Lauren D. Woods: The Great Grown-Up Game of Make-Believe
Welcome to the first interview in a new series at 100 Word Story to promote forthcoming and recently published books by our contributors. Authors answer five questions, each in 100 words or fewer. If you’re a contributor with a new book and you’d like to be included in this series, please reach out to us at hundredwordstory [at] gmail.com.
Contributor Lauren D. Woods, whose piece Ain’t Gonna Stick appeared in 100 Word Story in 2019, has published her debut book The Great Grown-up Game of Make-Believe with Autumn House Press this past October. It is the winner of the 2024 Autumn House Fiction Prize, selected by Kristen Arnett. It is currently longlisted for the 2026 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Short Story Collection.
Tell us about the process of writing this book.
The oldest story is more than twenty years old. I wrote it as an undergrad in college. The newest one is less than a year old. I added it and swapped it for another after the manuscript was accepted. But I wrote the majority several years ago, in the wake of my divorce. As a result, there are a lot of themes of divorce, difficult relationships, and early motherhood, which is where I was at that time in life.
Tell us about a habit that played an important role in the writing of this book.
I learned not to be precious about any sort of writing routine. If I could find time to write for a few minutes after the kids went to bed, I did it. I wrote the first story of the collection during my kids’ swim lessons. Actually, I started it, threw it away for a few years, and then found it and finished it during swim lessons. Others I wrote at night, or in my car, or on the train to work. Realizing I could write anywhere and revise later was a game changer.
If you were to offer a recipe for how to write this book, what would be the ingredients? Steps?
1) Try, unsuccessfully, to write any other book; repeat as often as necessary; 2) Toss the books, survive a divorce, a subsequent difficult relationship, and have a couple of babies; keep writing; 3) Wait long enough to get some distance and revise; 4) Keep writing stories; 5) Realize this was the book you wanted to write all along (isn’t that funny).
What was particularly fun about writing this book?
I love realism
, but the surreal stories were probably the most fun to write. I played with form and metaphor a lot, particularly when I wanted to take on difficult subjects (depression, grief, changing yourself for a romantic partner). So I wrote about spiders, hearts, shapeshifters, and other things, but the subtext was always something else. It was fun to take serious subjects and make them light, and sometimes vice versa.
Who do you think would dig this book?
Anyone who feels like they don’t really fit into their lives, anyone who has experienced great heartbreak or enjoys wading through the nostalgia of their own pasts, especially parents.
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Very interesting! I’ve requested that my public library acquire this book. Good day.