Joselin Linder
The Family Gene: A Mission to Turn My Deadly Inheritance into a Hopeful Future
A riveting medical mystery about a young woman’s quest to uncover the truth about her likely fatal genetic disorder that opens a window onto the exploding field of genomic medicine
The Writer’s Dossier 2/17/2024 – The Joselin Linder interview
DOSSIER: You lived overseas for a number of years, and you picked some great places like Prague, Italy, and others. While traveling abroad, did that exposure to different environments stimulate your writing brain to use the elements of your surroundings for some great fiction or did you just go there for the great food?
LINDER: I grew up in Columbus, Ohio, a place so All-American, it is one of the country’s most vigorous test markets, launching chains from White Castle to Wendy’s. And just so I’ve said it, also Victoria’s Secret, Jeni’s Splendid ice cream, and B-Dubs. If I hadn’t moved abroad when I did, I was definitely going to start hating abortion and saying racist shit about people from Canada. When I lived in Prague, I never deeply explored the culture: I failed to learn the language. I always said I spoke “taxi” and “restaurant” Czech. Most of my friends were anglophones. But the adventure of seeing–myself, my country of origin, these other countries–from this strange vantage point, this othering of myself, it’s one of the most profound ways I’ve ever observed humanity. I think we should all be forced to do it. Not spend two weeks looking at churches or sitting on beaches, but figuring out how to grocery shop, because everyone has their weird rules about shopping carts, strange food, and methods of weighing fruit. I don’t know if living abroad made me a better writer, but it made me a better human … AND a better Price is Right player!
I remember that even though email was already a pretty big deal, I was writing a ton of letters, the kind I imagined Orwell wrote. So that probably didn’t hurt.
Off to the races—fast!
DOSSIER: The fascinating reveal in your book, THE FAMILY GENE, is an eye-opening true story about a medical condition that’s been passed down to you, putting you in an ultra-rare situation that changed your life. How did you write the book in just a few months? Is that simply your process, or did you feel an urgency to get the story on paper as soon as you could?
LINDER: I sold that book and then there was just this backwind. I know a lot of writers talk about being out of control of their craft. In some ways it felt like that. I sold the book on proposal, on preempt from HarperCollins over Memorial Day. I flew to Phoenix the first week in June to talk to my 92-year-old grandmother. I spent the first morning interviewing her and then went down to the lobby in her retirement community and wrote a version of Chapter Four where I introduced the deaths of her mother and brother, two of the earliest documented cases of the gene. By the time I left Phoenix, a few days later, I had written the first four chapters, using my grandmother’s incredible memory, her medical charts, and her journals.
I’m a fast writer but a less confident researcher. But in this instance, it was like the book sold, and suddenly I just knew exactly what I had to do, like Harry Potter and liquid luck. Can I talk about Harry Potter? Is he cancelled? Anyway, it was just like, go to Phoenix and talk to my grandmother, go to Columbus and meet with my father’s medical team, go to Boston and meet with my medical team. I had charts and material from my great-grandmother’s convalescence in the 1950s. And meanwhile, the book just kept pouring out of me, By September I had a complete draft, but my editor didn’t have me on her schedule for another year. So, the book just kind of hung out for a year before it went into edits.
Always be ready
DOSSIER: What are the advantages of being quick in coming up with something to write?
LINDER: My entire writing career can be traced to always being ready. I think it helps that I live in Brooklyn where you can’t go to a dog park and throw a ball, and not accidentally hit a writer. I met my first literary agent at a party for a guy we both had a crush on, a writer, of course. It was an orphan fundraiser he was hosting. I’m not kidding. Everyone there was female and we were like the girls in Indiana Jones’ class in Raiders of the Lost Arc, blinking “I Love U” in the front row. BUT I bonded with the agent that night, chatting about dating and crushes. I joked that I no longer dated people, I just lived with them, like I’d move in somewhere and say to whoever already lived there, “You’ll do.” The agent looked at me and said seriously, “I have an editor looking for a writer for a book about cohabitation. Do you want to write it?” And I took one look around the orphan fundraiser, grabbed my coat, and wrote a complete book proposal by Monday. That was my first book sale–THE GOOD GIRL’S GUIDE TO LIVING IN SIN co-written with Elena Mauer. But so many of my projects happened because I was asked about my work and I had something to show them quickly or a project was mentioned and I executed quickly. I think people are willing to look at great writing whenever. But any writing is elevated when you show people that you have gumption and take seriously their offer to look at your work.
