Bill Wood’s Let’s Split Up is the queer YA slasher novel kicking off spooky season

Bill Wood. // image courtesy the author

British writer Bill Wood’s debut novel, Let’s Split Up, in which “The quiet community of Sanera, California is shattered when the high school’s ‘it couple’ is found brutally murdered in a secluded mansion, formerly owned by the town’s money-hungry pariah” and “An unlikely group of friends team up to dig deeper into the sinister secrets of the mansion to figure out who is targeting them—and why?” has been described as equal parts Scream and Scooby-Doo.

However, it’s the rich character development and utterly relatable teen issues which elevate this YA novel beyond just another slasher murder mystery, with queer protagonists and immersive plot. Let’s Split Up was released in the UK last year to great acclaim, and was the fastest-selling debut YA novel of the year over there. It’s now getting released stateside, just ahead of the UK release of its sequel, Be Right Back, from Scholastic.

We took the opportunity to hop on Zoom with author Bill Wood to discuss Let’s Split Up, its influences, and more.

The Pitch: Heck of a book to have for your debut, huh? It seems to be very, very well received thus far, and now the States are getting a look at it. Were you surprised, pleasantly, by the reception?

Bill Wood: I mean, yeah, for sure. Horror has been such a love for me for so long, but I realize that compared to some bigger genres, it is a bit more niche. But I dunno–I think it kind of hit the sweet spot and it’s connected with a lot of people, which has been really lovely to see. Yeah, I’m very happy, but surprised.

What did you draw on for this book? Let’s Split Up definitely ties into a lot of slasher tropes, but it has a little bit more freewheeling aspect to it, not hewing strictly to genre all the way through.

I think I wrote really without an expectation of what I wanted it to be. I didn’t really go into it saying, “I’m gonna write a horror book.” The idea really came to me–I’d finished rewatching the live-action Scooby-Doo movie with my little brother, and I was like, “I wish there was something a little bit darker.” Not necessarily horror, but just kind of aged up. So that’s what I went in mind with it.

But, because I am so inspired by horror films, horror media, I think that kind of just trickled in through my subconscious, if you will. But I also did screenwriting at university, so I had just studied so much horror, I think it just happened by mistake, but in the end, I think it worked out.

The idea of messing with the meddling kids aspect of everything has been explored before. There’s even a book called Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero, but this feels very teenage. These kids act like teenagers. They are messy. Friendships can just change so quickly. What were the challenges in trying to harness that chaotic hormonal energy that teens have?

I mean, yeah, exactly how you say teenagers are just so–I didn’t even know the word for it, but things can change so quickly and I wanted to reflect that as real as possible, if that makes sense. I mean, I’m only 24, so it’s not been long since I was a teenager. I’ve got a younger sister, a younger brother, so I’m constantly seeing all this stuff. And yeah, it was another thing that kind of just happened by itself.

As I was writing it, I was like, “This would make sense for these kids to do.” If they’re adults, sure, they might be a bit more sensible, but at the end of the day, this is a horror story. They’re gonna make stupid decisions, ’cause if they didn’t, the story would be over in like 10 pages, you know? It was definitely a thing of trying to make it real through edits–because it is obviously multi POV–making sure every character felt different enough.

Because that’s another thing–from person to person, everyone’s gonna feel so different, but during a first draft, it’s one of those things where I just need to get out on the page and make sure everyone feels their own afterwards. That was a really bad explanation.

No, no, no. It is because it’s that idea that teenagers’ emotions are so strong, because it’s like, “This is the worst or best thing that’s ever happened to me.” Because they haven’t experienced it yet, it’s all very, very new, and everything is the most intense it’s been to that point. I think you conveyed that really well. Did you have a character whose POV you found very easy to slip into and contrasting that, was there one that it was hard for you to figure out like how you wanted it to come across?

Jonesy’s probably the most similar to myself, so that just felt kind of second nature. Cam, to a certain extent as well, but he’s the sports guy and that’s really not me. That was another thing of just having to do a bunch of research to make sure I like made sense in their heads.

As in terms for the hardest one, there wasn’t necessarily a hard character to write. It’s always gonna be a bit more difficult writing outside of your race and gender. It was one of those things where a lot of research was needed to make sure I got things right. I’m happy with how it turned out in the end.

