I started brainstorming the book that would become The Thirteenth Circle in 2017.
It’s now 2024, and the book releases in just over a week.
This is the longest it’s taken to get from the initial spark of an idea to the finished book so far in my publishing career! And yet, in some ways, I’ve been preparing to write a book like this one since I was a teenager.
I wrote in December about my early forays into fiction-writing, in the form of “X-Files” fanfiction. I also wrote about another middle-grade novel I’ve been working on for years—even longer than The Thirteenth Circle!—that came from a similar point of inspiration.
This week, I want to talk about that stretch of time when The Thirteenth Circle actually began to take shape.
In 2017, my writing career had stalled a bit. My second book had come out in mid-2016…and it hadn’t performed well. It wasn’t going to get a paperback release. My publisher had passed on my proposed next book. I’d finished writing that third YA novel, and my agent had sent it on wide submission…and no one wanted to buy it.
To keep myself from spiraling out on submission, I was frantically revising the very first manuscript I’d ever written, dropping it from YA to middle-grade. I say “frantically,” because at the time, I was pregnant. I was desperate to have something completed and polished for my agent to read—and maybe even to submit to editors—before my daughter arrived. Her due date felt like a hard deadline.
Somewhere in that whirlwind first half of the year, I got a shiny new idea.
“The X-Files” came back for two final seasons in 2016 and 2018. While those new episodes were hit or miss in terms of quality, I was so thrilled to have my favorite FBI agents back on my TV for a few weeks that I enjoyed even the “misses.” One day, I had a lightning bolt of inspiration. Had anyone written a middle-grade take on “The X-Files,” in which an odd-couple duo teams up to investigate something strange?
I did a little research and didn’t find any existing books that were quite what I had in mind. So I let the idea marinate. I set it on the back-burner of my mind to bubble and develop flavor, while I actively worked on my other manuscript.
After a few months, I realized something: I didn’t want to write this new “X-Files”-inspired book by myself. I felt like the story needed to be told by two authors, each taking one character’s point of view. Both kids deserved a distinct voice.
Plus, I thought it would be fun to write a book with a friend. (Spoiler: I was right!)
I started thinking about who, in my author network, would be the right writing partner for this project. I reread some friends’ books. I looked at who’d been posting on social media about the “X-Files” revival. I shared my idea with a couple people, but it didn’t take long for one name to rise to the top of the list: MarcyKate Connolly.
MarcyKate and I both published our first books in 2015. In fact, our debuts, both with HarperCollins, released one week apart! We’d only met in person once, pre-publication, but we’d gotten along. I enjoyed her books. She was known for middle-grade fantasy, not science fiction, but I knew she liked “The X-Files.”
I sent MarcyKate a DM briefly describing my idea and my search for a coauthor. She was intrigued, and asked for more details. So, I wrote up a slightly longer pitch. I outlined the book’s two leads: the “Mulder” kid, who believes in aliens and all sorts of other supernatural phenomena, and the “Scully” kid, an aspiring scientist who is skeptical of her partner’s wild theories. I introduced the setup: the kids are partnered for a science fair project, and “Mulder” proposes that they research the crop circle phenomenon that has baffled their town for decades.
MarcyKate was on board! We scheduled a video-call to brainstorm further.
By this point, I had a baby at home…and so did MarcyKate! Yes, we both became moms in 2017. So the earliest work we did on The Thirteenth Circle was crammed not only in between other writing projects (she had a few books under contract; I was still trying to sell one of my two existing manuscripts), but also in between parenting commitments.
When we started writing this book, I was exhausted. (My child did not sleep through the night for over a year!) I was stressed out by my inability to sell a third book. And yet. From that first video-chat with MarcyKate, and from the first chapters we each wrote of the manuscript, gently feeling out who our characters might turn out to be…I felt like we were onto something.
Feeling like you’re onto something is exhilarating.
MarcyKate and I worked on The Thirteenth Circle in the “in between” for over a year before we showed it to anyone else. I loved pretty much every second of that work. I loved spending time with my character, Dani, figuring out her next moves. I loved opening our document to see that MarcyKate had added a new chapter for me to read. I loved our email chain back and forth, tossing around ideas and comparing notes.
It wouldn’t be much of an exaggeration to say that this book saved my writing career.
Not because it turned into that elusive third book deal—that honor goes to my Class Critters series. And not because The Thirteenth Circle is a huge bestseller (though I suppose there’s still time for that—you’ve all ordered fifty copies each, right?! Ha!).
This book saved my writing career because it brought me joy during a period that was really difficult. It kept me writing, even when I was discouraged, because I loved working on it so much. In the first few years of this manuscript’s existence, I was experiencing failure after failure. I had a published book fail to meet expectations. I failed to sell another YA novel. Then I failed to sell a middle-grade novel. Then I failed to sell both of those books when we went on submission again, after extensive rewrites. Then I failed to land a write-for-hire gig I auditioned for. Then I failed to sell a picture book manuscript.
And as I said, I was a new mom, and I was tired.
But through all of that, I kept coming back to this book with MarcyKate. I had a project I genuinely relished writing. A project I believed would sell, one day.
And now it’s about to be out of my hands, and into yours!
While I have you here, thinking about how happy The Thirteenth Circle has made me, here’s some important business!
MarcyKate and I have TWO launch events planned for The Thirteenth Circle!
On Tuesday, January 30th (release day!), at 6:00 p.m., we’ll be at The Silver Unicorn Bookstore in Acton, MA (outside of Boston). That event will be moderated by Newbery Honor–winning author Rajani LaRocca! Go HERE for more info.
And then on Saturday, February 3rd, at noon, we’ll be at the South Street Seaport location of McNally Jackson Books, in NYC. Stay tuned for the event link!
If you live in NYC or the Boston area, will we see you there?
Finally, don’t forget about our preorder campaign (I introduced it HERE). If you preorder The Thirteenth Circle from *any* retailer, you’re eligible to receive a swag pack! This offer is fantastic for anyone who is planning to buy the book anyway. Order it now, and get it right after release! Fill out this form to claim your goodies.
Preorders are super important for authors, because they show the publisher that there’s plenty of interest in the book! If you aren’t planning to come to one of the two launch events, I hope you’ll consider preordering. MarcyKate and I will be so grateful!
That’s all for this week…
~Kathryn