Lydia Gregovic is co-editor at Delacorte Press and debut author of The monstrous speciesa dark YA fantasy inspired by Jane Austen’s Sense and SensibilityWe asked Gregovic to speak with Krista Marino, vice president and senior editor at Delacorte, about the origins of her novel and the experience of switching back and forth between writing and editing.
Krista Marino: I am so excited for The monstrous species this fall! The way it came about is really interesting – unique in some ways, but not that unusual in publishing. I know your backstory well, but how would you tell your own origin story?
Lydia Gregovic: It’s been a long and interesting journey, to say the least. Back when I was in college, I did a lot of creative writing—my university was quite small, so I remember seeking out any opportunity to write. I think I took every creative writing class offered my sophomore year (thanks, Dr. Pipkin, for letting me enroll!). But after I graduated, my dream shifted to publishing. I knew I wanted to be an editor, and at that point, I believed it had to be one or the other: I could write, or I could edit. It wasn’t until 2020, during lockdown, that I rewatched the excellent 1995 film. Sense and Sensibility The adaptation with Kate Winslet and Emma Thompson inspired me to pick up my pen again.
Marine: So how did monsters fit in here?
Gregovic: I have always loved S&S—it was my first book by Austen and for a while I even resisted reading it pride and Prejudice because I didn’t want anything that could top it! And when I rediscovered it in lockdown, I felt like I wanted to stand up for the metaphorical underdog. We have so many excellent P&P Adaptations. I wanted to retell this book that I loved in the most entertaining and interesting way possible. And for me, nothing is more fun than monsters!
Marine: You and I have the same dark taste when it comes to fun. And speaking of which, when you showed me the manuscript, you were very modest. You said something like, “I wanted to share this with you because I wanted to see if I could write a novel, but I also want to be an editor. Please don’t be upset.” When I started reading it, I was blown away by your writing style. There is a whole different power in writing novels than in editing. After I finished it, I was so excited that I showed it to our publisher. I Then I shared it with other people in our group and from then on we decided that under no circumstances should anyone else have this book.
Gregovic: I remember the day I told you (about the book) on the phone, and I remember breaking out in a sweat with nerves! As I mentioned, I was so new to the industry that I didn’t know if I was “allowed” to be both an author and an editor. I was terrified that if I expressed a desire to pursue one, people would doubt my commitment to the other. I had this insidious thought that other people were wondering, “Who does she think she is?” In the year and more since then, the biggest surprise to me has been that I am not alone in wanting to combine both roles. It’s like Taylor Swift says: My dreams are not rare, and that is incredibly encouraging and refreshing.
Marine: Absolutely. And speaking of both, it was so interesting to see the difference between your “editor brain” and your “writer brain” during the editing process. Your writing is so beautiful and lyrical and atmospheric, but in the first draft you stuck much more closely to the original structure of Sense and sensuality. The central question we discussed was: what kind of retelling should it be?
Gregovic: This was my first novel, and I’ve never written anything of its length. And as you say, I was originally very hesitant to deviate from the main themes of Austen’s work. Looking back, I think I was afraid that if I deviated from that, I would be doing the original text some kind of disservice. It took me so long to identify the center of this book because I first had to figure out what Sense and Sensibility what it meant to me as the author of a new and original text, and not what it meant to me as a fan of the original. That was an important distinction.
Marine: We’ve talked about the difference between inspiration and retelling. And the most powerful retellings come from deep inspiration and are often not even true retellings. They reverse different parts of the story and evoke a different perspective. Plus, they often surprise readers because they expect a familiar story to end a certain way, but it ends a different way.
Gregovic: I believe that every retelling should come from a place of response: how did this story affect you as a reader? How did you identify with it, but also how did it annoy you? In college, I was fascinated by reader-response theory—the idea that a text has no objective meaning, but a range of meanings shaped by the readers who interact with it. The reader is essentially the creator of meaning. As a writer, part of me rebels against this—perhaps the part that has a perverse godlike instinct to control my characters—but on the subject of retelling, I completely agree. I think meaning-making is the first step to writing a great retelling.
Marine: What is your favorite Austen retelling?
Gregovic: I don’t know if this is a proper retelling, but I have to mention it because it’s just so amazing: Austenlandoriginally a novel by Shannon Hale, although embarrassingly I have only seen the film! Please don’t shame me. Not only does it feature an excellent cameo by Jennifer Coolidge, but in the age of Bridgerton and this massive resurgence of Regency romance, I think the message is as relevant as ever. It’s not afraid to poke fun at the stranger realities of our collective obsession with these love stories. What makes a romantic hero? Why do we prefer some romantic tropes over others? Ah, I just love it!
Marine: Right, we are still obsessed with wealth and splendor. It is a world of privilege. And if you asked me for my favorite narrative, mine would definitely be Clueless.
Gregovic: Clueless is extraordinary! I am not sure if my retelling is Cluelesslevel, but I want to say – thank you for letting me talk to you about this book.
Marine: I can’t wait to see what the world thinks of it. It’s so intelligent, entertaining, scary – and of course romantic. Also, you’ve obviously never ridden a horse before.
Gregovic: Yes, I have definitely never ridden a horse.
The monstrous species by Lydia Gregovic. Delacorte, $19.99, September 3 ISBN 978-0-5935-7237-5
