Gold stars, red herrings, and writing on proposal: Megan Collins, queen of dark family secrets, shares her thriller (and TikTok) savvy

The prolific author's newest page-turner, THICKER THAN WATER, hits bookstores on July 11.

Jul 06, 2023

It’s easy to get distracted when preparing to interview four-time thriller author and skillful TikTok creator Megan Collins, because of course you’ve gotta watch her TikToks first, and before you know it, you’ve spent part of the morning chuckling and nodding in appreciation of her surprisingly candid videos about her writing and publishing process—as well as other favorite topics, like Taylor Swift, funny things Megan’s husband has said or texted, and how she matches her eyeglasses and earrings to her book covers. Let me watch just one more.

Megan’s candor is one of the reasons, in addition to her exciting forthcoming novel, THICKER THAN WATER, that we desperately wanted to interview her for Present Tense, where our vibe is “I’m going to talk about whatever obsesses me,” plus “I might say a few things my agent or editor might wish I hadn’t.”

First things first: your July launch of THICKER THAN WATER. I was immediately hooked by the close sister-in-law relationship you create from the first chapter, starting with the night when Julia blurts to her soon-to-be husband, after meeting Sienna, “I love your sister!” Followed by… “And I love you, too.” I was envious of that sister-in-law relationship while dreading—in the best of all ways—how it would be challenged once suspicion regarding a local murder falls upon Jason, the brother and husband who connects the women. Which came first—the desire to portray a warm and funny female relationship, the murder plot, or any of the other themes that emerge in early chapters, including suspicion of men in general?

First of all, thank you so much for your very kind words! The sister-in-law relationship definitely came first, all because my agent had expressed on Twitter a #ManuscriptWishlist desire for a “sister-in-law thriller.” Wanting to be her bestest, most favorite client and get all the gold stars, I started to toy with that idea, teasing out what a “sister-in-law thriller” might mean to me. Of course, my mind immediately went to very dark places. I saw two sisters-in-law who are always at each other’s throats, who have even tried to sabotage each other’s relationship with the man who connects them—but then he’s murdered and they’re the prime suspects and they must work together to clear their names.

I still think that’s a fun idea, but I had already done three books featuring extremely dysfunctional families and toxic relationships, so I thought it would be a bigger challenge for me to have the sisters-in-law be best friends, to have them believe their bond is unbreakable. Then, of course, as the story progresses, as they worked together to try to clear Jason’s name, the secrets and truths they uncovered would show them that their relationship had a lot more darkness and fragility in it than they previously thought. By creating that kind of arc for Julia and Sienna, it was almost like I was taking my normal storytelling process and doing it in reverse.

I love that, especially how you challenged yourself to go in a new direction! If I could sum up your oeuvre in two words, I’d say “family secrets.” And if I could add another word, it would be “twisty.” Can you tell us more about your process, from finding a new angle on themes that deepen with each of your books, to handling red herrings and reveals?

When it comes to red herrings, I often think of something the author Tana French said. To paraphrase: there always has to be a reason your character is suspicious of this person or that person—instead of the person who really did it—and that reason needs to be connected to their overall arc. Red herrings are not just plot devices meant to throw the reader off track; they should reveal things about your character, and they should serve as landmarks in their emotional journey. Through their shifting beliefs of other people’s guilt or innocence, we should be able to chart the ways in which the character’s worldview is progressing.

I think of this every time I have a character chase what is ultimately a red herring: “What is this showing the reader about the character’s internal landscape? Why is the character drawn to this theory in particular? What are they trying to convince themselves of, or protect themselves from, in believing that this person is to blame?”

As for reveals—thriller readers are smart. They’re always thinking five steps ahead, so it can be challenging to genuinely shock them. That’s why I don’t necessarily set out to surprise my readers; I focus instead on surprising my characters. The hope, of course, is that doing the latter will lead to the former, but it doesn’t bother me if a reader predicts certain aspects of a plot. I’m much more interested in creating big surprises for my characters, bombshell moments that send them spinning, raise the stakes, or push them even further from their ultimate desire.

