Shop Talk: How Nita Prose Wrote a Bestseller in Shifts, Working at Dawn and Dusk

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Even if you’ve never heard of Nita Prose, I’d bet you a milkshake you’ve heard of her mega-bestselling debut, The Maid.

I was lucky enough to read The Maid a couple months prior to its publication, long before it became a #1 New York Times bestseller as well as a bestseller in Canada, Australia, Germany, Finland, Croatia, and the UK. Though the book was outside my regular reading wheelhouse—a Clue-like locked-room mystery—the story’s protagonist, Molly Gray, instantly captured my heart.

I was so smitten with Molly “The Maid” I passed that early copy along to all my local reading friends. The cover came back tattered, the spine creased, but everyone who read it felt the same way as I did—they adored The Maid.

Though this is Nita’s debut novel, she’s been plugged into the publishing world for decades, working her way up from an intern to her current position as vice president and editorial director at Simon & Schuster in Toronto, Canada.

All of Nita’s hard-earned experience—as both an editor and an author—shined through when we finally had a chance to catch up and talk shop.

Eli Cranor: As an editor, how did it feel trying to sell your debut novel?

Nita Prose: Approaching agents made me weak at the knees, because I know them. I’m in the industry, and I work with agents every day. I understand what it means when an agent calls the work “lovely” and regrettably declines. I had nightmares about being rejected en masse by agents and then having to face them every day after in my professional life. Fortunately, my nightmares didn’t come to pass!

EC: Was The Maid your first completed manuscript? If so, what made you decide to try and make the switch from editing to writing, or have you been writing all along?

NP: Yes, The Maid was my first completed fiction manuscript. I didn’t really “decide” to make the switch to writing a novel; the idea, which hit me like a lightning bolt, just felt too good to ignore. 

EC: Has the mega success of The Maid impacted your writing? If so, how have you combatted this?

NP: I try to stay focused on the story I’m trying to tell, on a fidelity to the page, the characters and world that I’m building. That endeavor alone requires so much attention that it blocks out a lot of thinking about any fanfare or lack thereof. And I love that. It’s grounding. I love that no matter how successful one is (or isn’t), there’s always the next blank page. 

EC: How has your “day job” of an editor shaped your writing process?

NP: I’ve learned everything I know about the craft of writers from the authors I’ve edited over two decades of working in the publishing industry. They’ve invited me into their creative problem-solving, and that has been the best crash course in narrative craft that anyone could ask for.

EC: Do you write every day? 

NP: Absolutely. Writing is a muscle. Use it or lose it.

EC: When you are working, do you aim for a daily word count?

NP: I don’t work towards a word count. Some days are all about thinking, and there’s nothing to enumerate the progress of sitting quietly for several hours in front of a notepad and writing nothing down. Sometimes progress is unlocking a flaw in the story arc, or realizing there has to be a tonal shift in a character … and there’s nothing on the page to prove the Eureka moment. That comes later. I’m learning to trust that progress looks like different things at different times, and a big, fat word count is not necessarily proof of progress. 

EC: What are the tools of your trade? Like, do you write using a laptop, a pen, a typewriter? 

NP: I write on a computer when I’m drafting chapters. In the very early stage of creation, I create notes long-form—bubble charts, free associations, lists of books of inspiration. And when I encounter what seems like an insurmountable story problem, I go back to pen and paper, and I fill my page with questions that I challenge myself to answer. Why is this chapter falling flat? Is the main event at this moment the right choice? How can I raise the stakes for my characters in this crucial moment? Are the right characters in this scene? And finally, if I threw out this chapter or moment, what would I lose and what would I put in its place?

EC: When do you write? 

NP: Shift 1: Early morning, liminal time before night gives way to day. The glow of the screen the only light, the clicking keys the only sound.

[Insert day job where I problem-solve with other writers and their stories. What a relief to know exactly what to do, something I rarely feel when working on my own manuscripts!]

Shift 2: Evening. Dusk falls. Dinner is done. What have I accomplished in the morning? How can I push it further? And what’s my task for the next day?

General notes: Avoid magical thinking. Focus on story and character. Ride intuition as long as you can, then revert to craft when you get stuck.

Rinse. Repeat. Seven days a week.

EC: How has the seven days a week thing been going? For me, I’ve started taking one day off, like a Sabbath, to recharge. Why/how did you come to the conclusion to work straight through?

NP: So, the seven days a week is because I have a massive full-time job and I’m a writer. I recommend that to no one. It’s masochism. Having at least one rest day seems utterly reasonable.

EC: Do you outline?

NP: I outline my novels just enough to know the driving forces, and then I leave lots of room for invention and discovery. For me, that’s the perfect combination that inspires and motivates.

EC: When you’re done with the first draft, what does your revision process look like?

NP: I do as much editing as I know how to do chapter by chapter, but when I’m finished a first full draft, I let it sit. I won’t think about it for a few weeks, and I certainly won’t read it. Then I’ll return to it once I feel I’ve forgotten the mechanics. That’s when I start to see clearly again and can isolate areas for improvement. 

I definitely use beta readers and I ask them aggravating questions, making them start and stop on my command. Ergo, stop at the end of Chapter 7, and I’ll ask you three questions. This is my way of gauging if what the reader receives is what I meant to deliver.  

EC: Do you read certain books for inspiration prior to writing? If so, what are they? Do they change from manuscript to manuscript?

NP: What I read before I actually start writing depends on what I need for that new endeavor. For instance, before writing The Maid, I reread Agatha Christie, and I searched out stories that focus on a character’s journey of growth. 

There are times, too, when I’ll read specific scenes or moments from a particular work because I want to remind myself of a certain quality or tone. When I was writing scenes between Molly, the protagonist of The Maid, and Giselle, Mr. Black’s young second wife, I reread several scenes between Desdemona and Emilia, Desdemona’s maid in Shakespeare’s Othello. There’s a special intimacy between those two characters that transcends their class differences. I wanted to see if I could capture a similar unlikely bond in a contemporary setting.

Everything has been done before, but the question is: can you do it again in an original way? I learn from other writers. They humble me every single day.

EC: Best advice for writers just starting out, especially when it comes to the actual act of writing/developing the habits necessary to craft a novel-length manuscript.

NP: Read widely and voraciously. Dissect what you like; try to understand how writers use their craft to great effect. Then apply those lessons to your own writing.

EC: Finally, why do you write? 

NP: I write to connect to other people. The writer-reader relationship is a partnership. I write the best story I can, but it’s only complete when readers read it, bringing it to life through their imagination. Can you see then how important readers are to me? Without them, my work doesn’t live. 

–Author photo by Tony Hanyk

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