On Writing I’ll Stop The World by Lauren Thoman

I get asked a lot what inspired me to write my debut novel, I’ll Stop the World. In the book, a modern teenager named Justin finds himself suddenly and inexplicably transported back to the year 1985, one week before the tragic deaths of his grandparents in a mysterious fire. The first person he meets in 1985 is a girl named Rose, who theorizes that he must be there to prevent their deaths. But in order to do that, they have to first figure out the circumstances that lead to the fire in the first place–in other words, solve a cold case that hasn’t even happened yet. 

The short answer for where the idea for I’ll Stop the World came from is Back to the Future. I love time travel stories across all forms of media, but Back to the Future was probably the first one to grab hold of my heart and imagination. I’ve probably watched the whole trilogy dozens of times throughout my life.

One day, back in 2014, I was thinking about the films (I can’t even tell you if this was prompted by yet another rewatch, or if I was just randomly pondering Back to the Future; both are equally likely), and it occurred to me just how lucky Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) is to have his best friend be a middle-aged scientific genius who has conveniently lived in Hill Valley for the past 30 years. By being able to consult with Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) shortly after arriving in 1985, Marty is able to always know exactly what he has to do in order to return to his own time. Of course, plenty of obstacles still stand in his way, but the philosophical question of why this happened and the metaphysical question of how are never among them. 

I started thinking about what a Back to the Future-like story would look like without Doc Brown or the time-traveling Delorean. What would a kid like Marty do once he found himself in the past? What would he believe happened to him? And how might he try to get back? Those were the first seeds for I’ll Stop the World.

But the thing about inspiration, at least for me, is that it’s rarely as simple as one idea leading directly to another. The truth is that I’m constantly inspired by all sorts of things: the movies and TV shows I’m watching, the conversations I’m having with friends, the books I’m reading, the interactions I’m having with family, the events happening in the news, the emotions I’m navigating at the time. It all goes into my brain and swirls together, and the truth is that every bit of it contributed to why I’ll Stop the World turned out the way it did. 

For example, I cut my story teeth on writers like Stephen King, Michael Crichton, and Robin Hobb, who each were tremendously skilled at using multiple narrators to tell a single story. As an adult, I’m still drawn to those sorts of complex ensemble stories across all media, exemplified by shows like Lost, Broadchurch, Mare of Easttown, and even Riverdale (at least the first few seasons).

And I still believe Breaking Bad is one of the best examples of clockwork storytelling I’ve ever seen, where every small detail wound up eventually being a relevant part of a bigger story. I love stories where the whole thing feels like a puzzle that gradually comes together over the course of the book, with each character holding their own important pieces while being totally unaware of which pieces the others have. So of course that’s what I tried to do with my own book.

And then there are the characters. I wrote Justin during years when we were exploring various neurodivergent diagnoses in our own family, navigating various academic interventions, therapy, and medication options. Justin emerged as a character with diagnosed but largely unmedicated ADHD, informed in a significant way by my own experiences. I wrote Rose as an introverted, half-Chinese, half-Irish optimist and dreamer, which is exactly who I was in high school, although of course we are very different in other ways. 

The conversations that characters like Bill, Veronica, and Diane have with their children and each other about parenting were birthed from my own thoughts and insecurities and observations as a parent. The political subplot and much of Mrs. Hanley’s story grew out of the themes present within numerous books I read about racial injustice such as The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander, The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein, and Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson, as well as the events I saw playing out in modern headlines and conversations I followed on social media every day. 

I could go on and on, trying to itemize every book I read and show I watched and article I clicked on, tying each of them to something specific in the book until my inspiration chart looks like Stan’s murder board (a reference only folks who have already read I’ll Stop the World will understand, sorry). But you get the point. When I’m asked what inspired my book, the short answer may be easy, but the real answer is “everything.” 

There is nothing that doesn’t inspire me. I am constantly swimming in inspiration. And the stories that come out of me–and I think, the stories that come out of all writers–are never just the product of one thing, but everything, everywhere, all at once. 

And before you ask, no, that movie did not come out in time to influence I’ll Stop the World. But yes, its fingerprints will definitely be on the next thing I write. 

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ABOUT LAUREN THOMAN
Born and raised in the suburbs of Philadelphia, PA, Lauren Thoman studied music education, though soon realized that the life of a band director was not for her. Her passion for pop culture and watching and analyzing movies and TV shows led her to become a frequent contributor to a number of prominent online pop culture outlets, such as Parade, Vulture, PopSugar, Looper, and Collider.
Her debut novel, I’LL STOP THE WORLD, will be published by Mindy Kaling under her eponymous imprint with Amazon Publishing, Mindy’s Book Studio, on April 1, 2023.

She lives outside of Nashville, Tennessee with her family.
Website: www.laurenthomanwrites.com
Twitter: @LaurenThoman
Facebook: @LaurenThomanWriter
Instagram: @laurenthomanwrites

I’LL STOP THE WORLD

“Lauren Thoman’s I’ll Stop the World is a whip-smart mystery with a vibrant cast of characters that gives off great eighties vibes. I was absolutely dazzled by this unputdownable genre-bending novel that’s equal parts coming-of-age suspense and emotional tale of forgiveness and second chances.” ―Mindy Kaling

The end and the beginning become one in a heart-pounding coming-of-age mystery about the power of friendship, fate, and inexplicable second chances.

Is it the right place at the wrong time? Or the wrong place at the right time?

Trapped in a dead-end town, Justin Warren has had his life defined by the suspicious deaths of his grandparents. The unsolved crime happened long before Justin was born, but the ripple effects are still felt after thirty-eight years. Justin always knew he wouldn’t have much of a future. He just never imagined that his life might take him backward.

In a cosmic twist of fate, Justin’s choices send him crashing into the path of determined optimist Rose Yin. Justin and Rose live in the same town and attend the same school, but have never met―because Rose lives in 1985. Justin won’t be born for another twenty years. And his grandparents are still alive―for now.

In a series of events that reverberate through multiple lifetimes, Justin and Rose have a week to get Justin unstuck in time and put each of them in control of their futures―by solving a murder that hasn’t even happened yet.

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Tags: featured, women writers

Category: Contemporary Women Writers, On Writing