I was puzzled by the whole thing.īut my brother kept suggesting “Serial” to me, and so I finally gave it a try. I’m a very visual person, and I couldn’t figure out the appeal of audio-only mediums-I didn’t listen to audiobooks, either! I couldn’t figure out when I was supposed to be listening to podcasts, either. KB: Strangely enough, when I started writing ARE YOU SLEEPING, the only podcast I had listened to was “Serial.” Before “Serial,” I didn’t really get podcasts. Are you a podcast listener yourself? Was it a love of podcasts that prompted you to incorporate this element into your thriller? Poppy Parnell, the podcast’s host, has her own story, but it wasn’t the one I wanted to tell at this point.ĬBTB: Speaking of podcast hosts: your fictional podcast host Poppy Parnell seems so lifelike-I could practically hear her voice in my head while I read the “transcripts” of her show. I imagined it would feel really invasive, and I wanted to explore that in the characters. Reading so many theories about the case and its participants, almost all of which were extended by casual podcast listeners with no investigative training, made me think about how this constant discussion would affect the people involved in the case-or any case that drew a lot of media attention. KB: My decision to write from this perspective had a lot to do with how I myself consumed “Serial.” When I was listening to the podcast and reading about the underlying case, I spent a lot of time hanging out in corners of the internet where armchair sleuths gather-places like the dedicated subreddit and other forums. Could you share a bit about this decision? Why not write a psychological thriller focused on the podcast host?
KB: This is such a hard question! Tangled, exposed, tense.ĬBTB: I’m an avid listener of true crime podcasts, so naturally my personal favorite element of this book is the homage it pays to those shows! ARE YOU SLEEPING flips the script on true crime podcasts, focusing on the podcast’s subject rather than the podcast’s host. That realization really inspired me to think about what it’s like to be on the other side of a popular case like this-one where the incident has crossed over from the realm of criminal justice to that of pop culture.ĬBTB: If you could describe ARE YOU SLEEPING in three adjectives, which adjectives would you choose? I was so invested in the podcast that I almost forgot it wasn’t just telling an interesting story-it was describing a very real tragedy that had happened to some very real people. I spent a huge amount of time that fall thinking, reading, and talking about not only the podcast but about the underlying case. Kathleen Barber: Thanks so much! I’m huge fan of your site, so I’m delighted to be included! I’ve actually been writing drafts about ARE YOU SLEEPING’s protagonist Josie and her twin sister Lanie for years-but I didn’t find the story I thought they deserved until I started listening to the “Serial.” I got hooked during the first season-the one investigating the 1999 murder of Baltimore high school student Hae Min Lee. Let’s start at the beginning - what inspired you to write ARE YOU SLEEPING? Crime by the Book: First things first: congratulations on your debut thriller, Kathleen! I absolutely loved ARE YOU SLEEPING, and am just thrilled to have this Q&A up on Crime by the Book.
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