TB Markinson & Miranda MacLeod - The AM Show
For our May 2022 meeting of the SapphFic Book Club, we discussed The AM Show by TB Markinson and Miranda MacLeod. If you weren't able to make it, check out the transcript below.
A couple of notes on the transcript:
If you want to join us live, we discuss sapphic novels every month at http://sapphficbookclub.com (sign up or follow me on Twitter to find out what we're reading next). Some chat participants requested that their names be obscured, so below you'll see that everyone has been anonymized as Reader 1, Reader 2, etc.
Reader 1 4:06 PM
What was the hardest thing to research for the book?
TB Markinson 4:07 PM
I'm the research nerd and I love media, so I've been "researching" this topic for years
Miranda MacLeod 4:07 PM
Luckily for me, TB is a news junkie, so she had been reading up on news programs behind the scenes for years. I knew nothing!
Reader 2 4:07 PM
Makes me have a healthy respect for news casters and their crazy work hours.
TB Markinson 1 day ago
I used to do newspaper routes and got up every day at 3am for years. Every single day.
Miranda MacLeod 4:07 PM
The most fun was looking up NYC horse drawn carriage routes, and “shopping” for real estate.
TB Markinson 4:08 PM
While I read books on media moguls for fun and exercise while watching countless documentaries
Reader 3 4:08 PM
Did you read Katie Couric’s autobiography in the making of? There were a few details in there that reminded me of her
TB Markinson 4:08 PM
I haven't read Katie's book, but I read a few books about her. I also like her podcast, although I haven't listened to that in a while
Miranda MacLeod 4:09 PM
I remember we used blogs, too, from people who had waited outside to get a good spot for GMA to hold signs in front of the window.
Reader 4. 4:09 PM
Was there a different reporter or tv personality you saw when you wrote your characters?
TB Markinson 4:10 PM
I'm not the most visual writer. That's Miranda's doing.
Miranda MacLeod 4:11 PM
Physically, not exactly, although in a way I was picturing all the Fox News blondes. Not their personalities, just that idea of knowing there are a dozen younger ones waiting in the wings.
I will say, our cover designer did such a good job making it look like a real morning show poster.
Reader 5 1 day ago
I appreciated the women besting the creeps in this book
TB Markinson 1 day ago
It was important to have the women win. News/media has been dominated by bad men. I'm sick of it
Reader 6 4:16 PM
I have to say a burning question of mine is how you two divide the work up? What process do you follow in writing or does it change based on the book?
Miranda MacLeod 4:20 PM
So, we start with an idea that we work on together in a rough outline. Then we do a morning video call and discuss it chapter by chapter. TB writes the first draft of the chapter, passes it to me, and I do the second draft. Wash, rinse, repeat, with every chapter.
Reader 2 4:20 PM
The ex wife was pretty cruel and brutal. I would have liked her to get some karma. Then again she was hooked up with Santa Claus, so there's that. Yuck.
Miranda MacLeod 1 day ago
Low rent mall Santa was definitely her karmic payback.
Reader 3 1 day ago
Agreed. The opening wedding scene was a masterpiece in how to be mean to your character to make people instantly start rooting for them. So brutal.
Miranda MacLeod 1 day ago
She’s a star, and rich and gorgeous. If we didn’t torture her, you would hate her.
Reader 6 4:23 PM
Where you two friends first or co-authors first?
Miranda MacLeod 4:23 PM
Fun fact, we’ve known each other since 6th grade
We actually did not realize at first that we knew each other because TB had moved away in high school and we lost touch, plus both use pen names. So we reconnected as established authors and only then realized we’d been friends back in the day!
Reader 7 4:24 PM
I was wondering if you know the characters in your head before they ever make it to the page?
TB Markinson 1 day ago
To a certain extent but I get to know them the more I dig into their heads
Miranda MacLeod 1 day ago
This is something that has been a work in progress and has gotten better with the more recent books. We now have a list of questions we answer about their needs and motivations that helps a lot in plotting the story and staying true to character.
TB Markinson 1 day ago
Miranda is big on the list of questions. I'm like, "let's see how it works out!"
Miranda MacLeod 1 day ago
TB likes to accuse me of “needing to know what kind of tree they would be” before we can start.
Reader 7 1 day ago
I’m sure that helps your creation, no?
TB Markinson 1 day ago
It helps Miranda. I'm not the touchy-feely type. Too many weird therapy sessions in my 20s that didn't help at all.
Reader 1 4:24 PM
If reality turned out to be one huge simulation (whether digital, crafted from within a pocket of reality, or other) and you found a backdoor access to the administration privileges and could edit yourself to be anyone or anything you wanted what would you choose to do or who would you choose to be?
