Get ready to learn more about the book One I Knew in this discussion with sapphic author Rita Potter.
Join us for an exclusive peek behind the scenes as we quiz Rita Potter about One I Knew, writing, reading, and more.
This book is part of the Secret Crush category in the 2025 IHS Reading Challenge.
Why did you write One I Knew?
One I Knew is typical of how most of my stories originate. Something I see or hear triggers an idea, and then I’m off to writing. The iconic picture of Faye Dunaway, taken after her Oscar win in 1977, inspired this story. There was something about her expression that kept drawing me back. While she should have been elated by her win, she had a melancholic air about her. It was this feeling that led me to create the character of Mallory St. Cloud.
Who is your favorite character in the book?
If you’ve read my previous interviews, you know I develop crushes on my characters. Mallory St. Cloud, the celebrity who returns to her hometown, is my crush in this book, while Andi Grainger is more like me.
I have to give a special shout out to CeCe Grainger, who is Andi’s sister. CeCe is an adult with Down syndrome. She holds a special place in my heart since my day job for the past 35 years is working with people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
What part of One I Knew was the most fun to write?
I wrote this book for every lesbian who ever fell in love with their straight best friend in high school. Readers have told me they remember the feeling well, as do I, over forty years later. So, my favorite part of writing this book is being able to turn the angst of unrequited love into a HEA. In other words, the lesbian gets the girl.
What is your favorite line from your book?
“Every time another boy broke your heart, you cried on my shoulder. I propped you up and made you whole again, so you could go find another. What you never realized was it ripped a piece of my heart out each time. I made you whole while you destroyed me.”
Where do you usually write, and what do you need in your writing space to help you stay focused?
I recently bought a small standing desk because I tire of sitting when I’m writing. I love it! Now, I will stand for an hour or two, dancing while I write. Okay, so dancing might be an overstatement since my wife says I have no rhythm. Let’s just say I do something that kinda resembles dancing. I’ve found I write much faster while standing.
If you could spend a day with another popular author, whom would you choose?
I’m so fickle. I change my answer to this question every time. Today, I’m going to say Frieda McFadden. For those who don’t know her, she writes best-selling suspense thrillers. She certainly isn’t the best writer on the planet, but she knows how to write a page turner with plenty of plot twists.
She’s an indie author who is selling a tremendous amount of copies of her books. When I answered this question, eleven of her books were in the Top #100 books in all of Amazon, which means over 10% of the best sellers are hers.
I’d love to pick her brain about how she’d done it, and how she comes up with such twisty plots.
When you’re writing an emotional or difficult scene, how do you set the mood?
Emotional scenes are my favorites, so I need little inspiration to write them. What I need is to have bonded with the characters before I write them. If I don’t feel their pain in my chest, I don’t know them well enough to write the scene. Ironically, I once had a reader call me out because my characters felt a tightness in their chest when upset. She felt it was a fictional ploy because real people aren’t like that. It made me realize we all manifest our emotional pain in different ways. I’m now careful not to have every character feeling the tightness in their chest that I get.
Have you ever fallen in love with one of your characters?
All the time! I’m a sucker for a character with a troubled past, who is struggling to overcome it.
What books did you grow up reading?
I read anything I could get my hands on. Sticking with one genre is a foreign concept to me. The one thing I miss from my younger years is reading series and epic books (aka long ones). As a writer, I have limited time to read, so I steer away from longer books. I’m looking forward to my retirement, so I can dive into more epic stories.
What books have you read more than once in your life?
I’m usually not one to read a book over again. Though, I mentioned previously, I will be retiring soon and have a list of books I want to reread. Most of what I plan to dive into, once I retire, is epic sagas or series.
