Carrie Ryan is the author of several young adult books and her latest, Daughter of Deep Silence, is about the ultimate revenge plot. She spoke with us about writing and some of her favorite things.
Daughter of Deep Silence is the story about Frances Mae, a girl who has lost everything. For years Frances plans her revenge on the man who caused her great loss. Unfortunately he happens to be the father of the boy she loves. In order for her plan to work Frances must become someone else. She transforms into her friend Libby who died on the yacht along with Frances’ parents. Daughter of Deep Silence twists and turns as Frances unleashes her revenge.
Tell us five random facts about yourself.
- I worked at the coroner’s office one summer during college (where I saw a lot of dead bodies which totally helped with the zombie descriptions in my first book).
- I hated scary movies growing up and only went to see the Dawn of the Dead remake in law school because I had a crush on the boy who asked me to go (it all worked out well: he ended up becoming my husband and that movie inspired my first published novel).
- I like to dip French fries in milkshakes.
- I played on the boys soccer team in high school because the school refused to start a girls team (three years later, the girls team I helped create went on to the state semi-finals!).
- I went to computer camp in 1995 where I created a Hootie and the Blowfish fan page in order to measure which internet search engine was most effective.
Describe your novel in five words.
Which wins: love or revenge?
Daughter of Deep Silence focuses on a revenge plot. How did you come up with the idea and what were the challenges of writing a thriller?
The idea for Daughter of Deep Silence was born on Ally Carter’s couch. I was telling her about how I’d recently become obsessed with The Count of Monte Cristo and she pointed out that the TV show Revenge was a retelling of it. We spent hours alternating between episodes of Revenge and Arrow and as I was falling asleep that night I tried to figure out what it was about these stories that gripped me so fully. In the end I boiled it down to three things: being lost at sea and donning a new identity to come home and carry out an intricate revenge scheme. That night I concocted the basics of a plot and when I came downstairs in the morning and told Ally my new idea she said, “Yes! Write that!” So I did. Which is one of the reasons the book is dedicated to her.
I should probably say the biggest challenge was coming up with a devious revenge scheme, but it turns out that I very much enjoyed that part :) So really the hardest part was making sure all the various pieces fit together in a satisfying way and laying out enough clues that the reader wasn’t blindsided by the conclusion, but not so many that I tipped my hat too early.
Related: Daughter of Deep Silence is part Gone Girl part Revenge
Frances Mae is a unique lead character who takes on the identity of her friend in order to exact her revenge. Were there any challenges to writing a character who was basically playing two people?
I really enjoyed writing the interplay between Frances’s two identities because she’s just being more deliberate about something we all tend to do sub-consciously: present one identity to the world while keeping our true feelings and thoughts to ourselves. Frances is so assured of her ability to remain untouched by emotion that it was fun to crack the thick shell she’d built up around herself and prove her wrong.
There was also something delightfully twisty about putting her in a position where she has to essentially be jealous of herself. Frances and Grey fell in love with each other years ago, and when she returns as Libby she still has feelings for him. But for him to return those feelings, she has to convince him to let go of Frances. She has to essentially tell him to stop loving who she used to be so he can love who she is now.
Daughter of Deep Silence is very different from your other novels. Was your writing process different? Did you do any research for the story?
I’m quite sure I’ve ended up on a few government watch lists because of the research I did for Daughter of Deep Silence. I spent a lot of time looking into various undetectable poisons, funerary techniques, grave-digging, and the effects of extreme dehydration on the human body (not the kind of things people like to hear about at dinner parties – lol). I’m lucky that my husband is a federal defender and was a great resource for the more nuanced interrogation techniques.
In terms of Daughter of Deep Silence being different from my other novels, one thing that I tend to do in all of my books is come back to the same question: what’s the worst that can happen? Sometimes, as in The Forest of Hands and Teeth, the worst is a zombie horde. Sometimes, as with my middle grade series The Map to Everywhere, it’s getting trapped on a river of pure magic. And sometimes, as in Daughter of Deep Silence, it’s falling in love with the son of the man you hold responsible for murdering your parents.
What one YA novel do you wish you had when you were a teen?
There are so many amazing YA novels being published right now that it’s hard to choose! One book I love now and would have probably loved more as a teen is Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell. The scene of her having to run through the school in her gym uniform totally gutted me because her horror and embarrassment are so visceral. And then you see that, rather than being horrified, Park is utterly entranced. There’s so much power in realizing how easy it is to see the worst in ourselves and recognizing how we need to allow for others to see the best.
What are you working on now?
I’m super excited about the book I’m working on now! I can’t say too much about it yet, but it’s another stand alone contemporary YA and it’s a story I’ve wanted to write for years. I think fans of my other books will definitely like this one as well! I’m also continuing to work on The Map to Everywhere, a middle grade series I’m co-writing with my husband, John Parke Davis. The second book, City of Thirst, comes out this fall.
Fill in the blank
If I weren’t a writer I would be a lawyer, unfortunately. That’s what I was before writing full time, and it’s not that I didn’t enjoy it, it’s just that I love being a writer – it’s a dream come true!
If I could have one supernatural power it would be flying. It would be super convenient to be able to zip anywhere at any time!
My Hollywood crush is Benedict Cumberbatch and Jason Statham (why chose only one!?)