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Search our previous authors' interviews

IJF asks: What have you just finished?

I'm very proud of my most recent book, THE SMART ONE, which is in stores now.

It's a sister story with a bright voice, a dark crime and more humor than I expected. (Sometimes my characters surprise me!) It's about a woman who was tagged "the smart one" as a child, and thinks she'll never live up to her family's expectations. Her sisters, "the pretty one" and "the wild one," also wrestle with the childhood labels that continue to define them. Then the three discover a dead body in an industrial drum under the house next door, and begin a bold, heartbreaking and often hilarious journey that changes each of them ... and impacts their relationship forever. THE SMART ONE is available in trade paperback.

IJF asks: What book(s) were life changing for you?

Any book that reveals an emotional truth I've felt but never articulated touches me in some profound way. That moment of recognition, that "yes!" that resonates through me is awakening. So many books I've read through the years have sparked that. Easier to name authors than titles, and here are just a few: J.D. Salinger, Richard Yates, Mary Gordon, Richard Russo, Alice Hoffman, Toni Morrison, Wally Lamb, John Irving, etc. etc.

IJF asks: Can you tell us your best fan encounter story?

Sure! Last summer, my husband and I were shopping at my local Borders, where I was due to speak the following week. We ran into a neighbor and were in the midst of chatting when a great bear of a man came rushing toward us shouting, "It's YOU! It's YOU!"

I'd only been recognized a few times--and always by women--so this took me back.

"Hi?" I offered.

"I'm such a big fan!" he said. "I told my wife you would have a glow and I was right. You do! You have a GLOW!"

I'm still not completely convinced I wasn't being punked, but I'm glad I had witnesses!

What's your least favorite part of the writing process?

The hardest part is when I get stuck on the plot and have to start asking myself questions to figure out what can/should/will happen next. It gets me anxious, and I go through the same torture every time ... beating my breast over how I will EVER finish the book. That's my least favorite part--that anxiety.

The best part is the antidote to that--when I know exactly what will happen in the scene and I just let it flow through me. Oh, that zone! I live for it ...

Our final versions are sometimes not like our first drafts. Is there anything that was in the first draft that you didn't keep and now you kinda miss it?

Ha! THE SMART ONE went through so many revisions I often can't even remember what I took out and what I left in. But no, I have to admit that it's rare that I regret killing my darlings. I'm cruel that way. *grin*

What is your author fantasy? Is it to have a certain person star in a film version of one of your books or maybe have a famous screenwriter do the adaptation?

Me and my imagination. You say fantasy, I think Tuscan Villa and a certain hunky, socially-conscious movie star. But I guess you meant career fantasy. The truth is I wouldn't mind having a couple of my books hit The New York Times best seller list. That's not too much to ask, is it?

Has a character ever surprised you and taken you in a direction you never intended, and if so, who won?

Great question. And yes, it happened with my first book, SECRET CONFESSIONS OF THE APPLEWOOD PTA. One of my characters, Ruth Moss, represented the kind of woman who had always plagued me. She is the woman I felt judged by--the one I assumed looked down on me for not having the right shoes or handbag or whatever. I felt it was important to create her as someone who seemed to have to all ... until you looked beneath the surface, where her pain resided. What I didn't know when I first created Ruth was how much I would love her. I discovered that she had this great big heart. A wonderful surprise indeed.

How many times did you have your novels rejected before finally signing a contract?

After I wrote my first book, I queried over 50 agents before I found one smart enough to sign me. (Ha!) I guess there really weren't that many rejections once my agent started submitting the book to editors, but at the time it felt overwhelming.

My advice to writers going through the grueling process of submissions is to remember that every successful author has a history of rejections. Hang in there ...

What has been your greatest source of inspiration as a writer? What facets of your life have proved to be the most challenging? BGlover

For me, inspiration comes from both the inside and the outside. Even though I write fiction, I try to tap my own heart to reveal emotional experiences the reader will recognize as authentic. And I also find inspiration in just about every book I read. That's the truth. If you're paying attention, almost every novel has something to teach.

And I have to admit, there was lots of inspiration in your books, Bonnie!

When and where did you decide that being a novelist was your calling? What inspired you to make it a reality? -Cafemom friend, Tera

Hi, Tera. There really was a distinct moment when it clicked for me. As a kid, I always loved writing, but I didn't have the self-esteem to think it was something I could do. And then in high school I wrote a scene as an assignment for an arrogant and unpleasant teacher I didn't get along with. I was shocked to get it back with an A and the comment that I had written some believable dialogue. It wasn't effusive praise, but it was enough. Yes, I thought. I can do this! And that was it. The fire was lit and hasn't gone out since.

That said, I procrastinated for years and years before writing my first book. It was fear that finally gave me the push I needed. With middle age looming, I finally understood that my time here was finite, and I didn't want to leave this planet without having reached for my dream.

