Bethany Joy Lenz Painted the Cover Art on Her New Novel: The ‘One Tree Hill’ Star’s New Chapter (Exclusive)
A dark debut novel marks ‘the beginning of a new journey’ for the actress-turned-writer
Key Takeaways
- Bethany Joy Lenz painted the cover of her new novel, calling the opportunity a “total fluke.”
- ‘The Betrayal of Cora Wexford’ is a twist-filled mystery set in 1890s London.
- The ‘One Tree Hill’ star hopes her novel shows readers a new side of her creativity.
Bethany Joy Lenz is opening up about her writing experience. In a recent conversation with Woman’s World to promote her first novel, The Betrayal of Cora Wexford, the One Tree Hill star opened up about where the idea came from and how she actually painted the cover herself, something she says was “a total fluke.” To learn why that is, and how she hopes this novel will help people see a new side of her, keep scrolling.
Bethany Joy Lenz opens up about her writing experience
In 2024, Lenz published her memoir, Dinner for Vampires: Life on a Cult TV Show. The book was highly praised and became an instant bestseller. Now, two years later, she’s releasing another book, this time in the fiction realm. It’s called The Betrayal of Cora Wexford, and it follows an artist named Cora Wexford after she meets Miles Vale, a man who might be connected to a series of murders happening around town. The novel is set in 1800s London and is filled with twists and turns.
“The difference between memoir and fiction writing is that there’s so much more space to be creative. You’re developing your own characters, you’re creating the environment—you can put people wherever you want. Whereas with a memoir, you really need to stay as close as you can to the original scenario for accuracy,” says Lenz. “I’ve always wanted to write fiction, and in fact, I’ve been writing fiction for years, just in different forms. I started a book when I was 12, but I don’t think I got further than about 40 pages. I’ve written a lot of scripts, pilots, musicals, songs, short stories, poems and things like that. So I’ve been a writer for many years—I just haven’t always had the opportunity to do what I’m doing now. So to actually complete an entire manuscript felt awesome.”
Readers will see a bit of Lenz in the main character, Cora. “There’s a lot of my own understanding of life and people and the way I see the world, the way I have struggled through some of my own flaws. I think there’s a self-awareness that I try to have that I wanted to give her,” Lenz says. “There’s a general intelligence and street smarts of someone who’s been through a lot in life and is not going to be easily fooled. I felt that was really important for this scenario. There are differences, but there’s also the fact that I’m an artist—I paint, and anything that is creative and tactile, I love. So there was a lot of me in Cora, for sure.”
Bethany Joy Lenz painted the cover of her novel
“I painted the cover of the book, which was a total fluke. I don’t paint—I only do abstracts and stuff like that. That’s all I’ve done for years,” the author explains. “My editor asked me if I would be interested in painting the cover, and I thought, ‘I don’t paint humans. I don’t know how to do that. I don’t have real realism.’ But I went with an abstract, interpretive version of Miles’ face, which I think works.”
“There were lots of drafts, lots of trial and error, and then watching YouTube and Instagram videos on technique and how to work with oils,” Lenz adds. “ It was great because the writing process was so arduous—I was in a really tight time crunch, and I would start to feel like a zombie from staring at my computer, burning my brain out. So I would go onto my new porch and just sit and paint, and it felt like exactly the creative release I needed. Even though I was still dealing with Miles Vale, I was able to release it in a new way, which felt great.”
Bethany Joy Lenz talks about wanting to be known for more than ‘One Tree Hill’
Despite being a New York Times bestselling author, most people still associate Lenz with her work on the hit early 2000s TV show One Tree Hill. In the show, she played Haley James Scott, a teenage musician who falls in love with the school’s star basketball player.
“It’s always nice to get outside of the box that people in the public eye get put in. I’m so grateful for the fan base we have for One Tree Hill, and that’s going to be my legacy. I’m so amazed and grateful that I got to be part of that incredible story, but I am so much more than Haley,” Lenz says. “I have a breadth of life experience that I want to use as an artist to tell meaningful stories. I loved what I got to do in my 20s as Haley, but there is so much more to say, so much more to share. This book is going to be a lot darker than what people expect from what they know of me. But I hope that it’s the beginning of a new journey into something more intellectually and creatively fulfilling.”
Be sure to pick up your copy of The Betrayal of Cora Wexford by Bethany Joy Lenz now wherever books are sold.
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