It gives me great pleasure to welcome Emilya Naymark onto the website today. Her debut novel Hide in Place, was described by Publishers Weekly as "An original, satisfying roller-coaster ride for domestic suspense fans."
Alex: Tell me a bit about yourself, Emilya.
Emilya: I was born in Russia when it was still communist and emigrated with my parents while a child. We were stateless for five months, living as refugees in Italy, on the outskirts of Rome, until one of several countries granted us a visa. To my eternal gratitude, the country that let us in was the United States, and we settled in New York.
Although I knew only two English words when we arrived (table and candlestick, don’t ask), I picked up the language very fast and went from understanding absolutely nothing in fourth grade to writing weekly short stories for my spelling homework in fifth grade.
I always read voraciously, but didn’t consider writing professionally, or even seriously until long after art school. My career as an illustrator/graphic designer/web developer has been an excellent choice for me, but eventually I needed a more intense and personal way to express myself creatively.
I took writing classes, and my very first exercise turned into my first published short story. Many classes, workshops, two finished novels and three unfinished ones later, I wrote Hide in Place, which landed me an agent, a publisher, and became my debut in February 2021. The sequel, Behind the Lie, is due February 2022.
Alex: Tell me a bit about yourself, Emilya.
Emilya: I was born in Russia when it was still communist and emigrated with my parents while a child. We were stateless for five months, living as refugees in Italy, on the outskirts of Rome, until one of several countries granted us a visa. To my eternal gratitude, the country that let us in was the United States, and we settled in New York.
Although I knew only two English words when we arrived (table and candlestick, don’t ask), I picked up the language very fast and went from understanding absolutely nothing in fourth grade to writing weekly short stories for my spelling homework in fifth grade.
I always read voraciously, but didn’t consider writing professionally, or even seriously until long after art school. My career as an illustrator/graphic designer/web developer has been an excellent choice for me, but eventually I needed a more intense and personal way to express myself creatively.
I took writing classes, and my very first exercise turned into my first published short story. Many classes, workshops, two finished novels and three unfinished ones later, I wrote Hide in Place, which landed me an agent, a publisher, and became my debut in February 2021. The sequel, Behind the Lie, is due February 2022.
Alex: How would you describe your writing, and are there particular themes that you like to explore?
Emilya: In everything I do creatively, I’m drawn to the dark stuff. As an artist, I illustrated magazine articles and books on depression, mental illness, AIDS, drug addiction, and crime. My art lent itself to those themes by default.
I believe everyone is capable of awful deeds, given the right—or wrong—circumstances. What I like to explore is how a person living an unremarkable life comes to a fork and is forced by those circumstances to take the path they would never have taken otherwise. Even better if an inner fault line dictates the choice.
I write crime, sometimes from the point of view of a cop, sometimes a criminal. Sometimes both in one. I love burrowing deep into a character and watching them squirm against the hardships I throw at them.
Alex: Are you a writer that plans a detailed synopsis or do you set out with a vague idea and let the story unfold as you write?
Emilya: I need an outline. Sometimes I take months to write an outline because I also need to understand my characters to know how the outline will work. I end up doing many, many, many character studies and hours of research as I outline. Then, finally, the writing can begin. But wait! Another outline. Usually, about half-way through, I need to stop and re-outline because my characters begin to laugh or become befuddled at what I thought they’d be doing.
Ultimately, it’s a collaboration between them and me. And they come first.
Emilya: In everything I do creatively, I’m drawn to the dark stuff. As an artist, I illustrated magazine articles and books on depression, mental illness, AIDS, drug addiction, and crime. My art lent itself to those themes by default.
I believe everyone is capable of awful deeds, given the right—or wrong—circumstances. What I like to explore is how a person living an unremarkable life comes to a fork and is forced by those circumstances to take the path they would never have taken otherwise. Even better if an inner fault line dictates the choice.
I write crime, sometimes from the point of view of a cop, sometimes a criminal. Sometimes both in one. I love burrowing deep into a character and watching them squirm against the hardships I throw at them.
Alex: Are you a writer that plans a detailed synopsis or do you set out with a vague idea and let the story unfold as you write?
Emilya: I need an outline. Sometimes I take months to write an outline because I also need to understand my characters to know how the outline will work. I end up doing many, many, many character studies and hours of research as I outline. Then, finally, the writing can begin. But wait! Another outline. Usually, about half-way through, I need to stop and re-outline because my characters begin to laugh or become befuddled at what I thought they’d be doing.
Ultimately, it’s a collaboration between them and me. And they come first.
Alex: Tell us about your latest novel.
