Incident at Twin Lakes Resort

Incident at Twin Lakes Resort
Colleen Alles

Etchings Press, UIndy
ISBN 978-1955521376
144 pages
Order at bookshop.org or other online sellers

At first, Cassandra Elgren is thrilled her new boyfriend Ethan asked her to be his guest at the three-day, all-inclusive, open-bar Labor Day retreat hosted by his prestigious law firm. Her enthusiasm wanes, however, as the itinerary fills with awkward encounters: forced bonding with sudden suitemates, colleagues whispering behind wine glasses, and competitive drunken games. Ethan starts behaving oddly-alternating between sweetly overeager and suspiciously calculating. As the wheels come off her new relationship, Cassie confronts an unsettling truth: she’s not just there to have a good time; she’s been part of Ethan’s scheme all along.

Interview with the Author

Etchings Press: Do you have any advice for college students who feel like they have no time to write?

Colleen Alles: It’s hard! I wrote next to nothing in my twenties. I began to make time for it when I became a mom and dropped from working full-time to part-time. Regardless, I think it is a matter of discipline. Can you find thirty minutes a day? Even if it means writing in the notes app of your phone? Can you wake up an hour early three days a week to get one thousand words? Maybe you work better blocking off four hours every Sunday. I think strategies like these are worth piloting to see if they work—and it’s okay if they don’t. Keep trying. Keep playing with it and see what works best for you. It’ll change as your life changes anyway, so try to stay open.

EP: Why did you set your novella in the period you did?

CA: Great question. Setting the novella in the early 2000s allowed me to free the story from the ubiquity of cell phones and the Internet. It added, I think, suspense. I think this choice also allowed Cassie’s character to feel even more isolated at the resort. Anyone growing up with the Internet in their pocket will not fully grasp life without the ability to instantly and mindlessly escape from the present reality.

EP: What didn’t make the final cut for the novella? Anything you regret removing?

CA: This novella actually used to be a novel. The word count exceeded 50,000 at one point, but it moved too slowly and it was bogged down in too much detail. I cut plot lines that expanded on Cassie’s background (e.g., her relationship with her parents, an ex-boyfriend, her career ambitions) for the sake of a sleeker novella. I think that was the right move. After many cuts, the book landed at 38,000 words and packs (I hope) a bigger punch for being slimmer.