Author Laura Hankin's "The Daydreams" Is The Ode to Early Aughts Pop Culture Millennials Deserve
Think "Daisy Jones and the Six," but the 2000s edition.
The era that spanned from the 1990s through the early 2000s was iconic.
Pop culture was at its prime; from the fashion trends (everything from grunge to punk to butterfly clips) to the wholesome television shows and films (this age of sitcoms and rom-coms was elite), and, of course, the abundance of pop music (hit after hit topping the charts). There’s a reason why so many of us pine for these good ol’ days; why nostalgia for the early aughts is surging across social media.
But every golden age has its grit and, unfortunately, for the pop stars that served us bop after bop, behind-the-scenes circa the early 2000s wasn’t so bright, especially for women. Sure, they had money and fame, but at what cost? That’s the question Laura Hankin explores in her upcoming title, The Daydreams.
Laura Hankin is a triple threat. A sketch comedian, actress, and writer, she’s published three books in three years; The Daydreams being her third.
I was first introduced to Hankin back in 2021 via a PR package from Berkley, an imprint of Penguin Random House. I was sent an advanced copy of her second book, A Special Place for Women, and devoured it in a few days. It was one of my top reads of the year, so when Berkley alerted me of Hankin’s upcoming title, I had to get my hands on it.
Then I read it, and I knew I had to talk to her.
I would describe The Daydreams as the millennial version of Daisy Jones and the Six. The story is told from the perspective of Kat, a former teen actress who’s made it her mission to live a normal life after the hit television show she starred in once upon a time was canceled after a catastrophic live finale. Years later, fans are demanding a re-do, and when her fellow co-star and heartthrob Noah goes on record to say he’d be in if the rest of his castmates were, a reunion special is put into motion.
Suddenly, Kat, Noah, Summer, and Liana are back on set and forced to deal with the secrets they’ve been harboring, and the demons they’ve been facing. Per Berkley’s synopsis, “The stars all have private reasons to come back: forgiveness, revenge, a second chance with a first love [but] will this reunion be a chance to make things right? Or will it be the biggest mess the world has ever seen?”
The Daydreams is for anyone riding the nostalgic rollercoaster; for anyone who followed the Britney and Justin drama way back when; who nearly had a heart attack when Lauren Conrad sat down with Kristin Cavallari and Stephen Colletti on the ex’s podcast to finally set the record straight about their fiction-but-not love triangle on Laguna Beach.
It’s packed with drama.
It’s juicy.
It’s the type of book that will make you feel like you’re watching a reality show instead of reading a story. So, naturally, I needed to sit down with Hankin, discuss her craft, and find out more about this wildly entertaining page-turner. Read our conversation below.
On The Daydreams:
Photo courtesy of Julia Guerra
I always like to start my interviews by asking authors about their “ah-ha!” moments, because I think it’s pretty magical how stories come to us in the ways that they do. So, how did The Daydreams come to be? What was the inspiration behind the plot and these characters?
LH: I feel like this idea was kind of percolating in the back of my brain for a really long time. When I had the moment of “Oh, i should write this,” it was less of an “Ah-ha!” and more of an “Oh, duh, of course.”
I had been, like so many people, getting really into early 2000s pop culture over the past few years. It just felt very comforting and familiar. But I also noticed that a lot of the young women we loved at that time had gone on to really struggle. Especially compared to some of their male counterparts. It felt like we were finally starting to really talk about that, so I wanted to write something about those dynamics and about if we acknowledge that these young women had stories that we hadn’t been told and we had been judging them, then what? How do they move forward? How do they forgive us? So that’s where the book came from.
I did get Britney and Justin vibes.
LH: I looked at a lot of different celebrities from the time, but Britney and Justin were a particularly stark example of the diverging career paths [of early 2000s female vs male pop stars].
To me, the book reads very Daisy Jones and the Six meets Laguna Beach/The Hills. Did you look to outside sources at all for inspiration as you tackled the formatting of this story?
LH: I have to admit, I wasn’t a big Laguna Beach watcher. But isn’t that the one where, right at the end, they kind of pull back, like “We’re on a soundstage!” This moment of being like, “Hey everybody, this has been kind of more scripted than you thought”? That’s absolutely similar to this.
I was also thinking about some of the Nickelodeon and Disney stars. Raven in That’s So Raven. Amanda Bynes in The Amanda Show. They couldn’t escape their name. They were being themselves in pop culture. But they didn’t get to write their own stuff. Who knows how much control over the things that were making them famous? Or Mary-Kate and Ashley, right? We don’t think of them as any of the characters they played. We think of them as Mary-Kate and Ashley.