Last thought about this question. It’s also really important to always be working on your next thing. There is a lot less urgency when you have something coming out, after something sells. BUT you will never be more attractive–your next thing will never be more attractive than when you have something coming out. So have your next thing ready. Not like–I have this idea, but like, I have this OTHER novel completed and I’d love for you to take a look.
Seeking a low barrier for entry
DOSSIER: Where and when do you like to write? Are you hanging out in some cool spot in New York City or some cozy nook at your place surrounded by a few dogs?
LINDER: My husband is always very surprised by what I am able to accomplish from the bed or the couch. I am not a “hole up with a fire and write” girl. There is nothing remotely precious about my practice. This is true sort of throughout my life. If I am going to exercise it’s going to be something like a walk because the barrier to entry is low. Like swimming? No. If you have to change your outfit, nothing is ever going to happen. Samesies if I am going to write. It’s going to be from wherever the hell I am.
Also, my good dogs both died in 2023. My new dogs are assholes.
Prose Playground is open
DOSSIER: Your involvement in Gotham Writers had some influence on you getting THE FAMILY GENE written, right? How important has Gotham Writers been to your writing career?
LINDER: I started a writing community last month called Prose Playground. I really believe in accountability in the writing process. Classes and writing groups can serve this, but community is the most important thing. I have noticed that the most successful writers are friends with other writers. So that’s what I am trying to build.
A huge component of the Prose Community is something called “The Writing Group” which is launching in March. I really want to offer writers an organized, safe, and easy space to receive and offer useful peer review and discussion of our work. A place where we can finish projects or figure out next steps because we are holding ourselves accountable.
At the same time that I began writing professionally, when I met the literary agent at the orphan fundraiser, I had recently formed a writing group. 20 years later, the group has changed in terms of core writers, but the concept is the same. 27 books have been published that came out of this writing group–both big five and small press. Tons of articles. And an endless supply of unpublished stuff that we all have at the ready in case we run into any fundraisers. So I am a believer in the power of a writing group. But writing groups are hard to maintain, so in part, this community is hoping to fill that void for writers. [SHAMELESS PLUG–it’s all virtual and anyone can join and engage with the community for free!]
I am also still writing all the time and always looking for fresh eyes and beta readers so starting this writing community is also kind of a selfish move. But we launched in mid-January and we already have 112 members!
The talented Mr. James Babson
DOSSIER: You’re friends with fellow Dossier member James Babson (famous screen and voice actor). Can you talk about what the two of you are up to these days or is it still double top secret? (If you don’t want to answer this question, how about…) Is there anything else you’d like to reveal in your Dossier? Any announcements or big plans coming up?
LINDER: First of all, I live for that guy. He is one of my all time favorites. High school bestie. We spent the pandemic working on a screenplay, then a TV concept. I always wanted to call the main character BABSON but James found it distracting. But my writing group wanted to make t-shirts that said, “Babson is my Spirit Animal,” so I was probably onto something. Once, I wrote an article about James that I’m still sitting on-about what it feels like to die on screen because the joke about Jamie Babson is that he always dies in every project he’s in. The last quote in the article, James says, “I’d prefer to die in movies versus NOT in movies. But really I’d rather just survive to be in the sequel :))” I think that’s a masterclass right there.
Discover more about Joselin Linder on Facebook | Instagram | Website and Amazon Author Page