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Author Interview: Ellen Sussman Says There's More Than One Way To Write A Novel (Even For Her!)

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cover Fleur right side upYou know what they say, timing is everything! And what good timing it is for us to have Ellen Sussman on Women’s Fiction Writers today to celebrate the launch of her latest novel, A WEDDING IN PROVENCE. Ellen shares exceptional insight and advice with us, perhaps no words better suited to me than these: “Write the best damn book you can.” It seem obvious, but can become an oversight when we get wrapped up in other parts of being a writer and author. So, thanks, Ellen. Simple words are often the most meaningful. And the smartest.

Please welcome Ellen Sussman back to Women’s Fiction Writers.

Amy xo

Ellen Sussman Says There’s More Than One Way To Write A Novel (Even For Her!)

cover Fleur right side upAmy: Welcome back to Women’s Fiction Writers, Ellen, and congratulations on your fourth novel, A WEDDING IN PROVENCE!  Can you tell us what sparked the idea for this novel–and what came first–the characters, the setting, or the situation? 

Ellen: My husband and I did get married in France! But, no, the novel is not autobiographical. In fact, nothing that happens in the novel happened during our wedding weekend! I did think that a small wedding, set in France, would be great material for a novel — full of family drama and relationship drama and travel drama. Once I had that idea I began to flesh out the characters. I wanted a second marriage because I’ve spent so much time over the years thinking about finding love later in life. And I wanted grown daughters (as mine are now — though they were only 12 and 14 at the time of my wedding) because life gets complicated for them in delicious ways (for a writer — not for a mother!). The plot then grew out of the conflicts among the characters. So I’d say the situation came first (though that’s wrapped up in setting), then the characters, then the plot.

Every time I write a novel, this works out differently. With Paradise Guest House the plot came first, with French Lessons the setting came first. I love being open to the idea that there’s no one way to write a novel.
Amy: Your first novel was published in 2004 so you’ve obviously experienced a lot of publishing changes (growing pains, perhaps). What would you say has affected you the most? Ebooks? Social media? Something else?
Ellen: Ten years of publishing has taught me to focus on writing and not on publishing! The business is crazy — no one seems to know what makes a bestseller. Publishers try different things and sometimes something works and sometimes it doesn’t. With my first novel I felt very invested in its success. Since then I hope that each book succeeds but instead of driving myself crazy with worry I focus on writing the next novel. All I can do is make that novel the very best it can be. Then it’s the publisher’s job to get it to readers. Of course, I help in any way I can — book tour, social media, etc. — but that’s a very small part of my life. My job is to write.
Amy: Without any spoilers, what’s one of your favorite scenes in A WEDDING IN PROVENCE? Was it one of the easier scenes to write — or was it “one of those” scenes that really put you to the test? 
Ellen: I’m really pleased with the wedding scene itself! It comes at the end of the novel and I spent so much time worrying about it. How do you spend an entire novel with conflict leading up to the wedding and then pull it all together in one big scene? It felt overwhelming to me. And since I don’t write with a plot line or an outline, I didn’t even know what would happen at the wedding! But oddly, once I got there, everything fell into place and the scene was easy to write. It made me feel that there was some truth to the scene since I didn’t have to orchestrate it or manipulate it in any way. And I actually felt real joy while writing the scene, as if I were at the wedding and raising my own glass of champagne.
Amy: You’re well aware of the scuttlebutt that often surrounds the label “women’s fiction.” How do you think women authors who write books that *may* actually appeal more to women than men (not something that bothers me at all) can rise above the prejudice that exists against our work? For me, it’s a matter of just writing the best books I can, and letting it speak for itself. But do you think there’s more?  
Ellen: I just wrote an essay for another blog about the push by critics to proclaim that domestic fiction or women’s fiction isn’t serious fiction. (Men write about history and politics and war. Women write about relationships. Or so they say.) I’d argue that the search for love is very serious business! Relationships — both romantic and familial — matter a great deal to all of us. When we read about the challenges of committing to love, of raising children, of tending the fire in a marriage, we’re grappling with Big Issues. And great books about domestic lives force us to consider our own lives, our own choices. What could be more important than that?
Amy: What’s your best advice for aspiring authors in today’s publishing climate?
Ellen: Write the best damn book you can. Write it and rewrite it and get some feedback from good readers and then rewrite it again. Don’t even think about finding an agent until it’s really ready. And then find agents who represent books like yours (you can almost always find them mentioned on the acknowledgement pages of novels you love) and write a kick-ass query letter.

author photo 2010 hi resEllen Sussman is the New York Times bestselling author of four novels, A Wedding in Provence, The Paradise Guest House, French Lessons, and On a Night Like This. She is the editor of two critically acclaimed anthologies, Bad Girls: 26 Writers Misbehave and Dirty Words: A Literary Encyclopedia of Sex. She teaches through Stanford Continuing Studies and in private classes. www.ellensussman.com

facebook: www.facebook.com/ellensussman

twitter: @ellensussman

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  3. Yes, I agree that “there’s more than one way….” My first novel (About Face) was inspired by a singular moment I experienced, a reaction to what I’d thought was a professional success but turned out to be something else. And I built the story around that moment. There were some flashback scenes in that book to the protagonist’s time as a Peace Corps volunteer in Africa. So many people commented on how much they loved the Africa part that I built the second book (Deadly Adagio) around Africa as a setting. I’d never looked at it that way, ie different impetuses (is that the plural of impetus?) but, in fact, that’s exactly what happened. Thanks for the insight and for the interesting interview.

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  4. What a terrific interview! I particularly liked this insight into the domestic novel, which is the sort of novel written by everyone from Jane Austen to Tolstoy to Sussman: “great books about domestic lives force us to consider our own lives, our own choices. What could be more important than that?”

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  5. Ellen, what a refreshing reminder to focus on WRITING rather than WORRYING about how well (or not) our books will do once they’re launched. Yep, we should be part of our publishers’ marketing teams–no other choice, in this age of social media, where authors have to cultivate their own brands just like any other business owners–but our jobs really are to write. I’m going to keep going back to this interview to remind me. Thank you, Amy, for bringing Ellen to your wonderful site!

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