Marlowe ’17 Spins Tale of Love and UFOs in New Book

Imagine going viral after spotting a UFO, and then falling in love with the government official sent to quiet you down? That’s the premise of Mallory Marlowe’s new book, Love at First Sighting.

“While investigating, they fall in love in the process, and end up finding the truth to their mystery and finding what they’re looking for in life,” said Marlowe ’17.

Love at First Sighting is the second of a two-book deal Marlowe had with Penguin Random House; her first book was Love and Other Conspiracies. Her third is scheduled to be published next year.

“[Love and Other Conspiracies] centers around a paranormal conspiratorial theories web series. I was listening to podcasts about topics like Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, JFK’s assassination, and about the Men in Black,” said Marlowe. “There’s some cool lore that Men in Black actually was a thing. The U.S. government was researching UFOs and extraterrestrial life, and allegedly had this group of people intimidate people who say they witnessed UFOs, and got them to be quiet.”

For both books, she worked with Penguin Random House Associate Editor and Emerson alum Mary Baker ’17.

“We were at Emerson at the same time and didn’t know each other,” said Marlowe. “That was a fun thing to discover when we first started chatting. She had heard about the project after my agent pitched it to her.”

Marlowe said at Emerson she honed her knowledge of the publishing and entertainment industries and how to be a hard worker. She majored in Writing for Film and Television, and while she now works in a different medium, she incorporates lessons she learned at Emerson in her writing.

“I learned about tension, and how to structure and build a scene,” said Marlowe. “My writing feels cinematic and easy to visualize. I picture how it would look on camera. I know that’s a credit to studying screenwriting.”

Marlowe said she really enjoyed genre-specific classes at Emerson, including a female-driven screenplay class with Professor Emerita Diane Lake, and a sci-fi screenwriting class with former affiliated faculty member Mark Saraceni.  

Marlowe is quick to dismiss (and laugh at) any notion that her books are based on personal experience.

“I have not had a UFO encounter. Not yet. It seems a little precarious. I’m O.K. if it doesn’t happen,” said Marlowe.

Mallory Marlowe is a pen name. While it’s not quite a secret, she likes having separation between her books and day job [and asked that we use her nom de plume in this story]. She bounced name ideas off her writing circle and agent, and chose Marlowe, which she had been trying to use as a last name for characters.

“None of those books came to fruition, so I took it for myself,” said Marlowe.

Marlowe did share insight into her writing process. Her common writing spots are at the desk in her bedroom, or at a coffee shop. She starts with a high-level story concept, then outlines it, fleshes it out, and writes a draft.

“I like doing revisions,” Marlowe said. “I like seeing how much better you’ve made something. Even if you made a draft 5 percent better, it’s something that didn’t exist before.”