It’s exciting to have one debut novel coming out in a year, but two? Today we are talking with Nicole Lesperance, middle grade and young adult author, who has two novels debuting in 2021!

TWP Let’s start with introducing your two novels debuting this year. The Nightmare Thief and The Wide Starlight. Can you give us a brief summary of each?

Nicole The Nightmare Thief is my middle grade book, and it’s about a 12-year-old girl named Maren who works in her family’s shop, making and selling dreams. When a sinister customer tries to blackmail her into making nightmares for some secret plot, she must decide whether to protect her family or protect unknown dreams from her family’s magic. There’s a sequel called The Dream Spies that’s coming out next year.

My YA book, The Wide Starlight, is about a teenage girl named Eli. When Eli was little, her mother took her out onto a frozen fjord, whistled at the Northern Lights, and got swept away into the sky. Ten years later, Eli whistles at the lights and her mother returns, but nothing is quite right. She must piece together her memories, told as Norwegian folk tales, and journey to the arctic archipelago of Svalbard to figure out what really happened.

TWP We can tell everyone from personal experience that these novels are amazing! Nicole, where did you get your inspiration for these stories?

Nicole For The Nightmare Thief, I was inspired by a shop called Cambridge Typewriter that I used to walk past every day when I lived in Arlington, MA. I finally went inside one day, and it was the most fascinating, travel-back-in-time kind of place, just packed with all these old typewriters from all different eras. It feels slightly magical inside, and I got this idea of it having a back room where actual magical stuff was going on, if only you knew to ask about it. For the record, there is no actual magical stuff going on at the store, so you shouldn’t show up there and ask them, but I would definitely recommend it if you’re in the market for a typewriter!

The Wide Starlight sprouted as an idea when I read this legend that said if you whistled at the Northern Lights, they’d swoop down and carry you off forever. I started researching the legend, and I found all kinds of stories from all over the world, and there were all these different explanations for what the lights were, from fox tails to horse-drawn carriages to spirits playing a game with a walrus’s skull. And I started thinking about how it’s not exactly the lights that have magic — it’s the stories themselves. So that gave me the idea for a book where magic is rooted in storytelling and reading and various other kinds of creative manifestation.

TWP Wow! We love to hear stories of inspiration! They remind us to keep looking at the world around you. Let’s talk about your publishing journey. You have two novels debuting this year. That’s not a common occurrence. Can you tell us how that came to be?

Nicole The Wide Starlight took many years and many rewrites before it finally found a publisher. The best advice for being on submission is to start writing something new to keep your mind off it, so I wrote The Nightmare Thief while I was waiting. When it seemed like we were reaching the end of the line and Starlight wasn’t going to be published, my agent started sending out The Nightmare Thief to editors. But then we heard back from an editor who loved The Wide Starlight and wanted to publish it. Then a few months later, we got an offer for The Nightmare Thief, plus a sequel. So I went from zero books to three books really quickly. But in truth, this was a process that took many, many years, with lots of ups and downs and rejections and frustration. It was all worth it in the end, though!

TWP We are so happy it worked out! Your books are being published by different publishers, which means two editors and two edit letters, two marketing plans, and two deadlines. How difficult was it to juggle both?

Nicole I was terrified at the beginning because I wasn’t sure how I was going to juggle it all, but it came together pretty well. My editors didn’t specifically coordinate with each other, but I was lucky that they never ended up sending notes back at the same time. So I’d do my first round of developmental edits for one book, then the next one would come in, then the second round for one and the other, then copy edits, etc. There were a lot of back-to-back deadlines and some of them were pretty tight, but it was all manageable. I don’t know if I’d recommend this approach for anybody who values their free time, but it wasn’t as bad as I expected!

TWP Free time? What’s that? Because your books are for middle grade and young adult readers, can you tell us how different it is to get each group’s attention?

Nicole This is all stuff I’m slowly figuring out, but one fun thing I’m noticing about middle grade is how engaged the teachers and librarians are! I’ve interacted with so many of them on Twitter, and they have all these book sharing groups and giveaways, and it’s extremely cool how excited they all are about finding and sharing new books. I’m really looking forward to being able to engage with kids as they start reading my book and hopefully as visiting schools gets easier. On the YA side, I’ve noticed a lot more engagement on Instagram, which is something I need to constantly remind myself to go on, but is a nice change from Twitter. People make such beautiful art with books on there, and have been really lovely and friendly.

TWP As writers, we know you are still writing. Can you tell us what you are working on now?

Nicole Right now I’m waiting on edits for the sequel to The Nightmare Thief. In this book, Maren and her family find out about a suspicious-sounding camp for dreamers, so they go there undercover to investigate. I’m also writing another YA book that I can’t say too much about yet. It’s darker and creepier than The Wide Starlight, and I’m in the honeymoon phase where I just want to write it all the time. Hopefully I can share more soon! 

TWP We can’t wait to hear more about them! Now to the easy questions.

TWP What is your favorite writing space?

Nicole I have a daybed in my office that I like to sit on instead of my desk, because it helps trick me into thinking I’m not working.

TWP What is your favorite writing snack?

Nicole DARK CHOCOLATE. The darker the better, like with mostly just cacao and practically no sugar. It helps me write faster!

TWP Do you write with music?

Nicole Music is hugely influential, both when I’m brainstorming story ideas and when I’m writing. I usually put together a playlist for each book with songs that remind me of the characters and certain scenes and the general mood of the book, and I like to go for long walks while listening to them. It really helps to generate ideas and fix plot problems. 

TWP What is your favorite part of writing – research, first draft, or revisions? 

Nicole I love the brand-new baby-idea stage where everything is possible and exciting and you haven’t ruined it yet by shoving it into an ugly first draft. And I also love revising, especially the late stages where you’re polishing every word and sentence until they shine. Drafting is tough. Some days I get into a groove and it feels like I’m flying, but most days it’s a lot of plodding slowly along and feeling like I don’t know how to write books.

Thank you for joining us Nicole and answering all our book and publishing questions. Congratulations on The Nightmare Thief and The Wide Starlight, both debuting this year.

The Nightmare Thief is out now and can be purchased at Barnes and Noble, Indiebound, and Amazon

The Wide Starlight will be out February 16, 2021, but you can preorder at Barnes and Noble, Indiebound, and Amazon

 Nicole grew up on Cape Cod and graduated from Wesleyan University. She spent a few years in London and now lives near Boston with her husband, two kids, and two rambunctious black cats. She writes YA and MG books and works as a tech research editor. In her spare time, she likes to practice yoga, knit, and read tarot cards. You can find out more about her and her books on her website, Twitter, and Instagram.