Q&A with Rachel Moore, debut author of "The Library of Shadows"

Welcome to the interview 🗣️

Hello dolls! I hope you’ve had excellent weeks since we last spoke. In my last newsletter, I hinted at today’s incredible Q&A guest, and it’s my utter delight to announce that it is, indeed, Rachel Moore! Rachel is a fabulous author and lovely person who was, for a time, my manager at my content marketing day job. In that role, I got to see just how smart and kind and thoughtful she is, and so when her debut The Library of Shadows was announced, I already knew I wanted to do everything I could to support her.

The Library of Shadows follows Este Logan, who has just shown up at Radcliffe Prep (the third-most haunted school in the country, not that she believes in ghosts) and suddenly finds herself embroiled in, well, ghostly activities.

Rachel is a Tennessee-based YA author who loves romcoms. I’ll stop with my rambling now and just dive into the interview, which we conducted via email!

Karis Rogerson: How did you get into writing as a way of telling stories?

Rachel Moore: I’ve never not written stories. My first grade show and tell item was a picture book I wrote. As I got older, publishing books started to feel like this insurmountable task. I’d go to the library and find the spot where my books would be shelved, and I almost couldn’t imagine it actually happening. But the stories persisted. I’d fill my pockets with scraps of paper, scribbled with ideas. Character names, settings, a line of dialogue. Finally, I decided it was time to take this thing seriously. 

KR: Why do you write? What drives you, beyond career obligations?

RM: I write because it’s all I’ve ever known how to do. I’ve always had an overactive imagination, and it’s unlikely it’ll ever shut up, so the least I can do is appease it by giving its myriad ideas an outlet. And because I hope, someday, someone browsing the teen section of the library will find my book, just like I’d found so many, and see themselves in the pages. Also: it’s fun. You know that feeling when you read a book, and the romance is really romancing, and your whole body feels like it’s filled with confetti? That feels like magic. I want to make magic. 

KR: Can you share a little bit about the inspiration behind The Library of Shadows?

RM: Right before I started working on The Library of Shadows, I had been in the middle of applying to schools to go back for a Master in Library Science. I’d worked in a library for four years and loved it, but I’d left my job after relocating and missed it deeply. At some point, I realized that I wasn’t ready to go back to school—I just wanted to live inside the warm-toned, autumnal Pinterest board I’d made for it. I had also just recently lost my grandmother, so I grieved right alongside Este.

KR: What is one aspect of TLOS that you think will surprise and delight readers?

RM: Pink velour tracksuits? I think the sneak attack of levity in what otherwise could have been a very serious book will—hopefully!—be a positive surprise to readers. It’s filled with all the hijinks of a teen rom-com, even while the stakes are life or death. 

KR: What aspects of writing this book brought you the most joy?

RM: The setting, hands down. I love the characters, and I love the plot, but they don’t hold a candle to how much I love the setting. Writing the world of Radcliffe Prep in all its autumnal glory was so fulfilling. I got to live in a perpetual fall while working on this book, and it’s easily my favorite part. (I also just… love writing about trees. So there are a lot of tree descriptions.) 

KR: Can you speak to any challenges you faced on the road to publication?

RM: My path to publication was somewhat unorthodox. The Library of Shadows is the first book I ever wrote, but I completely scrapped the first draft and rewrote it while I was a mentee participating in Author Mentor Match. What started as an adult dark fantasy was reconfigured as a YA paranormal rom-com over the course of six months. I queried and signed with my dream of an agent, Claire Friedman at InkWell Management, in the span of three weeks, and we immediately went out on submission. Working with my editor, Sara Schonfeld, has been an absolute delight, and she bought The Library of Shadows in a two-book deal. The thing I was least prepared for was the pressure of writing the second book on contract since it was also my second book ever. While I feel extraordinarily fortunate to get to share my books, I sometimes wonder if I would have been more prepared had I had a couple more manuscripts under my belt!

KR: What are you most looking forward to for the rest of your career?

RM: Getting to (hopefully) write more magical romantic comedies! I don’t think I’ll ever tire of that moment when the book you’ve spent hours, days, months, years poring over becomes something you can share with the world. 

KR: Do you have any advice for aspiring authors?

RM: Finish the book. That was the single most challenging part for me. I can’t tell you how many times I’d start a project, and then I’d start a new project, and another one, and another, until all I had was a graveyard of half-baked books. You owe it to yourself to write “the end.” Even when it’s hard. Especially when it’s hard. 

KR: Can you share 1-3 book recs and why you love them?

RM: The Whispering Dark by Kelly Andrew — Kelly’s writing is so immersive and each scene has been beautifully rendered. This book has a dreamy, ethereal quality to it, but is also so deeply horrifying that I had nightmares for a week after finishing it. It’s the kind of story that sticks to your bones. 

Together We Rot by Skyla Arndt — Skyla’s debut is a mesmerizing display of craft mastery. Her writing is riddled with inventive descriptions that feel completely new. Throw in a creepy cult mystery, a dash of eldritch horror, and a cinnamon roll love interest, and I couldn’t ask for a more fun fall read.

Alla prossima 👋

That’s all for this week’s Q&A, my darlings! I hope you enjoyed. Do share your favorite thing about fall in the comments, if you’d like, and feel free to show Rachel some love in her debut week on Instagram!

See y’all next Sunday!