We are thrilled to talk with author May Cobb about planning your author financial life, working with multiple agents, writing lifelike sociopaths, and the changing trends of “likability” in characters.

We loved reading My Summer Darlings—it really is the perfect summer read—and hearing about the story behind the story.

May says:

I grew up in the piney woods of East Texas where MY SUMMER DARLINGS, THE HUNTING WIVES and BIG WOODS are set. After college, I moved to San Francisco where I studied Victorian Literature for my Master's, and gravitated towards that era's detective novels, known as "sensation novels", such as Wilke Collins' THE WOMAN IN WHITE. I then lived in Los Angeles for a few years where I worked for filmmaker/writer Ron Shelton and his wife, the actress Lolita Davidovich.

I currently live in Austin, Texas, with my husband and son where we enjoy traipsing around the area’s many beautiful parks. I also enjoy napping, staring into space, making to-do lists for my to-do lists, shoveling cookies down my throat when I'm writing a particularly difficult scene (and even when I'm not), wearing my PJ’s as often as I can get away with and collapsing into bed at the end of a day with a great book.

I'm currently finishing a book about the late, jazz great, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, a project which has been in the works for twenty years. Kirk was a human phenomenon—a multi-instrumentalist who was best known for his miraculous ability to play three saxophones simultaneously. During his brief life, he defied staggering odds—from blindness, to prejudice, to a paralyzing stroke—in order to play the music that came to him through dreams. His story is what made me want to become a writer.

My writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The Rumpus, Austin Monthly, and Texas Highways Magazine.

My proudest achievement remains clinching 1st place in the UIL competition for Personal Writing when I was in the 4th grade.

Learn more about May here: https://www.maycobb.com/