Ellen Meister Week: Day Four (SECRET CONFESSIONS OF THE APPLEWOOD PTA discussed on The Tonight Show)
Each day this week, I will feature a new Q&A with Ellen Meister (author of SECRET CONFESSIONS OF THE APPLEWOOD PTA), along with a link to one of her stories.
THIS JUST IN: Lisa Kudrow discussed making the audiobook for SECRET CONFESSIONS OF THE APPLEWOOD PTA on The Tonight Show last night!
Q & A:
MC: I find it torturous, at times, to choose names for my characters. I might choose a name and be really happy with it and then realize that someone I’m related to or a friend’s husband has the same name and then I worry that if so-and-so ever reads this will he/she worry that I chose that name on purpose and am sending some sort of message (which is not the case!). So what about you? How do you go about choosing names for your characters?
EM: Names are a bitch, aren’t they? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, but you can’t smell a novel, so we’re stuck with words.
Names come to me from all different angles. Sometimes my subconscious kicks in when I need it most and gives me the right name at the exact moment I’m inventing the character. Other times it’s torture.
I tend to have more problems with last names than first names. When I wrote SECRET CONFESSIONS OF THE APPLEWOOD PTA, I agonized over finding the right last name for the character I call Lisa. I wanted something a little ridiculous, though I can’t remember why that was so important. (Was it just to set up joke? Ruth: We have a new committee member named Lisa Slotnick. Beryl: What was it before she changed it? ) I don’t remember how I came up with the name, but there might be a Woody Allen influence at play. (In Annie Hall, the character played by Carol Kane was named Allison Portchnik.)
Another character in my novel sent me to the phone book to search for the perfect name. Since he was Catholic and a love interest for one of my characters, I wanted to give him a sexy Italian last name. I picked Capobianco right out of the white pages. Admittedly, I have a weakness for Italian men, but c’mon. Paul Capobianco? That name is hot!
Read:
The characters in this story are perfectly named but that’s not the only reason why I love it. One of the many reasons is this line: “Roselle has tiny, silent feet.”–so simple, but says so much. I also love reading Ellen’s bio on this story. Not so long ago and look at what has changed! From completion to publication. Amazing! Read it:
Each day this week, I will feature a new Q&A with Ellen Meister (author of SECRET CONFESSIONS OF THE APPLEWOOD PTA), along with a link to one of her stories.
Today is a special day because it is the release day of SECRET CONFESSIONS OF THE APPLEWOOD PTA. Congratulations, Ellen!
If you haven’t already ordered a copy, you might consider doing so before they leap off the shelves of your local bookstore (and if your local bookstore doesn’t have it in stock yet, give them a call and make sure they get it in stock).
Q & A:
MC: You always have wonderful, well-rounded, enjoyable characters. I feel for them, love them, and relate to them. Do you have a favorite character? On the flip side, do you have one you really don’t like?
EM: Maybe it’s the mother in me speaking, but it’s hard to play favorites. I love all my characters in different ways. The key, I think, is to find something about them I can relate to.
When I was making my initial notes for SECRET CONFESSIONS OF THE APPLEWOOD PTA, I worried about my Lisa Slotnick character. As the quiet and timid daughter of an alcoholic mother, she was so different from me. Where, I wondered, was the part of her I could relate to?
Eventually, I tapped into something that struck a very deep chord with me. Lisa was just as afraid to let people know she could sing as I was to let people know I could write. Indeed, it took me years and years to follow my dream and start writing. Like Lisa, I felt as if I wasn’t supposed to shine, and putting that on the outside for people to see was exposing some very private part of me. So I dug deep into that aspect of Lisa’s character and wound up discovering a lot of truths about myself.
Another character who surprised me is Ruth Moss. She’s my brash, outspoken “Jappy” character. (For anyone who just time-traveled from the Jurassic era, JAP=Jewish American Princess.) Ruth is, in so many ways, the embodiment of the type of women who have plagued me my entire life, making me feel self-conscious and angry. But I wanted to get past all that, and explore the layers that I knew had to exist beyond the designer clothes, shoes, cars, homes, etc. I knew that once I started digging I’d find pain there, but what surprised me was that I also found a big heart and a funny spirit. At last, I have tapped into my inner JAP!
Read:
To know Ellen’s characters, is to love them and one character of hers that broke my heart right in two was the young girl in this story:
ONE more thing… Please check out (you won’t regret it) this delightful interview The Canadian Chick Meets Ellen Meister
Each day this week, I will feature a new Q&A with Ellen Meister (author of the soon to be released SECRET CONFESSIONS OF THE APPLEWOOD PTA), along with a link to one of her stories. Here’s a link in case you missed Day One.