I felt like it was so brilliant of this man — Michael, the showrunner [in The Daydreams]— to make [the characters] go by their own names. And also very sinister in kind of trapping these teenagers into this public perception that they didn’t really get to control.
Totally. Think about The Bachelor or The Bachelorette. As soon as you have a camera in your face, you’re a character.
LH: Yeah! And I love listening to commentary about The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, about how people who are good at separating themselves and play a different character get through the process so much more unscathed than the people who don’t quite know where the line is. The producers have so much power over you.
One of my favorite daydreams is “What if I ever went on a reality show like The Bachelor or The Bachelorette?” Not that I ever would. Also, I’m married, so that would be a problem. But, I’d like to think I could create my own image. But the cameras are on you 24/7! You’re going to screw up and say something or have a low moment, and then maybe that becomes your entire arc on the show.
Speaking of arcs, I find that your books have very well-developed characters. Specifically for The Daydreams, what was your process like in developing these four individuals?
LH: I will say, this book changed a lot in revision. I outlined and then I wrote a first draft, and the first draft was nowhere near what I wanted it to be. A lot of the work in the second and third drafts was really refining these character arcs and figuring out what were the stakes for them, what was each character’s big secret, and all of that.
I think in terms of who was the easiest [character to write], probably Kat because I was spending the most time in her head. I related to her the most. In many ways, she is the most normal person of them all. Her insecurity, I felt like I could really relate to that.
Summer was very clear to me from the beginning. Her arc definitely took more research to be abv to feel like I could speak with authority about what i was like inside of her head and to write someone going through such a huge shift. She was, I think, clear and a joy to write, whereas Noah was the hardest for me. One, because I don’t write men very often. Two, I wanted readers to not know if he was going to be redeemable or not, for the majority of the book, and to make him both really likable, while also kind of a piece of shit. It was hard to walk that line.
Liana was so fun to write because I love her sense of humor and she has a very clear arc. I added in more for her so it felt like you could totally read a book on this from Liana’s perspective, and there would be a whole, huge, complicated story going on behind the scenes.
Let’s talk about Mr. Atlas. A lot has come out over the years about men in the industry mistreating actresses. Nickelodeon’s Dan Schneider and One Tree Hill’s Mark Schwahn come to mind. But unlike many of the abusive showrunners talked about in the news today, Mr. Atlas’s abuse isn’t sexual. Nothing physical ever happens. He’s not even around most of the time, but the abuse is still there. The manipulation is still there. Why did you choose to write him this way?
LH: I felt like in some ways, because it is such a conversation right now, I wanted to take a slightly different, unexpected direction with it. Mr. Atlas was an interesting figure because I think he thinks of himself as a very good person and a deeply moral person. He would *never* assault one of his stars, or do something like that. “He’s a family man, he’s upstanding.” But, still. He has so much power over their lives and what he’s willing to do for his business causes deep, deep damage in these stars.
I also felt like talking about something as serious and horrible as [sexual assault] would need more space than I could devote to it, and the book would just become about that. I wanted it, at the end of the day, to be a fun and delightful read, while still touching on these very serious subjects.
In addition to the Mr. Atlas storyline, there are a lot of important conversations being had in this book. Addiction, mental health, loss, what your sexual activity says about you, etc. Why was it important to you, as the writer, to explore these sensitive topics in this story, specifically?
LH: I find that sometimes, with super sensitive topics, if we’re coming at them from a sad and serious place, it can be tempting to shut the book or turn off the tv. But, if you can write a really engaging and plot-driven page-turner that has moments of levity and enjoyment, you can maybe get people to think about these things more seriously, and [think about] how they’re woven into our lives. Our lives have levity and joy, and then also very serious things. I want my books to reflect that. The spectrum of it all.
There are a lot of things I took away from The Daydreams, and there was a lot that I connected with. I think the main four all struggled with the question “Am I good?” And I think, through their arcs, the message was that we all make mistakes, but we don’t have to be defined by them. You’re not an inherently bad person because you did a bad thing when you were a teenager. Or an adult, for that matter. What did you want readers to get out of the book?
LH: Very much your point is something I thought a lot about. The importance of empathy and forgiveness, when it’s earned. When someone is truly trying to become a better person. Kat has this line that’s like, “What makes us a good person is not whether or not we never screw up, but if we do screw up, we try to make it right.” We’re all going to screw up at some point in life because that’s just what humans do. But [what matters is] you keep trying to make it right.
Right before the finale, Kat has a conversation with a colleague and it gets her thinking about stages in life that we have to mourn and let go of. I think this book is also about reconnecting with parts of yourself that want to shine through. It’s about the release and the discovery. When writing The Daydreams, what did you release, and what did you discover?
