Bookwild - Allison Buccola: Catch Her When She Falls

Episode Date: February 16, 2022

On this episode, I talk to Allison Buccola about her debut novel Catch Her When She Falls.You can also watch the episode on YouTubeAuthor LinksInstagramGoodreadsWebsiteCheck out the book hereCatch Her When She Falls SummaryWhen Micah Wilkes was a senior in high school, her boyfriend was convicted of murdering her best friend, Emily, a star ballerina with a bright future. A decade later, Micah has finally moved on from the unforgivable betrayal and loss. Now the owner of a bustling coffee shop in her small hometown in Pennsylvania, she’s happily coupled up with another old high school friend, the two having bonded over their shared sorrow.But when reminders of her past begin appearing at her work and home, Micah begins to doubt what she knows about Emily’s death. Questions raised on a true crime blog and in an online web sleuthing forum force her to reexamine her memories of that fateful night. She told the truth to the investigators on the case, but was there another explanation for Emily’s murder? A stranger in the woods. An obsessive former classmate. A domineering ballet instructor. Or the internet’s favorite suspect: Joshua, Emily’s outcast younger brother who hasn’t been seen since his sister’s death.As Micah delves deeper into the case, she feels her grip on reality loosening, her behavior growing more and more secretive and unhinged. As she races to piece together the truth about that night ten years ago, Micah grapples with how things could have gone so wrong and wonders whether she, too, might be next to disappear. Get Bookwild MerchCheck Out My Stories Are My Religion SubstackCheck Out Author Social Media PackagesCheck out the Bookwild Community on PatreonCheck out the Imposter Hour Podcast with Liz and GregFollow @imbookwild on InstagramOther Co-hosts On Instagram:Gare Billings @gareindeedreadsSteph Lauer @books.in.badgerlandHalley Sutton @halleysutton25Brian Watson @readingwithbrian 

Hi, my name is Kate and I love to read. Like, I was carrying books around with me before Kindles were a thing. So I decided to start a podcast where I interview the authors of some of my favorite books, ask them all of my questions so that I can read between the lines of the books. Welcome back to another episode of Between the Lines. I'm here with Allison Bucola, who wrote Catcher When She Falls when I picked a little. it up, I could not put it back down. So you need to add it to all of your list if you haven't read it already. So welcome to the podcast. Yeah, thanks so much for having me here. You are so welcome. I'm so excited that we get to talk about this. So before we get into the book, let's kind of just talk about

you. So when did you know that you wanted to write a book or kind of when did you know you wanted to be an author? So I always loved writing from like I was writing books as a like probably seven, an eight-year-old and enjoyed doing it up through, up through college. And then when I was trying to figure out what to do, I ended up doing what I think a lot of people who like writing do, and I went to law school after college, which was fun and was great and was a lot of, like, lawyering involves a lot of writing too. So that was, I really enjoyed that. And I think it was helpful in, like, developing diligence and habits that hope you actually

like finish writing projects. Right. But then when I found out I was pregnant with my son, I wanted to stay home with him and wanted to really give writing fiction a real shot. So then ended up doing that, and that's how Catcher when She Falls came about. That's awesome. So I actually, I didn't heard of anyone talking about going to law school as kind of helping, but I have actually talked to other authors who are lawyers. So I hadn't even thought of that before, but there is so much writing involved there. Oh yeah, and a lot of deadlines.

And I think that's really helpful where you just kind of get used to like you sit down and you really do have to like, you really have to write something. So I think that helps. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. So what is your writing process like for fiction then? So it's probably a little bit different than when you're writing for legal stuff. But how do you approach writing novels? Yeah, so I'm not an outliner. I like start out with, I guess I usually start out with like a character and sort of a con.

So in this book, the character is Micah, who's, when she was in high school, her boyfriend was convicted of murdering her best friend. And so I sort of started out with that scenario and how she felt about it. And then the story sort of developed from there. And I guess sort of more technically, I go about writing by, I do the like daily word count thing. So I set myself a goal for 500 words a day and try to hit that. And if I get more than that, then that's awesome. But I try to make sure that I'm doing like at least 500 words a day to just kind of keep the project going. And that's, yeah, that's.