In terms of figuring out how to structure those reveals, I like to have a big, fat, juicy one right at the middle, preceded by two or three smaller but still enticing ones in the first half, and then a kind of grand finale of surprises toward the end, like the conclusion to a firework show. And that’s nothing unique to me; that’s just something I’ve picked up from the kinds of thrillers and domestic suspense novels I love to read.

You’ve been publishing almost yearly since 2019—four books in five years. Many writers create their manuscripts in the dark and submit them to an agent or editor only after they’re fully drafted. You are on the faster track—one of those amazing authors who submit a few chapters and a synopsis, correct? The benefit, I imagine, is that you know if your editor is truly excited, but the cost is that they might weigh in and quash an idea. (More on this in our next question.) Can you share with us how you got onto that track? Were you always someone who works best with early input and collaboration, or is this something you adapted to because it’s what the publisher prefers as a way to build an audience and name recognition?

I do think I benefit from early feedback. Even when I was writing what became my debut, I was sending it to my agent chapter by chapter because it was helpful for me to receive her notes along the way. I’ve had some really good experiences getting early input from my publisher and editor—they’ve been able to steer me away from making certain storytelling choices that might have been difficult to untangle later on. At the same time, that does mean they’ve been able to quash certain ideas I was excited about, which has happened a couple of times now.

In terms of the process, the only thing I’m contractually obligated to do is submit to them a synopsis and first chapter of whatever it is I’m hoping will be my next book. But for my own sanity and tentative peace of mind, I usually start by sending a one-page pitch of the idea to see if it’s even something they’re interested in, so I don’t spend time and effort on a story they were always going to reject. I’ve had a project shot down at this phase before, and while it was disappointing, it wasn’t as devastating as another time when they gave a thumbs-up to the pitch and then passed on the actual sample pages.

If I do get that thumbs-up, though (which often includes some editorial notes), I don’t always stick to writing just the single chapter my contract requires. If I think they’ll get a better sense of the story through multiple chapters, I’ll write those first before submitting. That was the case in the most recent project I submitted (and then received an offer on). I’m doing something with the structure and storytelling in this book that I’ve never done before, so I knew I needed to sort of “prove myself” and demonstrate how I planned to execute what is kind of a bonkers idea. That meant writing and submitting the first 70 pages. When I submitted materials for THE FAMILY PLOT, however, I felt the first chapter did a good enough job of setting up the characters and tone of the story that the submission felt complete with only 15 pages. So it really varies from project to project.

In the case of THICKER THAN WATER (launching July 11), I submitted a synopsis and the first three chapters. I expected to then either receive an offer or a rejection, but instead, I got something in the middle. My editor said she loved the premise but felt the story itself kind of went off the rails (she was absolutely right) and she’d like me to revise the synopsis. I ended up having a call with her where we homed in on the true core of the story and brainstormed the type of plot that might best bring that out. After that, I completely rewrote the synopsis, revised the sample chapters to fit the new story, and waited once again for an offer or rejection. Luckily, it ended in an offer, but my editor did have more feedback for me at that stage that helped shape the story early on. In fact, each time my publisher has bought a book from me, my editor has included some early notes to consider, so often the story has had to shift quite a bit from what I originally submitted. Even though this can be pretty overwhelming at times, I do think it works best for my overall process, since I’m such a planner and plotter in the first place.

No, you are not imagining it. Megan’s glasses match her book cover. Also, this dog is going to be very sad if you don’t pre-order THICKER THAN WATER.

Megan, one of my favorite TikToks is the one where you talk about your next book, #5, currently titled CROSS MY HEART. You explain how you submitted your “book of the heart,” written to exorcise some of your demons and celebrate your joys, but your publisher rejected it. You moved on with another book and in the end, you tell TikTok viewers, you’re glad you did. What can you tell us here about revision, resilience, and making the hard decision of when to set aside a book?

