The Only Way to Keep a Secret is by Using a Dead Language – Lisa & Laura discuss why they used secret societies to drive the mystery in The Liar Society Society series. Plus, learn their opinions (we know Kate’s!) about secret societies. You’ll find out if they believe secret societies improve campus life, history, involvement—Or, if they encourage exclusion and dangerous happenings.
There are three girls in the Roecker family and when each of us turned thirteen, we were sent to board at an all-girls’ school in upstate New York. It was within these prep school’s walls where we first fell into secret-society-like all-girls’ clubs. This experience is no doubt the inspiration behind not only Pemberly Brown, but the secret societies as well.
Just kidding.
All of us graduated from Solon High School. Picture scuffed tile floors, institutional grey walls and those uncomfortable chair/desk units that make your butt fall asleep. Solon was a fabulous school system and we were more than prepared for college, but we wore regular clothes, hung out with regular people and learned regular things (Latin? Um…no). We weren’t exactly infiltrating secret societies in order to solve the mystery of our best friend’s death. More like applying concealer to the gigantic pimple on the tip of our nose.
But that’s the whole point. Pemberly Brown is for all the girls (and boys!) out there who go to those boring high schools. Anything can happen at PB and every time we write a new story, the school grows larger and a bit more magical. Kate stumbles upon the Sisterhood and Brotherhood in THE LIAR SOCIETY because we wanted to play around with sororities and fraternities at the high school level as well as hazing and competitiveness. The societies stand for everything Kate wants to destroy because they inadvertently killed her best friend, but you’ll see in THE LIES THAT BIND, the struggle she faces when she’s not sure who to trust. She gets it wrong. She’s not perfect. And even though she’s fighting much greater problems than we faced in high school, she’s relatable and fun. Plus, she makes us thank our lucky stars we weren’t sent away to that boarding school in upstate New York.
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Great post! It's always interesting to learn how authors come up with their ideas, and I like that The Liar Society is for all of us who went to boring public high schools!