Speaking on books podcast "Natter with Kate and Michelle", the pair reflected on their remarkable journey from Facebook phenomenon to one of Ireland's most successful writing partnerships, while discussing their latest novel, Our Deadly Summer.
For Irish readers, McLysaght and Breen will always be synonymous with Aisling, the lovable country girl whose observations on modern Irish life evolved from a social media character into a bestselling five-book series. However, "Our Deadly Summe" marks a whole new chapter for them.
The novel follows best friends Laura and Dee, who spend the summer of 2001 working on J1 visas at an exclusive Long Island country club. After witnessing something they should never have seen, they carry a devastating secret for two decades before an email forces them to confront the past. While darker and more suspenseful than their previous work, the new book is still brimming with the warmth and humour their readers have come to expect.
“We wanted to do something slightly different….to kind of show that we’re not like a one trick pony…we wanted to try and carry through some of that warmth (from Aisling) and definitely the friendship with the two girls,” Breen explained.
“But then also there’s an edginess. It’s darker, and a different structure as well. We did the dual perspectives and the going backwards and forwards in time…we really did want to challenge ourselves.”
The one question the two writers are asked more than any other is how they actually write together and indeed, when they were first approached to write what became the original Aisling novel, neither had any idea how two people could possibly co-author a book. Their solution was to flip a coin to decide who would write the dreaded first chapter and since then, the coin toss has become something of a tradition.
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Rather than taking turns and waiting for the other to finish, they often write simultaneously. They plot out what needs to happen, work independently on alternate chapters, then spend countless hours editing, reshaping and rewriting each other's work. Sometimes, McLysaght says, they even forget who wrote which scenes.
It helps a lot that neither of them are in any way ‘precious’ about their writing and have such an open communicative relationship.
“We’re often down to the line deadline wise,” Breen points out.
“We don't have time to be dicking around…so I wouldn’t be upset or offended if Emer changed anything I’d written, which happens all the time. We both have the same end goal and that is that we want to make the work as good as it can be.”
What perhaps makes their work resonate so strongly with readers is the authenticity underpinning their portrayal of friendship. Many of the experiences woven into their books, like the house shares, nights out and working in the US on J1 visas, come directly from their own lives and their latest novel draws heavily on that sense of youthful freedom.
Like their protagonists, both authors came of age in the early 2000s, before smartphones, location tracking and constant connectivity transformed everyday life. The authors wanted to capture that unique moment when young people could disappear for a summer, travel abroad, make mistakes and experience genuine independence.
“It’s that feeling of freedom when you first leave home properly for a summer and you have your own money. It’s different from being in college,” McLysaght says.
“Especially if you’re away on a different continent but there are also the dangers. We used to always say like, how did one of us or more of us not end up dead?”
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The authors meshed their own ‘interesting stories and experiences’ of working – seperately – in the US in the summer of 2001 to form the basis of the book.
For all their success, McLysaght and Breen are refreshingly honest about the realities of life as professional writers and the fact that the glamorous moments readers see on social media are few and far between. Instead, behind every book launch are years of uncertainty, deadlines and financial insecurity.
McLysaght spoke candidly about Ireland's housing crisis and the challenges of building financial stability as a self-employed author. Despite multiple bestselling books, she described the reality many writers face, moving from contract to contract without the security that traditional employment can provide.
Yet despite these challenges, the pair are keen to continue writing books together, as well as working on individual projects, and they’ve also been bitten by the screenwriting bug. They had started developing Aisling for a film originally, and then for TV, and while as is unfortunately very often the case in the industry, neither projects went anywhere, their many fans would undoubtedly be very excited at the thought of seeing their much-loved character on screen at some point in the future.
Emer and Sarah were speaking to writer friends Kate Durrant and Michelle McDonagh on books podcast "Natter with Kate and Michelle", produced in association with Bookstation, Ireland’s fastest growing and best value bookseller, and Irish Central, your daily source for all things Irish. You can buy their new book Our Deadly Summer at BookStation.com.
Listen to the full episode on Natter with Kate and Michelle now at Acast or on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts. Make sure to follow us on instagram @natterwithkateandmichelle or Facebook.
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