I've been reading a lot lately about the future of publishing. Do you think printed books are going away? What are your hopes for for publishing's future? Myfanwy

I think e-books are going to impact the publishing industry, but not as much as some people predict. There are just too many of us who will always love the tactile joy of reading a printed book. I wouldn't be surprised if the pendulum swings back and forth a bit, with e-books gaining favor and then receding when people get nostalgic about paper. Evetually, it should even out.

My hope for the future of publishing is that all the frenzy over J.K. Rowling, Stephanie Meyer and other YA adult authors will impart a lifelong love of fiction in these young readers.

I know you are a great and loving mom and so I'm sure you've read your share of books for children. Have you ever considered writing a book for kids? Myfanwy

Thanks, Myf! I'm very drawn to writing books for adults and I don't see that waning. However, my 11-year-old daughter and I were recently brainstorming about a nonfiction book we could write together for middle grade girls. I think we have a pretty exciting idea in the works. More on that soon, I hope!

Which book was the most difficult to write? The easiest? I'm a huge fan and I hope you write many, many more. Katrina

Thanks so much, Kat! They were all so difficult, but I have to say THE SMART ONE gave me the most trouble. I made the classic sophomore mistake of trying to write to please everyone--my editor, my agents, the book critics and every person who ever sent me fan mail. But I learned my lesson, and now know how to quiet all those voices and just WRITE.

Easiest? Like I mentioned, all three were hard. But there's something to be said for the freedom of the first book. It had its own challenges, of course, since I was learning on the job, but at the same time I felt like I was inventing my own rules.

Your books are now on Storycasting.com, so you can cast the George Clooney character as, well, George Clooney. You can also cast everybody else. So, who do you see in the key roles? Do you want established players, or is this a "fresh faces" kind of opportunity?

I guess we're talking about SECRET CONFESSIONS OF THE APPLEWOOD PTA here, since that's the book where three women conspire to get a George Clooney movie filmed in their children's schoolyard. Here goes ...

For Maddie, I think Amanda Peet would be outstanding, as she can do physical comedy and still be so relatable. I think Renee Zellweger would kill as the timid Lisa Slotnick. Lisa Edelstein could be Ruth if she put on a few pounds. Beryl is a fun role that could go to someone like Janeane Garofalo or Rosie O'Donnell. For the guys, I'd love to see Jeremy Piven as Maddie's husband, Bruce, and Josh Lucas as her friend Jack. I think Alec Baldwin would be an absolute scream as Ruth's demented husband, and Brad Garrett might steal the show in the relatively small role of Jerry Murphy, the hypersensitive private investigator.

Thanks for the heads up on storycasting.com. I'll check it out.

How do you come up with your ideas? Each book stands alone. You have an amazing sense of timing in your writing Ellen, and your ideas are so unique. Do you have a new idea brewing?

Thank you so much for the kind words and the great questions. Ideas are like those particles of dust you see floating in a beam of sunlight. They're always there, but once in a while you spot them in the right light and they suddenly have substance. The trick is to catch them and make them work, which for me is pretty hard. I know that for some writers, ideas come to them as fully formed plots, and that awes me. I get tiny fragments and spend a long time thinking about how they might work in a story. And that's not simply mumbling to myself as I drive (though I surely do that!). I think on paper, making notes that would probably seem psychotic to anyone but me. Mostly, these notes consist of asking myself every question I can think of and then answering. Sometimes these notes become the idea for a novel, sometimes not.

I am currently noodling with a new idea but haven't yet decided if it's going to work as a book.

What advice would you offer to aspiring young authors? -CafeMom friend Cupcakegirl

Hello, my cupcake friend! The best advice I can give is to read, read, read. All the most important lessons are right on your bookshelf.

I know a lot of writers who stop reading when they're working on a project for fear they'll be so influenced their originality with suffer. One author even told me she feared actual sentences she read would wind up in her book by accident! I don't think it works like that. At least it doesn't for me. The parts that influence me are the parts that resonate, that mean something to me and my work. I call that learning.

Also, I'm not an advocate of self-publishing except in the rarest of circumstances. If you have the wherewithal to become your own publishing company--complete with editorial, marketing, publicity, sales and distribution departments--then go for it. Likewise, if your goal is simply to have a bound copy of your work for friends and relatives, it's fine. But otherwise it's a waste of your money and talent. I've seen too many people get taken advantage of and it makes me sad. My advice to anyone considering that route: proceed with caution.

Ellen~ Have you ever thought about writing a trilogy? You are an amazing writer and I cannot wait until your next book is out. Lori form cafemom

Thank you, Lori! So far, I haven't given any serious consideration to writing a sequel to any of my books. Down the road, who knows? But I'd have to come up with an idea for the plot that excites me at least as much as the original book.

How did you get your agent?

After a long hard road of being rejected by agent after agent for nine solid months, I got offers of representation from three all at once. I don't think it was a crazy coincidence of timing, but getting smarter about querying. I had refined and tweaked my query letter , and also figured out which agents I should be targeting. For the record, two of the offers came from agents I had cold-queried and one from a referral. I chose the one I had been referred to because it seemed like the best fit.