Q & A
MC: Not only do you yourself have a great sense of humor (and impeccable timing), but so do your characters. Can you trace your humor line? Where did it come from? When did you first know you could make people laugh?
EM: Thank you, Myf! To be honest, I think the humor comes from a desperate place. As a child, I didn’t think people had very much reason to like me, and so I bent over backwards to entertain. And getting a laugh … boy, that was something!
By the time I got to college, that drive to entertain had built to a manic crescendo. I was always doing accents, voices, impressions, routines, schtick. Picture a female Robin Williams on speed, only my fuel was mostly coffee and adrenaline.
But college, as I’m sure you remember, is a time of deep introspection. (Remember sitting up with friends all night, just talking? God, there was so much to say!) And slowly, a maturity crept in and I calmed down a bit. I was gratified to learn that I didn’t have to be “on” all the time for people to like me.
But that entertainer still resides somewhere deep inside, and she comes out when I write.
Read:
Ellen is a funny woman. But don’t just take my word for it, check out this story:
I was (and am) extremely pleased and honored to have been asked to be a part of this project.
Rebellion—New Voices of Fiction
Thomas Jefferson said,
“A little rebellion now and then is a good thing.” We agree.
This anthology offers fiction that is off the beaten
path, by authors who write for art’s sake, for the
love of the craft, authors who aren’t afraid to
extend the boundaries of the short story.
Please enjoy these fresh new voices.
Join the rebellion.
Robin Slick
Susan DiPlacido
Tom Saunders
Steve Hansen
Katrina Denza
Marcus Grimm
T.J. Forrester
Grant Jarrett
Matt St. Amand
Tripp Reade
Donald Capone
(and me)
It seems life went on while I was away. Who knew?
Anyway, I’ve yet to put down any cohesive thoughts about my time at Tin House other than to say that it kicked ass (and kicked my ass as one of the days I was ill with a stomach virus). Other than that, Stephanie Anagnoson, Katrina Denza, and Linera Lucas seem to have covered all the bases on this excellent and inspiring experience, so I’m just going to shut up about it.
Okay, so here’s some of the reading I’ve been catching up on this morning:
Katrina Denza’s Lit Mag Roundup 3.0
The new feature at SmokeLong Quaterly—SLQ Recommends
Jordan Rosenfeld looking for items overheard
If you already know Ellen Meister, I’m sure, like me, you consider yourself lucky. She is warm, witty, brilliant, beautiful, AND she’s a kick ass wife, mother, and writer to boot.
On top of all of this, Ellen is through and through lovable and so, my friends, this week (a very special week in the life of Ellen Meister and those who love her), I invite you to celebrate with me the woman and writer who is Ellen Meister.
Each day I will share with you a question and answer between Ellen and me, followed by a link to one of her stories.
I also invite you to get on over to whichever bookstore you fancy and get yourself a copy of her debut novel (released on August 1, 2006!): Secret Confessions of the Applewood PTA
Let’s get started…
Q & A
MC: Do you remember the first thing you ever wrote—that thing that gave you a funny tickle inside and made you say, “Ah ha! THIS is what I want to do”? If so, what was it? Or when was that moment—when you knew that writing was the thing for you?
EM: First off, before I even answer, I want to think you for doing this, Myf! You’re the most wonderful and supportive friend imaginable. I hope I don’t bore your loyal readers!
So anyway, to answer your question, it was my senior year of high school. I had already applied to college and been accepted into a theater program, thinking I wanted to be an actress. But one day my English teacher gave us a writing assignment, and I turned in a scene I wrote between two characters in a coffee shop. Looking back, I realize it probably wasn’t very good—the setting was trite, at very least—but the characters were real to me, and I could actually hear their voices. I was excited about it, but still not prepared for the reaction from my teacher, an arrogant, affected man who shaved his head when no one shaved their heads, smoked cigarettes in long black holders, and never quite liked me. And yet, he gave me an A on this piece and made the comment that I had a natural ear for dialogue. When I read that I thought, “Yes, I do!” For an immensely insecure kid who never thought she was very good at anything, it was a heady moment. In that second everything changed. I wasn’t going to act, I was going to write. It felt like fate, like what I was supposed to be doing all along. There were no second thoughts. I changed my major to English and that was it.
Alas, I’m procrastinator by nature. And so even though it was my dream to write fiction, it took me years and years to finally get serious about it. I wrote a bit in college, but once I graduated, I pursued a marketing career and became a professional copywriter. It was excellent training (I learned to make my point fast), but allowed me to tell myself I was just too busy to pursue my dreams. And then I had kids and learned a whole new definition for “busy.” But one day I woke up and mortality fears bitch-slapped me into finding the time in my day to make it happen. And so, I became a real writer by waking up at five o’clock in the morning and getting chapters written while the children slept. Two years later, I had a full manuscript I called George Clooney is Coming to Applewood. As you know, the title was later changed to SECRET CONFESSIONS OF THE APPLEWOOD PTA.
