We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Carlyn Greenwald a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Carlyn, so excited to have you with us today, particularly to get your insight on a topic that comes up constantly in the community – overcoming creativity blocks. Any thoughts you can share with us?
Writer’s block comes to me in two forms, one I’ve more or less found a system for and one that I still work through to this day.
The first form is while writing a novel and getting stuck trying to figure out where to go next. I used to struggle with finishing projects or would get stuck halfway through for months on end. I’ve found that pre-writing has done wonders for my ability to stay on track. I used to be more of a pantser, and that works well for other writers, but it leads me to really start running with a concept without having a clear vision for the plot details or character arcs. Now, I do all that beforehand — what the twists will be, what journey my characters are going on, everything but the dialogue itself. It’s helped me so much.
The second type is writer’s block with determining what story I’m going to write next and that has taken a softer solution. Namely, I work so hard to not stress over an idea. I try to watch new movies/TV and read new books. I spend time with my friends and family. I reminisce over old ideas I keep in a really big document even if I don’t end up using one. Eventually, an idea comes to me and I feel ready to write again.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I’m a novelist, primarily in the Young Adult and Adult Thriller/Horror space. (I’ve also written in Adult Romance as well.) Right now, I have one YA Thriller out called MURDER LAND, which follows a 17-year-old ride operator who has one night to discover who killed her coworker in a beloved SoCal theme park built on dark secrets. It’s inspired by my love of Southern California theme parks I grew up with as well as true crime and the intersection between the two. My next YA Thriller is called WHAT HAPPENED TO THOSE GIRLS, which will be out June 30, 2026. It follows the black sheep of a friend group who isn’t invited on a camping trip she planned with her friends, only for her all her friends to die on said trip. She returns to the woods to determine what really happened to them.
To date, all of my books feature bisexual Jewish leads and really focus on flawed/real characters and often take place in my home state of California, which has endless story material. I often write about entertainment and Americana and will feature complex family and friend dynamics as well as a healthy amount of suspense. Lately, my thrillers have teetered into horror as well and I’m so excited for what projects come next! I think I’ll be staying in the thriller/horror lane for a while.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
I’d say knowledge, hard work, and hope kept me going early on in my career (and still do!). Knowledge gave me the base to fight imposter syndrome and really hone what I wanted to say in writing. I think it’s so important for new writers to read within the genre they want to write in, and to read books that came out 1-3 years ago. Hard work feels kind of self explanatory — you don’t get better at writing unless you write, even if it’s not as good as you want it to be. I’ve improved so much over my 17+ years of writing since I was a kid and I hope to always be learning and improving along the way. And hope is the most important one of all. Careers aren’t made with one success and it’s so easy to convince yourself with various setbacks that your career is over. Hope helped me get an agent the first time, hope helped me when books did or didn’t sell, and I’m sure I’ll need hope again in the future.
Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?
I am so grateful to my parents for letting me be who I was and supported my writing even when they weren’t so sure about their preteen wanting to write murder books. I wouldn’t be where I am now without their support, their always saying “yes” to me buying a new book, and believing in my decision-making process and vision for what I want my career’s future to look like.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.carlyngreenwald.com
- Instagram: @carlyn_gee
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