Emilya: Here's the blurb:
P.I. Laney Bird is in a fight to save lives when a vanished friend becomes prime suspect after a block party turns deadly
How two women will sacrifice everything for their families
Hudson Valley, NY—Emilya Naymark returns to Sylvan with a page-turning domestic suspense, Behind the Lie (Crooked Lane Books, Feb. 8, 2022), where Laney’s closest friend vanishes in the aftermath of a shooting which may implicate Laney’s son.
Following a transplant to the upstate New York hamlet of Sylvan, all Laney wants is a peaceful life for herself and her son. But things rarely remain calm in Laney’s life—and when her neighborhood summer block party explodes in shocking violence and ends with the disappearance of her friend and another woman, she’ll need all her skills as a PI to solve a mystery that reaches far beyond her small town.
As people closest to Laney fall under suspicion, the local authorities and even her colleagues question her own complicity. And then there’s fifteen-year-old Alfie, her complicated and enigmatic son, obviously hiding something. Even as Laney struggles to bury evidence of her boy’s involvement, his cagey behavior rings every maternal alarm.
Laney’s personal life unravels as she’s drawn into her missing friend’s dark secrets and she realizes she and Alfie are in danger. With treachery blazing hot as the searing summer sun, Laney fights to save lives, her family’s included.
A story that will keep you guessing until the very end, Behind the Lie will not only grip readers, but also reveals the desperately true decisions women make for the sake of their families.
Alex: What was the first book you read?
Emilya: Probably The Adventures of Buratino, which is the Russian version of Pinocchio. I was an embarrassingly late reader and didn’t really learn until I was six. I was seven before I began reading for pleasure, and then I read voraciously, progressing to the classics in a few years. Russian schools taught by memorization. Starting with first grade, memorizing epic poetry became my gateway drug to fantasy and science fiction.
Alex: How much research do you do and what does it usually entail?
Emilya: I do a great deal of research, to the point that I can’t write unless I really understand something. For my debut novel, Hide in Place, I sat down with an undercover detective and had him walk me through every single step of a buy and bust. I needed to know the minutest details of before, during, and after. I didn’t put it all into the book, but I knew it. For example, did you know street narcotics need to be tested when they’re brought back to the precinct after a buy? If the dealer sold baking powder instead of cocaine, the charges against them will be different. For Behind the Lie I had in-depth conversations with a pharmaceutical research scientist, a psychiatrist, and a cop.
I use Google and Google Earth, but I also buy books relating to what I’m writing and download articles. I have the entire thousand-plus page NYPD patrolman’s guide on my hard drive. Fascinating stuff.
Alex: Do you ever base your characters on people you have encountered in real life?
Emilya: The cases my undercover detective worked in Hide in Place were very much based on my husband’s cases when he was an undercover with the NYPD. All of my characters are filtered through my own sensibilities to a degree. In Behind the Lie, I based the opening block party on the parties my neighborhood used to have before the pandemic. There was one where nearly six hundred people congregated on our block. Rather than people, I mostly use places and situations I’ve encountered or heard about. I generally stay away from fictionalizing real human beings. That doesn’t end well.
Alex: Which was the last book you read that blew you away?
Emilya: The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz. I couldn’t put it down. It’s bitingly funny and very clever.
Alex: How do you market your books?
Emilya: For Hide in Place, I did a blog tour and mostly hollered on social media about my good reviews. For Behind the Lie, I hired a marketing team, and I’m in the throes of beginning promotion right now.
Alex: What are your interests aside from writing? And what do you do to unwind?
Emilya: Reading, hiking, art, films, music. If I’m not curled up with a book, I’m going for a long walk among the trees, going to a museum, or, back when it was possible, concerts. Also, lots of Netflix.
Alex: Which authors do you particularly admire and why?
Emilya: I love any author whose work can transport me and make me feel for a character.
Tana French, Brett Easton Ellis, Donna Tartt, Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, Margaret Atwood, Samuel R. Delaney, Michail Bulgakov, Susanna Clarke, Lisa Jewell, T.C. Boyle, John Boyne, Anne Rice, William Burroughs, Ken Kesey, Paul Bowles, Gillian Flynn, Stieg Larsson, Patricia Highsmith, Arthur Conan Doyle, Liane Moriarty, J.K. Rowling, Truman Capote, Jennifer Egan...
Alex: Thank you so much, Emilya for sharing your writing journey with us. Interesting that you hail from an artistic background. You remind me of me. LOL. (In fact, both my maternal and paternal lineages stretch back to Russia, too.) I love the sound of your books. I shall keep an eye out for Behind the Lie.
Emilya: Thank you Alex. I really appreciate being included in this incredible line-up of authors.
