Inspiration is a funny thing. It can come to us like a lightning bolt, through the lyrics of a song, or in the fog of a dream. Ask any writer where their stories come from and you’ll get a myriad of answers, and in that vein I created the WHAT (What the Hell Are you Thinking?) interview. 

Today’s guest for the WHAT is Vanessa Cuti, author of The Tip Line, an unsettling thriller that asks just how far you should go to find love.

Ideas for our books can come from just about anywhere, and sometimes even we can’t pinpoint exactly how or why. Did you have a specific origin point for your book?

Yes! The original idea came from my experience working as a tip line operator. I was so fascinated by the things that callers would tell me. It was almost strange how intimate it was. I knew I had to write a book involving it in some way.

Once the original concept existed, how did you build a plot around it?

It really came down to character for me. Once I figured out Virginia (the main character) and her voice and really got into her head, her story just kind of unfurled.  

Have you ever had the plot firmly in place, only to find it changing as the story moved from your mind to paper?

Oh, absolutely. And I guess that’s sort of the magic but also the frustration of plotting a novel. You have something that you think is working…only to find out that it doesn’t. At all. 

Do story ideas come to you often, or is fresh material hard to come by?

It’s kind of like feast or famine for me. I’ve come to fear the famine periods but try to console myself with knowing that they will pass. With hoping so, anyway.

How do you choose which story to write next, if you’ve got more than one percolating?

I jump back and forth between things. Which is a sort of maddening way to do it. But I do this until I find my way into the work, be it story or novel. I always imagine it like finally being able to open a stuck door or window. Once I find that, it’s like I can just walk right in to the project. And then I’ll know that it’s the one I should move forward with. But I do find lots of things die at this stage, sadly. 

I have 6 cats and a Dalmatian (seriously, check my Instagram feed) and I usually have at least one or two snuggling with me when I write. Do you have a writing buddy, or do you find it distracting?

I have a very little but very loud writing buddy: a Pomeranian named Teddie. She chooses the most inopportune times to want to be a lap dog and yet I always let her.

Vanessa Cuti’s fiction has appeared in The Best American Short Stories 2021, The Kenyon Review, AGNI, West Branch, Indiana Review, Cimarron Review, The Cincinnati Review, Shenandoah, The Rumpus and others. She received her MFA from Stony Brook University and lives in the suburbs of New York. The Tip Line is Vanessa’s debut novel. You can find Vanessa on TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter.