Maria Dong: On Mixing Humor With Suspense

Maria Dong is the author of Liar, Dreamer, Thief. Her short fiction, articles, and poetry have been published in dozens of magazines, like Lightspeed, Augur, Nightmare, Khoreo, Fantasy, Apex, and Apparition Literary Magazine. Find her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

In this post, Maria discusses the process of writing her debut novel, Liar, Dreamer, Thief, her hope for readers, and more!

Name: Maria Dong
Literary agent: Amy Bishop
Book title: Liar, Dreamer, Thief
Publisher: Grand Central/Hachette
Release date: January 10, 2023
Genre/category: Suspense, Psychological
Elevator pitch for the book: Liar, Dreamer, Thief is a genre-bending debut novel by Maria Dong in which, after witnessing a co-worker’s suicide, a woman is forced to determine if her obsession with him led to his breaking point—or if there’s something even more sinister at play.

IndieBound | Bookshop | Amazon
[WD uses affiliate links.]

I wish I had a really romantic and inspiring answer for this question, but the truth is that my agent said, Can you write a book that isn't fantasy or science fiction? Maybe something contemporary? and my brain took that and rattled it around, and a few days later, I got the image of a woman watching a man jump off a bridge. Of course, I just had to know why he’d done this and what she was doing there!

This book was conceived and written at a speed that should never be attempted, but I felt like I had no choice. So much of Katrina’s experience comes from the worst parts of my life, and the obsessiveness of the manuscript was working its way back into my personality. I could tell that the stability of my mental health was being affected by delving into her world, so I devoted every hour of the day I wasn’t working to getting it done.

I’m a very subconscious, instinctual writer, so I don’t know that I had anything as well-formed as an idea that could then change. I often don’t know what genre a book is going to be, if it will have speculative elements, if it’ll be single or multi-POV. There just has to be some kernel that hooks me in, even if it’s as vague as a turn of phrase or a vibe, and then I’ll just worry away at that, unburying and unburying until it turns into something that could sustain an entire book.

I was really shocked (and grateful) when my agent called to let me know there was interest from Grand Central/Hachette. I had a call with the editor and really adored her and her vision for the book, but she hadn’t been able to tell us if there would be an offer or not, so I was trying to keep my hopes corralled—I’d had two previous books that had received strong interest, but hadn’t managed to clear all the hoops necessary to make it to the offer stage.

And then she hit us with a pre-empt offer, and it was a real do or die moment, but I liked her offer and felt like I could trust her, so we forged ahead!

I’m a super-panster, which can be a terrifying way to write, because you don’t know for a fact that you’re going to have a proper book with an ending and whatnot until you’ve actually got the majority of a draft in your hands. (I tried being a plotter, but if I know what’s going to happen in a book, I get bored and abandon it.)

My favorite part of writing is when a book surprises me—and this one had a lot of surprises. I was most of the way through the first draft when the main character, Katrina, did something really hilarious, and I realized the book was actually meant to have these funny bits to balance out the dark and scary ones. The semi-speculative elements also showed up at the end of that draft, which meant I had to start over and weave them through, and the deep musical ties didn’t really show up until after the first round of edits with my editor.

For the most part, I hope readers get whatever they need out of it, whether that’s thought fodder, or entertainment, or just a pop of color for their TikTok. (I’ve recently discovered TikTok. Somebody please rescue me, because I really can’t stop.)

For my fellow neurodivergent readers: I hope that you walk away from this book feeling seen.

Hopeful career writers can be a lot like people in denial about their mental illness. What I mean by that is, they’re deeply unhappy about the things they haven’t done, and they tell themselves that if they could only accomplish x—sell a short story to a stellar magazine, get a full request, get an agent, get a book offer—they could be happy.

And speaking from personal experience—maybe you will be happy, for a moment, but it won’t last. It’s a lot like some addictions: no matter how good this triumph feels, any high you get is likely to be fleeting and plagued with future anxiety afterwards.

The truth is that the only part of writing that can ever come close to fixing that big empty space is the writing itself. The only part that is actually real and true and that can sustain or stick with you is those hours you steal for yourself, where it’s just you, stumbling through your best efforts and trying to find your voice.

Click to continue.