Conversations with Mandy McHugh

Today we’d like to introduce you to Mandy McHugh.

Hi Mandy, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
I’ve been writing stories since elementary school. I started with a marble composition notebook and a multicolor pen. Each page would be a different color and a different chapter, and I modeled them after first Goosebumps, then Fear Street. I majored in English in college and grad school and took various writing courses, experimenting with genre and style. I went into teaching, but when I was home with my first child, I started writing articles for the Odyssey online, wanting to connect with other young mothers in the area.

That reminded me how much I loved writing in the first place, and I penned my first short story. After a few were chosen to be performed on horror podcasts, I decided to give writing a novel a shot. Horror was my first love; I wouldn’t have the foundation that I have without Stephen King and the things that go bump in the night, so genre fiction felt like the right choice for me. I’ve been exploring the dark side ever since.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Publishing is a tough business. Rejection is built into the system. You have to be critical of your work, willing to make difficult cuts or rewrites, often deleting sections you love for the sake of a clean, concise story. They call it “killing your darlings” for a reason. If you go the trad publishing route, there’s also no shortage of rejection during the querying process. Finding an agent is no easy task, and even when you do sign with someone, the submission process can be equally taxing.

There is a lot of silence, a lot of hurry-up-and-wait, and there is no guarantee that your work will be picked up.

Preferences change. The market changes. Good books get passed over all the time. It’s important to anchor yourself to the positives. The more you read and write, the better your writing will be. The more time you spend in the writing communities, the greater chance you have of meeting a network who will support you and root for you–and that goes a long way toward easing the sting of nos.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a mystery and thriller author. My debut, Chloe Cates Is Missing, was released in February 2022 and was one of Popsugar’s Best Mysteries and Thrillers of the Year.

My sophomore novel, It Takes Monsters, is forthcoming this October. Another stand-alone, It Takes Monsters centers on a woman determined to murder her husband until someone beats her to it, attempting to frame her for the crime in the process.

Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting?
My best advice for new writers is to read–read widely and read often. Don’t stick to one genre. You want to be knowledgeable about the market, yes, but you also don’t want to pigeonhole your skills.

I frequently read and write poetry to help me flesh out character development. There is so much to be gained from pushing outside your comfort zones and reading things outside your wheelhouse is an excellent place to start.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.mandymchugh.com
• Instagram: @acmchughwriter
• Twitter: @writeracmchugh