The Author Spotlight Series shines a light on writers creating heartfelt and original work across genres, giving them an opportunity to talk about their books and why they do what they do.
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“Victoria Helen Stone is the author of the runaway hit Jane Doe, which was optioned by Sony for television, and the Amazon Charts and Wall Street Journal bestseller The Last One Home. In addition to her critically acclaimed novels of dark intrigue and emotional suspense — At the Quiet Edge, Problem Child, Half Past, False Step and the chart-topping Evelyn, After — she has also published 29 books as USA Today bestselling author Victoria Dahl and won the prestigious American Library Association Reading List award for best genre fiction. Her novels have been published in 18 different languages. Victoria writes in her home office high in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah, far from her origins in the flattest plains of Minnesota, Texas and Oklahoma. She enjoys gorgeous summer trail hikes in the mountains almost as much as she enjoys staying inside by the fire during winter. Victoria is passionate about dessert, true crime, and her terror of mosquitoes, which have targeted her in a diabolical conspiracy to hunt her down no matter the season.”
When did you know you wanted to be a writer?
I always wanted to be a writer! I grew up poor, but my mother loved reading, so we always had books around, and I have vivid memories of going to the library when I was young. When I was a teenager I received an electric typewriter for Christmas and started my first manuscript. I only got a couple of chapters in, but it was good practice. I finally finished my first full novel when I was about twenty-five. That book was never published, but again, it was great practice.
Do you remember the first thing you ever wrote?
I can’t remember my elementary school work, but I do remember writing terrible songs and poetry in junior high. I still have some, and yes, they are truly something. That first book I started in high school opened with a teenager losing her virginity in the back seat of a car. It wasn’t autobiographical, but I’m sure my poor mother was horrified.
How did you develop your skills?
You probably already know my answer: Practice! My first three manuscripts have never been published, but they did land me a wonderful agent. Honestly, you can’t get better at something as challenging and time-consuming as writing without just doing it.
I also joined writing organizations, went to workshops, and entered writing contests. Early feedback is valuable, not just for the tips and insight, but for truly learning your own voice and storytelling. It’s critical to develop the skill of differentiating between help and opinion. I have a beta reader, a critique partner, an editor, an agent, a developmental editor, and a copyeditor. Not to mention reviewers! I need to be able to drill down on problems without letting my own voice and intention be swept away.
Who are some of your biggest literary influences? Do you have a favourite book/author?
My biggest influences are probably the genre writers I grew up reading. Authors like Julie Garwood and Robin Hobb and Connie Brockway and Stephen King. I read so many different genres that I couldn’t possibly choose a favourite author, to be honest. It totally depends on my mood! Right now, I can’t get enough of the Murderbot Diaries series by Martha Wells.
How would you describe your work?
I love to take an average person with an utterly normal life and drop them into darkness. I try to convey a sense of disbelief that this drama is even happening. (Or is it???) Because these are the stories that fascinate me in life! Any time I listen to a true crime podcast or read a strange news article, I find myself wondering about the side characters or family members that are barely touched on. What was that experience like for them?
That’s why I call my books “emotional suspense.” I want to know the perspective of the woman who finds out her stable marriage was a dangerous lie. Or how life worked out for the child involved in a Satanic Panic trial. Or what it’s like for a non-murderous sociopath who has to navigate life when everyone else is so dang emotional. I want to know these people deeply, because that’s what heightens suspense for me once they’re facing danger.
What’s your writing process like?
My writing process is really boring. Once I’ve figured out my characters and backstory and the big plot points, I just write from A to Z. I start with chapter one and plow straight through, writing five pages a day until I get toward the end, when I might write ten or twelve pages as all the threads start coming together. I guess the most exceptional part of my process is that I often don’t know the ending until I get there. That’s pretty exciting. Or terrifying.
Tell us about your most recent book.
In Follow Her Down, decades of doubt, fear, and suspicion won’t let a woman overcome her past when she returns to the hometown where her teenage sister was killed. At age thirty-five, Elise Rockwood is finally trying to move on and make peace, but her new stable life is threatened when a former lover is found dead, and her brother insists the death is related to the long-ago murder of their sister.
Elise rejects her brother’s conspiracy theories, but as the evidence begins to pile up, she finds herself willing to listen. The traumas of the past are reemerging and it seems the nightmare is far from over. Elise’s greatest fear now is who will survive the truth.
What are you working on now/next?
Right now I’m finishing up a first-person suspense tentatively titled Bald-Faced Liar. The story is about a woman with a traumatic past who trusts no one, so she creates a new persona for everyone she meets. She’s a nurse, she’s a vet tech, she’s a ghostwriter, she’s an heiress. The lies are a game to her, a way to get through life without any true connection. But when an unknown person begins relentlessly exposing her past to her community, her careful life is slowly dismantled, and she begins to realize she might be in real danger. Watch for this story in summer 2025!
Where can we find you online?
Thank you for asking! You can find all my books and links at VictoriaHelenStone.com or keep up with me and my rambling mind on Threads @victoriahelenstone or Instagram @victoriahelenstone