Does it help to have a younger sister that you can go to and ask if things are tracking or extraordinarily cringey?

I never did that, but she’s always constantly talking about dramas and stuff, so I think that kind of subconsciously just trickled in.

This book comes out soon in the United States, but I mean, it’s already been out for a year in the UK, and you’re doing press right now, I assume also talking about the sequel that comes out in October. What it been like, revisiting this book again for a whole new crop of readers, especially ones who live in the country where it’s set?

I mean, I literally posted a TikTok not long ago talking about how I’m having to do both at the same time and how it’s been so strange but I’ve kind of enjoyed it. I think, as an author, once you’ve finished a book, you really don’t wanna read it for a long time because you’ve had to read it at least like 20 times during edits, but then when you do a sequel, you have to go back and remind yourself of stuff, so it has been nice reminding myself as I’ve been finishing off the sequel.

But I mean, I was always gonna be nervous about it, going to the US since I’m writing as someone from the UK, who has never been in the American education system. That was a huge thing out to research. I did end up consulting–before Let’s Split Up came out–with some US friends: “Does this make sense?” and they helped me out a bit with it. Then I realized, as well, that the US is so huge that every school is going to do it differently, so I was able to take some liberties with it. I’ve been so nervous about it, but luckily, so far, I don’t think I’ve made any mistakes with my information.

I mean, the reason it’s set in the there in the US is ’cause I really wanted to evoke the ’90s teen slasher vibe and it always seems to be like a small town in the US but then all of my US knowledge was from Disney Channel growing up and they don’t really get into all the nitty-gritty stuff, so that was fun.

Being as how this is a slasher, do you have a favorite installment in the genre?

I mean, I feel like I should say Scream because that’s what this book is very much inspired by it, but my favorite is probably You’re Next. I think that is such a great–I dunno, that one truly scares me ’cause it mixes in the home invasion sort of stuff, which I think is the scariest type of horror, and it’s just got such a badass main character that, if you’ve never watched it, it is one I always recommend. I’m such a fan of that movie.

How is it for you having your first book out of the gate be a success? I know that, for so many authors, their first book is not really their first book. What was the path for you to this being the first one on bookstore shelves?

I mean, I have self-published in the past as recently as 2022. It was YA but it was fantasy and they did fine. I made my money back with them, but I just know they weren’t the best representative of my work. Then they kind of fizzled out and they’re no longer available. I’d started Let’s Split Up in 2021, before those books even happened and it was always the one book that I always came back to and I just couldn’t get it right.

It wasn’t until the end of 2023 that it kind of got a second life, where I finally finished a draft that I liked, and I posted a video, and people seemed to like it, and then it all happened so fast. It’s scary with it being such a success in the sense that now, I feel like I’ve got this pressure to make the next book be even better–not even in terms of what the book is, but sales-wise.

I mean there’s always gonna be thing where sequels of a book never sell as much as the first, so then my pressure goes to, “What about the book that’s not associated with Let’s Split Up?” ’cause I’ve written stuff outside of that series recently and then I’m just constantly like, “Is this gonna make sense as a follow up to this? Are people gonna like it? Are my readers gonna wanna read something like this by me?”

But I think that’s also the author thing of imposter syndrome, where you just don’t trust yourself and that’s another thing that I don’t think ever goes away.

What are some of these other things that you’re working on? You don’t have to get into specifics, but are there other genres you’re looking towards as something you wanna explore as you continue to write?

I mean, I definitely wanna do more horror stuff. Obviously the sequel’s coming and there’s other stuff that I’m not allowed to say that is signed right now but I think for me, I get really bored writing the same genre over and over again, so I definitely wanna dip my toe back into fantasy stuff and there may be something coming, but I can’t say but, also I’m a huge, huge fan of the genre blend.

I think trying to merge the horror mystery with a fantasy could be really cool. I read a book called Voyage of the Damned [by Frances White] last year, which is fantasy mystery Agatha Christie, which was amazing. I think something like that is just really cool and I think we need more of it on the bookshelves.

Bill Wood’s Let’s Split Up is out Tuesday, September 2, from Scholastic, where you can read the first chapter.