Leila Renee: Be Open to Revision

Leila Renee is originally from Milwaukee. She earned her MFA from Syracuse University, and her stories have appeared in McSweeney’s, The Kenyon Review, and more. She has received the Gulf Coast Prize in Fiction and a Fulbright Award. She teaches at the University of St. Thomas and lives in Minneapolis. Follow her on Facebook and Instagram.

In this interview, Leila discusses leaning into humor with her debut novel, Soft Spots, how the writing process began as an email thread to herself, and more.

Name: Leila Renee
Literary agent: Martha Wydysh, Trident Media Group
Book title: Soft Spots
Publisher: Amistad
Release date: August 4, 2026
Genre/category: Literary Fiction
Elevator pitch: Soft Spots is a darkly humorous and off-kilter coming-of-age novel. When 20-something Robin Clarke runs away from her abusive family to South Bend, Indiana, in order to work at a failing school, she faces an obsession with her eerily perfect roommate and news of her father’s sudden illness.

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I was interested in exploring the complex relationships between friends, siblings, and parents. The book started out with me unpacking a toxic friendship between two Black women, but as I wrote and got to know the protagonist, Robin, I realized that she had some complicated family dynamics of her own. As I wrote, I discovered more about Robin, her upbringing, and the complexities of her family life. The book unfolded from there.

I started writing the book in January 2019 in an email thread to myself. As the story progressed, I moved it into a Word document. I wrote the first full draft during the summer of 2020, while largely quarantining. I worked on revisions and rewrites for four more years until the book sold in April 2024. The idea was always to write about complex relationships, but as I revised the book many times, I found myself leaning more into the themes of parental abuse and familial estrangement. I also decided to lean more into Robin’s voice and the dark humor in the novel. The book started out quite serious—all about family and trauma—but over the years I gave myself permission to have fun with the writing because I believe humor is one of the best coping mechanisms.

The publishing industry moves at its own pace. Things can move slowly for a while, then things can happen very quickly. I learned to be more patient, and I had to constantly remind myself why I do what I do. My publishing process taught me that my love for writing is the thing that will sustain me over time. That love is the thing I clung to whenever things became challenging.

I was surprised by how intricate the timeline got! I knew I wanted the book to cover a year timespan, but I was surprised by how chronological and alternating the timeline could be. I also found myself delving into flashbacks, which frequently complicated things. I was surprised when I found myself making separate timeline documents for the plot, for each character, for each chapter, etc. It was a lot of work and made my head spin. My editors and proofreaders at Amistad were so great with catching mistakes and helping iron things out.

Also, a lot of research went into learning about hospitals and COPD. I was surprised when I found myself going deep into medical journals and the like during the research phases. I’m also grateful to proofreaders at Amistad who helped in this regard.

I hope readers will get what they need from it! I ultimately wrote this book for survivors of parental abuse and for folks who deal with the harsh realities of estrangement. I want people to feel seen by my book, and to know that their pain is not invisible. But take what you need from it! I appreciate anyone who reads it.

Be open to revision, take time between drafts, and let the work surprise you.