Emilya: Here's the blurb:
P.I. Laney Bird is in a fight to save lives when a vanished friend becomes prime suspect after a block party turns deadly
How two women will sacrifice everything for their families
Hudson Valley, NY—Emilya Naymark returns to Sylvan with a page-turning domestic suspense, Behind the Lie (Crooked Lane Books, Feb. 8, 2022), where Laney’s closest friend vanishes in the aftermath of a shooting which may implicate Laney’s son.
Following a transplant to the upstate New York hamlet of Sylvan, all Laney wants is a peaceful life for herself and her son. But things rarely remain calm in Laney’s life—and when her neighborhood summer block party explodes in shocking violence and ends with the disappearance of her friend and another woman, she’ll need all her skills as a PI to solve a mystery that reaches far beyond her small town.
As people closest to Laney fall under suspicion, the local authorities and even her colleagues question her own complicity. And then there’s fifteen-year-old Alfie, her complicated and enigmatic son, obviously hiding something. Even as Laney struggles to bury evidence of her boy’s involvement, his cagey behavior rings every maternal alarm.
Laney’s personal life unravels as she’s drawn into her missing friend’s dark secrets and she realizes she and Alfie are in danger. With treachery blazing hot as the searing summer sun, Laney fights to save lives, her family’s included.
A story that will keep you guessing until the very end, Behind the Lie will not only grip readers, but also reveals the desperately true decisions women make for the sake of their families.
Alex: What was the first book you read?
Emilya: Probably The Adventures of Buratino, which is the Russian version of Pinocchio. I was an embarrassingly late reader and didn’t really learn until I was six. I was seven before I began reading for pleasure, and then I read voraciously, progressing to the classics in a few years. Russian schools taught by memorization. Starting with first grade, memorizing epic poetry became my gateway drug to fantasy and science fiction.
Alex: How much research do you do and what does it usually entail?
Emilya: I do a great deal of research, to the point that I can’t write unless I really understand something. For my debut novel, Hide in Place, I sat down with an undercover detective and had him walk me through every single step of a buy and bust. I needed to know the minutest details of before, during, and after. I didn’t put it all into the book, but I knew it. For example, did you know street narcotics need to be tested when they’re brought back to the precinct after a buy? If the dealer sold baking powder instead of cocaine, the charges against them will be different. For Behind the Lie I had in-depth conversations with a pharmaceutical research scientist, a psychiatrist, and a cop.
I use Google and Google Earth, but I also buy books relating to what I’m writing and download articles. I have the entire thousand-plus page NYPD patrolman’s guide on my hard drive. Fascinating stuff.
Alex: Do you ever base your characters on people you have encountered in real life?
Emilya: The cases my undercover detective worked in Hide in Place were very much based on my husband’s cases when he was an undercover with the NYPD. All of my characters are filtered through my own sensibilities to a degree. In Behind the Lie, I based the opening block party on the parties my neighborhood used to have before the pandemic. There was one where nearly six hundred people congregated on our block. Rather than people, I mostly use places and situations I’ve encountered or heard about. I generally stay away from fictionalizing real human beings. That doesn’t end well.
Alex: Which was the last book you read that blew you away?
Emilya: The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz. I couldn’t put it down. It’s bitingly funny and very clever.
Alex: How do you market your books?
Emilya: For Hide in Place, I did a blog tour and mostly hollered on social media about my good reviews. For Behind the Lie, I hired a marketing team, and I’m in the throes of beginning promotion right now.
Alex: What are your interests aside from writing? And what do you do to unwind?
Emilya: Reading, hiking, art, films, music. If I’m not curled up with a book, I’m going for a long walk among the trees, going to a museum, or, back when it was possible, concerts. Also, lots of Netflix.
Alex: Which authors do you particularly admire and why?
Emilya: I love any author whose work can transport me and make me feel for a character.
Tana French, Brett Easton Ellis, Donna Tartt, Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, Margaret Atwood, Samuel R. Delaney, Michail Bulgakov, Susanna Clarke, Lisa Jewell, T.C. Boyle, John Boyne, Anne Rice, William Burroughs, Ken Kesey, Paul Bowles, Gillian Flynn, Stieg Larsson, Patricia Highsmith, Arthur Conan Doyle, Liane Moriarty, J.K. Rowling, Truman Capote, Jennifer Egan...
Alex: Thank you so much, Emilya for sharing your writing journey with us. Interesting that you hail from an artistic background. You remind me of me. LOL. (In fact, both my maternal and paternal lineages stretch back to Russia, too.) I love the sound of your books. I shall keep an eye out for Behind the Lie.
Emilya: Thank you Alex. I really appreciate being included in this incredible line-up of authors.
