In 2024, YA author Bill Wood rocked the genre with his debut novel Let’s Split Up – which rose through the charts to become the UK’s fastest selling YA debut of the year. And now, he’s picked up the pen (and knife!) once more to carve out an all-new, bloody addition of his spine-tingling trilogy – Be Right Back.
Be Right Back, available in stores now, sees the Sanera Four initially split up by college and life-commitments – one year on from the devastating Carrington Ghoul murders. But, as they reunite in Sanera for their debut interview, tragedy strikes during the town’s Halloween festival. Soon, the gang find themselves faced both with old legends – and new horrors.
In this interview, Bella sat down with Bill to discuss the influences of film on his books, his writing tips to avoiding the sequel curse, and his an insight into the trilogy’s concluding novel – One Last Scare (releasing October 8th 2026)
You can watch the full interview, and read it, below:
NB: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Bella (GYCO): So, today I am really excited to be talking to Billy – How are you doing?
Bill Wood (BW): I’m very well, thanks for having me.
Bella: You’re very welcome. I really enjoyed reading both your books. I actually hadn’t read them before, but I read them over the last week, which was really lovely. I’m quite a slow reader, so it was nice to read them very quickly. I was wondering if you could start off by introducing us to your book, Be Right Back.
BW: So Be Right Back is the sequel to my book Let’s Split Up which I decided to write because I wanted an aged up version of that Scooby-Doo formula of friends, solving a mystery. And, it ended up becoming a mash-up between that, and your 90s teen horror sort of thing. Be Right Back follows the same characters just over a year after the events of Let’s Split Up – and everything’s a little bit bigger, a little bit scarier, a little bit bloodier. Like most horror sequel should be.
Bella: It definitely was a step up from the first book. I was wondering, because the first book of the trilogy was so successful here in the UK – did you feel pressure, when it came to making the sequel, especially with the ‘sequel curse?’
BW: Yeah, definitely. I think it’s always scary. This is the first sequel I’ve done, but it was really nerve- wracking. And, when I originally signed my deal, I wasn’t supposed to be doing a sequel – it was only after the success of the first book. So then I felt like I had this extra pressure of, ‘Okay, I’ve got to make this worth it.’
But for me as well, it was also the pressure of writing something that people would think was warranted because I feel like a lot of sequels – not just books but films, and especially horror films – I feel like the sequels tend to just go down, down, down in quality. So I wanted to make sure the book had a purpose.
So that was really important to me when I was drafting it, especially in the early stages.
Bella: I can imagine how that must have put a lot of weight on your shoulders. You think of all of these legacy franchises and their sequels – there’s always so much hype after the first one. Especially with all of these films you’re paying homage to – it must have been very scary.
But I think it definitely delivers because it’s very bloody and there’s lots of twists – I’d say more twists than the first book. What was the writing process like, when you’re trying to draft all of these big scares and twists. Do you have to plot in advance?
BW: I never used to. I do now because I have to get everything approved by a publisher. But that’s not to say that while I’m drafting, if something comes to me, I will kind of take a detour and follow that, because I think that’s where you get these exciting twists and the things that are going to surprise a reader. Because it surprises you while you were coming up with it!
But I do the whole thing with the post-it notes on the wall. I have word documents full of info and lore. I have whole stuff about the American school system, because obviously it’s very different to us. Towards when I’m about to pitch it to my team, I will make a big sheet of all the big moments in the book, including the twists and stuff. So then I can mix and match and move them around really easily. And I find that a lot easier to visualise, especially as you’re saying. It’s a series where you put in a lot of preparation.
Bella: That definitely came across as I was reading both of them. And in that vein, I was wondering – at the beginning of Be Right Back, you dedicate the book to the readers who are always guessing the ending. What’s the secret to double crossing your audience? Because it must be really difficult.
BW: It is really difficult. I’m trying to get better at it. And, with Book Three – which we’re just finishing up now – I think I’ve cracked how to do that. You have to write in a way where you’re constantly thinking about how you can trick the reader into thinking something else, whether that is how a character’s acting, and then trying to think of another explanation for this, while also trying to stay true to the story.
And it’s a lot of back and forth, which then gets really confusing for you. And honestly, I feel like the more confused I am writing it, the more confused I will be reading it. But then there’s that thing of, ‘Oh, I’ve got to make sure that when they read it back, it makes sense now.’ So it’s like a double edged sword.
It’s really fun, but it can be really stressful at times. I want to say it was Agatha Christie who actually started writing a book – a mystery – with the idea of who the perpetrator is going to be. But, then halfway through, she changed it in her mind. I don’t know how it works, but I feel like that might be a good technique – I might have to try it one day!
But it’s a lot of back and forth, and I think, when it comes to any sort of media, people are going to work it out anyway, and I think I’ve accepted that now. No matter how many twists and how many things I put into it, there’s only ten people it could possibly be. Someone’s going to guess it.
Bella: When you start out writing, do you know exactly who you want it to be? Or do you discover it along the way? Because I feel like, with something like this, like you said, it can either be really regimented and planned – or it can be something you figure out yourself, as you’re going through.
BW: It depends on the book. Let’s Split Up – it was always the same person. Be Right Back. It was always the same person, but then I added in an extra twist, the main big twist. I don’t want to spoil it for anyone.
And, One Last Scare – the third and final book out later this year in the UK – that was the most difficult book I’ve ever had to write in my life. Like, my motivation changed every five minutes, and I’m hoping that will help add to the mysteriousness and the confusion over it. But we’ll see.
Bella: I think, without too much away, Be Right Back sets up a lot for the final book, which I think will be very intriguing.
