Getting In Her Skin with Kim Savage

With the fall air getting crisp and Halloween just around the corner, it’s the perfect time of year to get cozy with a book — and maybe a bit of darkness or something to bring a little fright to your night. Contributor Alicia C. Jones met with YA novelist Kim Savage (known for her dark suspenseful work) on a recent Friday the 13th, and talked about writing down the bones, spooky book covers, and streaming shows along with her inspirations and upcoming projects.

AJ: So we’re meeting on Friday the 13th!

KS: It’s perfect, actually. Around this time of year, book bloggers and sellers start including my books on their lists of scariest books for the season. I don’t write straight-up horror, but hey — I get it. For me, the psychological torment that human beings wreak upon one another is way scarier than ghosts or witches, or gore. Bring on the lists!

AJ: I tend to stream shows when I should be reading.

KS: There’s so much good work being done right now. Recently, I binge-watched Dead to Me with Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini. The writing is so good it sparkles. And the acting is stellar. I was expecting dark humor, not hilarious character studies, a layered look at grief and anger, or tongue-in-cheek suspense.

AJ: That’s right in your wheelhouse…

KS: The suspense, yes. It kept me up ’til 1:30 am. It’s also super well-edited… so tight! Sorry, that’s the freak in me who likes to deconstruct. Proceed!

AJ: Do you watch Big Little Lies?

KS: I made a conscious decision a while back not to watch or read Liane Moriarty. It’s a thing I do if I suspect the writing or the style is close to my own. It might not be true, but I won’t let myself find out.

AJ: Because it might infiltrate your work?

“I’ve never written a protagonist who doesn’t share my own qualities, generally, the ones I dislike. Are we ever in touch with the ones we do like? ”

— Kim Savage

KS: More like it makes me uncomfortable. It’s a visceral, physical response — almost a revulsion — that’s tough to explain. A parallel might be the innate revulsion a parent has at the idea of, say, incest. It’s a product of evolution, that physical response that would never lead or allow a healthy adult to do it. Just, yuck. If I heard Big Little Lies or, say, a Carolyn Kepnes book on Audible, I would throw my hands over my ears and yell “la la la!”. Does that sound unhinged? That sounds unhinged. Also, I just equated reading Liane Moriarty with incest.

AJ: Last year you revealed that In Her Skin was optioned by Amazon. What’s happening with that?

KS: Amazon Studios, the TV and film production arm of Amazon, purchased the rights for In Her Skin to be made into a TV series. If something happened, yes, that would be pretty cool. In truth, it can take years. I thought maybe when Anna Sorokin (Delvey) was exposed as a con in New York last year — what a wild story — Amazon’s interest in moving forward with producing the pilot might be sparked. I’m still waiting, Amazon. Hello?

AJ: That would be fantastic, I know I would watch it! What are you working on now?

KS: I’m working on my second draft of a gender-flipped, contemporary retelling of Shakespeare’s Richard III, set at a preparatory school in Vermont, within its most powerful and oldest, secret student society, The Legacies — think of like a baby Skull and Bones at Yale. Among these students, called the Legs, power is held by few, and one girl — Regina York — will do anything to rule it all, including destroying the brothers that stand in her way. But listen:  Regina has a very good reason for being the ultimate villain. It will be on the reader to decide if it’s reason enough.

AJ: And it’s current, set in modern day?

KS: I set it about ten years into the future, in 2030. I imagined a world where everyone is more evolved in their thinking about gender, identification, and sexuality. While we’re getting there, I’m not sure we’ll be there in ten years. Still, I can wish.

AJ: Versus now, where things are so divided?

KS: Exactly. Right now, I’m killing darlings. Not bits of pretty, superfluous prose, or snappy-but-unnecessary dialogue, but actual characters. My original vision was to use Shakespeare’s entire main cast, but I need to make room in the story, and removing one or two bodies will do that. Every character must have a defensible purpose. Cursing with Queen Margaret might be loads of fun, but when she’s proving redundant, she needs to exit, pursued by a bear. Okay, I couldn’t help that.

AJ: So you have a draft of that one sent  off to your agent and you said you’re working on another story?

KS: Yes. I’ve turned back to the bones of a thriller I had stopped working on to focus on the Richard re-telling. I’m excited just thinking about it. I’ve never spent so much time away from something, then gone back to revise. Time is a superpower. It gives you new eyes, clear perspective. Sometimes, a cultural moment that gives you a new lens with which to view your characters. The novel takes the trope of the manic pixie dream girl and turns it on its head.

AJ: Where do you find the time? It takes a long time to write, and you’ve got three kids?

KS: Every moment has its own set of challenges. When I started writing, I had babies that needed full-time care. Right now, we’re heavy into hosting exchange students, getting driver’s licenses, jobs, sports, and college visits. I work like hell when they’re at school, and yes, every vacation, and at least one or two weekend days. Every day I balance my art-monster soul with leaving my kid on a curb waiting for a ride. We all do. My struggle might be real, but it certainly isn’t special.

AJ: Do you have any current inspirations or writing heroes?

KS: What have I loved lately? My Sister the Serial Killer — have you read that yet? It’s an amazing story of sacrifice between sisters; sacrifice among women is one of the recurring themes in my own work. It’s written by Oyinkan Braithwaite and, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong! He’s a poet and the writing is, unsurprisingly, sublime. It’s a coming-of-age tale like none I’ve read in a very long time. Please promise me you’ll read it!

Are you going to see The Goldfinch? The critics are panning the movie, but I love a sprawling Dickensian, coming-of-age read, and Donna Tartt is one of my heroes. Damn the haters.

I read so quickly that whenever anyone asks what I’ve read lately, I have to pull up my Kindle and check. It’s not that what I’ve read isn’t memorable. I just ingest so quickly — about a book every two days — and barely notice titles. Some recent favorites include Mostly Dead Things by Kristen Arnett, John McGregor’s Reservoir 13, Richard Power’s The Overstory, and The Water Cure by Sophie Mackintosh.

AJ: How do you come up with your character names?

KS: I've never written a protagonist who doesn’t share my own qualities, generally, the ones I dislike. Are we ever in touch with the ones we do like? In my work-in-progress, the love interest, Finn Buckingham describes my protagonist, Regina, as “…clearly introverted. Parties exhaust you. Not that you’re not charming. You’re way better one-on-one. A dry wit and a grammar purist. Mind fast as quicksilver. Forked tongue.” I know that girl.

Kim Savage has published three novels. Her debut, After the Woods, received starred reviews by the American Library Association and Kirkus and was named in Teen Vogue’s Best Young Adult Books list in 2016. Her latest novel, In Her Skin, is listed on the Best YA of 2019 by ALA.