Yeah, that makes sense. I wondered if it was going to be something like that when you were saying, like, the diligence and kind of the deadlines. I wondered if you would be someone who kind of did approach it with the word cows. That makes total sense. How do you create your characters then? So do you mostly know who they are? Like, do you kind of plan out who the character is or do they kind of review? themselves to you as you write?

I think in this one, they really revealed themselves as I was writing. So I sort of started out with a more general idea of who Micah was and what she was going through. And it wasn't until probably maybe the second draft where I really felt like I had a firm grasp on like who she was and what she was doing and like the particulars of her. Yeah, as opposed to just sort of a more abstract idea of who this character was. Yeah. Yeah. So how would you describe Catcher when she falls, just like in a couple of sentences? Yeah, so I sort of touched on a little bit before, but it's a psychological thriller. It's about Micah. And yeah, her boyfriend's convicted of murdering her best friend. And it's now 10 years later and she's moved back to her hometown. And she is starting to get some reminders of the past that are making her question whether she really understands what happened that night. And she starts looking into it. And things sort of start unraveling from her. there. Yeah, they really do. Where did you get the idea for it or what prompted you to write this story?

So I was, when I started writing it, I was listening to a lot of True Prime podcasts. And so I was sort of thinking about them and thinking about some of the family members and the friends that were interviewed as part of these podcasts and thinking about what their reaction would be to having these cases reopened. And so then I started thinking about the character of Micah and what her reaction would be just because she's in such a weird sort of like nebulous spot. Like she doesn't really know how she feels about Emily and Emily's death. Like Emily was her best friend, but, um, but also Emily was, was, um, having an affair

with Alex, her boyfriend. And, and then Alex was her boyfriend. So she's in sort of this weird, like she has this relationship to the, at least the, um, the purported murder. Right. Um, so, so I just started trying to think about like what her reaction would be. to like this new attention. And it sort of came from there.

Nice. So if you were going to cast the main characters for TV or a movie, do you have any ideas who you would cast for the main characters? I have some ideas. So I've got two small kids. So my like movie knowledge is really out of being at this point. I think like Emma Stone could be fun for Micah. Yeah.

I was trying to think of Brian. And the best person I could come up with is like Toby McGuire, but he's almost 50 now. That's a good point. So there's a young version of him. And then I recently, I'm like really behind on this, but I recently, have you watched Yellow Jackets? Yes. I was going to say that this book, like if you enjoyed that TV show, you would enjoy the

book. It kind of reminded me of parts of it. It's so good. I just started it. Yeah. Misty, Christina Ricci's character. Yes. I feel like I've been like thinking about Julia while watching her character.

Yeah. So I can get her to do that for a TV show or movie. That would be. That would be so cool. Yeah, she, that role, like, she just plays it so perfectly. She's amazing. The whole way through it is. She's fantastic in that.

So what do you, would you rather have it be a TV show or a movie if it was going to get picked up or do you really have a preference? I, I feel like I watch a lot more TV shows these days. So I think it could be kind of fun and it could be kind of fun to see how the like characters, the relationships between the characters are developed out in a TV show. Yeah. I always wonder about that because that's like a lot of content. Right.

That's like 10 hours. So the like adaptation from a book TV show seems, seems tricky and I wonder how it works. Yeah. Since I've been kind of asking people that question on the podcast, I've been thinking about it more frequently, like when I'm reading a book. like would this be better for TV or for a movie? And some of them were like it really is kind of more like all happens in one day. I feel like it kind of would be good as a movie. But when I was reading yours too, like there's so much timeline hopping and there is so much going on where I was like, I feel like it could be, this one would be good as a TV show just because there's like so much going on that I feel like you could fill that time.

Oh yeah. I was just going to say one book cat application that I was watching recently was a little. fires everywhere. Yes. And it was kind of cool to see how that, how that happened. I loved the book. Yeah. And I really love the TV show too. Yep. It's fun to see like how TV shows like take things in a different direction because there's a lot added on. Yeah. And a lot more, a lot explored. Yeah. I loved the adaptation and the book. But yeah, I like burned through it on, I think it was Hulu. In like a few days because I was like this, it was so like captivating the way they told it with that. The other one I was watching was what is it called?

