Rebecca Wait: I Still Haven’t Learned How To Plan
In this interview, author Rebecca Wait discusses the character-driven way the plot evolved in writing her new novel, Cry Havoc.
Rebecca Wait studied English at Oxford University and spent more than a decade teaching English in London secondary schools while writing novels. She has also taught creative writing courses for adults. She now lives in Buckinghamshire and writes full time.
In this interview, Rebecca discusses the character-driven way the plot evolved in writing her new novel, Cry Havoc, why the cover reveal is always a surprise for her, and more.
Name: Rebecca Wait
Book title: Cry Havoc
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Release date: January 20, 2026
Genre/category: Dark Humor / Fiction
Elevator pitch: A humorous dark academia novel, set in a failing English girls’ school in the 1980s, in which a teen running from her past becomes immersed in a dangerous and intriguing mystery involving a shady new teacher and a strange contagion afflicting her classmates.
What prompted you to write this book?
A while back I got temporarily obsessed with this slightly mad public information campaign the U.K. government ran during the Cold War called “Protect and Survive.” Part of this involved the government distributing these bonkers leaflets instructing citizens on how to create a makeshift fallout shelter in their house, among other useful tips. You can find images of the leaflets online. I would say they are not actually very useful in terms of practical guidance, but would definitely have succeeded in completely terrifying anybody reading them.
I started thinking a bit more about the backdrop of the Cold War and asking people who remembered that time what it had been like to have the threat of a nuclear holocaust hanging over you. Not great, was the general consensus. I was also, coincidentally, watching “Derry Girls”at the time, and was deconstructing what I found so effective about it. It wasn’t just that I found it funny. The added edge comes fromthe silliness of the main plotlines being juxtaposed with the constant threat of the Troubles, rumbling away in the background.
So, that’s where the initial idea of a decaying girls’ boarding school at the tail end of the cold war came from. Silliness + we might all die at any moment.
How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?
About three years. It usually takes me a couple of years to write a book, and I was still teaching high school English while working on Cry Havoc, and I had a baby, so I didn’t have loads of time. Then the gap from delivery to your publisher to publication can be up to a year. So, it feels like quite a long time ago now that I had the first idea for the book. And the starting idea does always change a lot through the writing process, because I don’t usually know where I’m going with it at the start. I knew the Cold War was going to be in there, and a really rubbish girls’ school, and I’d also got really interested in neurology and psychogenic illness (I’m from a family of doctors!). But although all that was in the mix, very early on I thought it would end up being a book about someone who pretends to have cancer.
Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?
I always love working with a publishing team—it’s such a profound relief to have a chance to collaborate after spending so long working on a project alone. I think the cover reveal always surprises me. I’m not a very visual person, and I have almost no visual memory, which is incredibly inconvenient at times. So, unlike some writers, I never have any preconceived ideas about what the book cover should look like. And then it’s amazing to see what somebody else has conjured up out of the words I wrote, and how compellingly a story can be told visually, in ways that would never have occurred to me. I admire the talent it takes to create an effective cover, because I don’t have a drop of that myself.
Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?
There are always surprises for me because, unfortunately, five novels in, I still haven’t learned how to plan. I start with a premise I’m interested in—a sort of what would happen if…—and then I usually have a couple of vague navigational points in my head, things that I’m probably writing toward, events that may or may not take place around the midpoint. But mainly I’m just following that original thread and seeing where I end up. In some ways it’s an effective way of writing, because as your characters develop you want the plot to come from them, to be generated by their actions and reactions, and it’s harder to game that out in advance. It is for me, anyway. At least I avoid the trap of imposing a slightly arbitrary plot framework on my characters from my godlike authorial position. It’s more character driven. But perhaps I’m just trying to justify how chaotic I am.
What do you hope readers will get out of your book?
I think back when I was younger and just starting out, I would have had more grandiose ideas about this—about provoking debate, inviting people to examine their pre-conceived ideas, and so on. But now I would just say, I hope readers are engaged by the story and interested in the characters. Honestly, the world is dark, and I hope people find enjoyment in reading. Anything beyond that is up to them. For instance, I know some readers will be really interested like me in the medical aspects of the book, but others might just skim over them. I’m fine with that. I hand full responsibility over to the reader for how they engage with the book.
If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?
Write the book that you would like to read!
