Tell Me Your Ways...with Andrea Bartz

Author Interview with New York Times Bestseller and all around lovely human

Andrea Bartz is brilliant. She effortlessly weaves in lines like— “I kill the engine and sit in the driveway, stomach squeezing. Guilt ripples through me for even pinning down the bad thought, but it blossoms like a wildflower and there it is, ready or not: What if what I thought I wanted and what I actually want…aren’t the same thing?”— into a sexy, pacy plot. (If you didn't place it, that line was from The Spare Room, one of my favorite thrillers from last year.) We Were Never Here (her third novel) was a Reese Witherspoon book club pick and an instant New York Times bestseller.

Andi’s Substack Get it Write that is an invaluable resource for writers. As a paid subscriber you have access to successful query letters, author interviews, she’s even shared sales figures and broken them down. It’s amazing. I’ve learned so much. I also subscribe to her Instagram, where you have access to Q and A’s with her and an inside look at her writing process. She’s shown her hand revising, changing character names, changing a major plot point when the book is nearly due! It’s informative and riveting.

One of the many things I’ve learned as a subscriber to your IG and your Substack Get it Write, is that you’re a pantser. Why do you find this the best way for you to write?

I wish I could start by creating an outline, but the only way I can figure out the story is by writing it! I start with a general idea of the characters and set-up (and maybe a few free-floating ideas for scenes), and then I follow my narrator around, typing madly. The first draft—I call it a "discovery draft," though I used to call it a "vomit draft" because I was essentially puking onto the page—is essentially a fleshy outline. By the time I type "THE END" I have 4000 changes I know I need to make before it's an ~official~ first draft.

What does your drafting process look like? Do you write scenes in order?

Yes, I start at the beginning and have a daily word count goal (I use pacemaker.press to calculate how much I need to write each day), and so I just keep adding and adding and adding, more or less in order. Of course, I'm writing scenes in the order I THINK of them, so many end up in the wrong place, and I have to move them around later. But I generally write start-to-finish rather than jumping around.

Please walk us through a little of what your revision process looks like?

I make a master checklist of changes I need to make, broken down into categories: Overall, Not sure where, and then Act 1, Act 2A, Act 2B, and Act 3. Then I use pacemaker.press again to figure out how many pages I need to revise each day to stay on track and meet my deadlines. I keep referencing the checklist as I work through the manuscript start to finish! 

How do you know when your story is done?

When every item on that revision checklist has been checked off and I can't think of any more changes to make, I know it's ready—or at least ready enough to show beta readers or my agent. 

How many beta readers do you typically have for a project? Does anyone read all the versions?

It changes a bit with each book, but I have two beta readers who typically read my "first draft" (which is the second or third draft on my computer but the first that at least sort of hangs together). I'll have another friend or two read and give me notes on later versions, since people with fresh eyes can catch things those who've been hearing about this story for forever miss.

What are you currently working on now?

I just turned in a first ("first") draft of my fifth book, which will come out in Summer 2025. It's about a woman who falls in with an alluring group of expats in Mexico and then starts to suspect there's something nefarious going on with them. I'm also working on some projects for the screen that I can't say too much about just yet!

Do you have a favorite book on the craft of writing?

I am constantly recommending Save the Cat Writes a Novel, The Anatomy of Story, and Story Genius. If you follow the advice in those three, your book will be better than 99% of what's out there!

Anything else you’d like to share? Where can we find you?

All four of my books are available wherever books are sold! I'm on Instagram @andibartz, on Facebook at AndreaBartzAuthor, and on Substack, where I share tons of publishing intel and writing tips! My website is AndreaBartz.com.