Oh, it is, it was on Apple TV. And I don't know why I can't think of it right now, but it had Octavia Spencer in it. And it was another book to TV adaptation. And they even, like, changed the title of it. So, like, the book title was different than the TV title. And then they actually, like, kept writing the second season, like, not without the author necessarily, but they, like, they like continued it on past where she had even written. So it's just fascinating seeing all the different things they do with adaptations. Oh yeah. So we're going to dive into spoilers next. So if you

haven't read the book yet, just pause, go read it and then come listen again. If you have already read the book, obviously you can just keep listening through. So one of the things that I really enjoyed about the book was the disjointed kind of storytelling. So it's kind of set up that the main character is like driving to see someone and she's kind of thinking back on everything that's happened while she's driving. So it allowed you to kind of jump around throughout the timelines. So did you set up the story to tell it that way to kind of like add to the confusion that Micah's feeling or were you just kind of rolling with it and it came to you? It was a little bit of both. So it started out, I started out writing the story. The story was more

linear in the first draft, which was helpful because it, like, sort of helped me figure out, like, what happens in this story, especially since I'm not an outliner. Yeah. But I did, then I, like, finished that draft and was, like, trying to figure out how, how to, like, add more urgency to Micah's situation. Yeah. And, and, and, like, mystery around it. So it did come out of, like, wanting to, sort of wanting to double the story onto itself to,

just to sort of like bring out what was going on like a more yeah it felt like it it definitely felt like it added to like the intensity of like where she was headed because she's also like thinking back on everything that's been happening so I felt like it added to the suspense for sure there were also kind of like multiple references to like being near windows or on balconies and like it as the main character is not as emily who died falling out of a window but references to the other characters being around that, were you kind of using those references to, like, build up the intensity around Emily's death,

or was it just like you were going to kind of keep referencing it? Yeah, that's interesting. The balconies, I was definitely thinking explicitly of Emily's death when I'm writing about those. The windows, I have less in mind, but it is funny how, I know there were like a few different images when I was writing the story where, where I like definitely did not intentionally have them in mind to like to like

force how to what what happens at the end right um but then going back through it and reading it when I was like when I was revising I was like oh these are definitely in here because like because the ending is in mind and it's it's driving toward toward that yeah so it's kind of like he was like already in your head so it was kind of like coming out in other areas right right yeah that's That really makes sense. So did you know from the beginning when you started writing it how Emily was going to die, or did you decide that later on? I didn't.

So I did just start out with Micah and the fact that this death had happened. And it was really more started out thinking about like Micah and her mindset. And so that's why I was so helpful to write it in a linear way first and then go back and change it to sort of help figure things out. And things did change as the drafting went on. and revisions to place. But yeah, but it was kind of fun to like figure it out for myself while writing. That's cool. That's like what I've really enjoyed about talking to multiple different authors is everyone's

approach is everyone has had kind of a different answer in their approach. And some people have said like they write specifically for the twist and so they have to know it when they start it. Right. And then some people are like, no, I just kind of, I like sometimes I write things and I don't even know how I'm going to discover or like explain them at the end of the book and so it's been fascinating just hearing how many different ways you can arrive at a story and finish a story basically oh yeah yeah I think different things work for everyone right so once we kind of mentioned that

you kind of got the idea from listening to true crime podcasts and so once Micah discovers kind of like a true crime blog more than anything, but it's kind of a similar idea. There's kind of some commentary on true crime blogs and also like how they're affecting the family members. So at one point, one of the characters even says it's sensationalized gossip mongering. They dig into these traumatic events like they're just fodder for entertainment and pick apart people who are hurting or recovering or just trying to live their lives. It's disgusting. That's what one of the characters says about it. And it has been something really interesting that I feel like I've heard more in society,

a conversation about it in general lately. Truth be told is the other show that I was just thinking about. And they kind of cover that in the show where it's like are her actions of podcasting, hurting the like the survivors or the people that were involved in the crime. So what are your thoughts on? on true crime blogs and podcasts. Yeah, I think, like, I mean, I think I probably feel similarly to, like, most or a lot of people where I feel a little conflicted about it.

Like, I love them, and I love listening to them. And like I said, when I started listening to this, I was, or started writing this, I was listening to a bunch of them. I'm, like, listening to my favorite murder all the time. And, and I love those shows. But I do, I do feel a little bit, it does feel boy. I mean, it is voyeuristic. It is, yeah.

