Interview with Author Elise Juska
Rian: What made you choose to do a book from the mother’s point of view for “The Hazards of Sleeping Alone”? Was there a reason you choose to explore the relationship between mothers and daughters in this book?
Elise: It’s strange. When I started writing “Hazards,” telling the story from the mother’s point of view wasn’t a conscious decision I made, but looking back on the book–and my writing in general–there is a definite preoccupation with mothers and daughters. Even in “Getting Over Jack Wagner,” Eliza’s obsession with “rock stars” has a lot to do with mother issues–both the rock stars’ and her own. I’ve always been intrigued by the mother-daughter relationship–the ways in which love is shown, concern is expressed, and that dynamic changes and evolves. I started writing “Hazards” when I was 28, a time when I (like many “kids” in their 20s) was getting to know my parents as people; though I may not have seen it at the time, I’m sure that’s part of what compelled me try walking around in a mother’s shoes.
Rian: I really enjoyed how you let us into the mind and emotions of Charlotte in “Hazards..” so effectively. How did you create her so well? (From your picture on the book jacket, it doesn’t appear that you are anywhere near her age!)
Elise: I grew up in a huge, close extended family, so I’ve always been immersed in the culture of mothering and parenting. I’m told that when I was little I preferred to hang with adults than kids my own age–I’m sure these things helped inform the mindset of Charlotte. At the same time, I think the emotions that Charlotte deals with are so universal… whether you’re 18 or 80, you know what it feels like to worry about someone you love, to anticipate a first date, to feel alone or feel relieved or feel panicked at the sound of a creak in the night. That’s what so great about sinking into fiction; no matter who you are and how different the characters may seem, emotion isn’t age-exclusive.
Rian: In your first book, “Getting Over Jack Wagner”, the main character was fixated on the 80’s and rock bands. Were you also a huge fan of the 80’s and Jack Wagner too?
Elise: I definitely liked `80s music in specific, and “rock stars” in general–from Bono and Bon Jovi to the guys in the school band in seventh grade. Even as I’ve grown older (though I’m not especially proud to admit it) I’ve still been inexplicably drawn to that scruffy, faux-deep, bass-player type. With “Wagner,” I had fun imagining how that “type” changes as Eliza gets older, and why it is she’s really drawn to them in the first place.
Rian: I noticed that your writing style changed dramatically from your first book to your second. Why is this?
Elise: The books were products of very different points in my life. “Wagner” grew out of a story I wrote when I was 23, in grad school, at a time when much of what I’d been writing was serious and much of my life was serious and I really needed to laugh. With “Hazards,” the first scene–when Charlotte is awake and panicked in the middle of the night–grew out of my experiences a few years ago being awake and panicked in the middle of the night. To some extent, both books are infused with what I needed to write at the time–whether relief from seriousness or relief from, well, sleeplessness.
But I think there is some crossover too. “Wagner” was a funny book, but with some serious themes; “Hazards” is a more serious book, but still has humor in it. To me, humor and seriousness aren’t at all mutually exclusive. I like to read books that embrace that range - you’re laughing, you’re crying. That feels real to me. It feels like life.
Rian: What are your favorite type of books to read, and why?
Elise: The ones that manage to pull off that tough blend of laugh-out-loud humor + poignancy + insight. I adore Lorrie Moore, whose stories are hysterically funny yet sad and profound and sometimes painful. Erika Krouse’s collection, “Come Up and See Me Sometime,” is another great example of that difficult mix. I also love books about family relationships. Anne Tyler, Alice McDermott, Alice Munro, Carol Shields… they capture the nuances of human interaction, especially within families, with such absolute truth.
Rian: I enjoyed the references to New Hampshire that you made in “Hazards..” Why did you choose to set part of the book there, and part in NJ?
Elise: I’ve always had a strong connection to New England. Though I grew up outside Philadelphia, I have family in Maine, went to Bowdoin College (in Maine) and grad school at the University of New Hampshire. I miss it desperately–maybe that’s why it keeps cropping up in my writing; I can’t get there often enough in “real life,” so I have my characters go there for me. Suburban NJ seemed the right fit for Charlotte–her lifestyle (at least in the beginning of the book) is very structured, safe, convenient, with everything she needs a stone’s throw away. That Charlotte would live in a neighborhood of air conditioners and chain restaurants and Emily would live in a more natural environment, hanging her laundry on a clothesline and growing vegetables in her backyard, seemed an apt reflection of their personalities and differences.
Rian: What do you think of the chick lit genre? Any particular thoughts on the people that bash it?
Elise: That’s a tough one. For me, the issue with chick lit isn’t only about chick lit, but starts when you stamp a label like that on any group of anything–it can become generic, and reductive, no matter how different those things may be. It seems to me if you’re a young funny woman writer these days, nine times out of ten you’re getting branded “chick lit,” even
if those nine books are not necessarily the same. Funny books written by women are too often getting equated with fluffy; this I find troubling, and it’s something I don’t think young funny male writers encounter to the same degree. On the one hand, the chick lit phenomenon has made some very different books sound neutral; on the other, it’s helped some good books find a wide audience and given opportunities to many women writers who may not otherwise have gotten a foot in the door.
Rian: How did you get started in writing? Was it a childhood dream or did you just kind of fall into it accidentally?
Elise: I have to show you a really dorky picture of me–writing, circa 1984. I started hammering on this typewriter when I was about five years old. I used to take all the toys out of my toybox and fill it with my stories. I could only play with friends for limited hours because I needed my “writing time.” I honestly never imagined being anything else.
Rian: Do you have an upcoming book planned, and if so, what is it about?
Elise: This probably won’t surprise you–my next book is set in Maine. It’s loosely based on a story called “Somewhere Else, Maine” that was published in the Harvard Review a few years back–about a woman who flees her urban life (after a taxi runs over her toe) and strikes out with her hyperactive computer programmer boyfriend for rural Maine. I also have a novella coming out next summer, part of an anthology called “Cold Feet”–a collection of novellas, by five different women writers, about weddings.
Rian: Last but not least, is there any advice you would give to people who are trying to write a book of their own?
Elise: Sounds kind of simplistic, but I really think the hardest thing about writing a book is writing the book. The publisher, the agent, all those things are a series of rather formal steps you follow; the harder part, to my mind, is what happens in front of your computer. I think all the popular suggestions are great ones: write every day, make it a habit, do it badly, just do it. It’s like dieting or going to the gym: do it regularly and it will start to feel less forced; skip a day and guilt will send you back the next. Get the book written as well as you can, then worry about the rest.