorite tune.

• Finish this sentence: “I can’t write unless I…”

…have a tidy desk. For me, a cluttered space = a cluttered mind. It makes me jumpy. I also need a huge jug of water, and, if possible, a nearly empty Inbox.

4. INSPIRATION

• Where do you get the ideas for your novels?

Inspiration comes from all kinds of places. A house next door going up for sale (The Neighbors), a news report while I was at the gym (Her Secret Son), a radio segment about a woman trying to find the owner of a ring (Sister Dear), hearing about a Toronto man who disappeared from a ski hill in Lake Placid (You Will Remember Me), watching the Guy Ritchie movie The Gentleman, wondering how he made me root for the bad guys (Never Coming Home). 

With The Revenge List, it was after batting various plot ideas around with my agent Carolyn, and former editor Emily that a random idea popped into my head: “What if an anger management group therapy exercise went terribly wrong?” For Only One Survives a tiny nugget of inspiration came from driving past a dilapidated, abandoned house on which someone had spray painted Come Play. 

Something somewhere will catch my eye or my ears, and (for my thrillers) I’ll imagine what happened to a fictional person, what could still happen, and how I could make it worse for them. And yes, I’m fully aware of how evil that sounds… 

• Is anything in ONLY ONE SURVIVES based on real-life experiences?

Heck no! There might be the odd detail or reference to something here or there, but the rest is made up. That’s the fabulous part of my job.

5. ADVICE

• What advice do you have for aspiring writers?

Read as much and often as you can and listen to audio books. Write, even if you think it’s terrible—you can’t edit an empty page. Another tip someone suggested was to skip ahead if I couldn’t figure out a chapter or scene, that I should focus on another part of the manuscript and trust myself enough to backfill later. It was revolutionary to think that although a book is read in a linear fashion, it doesn’t have to be written that way. 

Finally, share your work. It can be scary, but it’s the only way you’ll get feedback and improve your craft.

6. ABOUT Hannah Mary McKinnon

• Tell us more about how you started writing

Writing novels wasn’t on my radar until we moved from Switzerland to Canada in 2010. When we arrived, and my HR start-up company failed, it catapulted me into deciding what I wanted to do next. My debut was a rom com called Time After Time (2016) a light-hearted story about paths not taken. After that I wanted to write grittier stories, and quickly transitioned to the dark side of suspense before returning to rom-coms years later. 

My thrillers are:

• The Neighbors (2018)
• Her Secret Son (2019)
• Sister Dear (2020)
• You Will Remember Me (2021)
• Never Coming Home (2022)
• The Revenge List (2023)
• Only One Survives (2024)

My romantic-comedies are:

• Time After Time (as Hannah Mary McKinnon – 2016)
• The Christmas Wager (as Holly Cassidy – 2023)
• The Christas Countdown (as Holly Cassidy – 2024)

• What’s your dream job other than being a novelist?

As a kid I wanted to be a lawyer or a police officer but at this point in my life it would be working in TV or film albeit writing or directing, not in front of the camera. Maybe I’ll attempt writing a screenplay one day. I have ideas…

• Favorite holiday destination you’ve visited, and dream destination you’d like to visit

I can’t possibly narrow down a favorite as I love to travel. I’m hoping to go to Bora Bora one day, and Costa Rica in the not-too-distant future. There are many, many other places on my list and of course I always want to return to Switzerland, where I lived for 35 years. The mountains are constantly calling my name.

• What are some things you enjoy when not writing?

I read a lot (no surprise there) and love being whisked away into the worlds other authors create—thrillers, romantic comedies, or otherwise. Hiking or simply walking around my neighborhood is a firm favorite, and I’m a huge fan of the movies (I love the trailers). I have a home gym with a water rower that’s a great workout and incredibly peaceful. Baking is fun too (hence the gym sessions). I make a mean lemon curd cheesecake.

• Is there anything you’d like to say to your readers and fans?

Thank you for your continued and unwavering support. Readers, reviewers, bloggers, bookstagrammers, librarians, book sellers—you amaze me with your generosity and creativity every day. Thank you for everything you do!

7. WHAT’S NEXT

• What are you working on now?

My next Holly Cassidy holiday romantic-comedy publishes October 2024. It’s called The Christmas Countdown, a grumpy-sunshine story about a recently heartbroken woman who’s given up on love and the holidays, until she’s tasked by her sister to complete Advent calendar challenges. A charming baker might be the spoonful of sugar she needs to reignite her belief in herself, love, and Christmas again. It was inspired by the Advent calendars I used to make for my kids.

As for a thriller, I’m working on my next one—a story about a missing man and his sister’s desperate attempts to find him, but it’s a little early to share more about the plot. Let’s just say it may be my most twisted one yet.

Author Bio

Internationally bestselling author Hannah Mary McKinnon was born in the UK, grew up in Switzerland and moved to Canada in 2010. While her debut, TIME AFTER TIME, was a rom com, she transitioned to the dark side thereafter. Her seven suspense novels include NEVER COMING HOME, THE REVENGE LIST, and ONLY ONE SURVIVES, and her work has been optioned for the screen. It’s rumored Hannah Mary still has a softer side because she also writes holiday romantic comedies as Holly Cassidy, the first of which is THE CHRISTMAS WAGER. Hannah Mary lives in Oakville, Ontario, Canada with her husband and three sons. You’ll find her on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads as @hannahmarymckinnon, and please visit www.hannahmarymckinnon.com for more.

Socials

• Website: www.HannahMaryMcKinnon.com 
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/HannahMaryMcKinnon (@hannahmarymckinnon)
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/HannahMaryMcKinnon (@hannahmarymckinnon)
• TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@hannahmarymckinnon 
• Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/author/show/15144570.Hannah_Mary_McKinnon
• BookBub: www.bookbub.com/authors/hannah-mary-mckinnon
• LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/hannahmarymckinnon 
• First Chapter Fun www.firstchapterfun.com