And I don't think there's any getting away from that. And I feel a little bit like, Micah, I guess. And I'm like, well, but I, like, I'm doing it. So I guess it's okay because, like, I'm doing it and what I do is fine. Right. And so I don't know. I feel like I do rationalize for myself listening to them. Yeah.

But I'm, it's probably not. I don't know. Right. It is something that I sometimes feel bad about. Yeah. It's so tricky. because I don't listen to them necessarily. I haven't really ever gotten into them,

but I read a lot of fiction that is so similar to it. And I hadn't really thought about it, honestly, until I watched Truth Be Told. That was, I was like, oh, yeah. So even if you are just kind of trying to cover a story, you are having to, like, bring up all that pain for people again, I hadn't thought about it at all, kind of just because I necessarily didn't listen to tons of them.

But I read so much that's similar. And so I think sometimes it is a little bit easier to, like, get into a story when you know it's fiction compared to someone else's life. But I feel like there also probably are approaches to it that can still be, like, respectful of the people involved. So I'm sure that still exists out there as well. I think so, too. And I mean, it's, I think it is true that there is, like, good that comes out of it. Like, it is good for some of these cases to get more attention. and it's helpful for people to be like shining lights on some of this stuff.

But, but yeah, I think it depends. And it's the sort of thing that has to be approached carefully. Right. And thoughtfully. Yeah, definitely. So also throughout the book, there are kind of multiple times that Micah is referencing that she was just trying to do the right thing. So kind of when she's talking about not mentioning that she saw Joshua there or telling the

truth that Alex wasn't there. She kind of keeps saying over and over, I was just trying to do the right thing. I was just trying to do the right thing. So what do you think ultimately at the end makes her kind of like not do the right thing when she knows that Alex is innocent, but she isn't necessarily going to do anything to resolve her part in it and or just to like help the police know that he's not. Innocent, what do you think made that change for her? Yeah, I think, well, I think Mike is a rationalizer. And so she is, a lot of the book is about her own rationalizations, her, like her own way of processing what happened in the past.

Yeah. And trying to feel better about what happened and trying to sort of project blame elsewhere. And I think it is, so Micah finds out that it's not Alex, but I think it really is true that there's not a great way for her to help him. without potentially putting herself at risk because she is, she does, like, in some ways she looks guilt and she's there and she knows that like Joshua could say something about, about her, like, presence there if she tries to, if she tries to do the right thing. She's also just like maimed Ryan, so she doesn't look stable.

Yeah. And it really is true that like she could be at a lot of. risk if she went back and did something. And I think it's hard to do the right thing in like that kind of situation. So I think that's why she struggled with it at the end. I think also just from like a narrative perspective, since the book was so much about Micah's rationalization and about like her sort of struggling to come to terms with the fact that she hadn't done the right thing in the past and wasn't doing the right thing now, like breaking

into Julia's house, probably not like actually okay. Yeah. I like it felt like if she like then turned around at the end and did the right thing, then you could still see it as sort of like her hero's journey where she's all these things that she did. Like they might not have been great at the moment, but they still like worked out and she still freed Alex. And so if she had done the right thing at the end, I think it would have like allowed for us

to sort of like rationalize what she had been doing through the book. Yeah. That's sort of why it ended up the way that it did. Yeah, that makes, I did not even catch that. That makes so much sense because it wasn't that she had actually done the right thing. So the fact that she was saying it to herself over and over again was actually more because she knew she hadn't told everything to begin with even. Right. That makes a lot of sense, actually.

So where can people find you and follow you? just kind of like plug whatever you want to plug. Yeah, so I am, I'm most active on Instagram. So my Instagram is Alison Bacola. I'm also on Twitter and not as active, but I'm on there. So that's also Alison Bacola. And my website is also all easy. It's also Alison Bicola.com.

Random House has put together some cool book club kits, and those are on their website and they're on my website. And I'm happy to do like book club appearances or anything. if people have book clubs that are interested. And the book is just available. Right. So, yeah. Awesome.

Well, thank you for coming on the show and talking about your book. Yeah, and then hopefully everybody goes and follows all those so that they can stay updated and see what you have coming up next. Yeah, thank you so much. This is some fun.