You reference a lot of films, as your inspirations, the characters reference a lot of films. If you had to curate a watchlist of three specific films that you would direct your readers to watch before they read Be Right Back, what would they be?
BW: There’s the obvious ones where I’ve heavily been inspired by it. So I’m trying to not think of the really obvious ones. I think you can’t go wrong with any of the direct-to-video Scooby-Doo movies. This book has very much a Scooby Doo! and the Witch’s Ghost (1999) vibe to it. So, I would say that because I love that film anyway. I would probably also say something like You’re Next (2011) – I think that’s one of my favourite slashers ever. It’s so brilliant. And then Urban Legend (1998), I think. It’s really fitting for Be Right Back, actually.
Bella: Moving away from the horror aspect a little bit – I really liked how, alongside all of the scares, there’s a lot of development and growth for your main characters. And one of the major themes is change and growth, no matter how uncomfortable it is. So I was wondering why this was important for you to include, alongside the background of the horror.
BW: I think Let’s Split Up especially was a book where… yes, it is a horror-thriller-mystery, but it is a coming-of-age story at its heart as well. They’re all having new discoveries, new relationships, and I was thinking, ‘Well, the next step to that, in the sequel, would then be moving away.’ And that was something that I particularly struggled with, when I was finishing school. So I was able to kind of channel my feelings into that. So like Cam, I kind of put everything from my 18 year old self into him. And it was quite therapeutic in a sense.
But I think of books that I had when I was 15 when – which is the age of the teens that will be reading my books – especially when it comes to queer representation. I’m sure there were books, but I never saw them on the forefront. A lot of the queer representation in books were either just really sad or it was the sole focus of the book. Like Simon Versus The Homo Sapiens Agenda (2015) –I loved that book, but it’s not what I was trying to do with this. I wanted it just be there while also in a horror mystery, kind of normalising it. Not that it needs normalizing, you know?
Bella: I picked up on that when I read the story between Cam and Jonesy. What I really appreciate when I read it was that it didn’t feel like this really big progression where the whole time they were like, “Oh, I know how I feel, but I don’t want to act on it.” I like that, really early you say, “We don’t need to do that this time. We don’t need to drag it out and make it really dramatic’. It was very nice and comfortable,
In Let’s Split Up, you encourage your readers to let you know which of the Sanera core four you identify the most with. Why this point of connection was so important for your readers?
BW: I guess it just goes back to it being a coming-of age-story, at its heart. I think most YA books, when you’re seeing them go through changing points in their lives – like, these big, big milestones – it’s hard not for it to be a coming of age story. I guess it’s not the core focus. But I think being in their perspective really helps aid that message. And that’s one of the reasons I did it. I find being in that first person perspective, being able to change with each character – you get to see how people react. And because of that, you then can relate to these characters in a more deeper sense.
And I even rewrote some scenes multiple times to work out which point of view would be more effective in it. You think, if it was a Cam point of view, you’d probably crack a joke, if it was a Jonesy point of view, he’d be shitting himself – it was just one of those sort of things. And I think that’s just one way that people can really connect. I just find it really interesting to see which one would you be in that situation? I think it’s just a really interesting observation.
Bella: I always appreciate that when I read writer’s works because, I think I always gravitate towards writers who have that in mind, that sentiment of wanting you to find yourself in one of the characters. Is Cam the character that you identify the most with?
BW: It sounds cheesy, but I think… of course, I’m the write and there’s a bit of me in all of them. I think realistically, I’m more of a Jonesy in real life. I definitely relate to Cam’s experience with friends, moving away in college and trying to deal with, ‘What the hell am I going to do with my life?’ I definitely relate to that. And, I feel like most people reading the book probably do as well. So, probably one of the two. But again, your experiences go into every character you write. So I’m definitely in Buffy and Amber too.
Bella: I know I definitely can relate to you with Cam. I really, really related to him. And, then finally, the last book in your trilogy, One Last Scare, lands in the UK on October 8th. I know you can’t tell us a lot about it right now, but I know Be Right Back is a suggestion that the group are going to be facing a very big threat. I was wondering what you can tell us about that final book.
BW: I mean, I love the book. It’s been such a struggle, I’m not going to lie, because it is that pressure of, ‘I want this to wrap up so nice, I want it to be huge in scope,’ but also still entice the readers that fell in love with the first and second book. So, we’re not actually in Sanera at all anymore. In Be Right Back, we obviously went else for a little bit, but we were still kind of rooted there. But, now we are off the coast of Alaska, in Chillshore which is… you’ll find out what it is! But it’s been so fun to write.
I think this was another one where I had something to say, and it’s a big, underlying theme throughout the entire book. It’s very inspired by the state of the world, which I knew I needed to write into my book. But yeah, it’s the biggest thing I’ve written in this series, but also of anything I’ve written, scope wise. It’s huge in the best way possible – and I’m really excited for readers to get into it. I think relationships-wise, I’ve tied everything up really nicely, I hope. I think people will be happy.
And it’s so exciting, I can’t wait. I’ve seen the cover now, which is incredible. And that should be announced very soon as well.
Bella: I can’t wait to read it. I think Be Right Back has set up something exciting to that I can’t wait to see. Do you have anything else that you’re planning in the future when this is out of the way?
BW: I’ll have another book coming out with Scholastic next autumn, which is completely separate from this trilogy, which I’m very excited about. I’m just about to start writing that one. And then I have something else coming next year – I cannot share what that is, it’s very secretive. But we’re announcing that in the next couple of months. But, that’s ridiculously different. So I’m very excited to see what people think about that.
Bella: That all sounds amazing. I wish you the best with everything to come.
BW: Thank you.
