Author Spotlight: Miel Moreland

 May 8, 2021

We are excited to feature author Miel Moreland and her debut YA novel, IT GOES LIKE THIS (Feiwel and Friends May 18, 2021). Enter to win a copy!

Illustration © Jenn Woodall; design by Trisha Previte

Tell us about yourself and how you came to write for teens.

I’ve been a reader, writer, and pop music lover for most of my life. In college, I worked as a mentor to high school students, and perhaps also because I started writing my debut when I was twenty-three, it never occurred to me not to write for teens. 

 

Congrats on your debut YA novel, It Goes Like This! Tell us about it and what inspired you.

It Goes Like This is about the four members of a broken-up queer band, who reunite for a benefit concert in their hometown after a devastating storm. There’s a second-chance sapphic romance, friends as family, four different interpretations of ambition, and, of course, pop music references. All of these elements and themes were (and are!) interests of mine, or sprang from my own questions during the transitional life period in which I began to write It Goes Like This.

Was your road to publication long and winding, short and sweet, or something in between?

I’d consider it in-between! I very briefly queried with another novel while I was revising It Goes Like This, and although I received some interest, I decided to stop because I already could tell It Goes Like This was a much stronger novel. I started querying It Goes Like This in June 2018 and signed with my agent that September. We went on submission within a few weeks and received some requests to revise and resubmit, which we decided to do. We went back on sub in May 2019, and It Goes Like This sold that fall! 

 

Did you have a playlist for this book, or a representative song?

I have several, all available on my Spotify profile here. But to start with just one song, the song that I was listening to the month before I started drafting, listen to “Do Anything” by Mary Lambert. You need the live version to get the full effect of its influence on the novel. 

 

What projects are you working on now?

I’m too superstitious to really discuss WIPs before deals are announced, but I have several projects in various stages! Queer characters and strong friendships are always a must. 

 

What advice would you give to aspiring authors?

Read and revise! Reading outside of your genre can push your own creativity, but I also believe it’s essential to read critically within your genre. What pacing or plot requirements are there, even across very different books? What conversations are being had about certain tropes? What do you have to add to these conversations? And of course, write. Write more. Keep writing… and seek out friends, beta readers, or critique partners to give you feedback. You don’t have to agree with everything, but you should revise with an open mind. There are very, very few writers who could be ready to query or publish without feedback from anyone else. 

 

What is one thing most people don't know about you?

As a kid, I played a few different instruments for a couple of years each, but I’m not very musical! I took a semester of piano lessons while revising It Goes Like This to refresh my memory of basic theory and get a physical feel for what it’s like to play pop music. 

 

Where can people find you online?

I’m on Twitter @MielMoreland and Instagram @readthenfall. My website is mielmoreland.com. 

 

Miel Moreland was born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota. With time spent in California and France, she has a Midwestern heart but wandering feet. She studied English, Politics, and French in college, and has spent most of her career working in education. When not making pop music references and celebrating fandom, she is likely to be found drinking hot chocolate and making spreadsheets. She currently resides in Boston. IT GOES LIKE THIS is her first novel.

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