On the blog today we are excited to be talking with ONCE MORE FROM THE TOP author, Emily Layden. Welcome Emily first, tell our readers a bit about yourself. Where you’re from, where you live? Is writing your full-time job?
I’m a screenwriter and the author of the novels Once More From The Top and All Girls. Born and raised in upstate New York, I lived everywhere from Menlo Park to rural Maine before settling back near my hometown, where I write every day from a 200-year-old farmhouse in the country.
How long have you been writing?
I come from a family of storytellers: My dad has authored or co-authored over 40 books; my uncle was a long-time staff writer at Sports Illustrated; my cousin Kristen (to whom Once More From The Top is dedicated) is a television writer. As kids, Kristen and I used to write plays and perform them for our families while on vacation, and so I guess I’ve been writing ever since our first performance of “The Great Lobster Rescue.”
What does your typical writing day look like?
I like to write in the mornings, when it’s quiet and before the day really has had a chance to intervene. Because I am often working from home, alone, in my sweatpants, I try to set some kind of daily goal—a certain numbers of words or pages per day, depending on the project, mode, and where I am in the process—because a measurable goal helps me to feel productive and like I do, in fact, have a real job.
Tell us about your latest release? Where the idea came from? Perhaps some fun moments, or not so fun moments?
Once More From The Top is about a mega pop star named Dylan Read whose childhood best friend Kelsey vanished when they were both in high school; 15 years later, Kelsey’s body is found at the bottom of their hometown lake, forcing Dylan to revisit their shared past, Kelsey’s influence on her music, and whether there’s more to their story than meets the eye.
The idea was really borne out of my own fascination with contemporary fame—particularly the experiences of famous women, and the expectation that they be both aspirational and accessible. How much of the artist lives in the art? How much more do they owe us? What does it mean to be authentic, and is our art actually the most authentic expression of ourselves? These questions were my sandbox, and while the book doesn’t attempt to answer them—they are unanswerable!—OMFTT is the result of my playing around with them for a while.
Could you share one detail from your current release with readers that they might not find in the book?
Unfortunately, the book can’t contain the music it’s about—which is why I made a playlist to go along with it! Part thematic tour, part contextualization, these seventeen songs are meant to capture the atmosphere of the novel while also making a “Dylan Read Radio”: If Spotify were to generate a playlist for fans of Dylan Read’s music, this is what you might find on it! You can listen here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3cLtbEPiZYRYgA27sMmjVs?si=79ab0c15ec4e4d4e
Who has been the most difficult character for you to write? Why?
Honestly, Dylan was really difficult to write! Everyone says the second book is the hardest one, and they weren’t kidding. This novel meant so much to me, and I was so excited about this story that the stakes just felt really high—creatively, personally, and professionally. I wanted to get it—and Dylan—right.
If you could be one of your characters for a day which character would it be?
I don’t think I’m cut out for Dylan’s level of fame at all—or the intensity of her spotlight—but don’t we all kind of want to know what it would feel like to have a stadium full of fans screaming your name? If you’ve been very lucky, you’ve been to a concert that’s felt something like a spiritual experience; what is it like to be at the very center of that? I’m not interested in the ego boost; I’m interested in the psychology of something that only a very few living people know about.
If you could spend the day with your character, what would you do? What would that day look like?
One of the best parts of writing this novel was the research I did for it. I visited recording studios, spoke to producers and engineers and songwriters, and read and watched and listened to as much material as I could about the songwriting process. If I could spend the day with Dylan, I’d want to spend the day with her in the studio. I’d want to watch her magnificent mind at work.
What’s your take on research and how do you do it?
I am so grateful to every artist, engineer, producer, and professor who spoke to me as I worked on this book. I also listened to hours (and hours and hours) of podcasts, which was really critical to my understanding: The aural nature of them helped me to grasp certain aspects of music production and music theory that would have been harder for me to comprehend were I only reading; by nature, a podcast can combine an idea with an example, so I didn’t just learn the definition of a technique or production style—I learned its application.
Are there any particular authors that have influenced how you write?
I think Gillian Flynn is a genius and that Gone Girl is if not the Great American Novel than certainly one of them. And Megan Abbott is the queen of writing young women for an adult audience. Both of these authors—who’ve insisted on putting “difficult” “unlikeable” “unreliable” female characters on the page over and over again—have given me the confidence to try to do the same.
Do you have a secret talent readers would be surprised by?
I played lacrosse in college, and I’m a runner now. My athleticism is as important to me as my creativity, and I think one complements the other—I do my best, clearest thinking on my bike or on the trails, and I need to feel a little bit physically tired to be settled enough to write well.
Your favorite go to drink or food when the world goes crazy!
There’s a line in 30 Rock where Tina Fey’s Liz Lemon says something like, “all anybody wants in life is to sit in peace and eat a sandwich.” No one on television has better captured my specific experience. I love a sandwich.
What is your writing kryptonite?
My anxiety.
What is the one question you never get ask at interviews, but wish you did? Ask and answer it.
I’m rarely asked about the epigraphs to my novels! Once More From The Top begins with a Dickinson poem: “Fame is a bee.” I love this little bit of verse; like all of Emily Dickinson’s poems, it reads like a riddle, with each line adding to a metaphor that’s ever-so-slightly off-kilter—like the bee’s sole wing in the last line: “ah, too, it has a wing.” Fame lifts a person—but it does so crookedly? Haphazardly? Can a thing fly at all with only one wing?
The way her poems refuse easy answers, the way they don’t so much unfold themselves but rather complicate themselves with every line—I love that about her writing, and find it feels applicable to the novel (any novel, not just mine) in many ways.
Emily, thank you so much for joining us today and sharing ‘the music and the fame’.
Reader’s, here’s a quick look at ONCE MORE FROM THE TOP:
A propulsive, layered novel about the meteoric rise of a legendary pop star and the secret she’s kept hidden for fifteen years, for fans of Megan Abbott and Daisy Jones & the Six.
Everyone in America knows Dylan Read, or at least has heard her music. Since releasing her debut album her senior year of high school, Dylan’s spent fifteen years growing up in the public eye. She’s not only perfected her skills when it comes to lyrics and melody; she’s also learned how to craft a public narrative that satisfies her fans, her label, and the media. In the circles of fame and celebrity in which she now travels, the careful maintenance of Dylan Read pop star is often more important than the songs themselves.
And so lots of people think they understand everything about Dylan Read. But what no one knows is the part of her origin story she has successfully kept hidden: her childhood best friend Kelsey vanished the year before Dylan became famous. Now, as Dylan’s at the height of her career, Kelsey’s body is found at the bottom of their hometown lake—forcing Dylan to reckon with their shared past, her friend’s influence on her music, and whether there’s more to their story than meets the eye.
Immersive, page-turning, and psychologically astute, Once More from the Top is a riveting and keenly observant novel about friendship, ambition, and the cost of fame.