What I love about your writing is your natural sense of humor. You are both laugh out funny and also have a subtle sense of sarcasm in your writing. And taking on the character of someone who is actually a comedian...oh God...I can't even imagine. So even though this is more like a comment than a question, I do have to ask: Does the humor come easy for you? Do you see comedy in everything? (If so, lucky you!) Robin Slick

Thanks so much, my friend. Coming from someone with such an endearing sense of humor that's high praise indeed!

When I first decided to make Kenny Waxman (the love interest in THE SMART ONE) a comedy writer, I wondered if I needed to have my head examined. It was so ambitious! And I was filled with self-doubt. Who did I think I was, trying to pull off something like that? But once he became a fully-realized character in my head, I just sat back and listened. Perhaps that sounds a bit psychotic, but I really did let Kenny write his own jokes.

And I think that's an important point for all fiction writers. You need to trust your subconscious. There's more power up there than you might think. Stephen King talked about that in his book, On Writing. He called it "the boys in the basement," and his point was that sometimes you can walk away from a passage you're struggling with, and the next time you sit down the answers all come tumbling out because your subconscious had a chance to work on it.

To answer your other question about finding comedy in everything, it's a blessing a curse. Even when I'm writing something dark and serious, my characters make jokes.

Thank you for your time and insight into the writing and publishing process. Every author that succeeds in getting published and noticed gives hope to the world of aspiring authors. What is your take on self publishing?

I like your attitude! And I agree. In fact, I recently had a conversation with an author friend who is enjoying immense success. He was a little wary of telling me how well he was doing because he thought I might resent him. I explained that not only was I happy for him, but inspired to be close to someone with that level of success.

Anyway, my take on self-publishing is buried in one of my answers above, so I'll cannibalize my own interview and repeat it here:

I'm not an advocate of self-publishing except in the rarest of circumstances. If you have the wherewithal to become your own publishing company--complete with editorial, marketing, publicity, sales and distribution departments--then go for it. Likewise, if your goal is simply to have a bound copy of your work for friends and relatives, it's fine. But otherwise it's a waste of your money and talent. I've seen too many people get taken advantage of and it makes me sad. My advice to anyone considering that route: proceed with caution.

What inspired your first book. Did you have a clear vision of the whole complete story?

I wish I was one of those writers who could get a clear vision of the whole story, but it doesn't work like that for me. The first book started out with the idea of peeking behind the exterior of the perfect suburban super-mom to explore the pain, passion, heartache and joy hidden away. I worked from there to construct a plot that could affect my characters as individuals and the community as a whole. When I got the idea to bring a Hollywood location scout to their town and choose their school as the possible set for George Clooney movie, SECRET CONFESSIONS OF THE APPLEWOOD PTA was born (although the original title was GEORGE CLOONEY IS COMING TO APPLEWOOD).

How do you connect with your characters? Do they become real to you in your mind, or do they speak to you, tell you their story, or are they always two dimensional?

In some way, yes, they do become real to me. Of course, each character starts with a set of decisions I make about their personality and background. Sometimes I even think of them in terms of people I know. For instance, I might decide a certain character has the energy of one person in my life, the fears of another and the education of a third. But once I start to write the character, he or she becomes one unique individual to me, with a voice his or her own.

When I put my characters in a situation I try to listen carefully to hear their voices so I can make them feel and react in a way that's appropriate for them, as opposed to expedient to my storyline. I think that's critical. If you try to force your characters to react in way they wouldn't, your readers will feel the disconnect.

Your writing is so smooth and precise. Would you talk a bit about your revision process? Liz W.

Thank you, Liz. Kurt Vonnegut once said that there were two types of writers?swoopers and bashers. Swoopers blow through the first draft, getting it down as quickly as possible, and then go back and edit. Bashers insist on honing each paragraph before moving on to the next. He was careful to point out that one isn't better than the other. Whatever works for you is what's right.

I'm most definitely a basher. I edit relentlessly as I go along, working carefully on each sentence. When I sit down at my desk the next morning, I reread the pages from the previous day and edit again. Every few weeks I print out the all the chapters I've written so far and edit in hardcopy. And of course, once I finish the manuscript, I print out the whole work and start editing from the beginning. All in all, I probably spend more hours editing than writing.

I'm curious. What type of writing schedule do you adhere to? Do you write only when the muse strikes you, or do you set aside specific hours of the day when you are going to write no matter what distractions get in the way? If you do write to a schedule, to you find that your writing sometimes seems a bit stiff or forced on that first draft?

I try to write every weekday while the kids are at school. And yes, there are some days I have nothing in my head and the blank screen just stares back at me like a lobotomy patient. But I have a trick to get past that. I start making stream-of-consciousness notes where I ask myself questions about what can happen next, how the characters will feel about it, and what that might mean for the rest of the story. I let myself go off on as many tangents as I need, and eventually it all starts to come together. It's almost as if the answers were there all along just waiting for me to find them ...

A million thanks to the great folks at ijustfinished.com for the opportunity to appear here this week ... and of course to all of you who posted such probing and intelligent questions. You really kept me on my toes. It was a blast!