Miranda MacLeod 1 day ago
I’m going to have to go with Queen Elizabeth because I just want to know what it’s like to wander around Buckingham Palace in a robe and slippers and no one arresting me. Also, she has corgis.
TB Markinson 1 day ago
Is this in general or related to the book? I'm a history nerd, so...
Reader 1 1 day ago
This is in general.
TB Markinson 1 day ago
I'd have to go with Ida Tarbel, a muckraker who took on JD Rockefeller
My first response was Abraham Lincoln, but I wouldn't look good in the hat
Reader 3 4:27 PM
What do you think would happen if Miranda wrote first and TB did the second draft? No biggie or would everything start burning?
TB Markinson 1 day ago
We have different strengths and I don't fear the blank page. Miranda is better at polish
Miranda MacLeod 1 day ago
We would still be on the first draft of AM Show
Reader 6 4:29 PM
Ok so based on your writing process answer I just have to make a hard turn and ask if you followed/are following that in your serial?
Miranda MacLeod 1 day ago
Yes, at a much faster pace. Sometimes as we are discussing what happens that day, TB is already typing.
Reader 6 1 day ago
I kept imagining you divided the characters up and each owned two main or something.
Miranda MacLeod 1 day ago
No, much more integrated than that
Reader 3 1 day ago
That’s impressive multi-tasking
Miranda MacLeod 1 day ago
This is why she gets first draft
I’m like “I can’t write if I can hear a sound outside”.
TB Markinson 1 day ago
A lot of it is me simply transcribing what Miranda says. My 7th grade typing class paying off!
Reader 6 1 day ago
To be a very silent fly on the wall as this magic happens!
Miranda MacLeod 1 day ago
We’ve considered recording it just so you all can hear the good-natured obscenities we throw at each other.
TB Markinson 1 day ago
There's a lot of joking and laughing
Reader 3 4:34 PM
Do you come up with fancasts/celebrity lookalikes for your books? Who are Amanda and Dakota?
Miranda MacLeod 1 day ago
I spent a long time looking for the models we used for Dakota and Amanda, and they had to be stock images in that case since we wanted them on the cover. I believe Dakota is a Ukrainian model, which means I’ve been wondering about the real woman a lot lately, hoping she’s okay.
TB Markinson 1 day ago
I can't remember now. This was 3 or 4 books ago. After each book, I tilt my head and dump everything about the characters out.
Reader 3 4:34 PM
And follow-up, if one of your books was turned into a movie, would you want to direct and/or have an on-screen role in the movie?
TB Markinson 1 day ago
I would want nothing to do with the movie. Growing up in Southern California turned me off making movies.
Reader 3 1 day ago
Just the whole culture of it?
Miranda MacLeod 1 day ago
We went to a weird school. Our classmates included a soap opera star and an olympic medalist swimmer.
TB Markinson 1 day ago
Yep. I was glad to leave California behind and the pressure to be perfect
Miranda MacLeod 1 day ago
I would want to be on set but not in the film.
TB Markinson 1 day ago
Our high school was intense, but I moved to Colorado my freshman year
Miranda has film experience. I do not. She can be in charge of the film.
Miranda MacLeod 1 day ago
Yes, I sewed hems in costumes for a Denzel Washington movie! I did not get to meet Denzel.
I did graduate work in costume production at BU. My teacher worked on costumes for Fried Green Tomatoes, which basically elevated her to god-like status.
Reader 1 4:41 PM
If one of your books was turned into a movie, which one would you hope would be turned into a movie?
Miranda MacLeod 1 day ago
Good question! I actually think Two of a Kind would be a perfect romcom, but we also have a Christmas one planned for the end of this year that is going to be written in the style of a Hallmark Christmas movie.
TB Markinson 1 day ago
I vote for the Christmas one, only because I'm melting right now and snow sounds lovely
Reader 7 1 day ago
I loved Two of a Kind because i am a Montanan girl at heart.
TB Markinson 1 day ago
I spent many summers in Yellowstone as a kid. I love the West.
Reader 4. 4:43 PM
If this one was, who would play the characters?!?
Miranda MacLeod 1 day ago
This is hard because my brain is really still stuck in the 1990s, so I can only think of people who were perfect 25+ years ago…
TB Markinson 1 day ago
At least you can remember names. All I can say, is that one in that one movie... it had something to do with aliens or something
Miranda MacLeod 1 day ago
Like, as proof, my cousin made a dessert recently for a get together that we’ve all been calling “better than Robert Redford” cake since about 1989, and the younger ones were all like “who is Robert Redford?”
See, my grandma was the one who found the recipe, and she made no secret that if Robert Redford, or Bob as she called him, arrived at the door, she would leave grandpa in a heartbeat and he would just have to accept it. For his part, my grandfather wasn’t concerned about the competition.