Read:
Ellen will knock your socks off with her tender honesty in this piece (warning: keep your tissues handy!):
Randall Brown made me cry today when I read his review of my flash Remember (which was the first ever creative writing thing of mine accepted for publication. So timely and perfect to read this generous review of Randall’s today as I return from vacation and from the land and place and part of me I was, and always am, trying to remember.
Thank you, Randall!
Here’s a sampling of books I read on vacation (I’m not listing some because they were either rereads or books I couldn’t finish):
Middlesex – Jeffrey Eugenides
Hot damn, what a fantastic book this is! Again, what was I waiting for?? Allen and I both read this one (same goes for several on this list) and boy did we enjoy the hell out of it. In fact, it was impossible to get the person who was reading it at the time to engage in conversation, so engrossed were we in Calliope/Cal’s life. I’m not going to bother saying what this book is “about” because you’ve no doubt all read it already (so late to the party am I), but if you’ve not read it, please promise me you will. You will be so glad you did.
Ninemile Wolves – Rick Bass
Nonfiction account of several wolf packs in the early 1990s, set in Montana and the surrounding areas. On the surface this is a book about the ability and willingness (or lack thereof) of humans to coexist with the remaining large predators in North America. Ultimately, though, it is about a search for the soul—ours, the wolves.
Sightseeing – Rattawut Lapcharoensap
I had read one story from this collection (“At the Café Lovely”) at few years ago in Zoetrope and was smitten, but I will say it was not my favorite of these stories—which are the perfect mixture of funny and sad, bleak and hopeful. Favorite is reserved for the title story, “Sightseeing,” about a mother going blind who helps her son learn how to really see. A gorgeous heartbreaker of a story.
Thank You for the Music – Jane McCafferty
My god what a fantastic short story collection filled with so many fucked-up, heartbreaking characters that it’s hard to say which one I love the most. I can say this, however, these stories will creep into your core and keep you up at night thinking about them.
Man Camp – Adrienne Brodeur
Light-hearted novel about the battle of the sexes—the battle part is not what is expected, though. The women in the novel are fighting to have the men in their lives act more like men of yore, until they realize that even manly men have their issues.
The Optimists – Andrew Miller
A taut, Graham Greene-esque novel about a photojournalist who has been witness to many atrocities, but the last one (a genocidal massacre in an unnamed African country) is the one which brings him to his knees. It is only when he returns to a childhood cottage where he tends to his mentally disturbed sister that he (and she) begins to heal and where he learns that some questions can never be answered. It was a quick (albeit bleak) read.
Yellow – Janni Visman
Suspenseful novel with an unreliable agoraphobic narrator—part Rear Window, part Single White Female, part several other movies I’m too dense to pick up on (it should come as no surprise that the author studied film). I enjoyed this quick read.
The History of Children’s Camps on Chateaugay Lake – written by Mary Ellen Putnam
Well, I spent much of my life on this lake and though I knew about the three existing children’s camps (Camp Jeanne d’Arc, started in 1922; Tanager Lodge, started in 1923; and Camp Chateaugay, started in 1945), I had no idea about all those that had come before and after and now ceased to exist (11 in all including those already mentioned).
In Progress:
Gilead – Marilynne Robinson
Started reading and loving this book but put it down until after vacation because it requires a lot of attention and focus and sometimes I just want to stare out at the lake and listen to the loons instead of having heavy thoughts.
It has been 22 days since my last post. I apologize for being absent and thank you for not giving up on me. In a nutshell, my sparkling time at Tin House and my glorious vacation (way up north with the bright sky and the smell of spruce) were sublime (to give you an idea, I’ve uploaded this photo of me swimming in the lake one evening).
Tomorrow, I will start fresh with a week-long celebration of my brilliant friend, Ellen Meister, whose debut novel is released this week. Then I will be back to business as usual, or something like that, when I will reveal all of the secrets that were unearthed at my high school reunion last Saturday… (just kidding).
Really. I am going. But before I do, please take a few moments to read this excellent story from my friend (even though I’ve never met him face to face) Matthew M. Quick–Sir, why is your nose so tall?.
Okay. Thanks. Byeeee.
Bye, bye now. I’m going to be incommunicado for the next couple of weeks as I’ll be off at Tin House and then off on vacation (during which I will also be attending my high school reunion and celebrating my anniversary) and then away for work.
I may post during these next three weeks and I may not. But please make sure you stop back in during the first week of August when I will have an extra-special guest. It’s top secret, but here’s a hint:
This month Baltimore Interview offers you: The Autobiography of Wasyl Palijczuk
myfanwy collins 