Secrets are revealed here in Libby Cudmore confidential Dossier -

Libby Cudmore
Negative Girl

Negative Girl is an evocative, moody, PI thriller that explores obsession and death across America’s forgotten spaces.

The Writer’s Dossier 1/21/2025 – The Libby Cudmore interview

DOSSIER: How skilled are you at playing claw machines? Are we talking Delta Force-level hostage rescue skills when it comes to your hand/eye coordination? More importantly, can you put a figure on the number of plush toys and other prizes you’ve managed to pluck from obscurity? Do they all have names?

CUDMORE: Let’s just say if I wasn’t more selective with the machines I play, I’d have a whole house full of plushies. But if I see a Rilakkuma/Korilakkuma, it’s mine. I have 16 of those guys, a couple little cats, a Hangyodon that I won while on my book tour (he travels with me) and a Gudetama that I keep at work.

My secret is to play with my husband, Ian — we find a machine, look at all the angles, and he directs the claw from one side of the machine while I work the joystick.

Character-driven

DOSSIER: Mystery and Suspense Magazine called you “an amazing storyteller,” and said you “…weave together a colorful ensemble cast of flawed characters in a twisty, complex narrative…” When you set out to write a story, are you constantly looking for colorful and twisty, or do the characters evolve as you create them?

CUDMORE: When I sit down at my desk, it’s never like “time to write a story” — it always starts with a character I get in my head and can’t shake. What do they want? Who are they? And the story evolves from there. That’s why it took so long to write Negative Girl — I had Martin and Valerie (left over from an unsold sequel to The Big Rewind) but I hadn’t figured out what they needed to do in order to have a functioning plot.

All my characters are constantly evolving, which is really fun for me as a writer. It’s like learning something about a friend you’ve known forever.

The Steely Dan connection

DOSSIER: How did you come up with the book title NEGATIVE GIRL when anyone who’s met you knows that you are anything but negative? This is a story about obsession and death. Where did that come from Lil Miss Ray of Sunshine?

CUDMORE: Ha, you’re sweet. But anyone who knows me also knows I’m a Steely Dan obsessive — Negative Girl is the title of a song on their Grammy winning album Two Against Nature.

With Martin being a former rock star, most of the stories in the Wade/Jacks universe come from song titles: “All Shook Down,” “True Companion,” “Beyond Belief,” “Wait for the Blackout,” “Charlie’s Medicine” and the newest, “Enjoy the Silence.” The Black Orchid novella winner, “Alibi in Ice” doesn’t come from a song directly, but the story itself was inspired by the Cherry Poppin’ Daddies “The Lifeboat Mutiny.”

A Negative Girl soundtrack

DOSSIER: You’re a huge music nerd and host of The OST Party podcast that discusses movie soundtracks. What’s playing in the background when you sit down to write?

CUDMORE: It depends on the story and the scene! Sitting down to answer these questions, I had X, Los Angeles on my turntable, but a couple days before that, it was Miles Davis, Kind of Blue. And always on vinyl. I have a sizable record collection that I am very, very proud of.

That said, I did compile a Negative Girl soundtrack on Spotify. You can find it here. Listen to it after you finish the audiobook, which I read alongside Jay Karnes (The Shield, Sons of Anarchy). He’s fantastic. I would let him read me the 1991 Drug IV handbook.