An Imperfect Plan by Addison McKnight

AN IMPERFECT PLAN is about two women, Colette and Greta, whose lives intertwine in the face of trauma that has a tragic impact on both of their lives.

After decades of pushing away traumatic memories from childhood, Colette is ready to start a family of her own. It’ll be healthy, a wish come true, with a man she believes is the love of her life. Greta, a wealthy hedge-fund manager, is forced to confront the making of her own family when tragedy strikes her twin teenage sons. As she debates whether to confess a betrayal to her husband, the ripple effects of the family’s devastating circumstances begin to spread far beyond their home.

These two women, hopeful, disillusioned, and desperate, are on an emotional, decades-long journey to motherhood by any means necessary. Strangers whose lives explode in the wake of a shocking event and converge in more ways than one, Colette and Greta are forced to face the twists of fate and the choices they’ve made.

Addison McKnight recently spent some time with The Big Thrill discussing her latest thriller, AN IMPERFECT PLAN:

Which took shape first: plot, character, or setting?

This was a plot-driven novel.

What attracts you to this book’s genre?

We love page turners, where the topics can be discussed in book clubs.

Nicole Moleti & Krista Wells

What was the biggest challenge this book presented? What about the biggest opportunity?

The long timeline was a challenge. We feel this book provides opportunity to talk about women’s need for perfection.

Was there anything new you discovered, or that surprised you, as you wrote this book?

In the end we loved that nothing was as it seemed.

No spoilers, but what can you tell us about your book that we won’t find in the jacket copy or the PR material?

The book makes you think twice about wanting to seek perfection.

What authors or books have influenced your career as a writer, and why?

We are new writers, so we relied on lots of how-to books such as Ann Lamont’s Bird by Bird.

What’s the one question you wish someone would ask you about this book, or your work in general? And please answer the question too!

Q: How did two people write one book?

A: We each created and wrote one of the two main characters and then came together to create the plot.

What was the most important criteria in your selection process?

Perfection!

Fans of Big Little Lies and Fight Club will appreciate this hybrid about external perfection. It’s about two women desperate to become mothers who, although from different worlds, are strangely connected by their own definitions of perfection.

What was the most challenging part of the co-authoring relationship?

Balancing respected feedback with our own intuition on how to keep the character as we each imagined while weaving into a shared vision of the overarching book.

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Addison McKnight is the pen name for two writers: Nicole Moleti and Krista Wells.

After over a decade of writing nonfiction, their common interests in women’s issues coupled with the cultural obsession with perfection sparked an idea for their debut novel, AN IMPERFECT PLAN. With six jobs and six children between them, they wrote their first book on Saturday nights and on the sidelines of their children’s games. They reside in West Hartford, Connecticut with their families.