Ten questions with Alex Kenna

 Alex Kenna is a prosecutor, a painter and a debut novelist with fantastic early reviews. The Publishers Weekly review praised her “impressive debut” while noting that “Sara Paretsky fans will be pleased.”

1. Please tell us about your debut novel.

My book centers on Kate Myles, a down-and-out private detective who looks into the suspected suicide of Margot Starling, a famous artist. Kate expects an easy solve, but is soon led down a trail of murder, organized crime, and art forgery.

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 studied painting in college, and I feel like my visual art training really helped me in my approach to writing a book. When people first start drawing, they go for the fun stuff, like faces, and ignore the boring details and the background. Good art teachers train you to build up a picture as a whole. I think it’s similar with writing. For beginners, there’s a tendency to obsessively polish the first few chapters. I had a couple partially finished projects floating around for years, where I just reworked the beginning ad nauseum. Then I decide to approach writing a book like I approach making a painting. I forced myself to work on the book as a whole, knowing I could come back to the early chapters at the editing stage. That shift in focus made a big difference in my productivity. Life circumstances also played a big role in my finishing this book. I was pregnant with gestational diabetes during the pandemic and rarely left the house for anything other than doctor’s appointments. It was very isolating, but the upside was that I had lots of time to write.

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

A few years ago, I wrote a political thriller about elections. By the time it was done, no one wanted to read a book about that topic. Publishing is all about timing and my timing was terrible. But it was an important lesson in knowing when to move on.

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

When I was teaching myself to write, I tried to be objective about the areas where I needed to improve. Then I sought out books by people who were really good the things I wanted to work on. People always say that you should read a lot to improve your writing. It’s very true, but don’t just read for pleasure – really study good books and think about the mechanics of why they work.

One book I’d recommend is Stephen King’s On Writing. It’s beautifully written and has some great practical tips about crafting a story.

Alex Kenna

5. What was your process like getting an agent? 

I don’t have an agent. I submitted to a number of agents and didn’t get any bites, so I rolled the dice and sent my manuscript directly to a publisher. Luckily, Crooked Lane liked my story and things worked out. I found the querying process very frustrating. You have to grab a person’s attention in a paragraph when that person is receiving hundreds of similar emails every day. And the skill involved in self-promotion and blurb writing is very different from the skills needed to write a good book.

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

I’m a lawyer and I had a major project to work on the week my book came out. Unfortunately, my celebration was postponed a bit. But I did take time to drink champagne with my husband. He’s my first reader, my unofficial first editor, and my biggest supporter. I’m very lucky in that regard.

7. What was the most exciting moment involving the publication of your debut novel? 

The moment I got an email from my publisher offering me a deal. I was pretty close to giving up at that point.

I read the email about a hundred times to make sure I was reading in correctly.

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

It’s not enough to write well, you have to be really strategic. You have to think about what types of stories are marketable. There is also a big push for authenticity right now and I think it helps to be able to show that you know something about what you’re writing about. My background is in art and criminal law. I wrote an art-related mystery in part because I know about painting and contemporary art.

Think about what you know about, or what experiences you’ve had that could translate into a compelling story. Maybe you were a history major and want to write a historical mystery based on a time period that excites you. Maybe you’re an avid rock climber and want to write a book focusing on climbing culture. Maybe you went to a creepy all-girls boarding school and want to set a murder there. Maybe you’ve raised three kids and you want to write a cozy mystery about a stay-at-home mom who solves a murder in her down time. Everyone has a story in them, you just have to find it.

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

A couple gems I read lately are Real Bad Things by Kelly J. Ford and All Her Little Secrets by Wanda M. Morris. Up next on my reading list is American Afterlife by Pedro Hoffmeister. It’s a dystopian novel that’s gotten some great reviews. I also try to read books edited by my editor, Sara J. Henry. Honestly, you could give her a phone book and she’d find a way to extract a great novel, as evidenced by her cult following on Twitter.

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

I’m working on a sequel to What Meets the Eye. It’s darker and more character driven than the first book. I’m excited to see where it takes me.

Thanks Alex! To learn more about Alex Kenna and her fantastic debut, follow her on: Twitter or check out alexkenna.com.