Q&A with Steph Mullin and Nicole Mabry
Authors Steph Mullin and Nicole Mabry discuss their novel The Family Tree—which releases in paperback today—and share their incredible publishing journey.
Where did the idea for The Family Tree come from? Have either/both of you had shocking DNA results?
Like the rest of the world, Steph and I had both been following the Golden State Killer case for years. When he was finally captured using DNA Forensic Genealogy, we knew the world of criminal investigations had changed drastically and in turn, would cause a new trend in thrillers. We knew someone would write this book and we wanted to get there first and tell it in a really unique way, so we both put our solo projects on hold and dove in. Steph had already done an ancestry kit, and like Andie in our book, the results were what she expected, mostly Italian. Nicole hadn’t done one initially, so her mom got her a kit for Christmas right when we started writing. So far, she hasn’t found anything earth shattering but her cousin did find a long-lost sister when he did his!
What should readers expect from The Family Tree?
Sue Watson, USA Today bestselling author, called it “a serial killer story with heart.” That’s exactly what readers can expect. On the one hand, you have a personal journey of self-discovery and how one’s family and culture affect our sense of identity. On the other hand, you have glimpses into the serial killer’s actions through the lens of the victims and how their relationships with each other changed and developed as they go through a traumatic ordeal. In the end, our 40-year timeline converges with our present-day timeline to reveal the monster lurking in the shadows.
As a huge fan of Criminal Minds, this book sounds right up my alley! Which CM character would you say Liz is most like?
Ooh great question as both of us love that show! We’d say Liz is most like Garcia because she’s like a dog with a bone when she’s looking for answers. She’ll uncover every stone in her search and keep digging until she finds the truth. Garcia is like that with technology, searching into the far reaches of the internet to find clues, and Liz is a sleuth in her own right, especially when it comes to social media.
How did you end up collaborating?
About nine years ago, we met while working together as part of a photo editing department. When Nicole started writing her debut solo novel, Past This Point, Steph admitted that it had always been a dream of hers to write a book as well. So Nicole asked Steph to beta read for her and Steph starting writing her own novel, which Nicole read for her. It became clear very quickly as we gave each other notes and feedback that we had exact opposite strengths and we joked about how if we could just combine into one single author it would be perfect. Areas Nicole struggles with, Steph excels at and vice versa. So Nicole started lobbing ideas at Steph for several years, looking for the plot we both felt was the perfect fit to write together, when GSK was captured using familial DNA. Late one night, Nicole called Steph and said, “A thriller involving 23andMe. Go!” Steph immediately loved the idea and within the next hour, we both came up with almost the exact same plot. We decided to go full throttle on this idea and our partnership. And thus The Family Tree was born!
What was your co-writing process? (Some pairs tend to alternate chapters, others literally write over each other at the same time)?
This was our first hurdle. Nicole was in a debut authors group and there were a couple of writing duos there. She asked them how they handled it, but their books really lent to dual POV’s in alternating chapters so they split the work up that way. While we planned on having alternating chapters, we always intended for the victims’ chapters to be shorter, so we couldn’t easily split it up that way. We just started from scratch to create our own process and had to learn as we go. First, we created an incredibly detailed outline, with how each chapter started and ended so we could work independently and out of order. Then we just started claiming chapters that were speaking to us and that we felt enthusiastic about writing. When we were done claiming the ones we wanted to write, that left several difficult chapters both of us were intimidated by. So we counted up how many we each had already claimed, and did the math to work out how to divvy up the rest for an even split. Then as we wrote our chapters, we uploaded them to a Dropbox link and we’d each grab the others’ chapters to heavily edit them and add to them, making it so every chapter was a blend of both of our voices. It was important to both of us that we each touched every chapter so that it sounded cohesive, as if one person had written it. We weren’t sure if this process would work, but so far it has been great. We’ve made small adjustments over time to fit our needs but for the most part, this has remained our process.
You've had quite the publishing journey! What has the process been like for you? What's been the best part?
A: The publishing process has been a bit of a roller coaster for us. We had a finished book by February 2020 and began enthusiastically querying agents. Right out of the gate, we had great response and a lot of full manuscript requests. But as COVID became more invasive and things started to lock down in March 2020, all the interest dried up and agents were telling us publishers didn’t want dark content during such an awful time. We completely understood, but it was a devastating wall to hit and we weren’t sure how to pivot. Should we put it on a shelf until things got better or keep pushing? Finally at a low point for us, Steph suggested throwing our hat in the PitMad ring. Several times a year, there is a pitch event on Twitter where authors can tweet a pitch for their book a few times on PitMad day, and if an agent or publisher likes the tweet, it’s an invitation to submit. Our editor at Avon | HarperCollins UK found us on there. We sent her our manuscript on a Friday and she read it over a weekend. We started working with her on edits and discussing contracts and book 2 ideas the following week and it was a complete kismet moment that felt very meant-to-be. This process has been a crazy year of incredible highs and lows, but we are grateful to have found a home for our book during such a tumultuous time for the world and come out with a 2-book deal, all from a Tweet.
Are you working on a second co-written novel? Do you have plans to write solo novels in the future as well?
A: Yes! We are in the final copyedit stage of book 2 before it gets typeset into a real book format. We had sold The Family Tree in a two-book deal, so the second book was sold on an elevator pitch of a very general concept. It is not a sequel to The Family Tree and is in fact very different than our first book. For the past year we’ve been writing that novel, which leans more into psychological suspense with a very character and setting driven plot. It’s a new style for both of us to write so we were a little intimidated going in, but we really wanted to challenge ourselves as creators and knew this was a type of book we would devour as readers. Now that it’s almost done, we love the book and can’t wait for you all to read it. It’s titled When She Disappeared and is set to release in all versions in the UK in March 2022, with a simultaneous US e-book, and the US paperback to follow. We both have solo novels in progress that we put on a shelf when we started writing The Family Tree. Steph was already done and part-way through editing while Nicole was about 2/3 done with her own. We do plan on going back to those projects some day and fully support each other in our solo careers. Right now though, we are having so much fun collaborating and the ideas keep coming so we decided to ride this train as far as it would go and prioritize our partnership as long as it’s still working well for us. We have some ideas brewing for book 3 and are anxious to start on that one soon. We hope to have a long career as co-authors with many more dark and twisty stories!
About The Family Tree
Liz Catalano is shocked when an ancestry kit reveals she’s adopted. But she could never have imagined connecting with her unknown family would plunge her into an FBI investigation of a notorious serial killer…
The Tri-State Killer has been abducting pairs of women for forty years, leaving no clues behind – only bodies.
Can Liz figure out who the killer in her new family is? And can she save his newest victims before it’s too late?
About the authors
Steph Mullin and Nicole Mabry met as co-workers in New York City in 2012, discovering a shared passion for writing and true crime. After Steph relocated to Charlotte, North Carolina in 2018, they continued to collaborate creatively. Separated by five states, they spend countless hours scheming via FaceTime and editing each other’s typos in real time on live Google Docs. Steph’s dream of becoming a writer started at age six, followed by winning scholastic writing awards and crafting articles for her university literary magazine. She currently works as Creative Director for a Media, Entertainment and Digital Marketing Solutions company. Nicole works in television as Senior Manager of Post Production in the photography department. She is the author of Past This Point (2019), an award-winning apocalyptic women’s fiction novel. Past This Point was chosen as Best Book of the Year by Indies Today and won first place in the Global Thriller division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards. The Family Tree is the writing duo's first co-authored crime novel.