Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Iris Yamashita’s debut novel, has a fantastic premise: a murder investigation in Point Mettier, Alaska, a remote town of 205 people who all live in the same high-rise building. When a blizzard traps Detective Cara Kennedy in the building indefinitely, she has to uncover the secrets of the residents, while hiding some of her own. Iris Yamashita’s first novel has achieved the triumvirate of starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews, Publisher’s Weekly and the Library Journal and was recently described as “captivating” in a New York Times review. We are grateful for her time and her account of her unusual path to publication.

1. Please tell us about your debut novel.

Cara Kennedy, a female detective, tries to solve a murder in a tiny Alaskan town where all the full-time residents live in a single high-rise building. When a blizzard and avalanche closes the single-lane tunnel, the only land route to the city, she becomes trapped in this locked-city mystery and everyone, including Cara, has secret motives for being there. The story is told in three voices – Cara Kennedy, the investigator, Amy Lin, a resident teen whose mother runs the local Chinese restaurant and Lonnie Mercer, a resident with a mental disability who keeps a pet moose.

2. I’ve read that only 4% of the people who start a novel, finish writing it. Why do you think you beat the odds?

I was able to land a contract with Berkley before the novel was finished and that was a pretty good motivator to finish writing it!

3. Was your debut novel the first book you wrote?  (Any prior efforts hiding on your hard drive?)

This was my first completed novel. I had started a number of novels that were never completed, contributing to the statistics you mentioned in Question 2 before I switched over to writing screenplays, which are shorter and easier to finish.

4. What helped you become a better writer? Any books or resources you found helpful?

I took numerous night classes while working full time, first in writing novels and then in writing screenplays. I think writing screenplays really helped me become a better writer because you write in a three-act structure which is really a good basis for storytelling. A good book for screenwriting, which would also be helpful for crafting stories in general, is Cut to the Chase, edited by Linda Venis. Various UCLA Extension teachers contributed to writing chapters and I think it covers everything I would teach in a course. [Editor’s note: Iris Yamashita has taught screenwriting at the University of California, Los Angeles and the American Film Institute.]

5. What was your process like getting an agent? 

I went the old-fashioned method of studying the latest Guide to Literary Agents. I made a spreadsheet of agents I thought would be a good fit. In the first batch of three, one of the agents asked for the rest of the manuscript, but I hadn’t finished it. She let me know that I should get back to her when I was finished and I really shouldn’t be querying until then. So I stopped and put the novel aside and continued writing scripts for Hollywood and teaching, but this agent (Lucy Carson) who now represents me, kept prodding me, asking whether I had finished the manuscript, which I had been working on at a snail’s pace. Finally, after about two years, in the time of COVID when things were pretty strange, she decided to submit my partial manuscript to a publisher and amazingly, we got not just a one-book deal, but a two-book deal! I am so grateful to both my agent and Berkley Books for putting their faith in me.

6. How did you celebrate when you learned your book would be published?

I can’t remember exactly, but I think I went out to dinner with my husband.

7. What was the most exciting moment involving the publication of your debut novel?  (The moment you first saw the cover? The call when you learned when it was being published? When you cashed your advance check?)

There have been so many exciting moments. Finding out I got the deal was probably the most exciting. But I think finding out that the book was selected to be listed in Publishers Lunch’s Buzz Books was a close second because it was the first indication after the deal that it would be welcomed in the publishing world.

8. What’s your best advice for someone who wants to be published?

Writing isn’t easy or for the feint hearted. You don’t just pick up a pen and then write a masterpiece on your first go. I would recommend taking classes and then after mastering the craft, try to build up some kind of resume to approach agents with. For instance, you could attempt to get a short story published somewhere. A friend of mine was made an offer after her essay had been published in The New Yorker. Or you could enter and place in a writing contest. The way I got my screenwriting agent was through winning a screenplay contest.

9. What are you currently reading? Or, what’s one of the best novels you’ve read lately?

I am currently reading The Other Mrs. by Mary Kubica. I am a slow reader and I haven’t actually read a lot in the mystery genre so I’m trying to catch up. Mary Kubica is a terrific writer and I am enjoying the book. One of the best novels I’ve read, though it’s not that recent, is All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. His writing is something to strive for.

10. What are you working on now?  Any projects coming out soon?

I am currently working on the sequel to City Under One Roof. I am also working on a few projects for Hollywood and keeping my fingers crossed that one or more will actually make it to production.

Thanks Iris! For more information about Iris Yamashita and City Under One Roof, check out her website and her accounts on Instagram and Facebook.