And he did like the cake.
Reader 4. 4:43 PM
Sorry. I fan-cast them and am slightly obsessed. Lol
Miranda MacLeod 1 day ago
Who did you choose?
Reader 4. 1 day ago
Michelle Williams as Amanda. I know she is a bit too young, But it works in my head.
Reader 2 1 day ago
I'd say Jennifer Aniston for Amanda.
Maybe Emma Stone for Dakota
Reader 3 1 day ago
How about my girl Charlize for Amanda?
Reader 5 1 day ago
Cameron Diaz could maybe be a good Amanda
Reader 3 1 day ago
I’m gonna throw out Elle Fanning for Dakota - I’m low-key obsessed with her thanks to The Great
Reader 4. 1 day ago
I said Dakota fanning initially for dakota, but I thought that was a bit too on the nose.
Reader 3 1 day ago
So who did you pick for Dakota, Reader 4? You never said
Reader 4. 1 day ago
I cannot spell her name. Chloe grace moretz (?) or Dakota Fanning.
Reader 1 4:47 PM
What was your favorite scene to write in this book?
Miranda MacLeod 1 day ago
Definitely the ending reveal of who Brenda actually is.
Although I also liked writing scenes in Amanda’s penthouse because it’s based on a real one that was on the market when we were writing and I got to flip through all the realtor images as I wrote.
Reader 5 1 day ago
Wait. The breakfast kitchen is real??
TB Markinson 1 day ago
I enjoyed the wedding bit. Lots of humor.
Miranda MacLeod 1 day ago
I think the penthouse had three kitchens!
TB Markinson 1 day ago
The place Miranda found online was insane.
Miranda MacLeod 1 day ago
It was two full floors, or maybe three. Private elevator entrances. Views everywhere. It was crazy.
Reader 5 1 day ago
I'm glad the ex-wife didn't get the fancy condo in the divorce
Miranda MacLeod 1 day ago
The good part was we found a place Amanda could have afforded back when she got the job, and the real building also had a small unit in Dakota’s hypothetical price range, so it worked.
Reader 5 4:54 PM
Did you know that there would be this evil plot to defeat when you started writing? Or did you start with the characters and setting and go from there?
Miranda MacLeod 1 day ago
So, we hit the middle and had a crisis because we were so tired of stories where the dark moment is a breakup scene. So we wanted them to be united against something else, and that was when the evil plot kicked in.
TB Markinson 1 day ago
Is that how we came up with it?
Miranda MacLeod 1 day ago
It is!
Reader 1 1 day ago
I'm quite happy you didn't go with the break-up scene.
Miranda MacLeod 1 day ago
Sometimes a breakup makes sense, but in this case it just wasn’t working.
TB Markinson 1 day ago
We try to mix things up
Reader 5 1 day ago
I admit that I kind of felt for the villain a little. She did keep getting passed up for promotions. And by a chicken farmer!
Miranda MacLeod 1 day ago
I met Gwen Hayes at a conference a few years ago. She’s the one who wrote “Romancing the Beat,” which a lot of authors use to help plot romance. we got into a bit of a discussion about whether the breakup was necessary. She said yes and I said not always.
TB Markinson 1 day ago
We're writers and make shit up for a living. There are a100 different ways to tell one story.
Reader 4. 5:02 PM
If you could go back and change 1 thing about the book, what would it be?
Miranda MacLeod 1 day ago
I would cut out the six weeks I spent not being able to write the middle part because I hated everything about it. Which is apparently part of my process, I’ve been told.
TB Markinson 1 day ago
Can I vote yes on that...?
I'm the one responsible for getting projects to the editor on time
Miranda MacLeod 1 day ago
I actually had to send it to Em to read halfway through to tell me it did not suck.
TB Markinson 1 day ago
I remember my opinion did not count
Miranda MacLeod 1 day ago
You’re responsible for deadlines! You would lie!
TB Markinson 1 day ago
I'm always honest when I don't like something. You call me out on my brutal honesty all the time
Reader 7 1 day ago
Are you ok when Miranda calls you out.
TB Markinson 1 day ago
Yep. Neither of us are shy about what we think. It helps going back so many years.
Miranda MacLeod 1 day ago
We were even born in the same hospital, as it turns out.
TB Markinson 1 day ago
7 weeks apart, but Miranda is the older one and loves it when I call her old lady
Miranda MacLeod 1 day ago
I will take that as a compliment, because it’s actually 9 weeks.
Reader 4. 5:09 PM
Oh, this made my day.
Reader 3 5:13 PM
Yes, this was great - thank you so much for joining us, Miranda and TB!