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In June, I had the pleasure of meeting author K.A. Cobell during the very week her debut novel, Looking For Smoke (Heartdrum, 2024) was published. I downloaded the audiobook and was so captivated by the mystery that I finished it in only a couple days. I couldn’t wait to interview K.A. about writing suspense and share her process with Cynsations readers.
Looking For Smoke is a suspenseful thriller told from four different points of view. The story grabbed me and wouldn’t let go as my suspensions shifted with each chapter. Can you tell us about your initial inspiration for writing this book?
I really wanted to write Blackfeet characters into a book. Growing up, I saw such little authentic Native representation in popular media, and I didn’t see myself or my family in any of those stories. It’s hard to describe the complete respect, reverence, and pride I have for my Blackfeet culture.
My dad did everything he could to instill that in me and my siblings, so I wanted to write a book that would show it. I wanted readers to feel what I feel, to see what I see.
What were the challenges (literary, research, psychological, logistical) in bringing the text to life?
Being a thriller writer presented an immediate challenge in bringing these specific characters to life. When writing about Natives and violent crime, the epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW, MMIWG, MMIWG2S) will immediately come into play.
In writing the story of a group of Blackfeet teenagers struggling with the murder of a classmate, I knew I would need to delve into the emotional realities of this epidemic, and I knew I would need a careful hand in doing so.
I never wanted my fictional cases to take away from the very real cases, so I had to find the line to walk on that would both respect the real families and communities dealing with this crisis and also create a propulsive story and believable characters that readers could fall into.
Each of the four point of view characters felt very real and fully formed. Are there interests/ characteristics/ traits drawn from your own lived experience that went into creating those characters?
I wrote each of my characters from a very real place, which is how I found the line to walk in crafting this story. I put as much emotion as I could into Looking for Smoke, and the emotions the characters feel—the deep sense of loss, the angry grief, the fear, the desperation to protect their family members, the thirst for justice—are very real of countless Natives today.
The cases I wrote are fictional, but the emotion throughout is pulled from real life. I think every reader has felt versions of these emotions, which makes each character relatable in their own way.
I also wrote my own experiences into each of these characters’ lives. The places they visit on the reservation are places my family has always frequented—like the lake where we’d float off on our makeshift wooden raft, or all my dad’s favorite fishing spots down winding dirt roads.
The childhood memories they share are memories I hold in my heart as well. It was a really special experience to put so much of myself and my family into Looking for Smoke.
What model books were most useful to you and how?
I was inspired by Karen McManus’s One of Us is Lying (Delacorte, 2017). She wrote four points of view, each as compelling as the next, and each as suspicious as the next. I was so drawn to the characters as their secrets slowly unraveled and their relationships and trust were put to the test.
I couldn’t put the book down. I wanted to do something like that. I wanted to write four characters, each coming to the story with their own baggage and secrets, and I wanted to see how their trust would lean as they each became suspects in the death of their classmate.
At what point did you decide which character was the murderer? Is it something you knew when you first began drafting or outlining, or did that evolve as the characters and story took shape?
I didn’t completely plot out Looking for Smoke… I’ve always been more of a pantser. I do, however, always know who the culprit is before I begin drafting. I know who is guilty, but I don’t know the lead up to their discovery.
This all comes out as I write, and as the characters tell me more about who they are. Sometimes the guilty party’s motivations and decisions surprise me, but I always know what happens to them at the end of the line.
What first inspired you to write for young readers?
In the later years of my childhood, I was not a reader…or so I thought. In high school, I only had time to read the books assigned to me in school, and I hated every single one of them. I thought I just didn’t enjoy reading.
When I finished college, I finally had enough free time to read books I chose myself, and many of them happened to be young adult books. They made me fall in love with reading again, and decided I wanted to try to write the same kind of stories.
The prevalent themes of finding belonging, figuring out your identity and strengths, and deciding what really matters in your life still resonate with me.
What advice do you have for beginning children’s-YA writers?
My biggest piece of advice is to write a lot. The best way to improve your craft is to practice it. Looking for Smoke is the fifth novel manuscript I wrote, and each manuscript before it sharpened my craft. I’d also suggest continually reading successful books in your genre. The more you read, the better the story beats will naturally come out as you write your own books.
It’s also so important to find a community. Find a group of writers who are willing to read each other’s work and offer helpful feedback. Outside eyes can help bring your stories to new levels, and in the rocky world of publishing, having a group to support and uplift you is vital.
What are you working on next?
I’m editing a rough draft that will hopefully be my next YA thriller. I’m not sure what I can say about it, but it’s also a multi-POV book featuring Blackfeet characters and it continues to shine a light on MMIW.
Cynsations Notes
Looking For Smoke is the September pick for Reese’s Book Club.
K.A. Cobell, Staa’tssipisstaakii, is an enrolled member of the Blackfeet Nation. She currently lives in the Pacific Northwest, where she spends her time writing books, chasing her kids through the never-ending rain, and scouring the inlet beaches for sand dollars and hermit crabs. Looking For Smoke is her debut novel from Heartdrum/HarperCollins in the US and Penguin Books in the UK. Follow K.A. on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.
Gayleen Rabakukk holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts and an undergraduate degree in Journalism from the University of Central Oklahoma. She has published numerous newspaper and magazine articles, and two regional interest books for adults. She is represented by Terrie Wolf of AKA Literary Management.
She serves as board member for Lago Vista’s Friends of the Library and also leads a book club for young readers at the library. She’s active in Austin SCBWI and has taught creative writing workshops for the Austin Public Library Foundation. She loves inspiring curiosity in young readers through stories of hope and adventure. Follow her on Instagram and Twitter.