Q&A with Stephanie Wrobel of Darling Rose Gold

What are some of your favorite novels?

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson, Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver, Security by Gina Wohlsdorf

 

When did you know you wanted to become an author?

I can't remember ever not wanting to be an author, to be honest. I started writing stories when I was a kid before I had even conceptualized what an author is. It was during a period of unemployment in 2015 that I decided to go for it and actually write my first novel.

 

What do you think are some of the key elements required in a well-written novel? 

A unique voice, deeply developed characters, tight plotting, and crisp sentences. You can tell when an author loves the craft of stringing words together, and those are my favorite works.

What inspired you to write “Darling Rose Gold”? 

I learned about Munchausen syndrome by proxy (MSBP) from my best friend, who is a school psychologist. The more research I did, the more fascinated I became. The perpetrators of MSBP are usually mothers—interesting in itself since the mother/child bond is supposed to be sacred. Perpetrators act out of a need for attention or love from authority figures within the medical community, a motivation both intriguing and heartbreaking. I wanted to get inside the head of one of these mothers, to try to understand whether they know they’re lying or if they believe they’re doing what’s best for their child. Along came Patty Watts.

 

If the story continued, did you see Rose Gold living her life and getting away with what she’s done? 

That's up for the reader to decide! I know my own answer but I intentionally ended the story where I did so readers could dream up their own versions of what happens to Rose Gold after "the end". 

 

Is the story based on any real people or events? 

No. 

 

What was your favorite part of writing this book?

Writing the reveal of the twist in chapter 24. I had written 250 pages building to this moment, so it was extremely satisfying to let it finally flow from my fingers. That scene is one of the few that barely changed from its original version.

 

Do you have your endings figured out from the beginning of the writing process or does it evolve?

I like to know where the story ends before I begin writing but in both of my books thus far, the plot has completely changed from draft one to draft two. Even so, having an idea of the ending gives me something to write toward and prevents the story from wandering.

Can you tell us more about what are you working on next and when we can expect it?  Sure, my next book is called This Might Hurt. It will come out in spring 2022. Here's a description:

 

Natalie Collins hasn't heard from her sister in over half a year. The last time they spoke, Kit had been slogging from mundane workdays to obligatory happy hours to crying in the shower over their dead mother. She told Natalie she was sure there was something more out there. 

Then she found Wisewood.

On a private island off the coast of Maine, Wisewood’s guests commit to six-month stays. During this time they're prohibited from contact with the rest of the world; no Internet, no phones, no sex, no exceptions. But the rules are for good reason: to keep guests focused on achieving true fearlessness so they can become their Maximized Selves. Natalie thinks that it's a bad idea, but Kit's had enough of her sister's cynicism and voluntarily disappears off the grid.

Six months later Natalie receives a menacing email from a Wisewood account, threatening to reveal the secret she's been keeping from Kit. Panicked, Natalie hurries north to come clean to her sister and bring her home. But she’s about to learn that Wisewood won’t let either of them go without a fight. 

What are you currently reading and what’s on your TBR (to be read) list?

I'm currently reading Deacon King Kong by James McBride. Some of the upcoming books on my TBR include Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward, The Philosopher's Flight by Tom Miller, Can't Even by Anne Helen Petersen, and Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart. 

About Stephanie Wrobel:

As a kid in the suburbs of Chicago, I remember bringing a backpack to the library every two weeks during the summer and filling it to the brim. My favorites were Baby-Sitters Club, Nancy Drew, and the Thoroughbred series. I wrote a lot of stories too. My mom helped me type and add computer graphics to one called How Mary Ann Got Lost at the Zoo. (Spoiler alert: it has a happy ending. Dark turns didn’t make their way into my writing until adulthood!) When I was eight or nine, I went through a serious horse phase—I was in the ninetieth percentile for height but convinced I would someday be a jockey—and wrote a 100-page book about them that thankfully never saw the light of day. But the older I got, the less creative writing I did. I've always wanted to write fiction, but doing it as a kid for fun was one thing; considering it as a profession was another. Being an author just didn't seem like a realistic or practical career choice.

After college I worked as a copywriter, then associate creative director, for advertising agencies in Chicago. During this time, I wrote and helped produce television and radio spots, print ads, billboards, and digital campaigns for brands like Coors, McDonald's, and Capital One.

In 2014 I moved to London, so my then-boyfriend/now-husband could attend business school. A year later, while I was between freelance copywriting jobs and in a major rut, I applied to graduate schools for creative writing. I decided to give writing my all for a couple years and see what happened. It was the best decision I’ve ever made.

I moved to Boston to attend Emerson College in 2016. Before grad school, I would come up with a book idea, write a chapter or two, then give up. The MFA program made me take writing seriously for the first time. I had my first short story published in the Bellevue Literary Review and accrued 221 rejections for all the other stories I wrote and submitted. (It pains me to report that number is not an exaggeration.) By the end of the program, I’d finished my first novel, which was also my graduate thesis, about a mother and daughter named Patty and Rose Gold Watts.

In May 2018 I moved back to London with my husband and Cockapoo, Moose Barkwinkle. Much to my parents’ dismay, we have no plans to move stateside in the near future. When I’m not writing, I love to travel—46 countries so far!—and eat. But my favorite way to spend my free time always has been, and always will be, reading.

I love a wide range of fiction: contemporary, historical, dystopian, and, of course, suspense. Three of my all-time favorite books are We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson, Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, and We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver. I like to spend half my time on my couch with a book and Ben & Jerry’s Americone Dream, and the other half exploring far-flung places.