LH: I think I released the part of myself that, as a teenager, wanted to be a star, haha! It was like, thank God that never happened for me. At the same time, I rediscovered the joy of creativity and collaborating with other people — which, as a former theater kid, I loved so much. I think this book made me feel like, oh, it would be nice to get back to that at some point. It reaffirmed for me that creativity, in multiple forms, is something I hope I can have throughout my whole life.
Given that these characters are on a television show, I have to ask: If The Daydreams were to be adapted into a film or to TV, who would you want to play the main four?
LH: Oh my gosh, okay! I feel like I should preface this by saying these are just *some* ideas. I do not want this to define anybody’s perceptions of who these characters are in the book. If other people have ideas, I always love to hear them!
But, thinking about a dream cast… I think Selena Gomez would be a really amazing Kat. The deadpan thing she does in Only Murders In The Building would be great for Kat. Amanda Seyfried could be a good Summer. She can do delicate, but also inner strength. Watching The Dropout, I was so impressed with her range. I also think both [Selena and Amanda] can play both young and older, so that’s nice.
I struggle a little more with Noah because my pick for him is now too old to play him: Ryan Gosling. I think Keke Palmer would be a perfect Liana.
On Writing:
What does a typical writing day look like for you?
LH: I have sort of my “ideal” writing day. I’m not always good at sticking to it, but I like to wake up in the morning and go for a walk. I leave my phone at home, get a cup of coffee, and just walk around for a half hour or 45 minutes with a notebook in my pocket. I think about what I need to work on that day, my characters and my scenes, and I feel like that helps me get into a good mindset. Then I come back and either work from my apartment or, ideally, a coffee shop. Or, there’s this bookstore near me that has a communal table where you can do work. It’s awesome. That’s a good place to write. I try to aim for 1,000 words per day when I’m drafting. That’s my ideal.
Every so often, I’ll get away for 2-3 days to an Air B&B or a friend or relative’s house that might be empty, and block off that time in my mind and with my email, and [tell] the people who know me, “I am on a writing retreat.” That’s when I end up writing 5,000 to 10,000 words in a few days. That can’t always happen, unfortunately, so I have to be good at the grind of writing every day.
Do you consider yourself a pantser or a plotter? How do you go about starting a project?
LH: I think I started out as a pantser and I’m becoming more of a plotter. The new book I’m working on now, I actually had a five to 10-page outline before I started writing and it was, honestly, very helpful. In the earliest books that I wrote, some of which were published and some of which were not, it felt a little bit like treading water at times. I would have a big idea for the beginning, the middle, and the end, and would know nothing about what happened in between. Oftentimes, I felt like I was just writing to get to a twist. Whereas outlining helps with that.
What is your editing process like?
LH: I actually love the editing process. When I was first starting out, I was so precious and sensitive about it all that I wanted my first drafts to be perfect. Now? I’m like, “Yes, give me feedback smart people!” I’m lucky, I’ve worked with the same editor for a while now and I also have a writing group that I really trust and love and admire. Usually, I’ll have those people read it; have a big, long chat about all the problems and things I have to fix. I take some time to go on long walks and think everything through. I make a checklist of all the things I want to change in a draft, and then go through them.
What is the best advice you can give writers battling a bout of writer's block?
LH: Sometimes, you have to just let writer’s block run its course and trust your brain to subconsciously work through some stuff in the meantime. I’ve had periods of time where I don’t do any new writing for a couple of weeks, and writing is my full-time job at this point! Usually, it’s because I’ve gotten stuck on some problem and I can’t figure it out. Then, like two weeks later, I’ll wake up like, “Oh! This is the solution. Thank you brain!”
And then sometimes, it’s better to just write words on the page, even if you’re going to have to delete them all later. Just to get that muscle working. Maybe read a great, inspiring book that could get you excited about writing again, and what writing can do. Or just try, for a little while, writing something totally different from the project that you’re stuck on. Look up little writing exercises and do some of those!
Lastly, if you could pull an Alice in Wonderland, but instead of stepping through a looking glass, you can step into a book, which would it be, and what role would you play in the plot?
LH: This is such a good one. I do think, some of the books I read when I was a kid, I just loved so deeply and wanted to be a part of them so much. The biggest one of those, for me, was Ella Enchanted. I would read parts of it out loud because I wanted, so badly, to be Ella. She has a great relationship with this handsome prince. She’s really spunky. She lives in this cool fairytale world where she’s meeting ogres and giants. She was awesome.