10 Questions w/author Laurie Viera Rigler (plus book giveaway)

Well, it was bound to happen eventually - two authors who wrote about two (very different) Janes, talking about writing and reading.

I had the pleasure of e-meeting Laurie Viera Rigler author of the very delightful Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict. We traded a few writing stories and I mentioned to her that on more than one occasion, people have asked me if my novel is "another one about Jane Austen." Ha! Truth is, I wish I had written one as entertaining and original as Laurie's book.

For those unfamiliar with this tale, Confessions centers on Courtney, a young California woman who suddenly wakes up in Jane Austen's England, known as a woman named Jane Mansfield. Though her body and surroundings are different, she's still the same modern woman inside. As she navigates her way through this new period, she wonders about her old life, how it happened that she arrived in a new body, ruminates over her failed love life and discovers that her 1800s heart may, or may not, be in love with a certain Mr. Edgeworth. What I liked most about this book was how Rigler set the story in motion. For this premise to work, she had to create a believable transition into the past and answer all the questions I had as a reader. I think she achieved this very well, including the certain flavor one expects from an Austen novel.


KH: I don’t know about you, but I’m a fan of the James Lipton Proust-like 10 questions he likes to ask guests of the Actors’ Studio. So I like to do my own version with writers.

LVR: I love that part of the show, but my favorite James Lipton moment was watching him watch Will Ferrell do James Lipton.

KH: Okay, question 1. What is your favorite book? I'm guessing it would be by Jane somebody.

LVR: Persuasion by Jane Austen. Persuasion is all about second chances, and I find the idea of getting another chance to make things right irresistible. Not only is Persuasion an illuminating commentary on forgiveness, love, and pitfalls of being dogmatic in terms of one's level of persuadability or resistance thereto, it also has the greatest love letter of any novel, not to mention two of the funniest characters in fiction, Sir Walter Elliot and Mary Musgrove.

KH: What is your least favorite book?

LVR: That's between me and the wall I flung it against.

KH: What piece(s) of fiction gave you that “Ah Ha, I know this is what I want to do” realization?

LVR: I don't think I ever allowed myself to say "Ah ha, I know this is what I want to do" until I found myself doing it. Being an avid reader is what turned me into a writer, and in particular, being an avid reader of Jane Austen, whose masterful storytelling, wit, and keen observation of human nature continue to inspire me. It was my constant re-reading of her six novels that caused the opening scene of Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict to appear in my head one day. I started writing down that scene, and then there was more, and eventually I had a novel.

KH: What are you reading now?

LVR: A novel called The Discrete Charm of Charlie Monk by David Ambrose. I'm only about five chapters in, and I'm already hooked. I'm making my way through all of Ambrose's novels, having read The Man Who Turned Into Himself (I read it twice and will read it again) and loved it so much that I had to read everything he wrote. Ambrose writes thrillers that explore memory, identity, and quantum physics.

I've also just started Steven M. Wise's Though the Heavens May Fall: The Landmark Trial That Led to the End of Human Slavery, a nonfiction book about the famous Mansfield Judgment that freed an escaped slave, James Somerset, in 1772 England, and which led to the abolition movement.

I've also just finished two novels. One is Curtis Sittenfeld's American Wife, a fascinating and compassionate fictional take on the enigma that is Laura Bush (the protagonist has a different name but is clearly recognizable). The other novel I just finished is your book, Janeology, which tackled another enigma, and a much darker one, mothers who murder their children. I found this to be a courageous and thought-provoking story. And also very compassionate, something one doesn't expect when reading about such a topic.

KH: What is your biggest reader pet peeve? (stock characters, unresolved endings, predictability, everything wrapped up hurriedly in the end, etc.)

LVR: Lazy writing in the form of vague description, cliches, or weak dialogue. Overuse of verbs other than "said" to qualify a line of dialogue, which should, whenever possible, speak for itself.

KH: What is your biggest writing pet peeve? (overuse of exclamation points, adverbs, bad guys named Wayne, etc.)

LVR: When I want to write and nothing comes out. Or when what does come out is crap. I've learned to realize that when this happens, it is just a way of reminding me that I'm overthinking the process. Whenever I think I know what's supposed to happen next, nothing comes out. If I can get myself comfortable in the place of "I don't know," then the words start to flow again. I'm learning to love being in the place of "I don't know."

KH: What’s the best piece of writing advice you ever received?

LVR: My teacher told me to think of myself as a storyteller rather than a writer, and I've found that liberating. Writers are supposed to live up to a host of expectations and assumptions, including such nonsense as, "You're not a real writer unless you [fill in the blank with the mandate of your choice]." Storytellers, however, get to sit around the fire weaving tales and mesmerizing listeners.

KH: What writing tool can you not live without?

LVR: My online subscription to the Oxford English Dictionary. Indispensable tool for a word nerd like me.

KH: Many writers I know say that until they decided they didn’t care what their mommas would think, they held back. And when they let go of that concern, they felt free to write. Did this ever apply to you?

LVR: My own inner critic was what held me back, not my mother. I've learned to send that inner voice packing, which has freed me to write.

KH: Do you have a website/blog where readers may learn more about you and your work?

LVR: My site is http://www.janeaustenaddict.com/. I think of it as the perfect place to go when you're feigning work at your desk. Lots of fun Austen-related movie clips and parodies, plus a blog, a forum, and plenty of information about my books.

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p. s. - Laurie just told me that her follow up to Confessions, titled Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict, is due out in May 2009. Woo!

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Book Giveaway

Laurie is generously giving away a signed copy of Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict to one lucky commenter. Leave your comment and particulars here by Friday, Dec. 5th to put your name in the hat for the drawing.

10 Questions w/author Laurie Viera Rigler (plus book giveaway)