5 Things You Probably Don't Know About My Novel Uncover

This post was originally published on my main website, amandalinehan.com, on January 26, 2022. 

Today, January 26, 2022, is the ten-year anniversary of self-publishing my first novel, a book called Uncover. I can’t believe it’s been that long.

Self-publishing is an interesting journey. There’s always lots to learn, there are ups and downs, there are surprises, there are wins and losses. There’s absolutely no other place I’d rather be.

In honor of this anniversary, I wanted to tell you some behind-the-scenes things about Uncover, which is a YA thriller. Coming up with these took me on a trip down memory lane and I had fun reminiscing.

So, here are 5 things you probably don’t know about Uncover.

It’s based on the first novel I ever wrote (during NaNoWriMo 2009).

In late October 2009, I made the decision to tackle my first NaNoWriMo. I had no notes, no outlines, and no clue, but I did have an idea, which on November 1, 2009, I got to writing.

I did in fact hit 50,000 words that month (barely) and I had a complete first draft of a novel, which, when I began to read it back in order to revise it, I realized wasn’t salvageable. I decided to chalk that one up to practice and begin a new one.

I took some of the characters and some basic ideas from the plot and wrote a contemporary YA thriller, and it turned out much better. It was a lot simpler in many ways and it was also a bit shorter. And now, I had my second novel under my belt.

It was influenced by old Christopher Pike YA horror/thrillers.

When I was a pre-teen/teenager in the 90s, I loved reading Christopher Pike books and I read a lot of them. If you’re about my age and enjoyed reading when you were young there’s a good chance you read some Christopher Pike too.

The basic idea was teens in peril having to figure something out to save themselves or their friends or both. There were often interesting philosophical/metaphysical/spiritual ideas that would permeate the story, and, of course, lots of teen stuff. And in many cases, there were supernatural elements.

When I sat down to write Uncover, these were the books I had in mind. They were the model that I was using to write my own book, and, looking back, I think it was good to have some sort of a blueprint in mind, something to direct my thoughts and ideas.

The school the characters attend is very much based on my high school.

My high school was an interesting place. It was an old building and had been added onto over the years to accommodate a growing population so it had a cobbled-together feel with very distinct areas inside the building.

When I saw my characters in their own high school, they were walking down the hallways and entering the classrooms of my school, the way that I remembered them.

I guess it would be natural for me to do this. Number one, my high school was a place I had known well, but, number two, it also had a certain feel to me that seemed right for this book. Almost a labyrinthine quality to it, which matched the vibe of the journey my characters go on.

When I wrote it, I had never been in the woods at night. (But now I have.)

The premise of Uncover is that a group of teens get lost in the woods overnight. I really enjoyed writing the scenes in the woods, what with all of the nature around them, but when it got dark, I had to use my imagination.

I played in the woods a lot as a kid, so I was very well acquainted with forests. But I had never been in at nighttime and so when I wrote those scenes in the book, I had to really ask myself ‘what would it be like?’ Especially when it came to light sources, or lack thereof. How much could they see? How difficult would it be for them to move around?

Since then, I have been in the woods at night. I like to camp, but I’ve also been hiking where we did the last bit in the dark. So now I know, but when I initially wrote Uncover, I had to try and figure it out.

I wrote it in 500 word chunks.

At the time, I was a pretty new writer and I wanted to keep up a consistent writing practice. 500 words was a decent chunk to get done in a day, and I could do that during my lunch hour at work.

I probably didn’t write every single day, but I wrote on most days, and after a while, those 500-word sessions really added up. It was an easy system for me to keep up with and soon enough I had a finished rough draft.

I’m glad I operated with a ‘keep it simple’ mindset. It felt reasonable to me and, ultimately, allowed me to keep going all the way to the end.

And there you have it: 5 things you probably didn’t know about Uncover. Like I said, it was fun to write this list and I would imagine there’s a least one tidbit here that both writers and non-writers alike can take away.

Amanda Linehan is a multi-genre fiction writer and indie author. She has published 13 titles since 2012. Get a free, exclusive short story, The Sommer House, when you sign up for her fiction newsletter.