I love the phrase “rejection is redirection,” because I think it’s really true. Whether the “redirection” means you submit a query letter to another literary agent after one rejected you, or you pivot to another book idea after the one you loved was shot down, I do think there’s always opportunity in rejection. That said, it’s definitely not easy, and one of the most difficult things to reconcile as an author is the difference between writing and publishing. Writing is deeply personal, but by its nature, publishing is incredibly public, and sometimes, the story that lights you up inside might get completely lost in—or be lost on—an industry that is first and foremost a business. That’s what happened with the book my publisher rejected, and from there, I had two choices: (1) write the book anyway and hope that another publisher felt differently, or (2) find another story that both my publisher and I could get excited about. The truth is, if I didn’t need to worry about money, I might have gone with the first option, but that was too much of a financial risk for me, so instead, I cried a bunch (wallowing is a very important step in the process)—and then I pivoted. I’m really lucky that, in doing so, I found another “book of my heart,” and that only showed me that there’s no single book of one’s heart, because our hearts are capable of feeling and knowing and experiencing so much.

You have an MFA, you’ve published poetry, you’ve taught creative writing and you are managing editor of a literary journal, 3Elements Review. Did you always plan to become a suspense writer writing for larger audiences or did that path open up unexpectedly?

Even though my MFA was in poetry, I always knew I wanted to write novels, too. I didn’t start out writing suspense, though; the first two novels I wrote—which were never published—were more family dramas, which is, of course, similar to what I do now, but without the murder. It wasn’t until I wrote the book that became my debut, THE WINTER SISTER, that I delved into thriller territory—and even then, I didn’t realize that’s what I’d done until I saw my publisher market it as a thriller! I only knew that I had written the story I wanted to tell, and that that story happened to include a murder mystery. But once I found myself in that genre, I was so happy to be there. I love exploring the darkness of humanity—and the unexpected beauty that comes out of that, too.

One TikTok question. You seem to be enjoying yourself on the platform, and I think the reason you get lots of likes is because you come across as honest, funny, and vulnerable—for example, willing to admit that some reader comments sting. What would you say to other authors who are trying to figure out if they should embrace or run away from TikTok?

I resisted TikTok for the longest time. I thought I’d be the last author to ever join, mostly because I thought joining meant I’d have to put on makeup every time I posted something, and I am much too lazy for that. I also thought I had nothing to offer in that space. On Instagram, I can post pictures of my dog and whatever book(s) I’ve read that week. On Twitter, I can share the random thoughts I have—or the hilarious things my husband says—that make me laugh. But what would I do on TikTok? If you look at the first post I ever made there, you’ll see I actually ended up joining only because I didn’t get tickets to Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour and I knew people would be posting videos of it once it started (“and IIII want to seeeeee them,” I said in a truly unhinged voice). (Important note: I later DID get tickets, but I still stalk everyone else’s Eras Tour videos.)

Once I had officially joined, I was like, “Well, I guess I should talk about my books. And about writing. And about reading. And keep talking about Taylor Swift.” So that’s what I did, and I was shocked to find that it was really fun for me. And that’s the key—and this is the point where I finally answer your question: If it’s not fun for you, DO NOT DO IT.

Give it a shot if you’re interested, but if it’s pure torture, if it pains you to brainstorm ideas for videos, then flee and never look back. When content is forced, it feels inauthentic and awkward to watch, which means people won’t watch it, which means you’re wasting your time anyway. And we all have enough distractions from our writing; there’s no need to add something to the list that you’re not actively enjoying.

But if you do enjoy it, then I’d encourage you to experiment with different kinds of content until you find what gets you the most engagement. Or do it just because it’s fun and don’t worry about engagement. The truth is, while some authors (Colleen Hoover and Jeneva Rose to name a couple) have blown up because of their own TikTok videos, most books that find popularity on TikTok do so because readers have made videos about them—not the writers themselves.

This isn’t a question, it’s a suggestion, but I’d love your comment on it. Megan, you are one of the biggest Taylor Swift fans around. You know how Louise Penny wrote a thriller, State of Terror, with Hilary Clinton? Do you see where I’m going with this?

I will drop everything now to write a book with Taylor Swift. (And yes, I slid a reference to one of her lyrics into that twelve-word sentence.)

And now, an embedded TikTok, which we fully realize means we could lose your attention as you fall down the TikTok rabbit hole. Please share/like/leave a comment before you go!

PRESENT TENSE: Suspense Fiction and More

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