The YouTube video is an interview with Elizabeth Strout about truthfulness and her Pulitzer Prize winning novel, OLIVE KITTERIDGE. I met her at a lunch/reading at Town Center Book Store in Pleasanton, California when OLIVE KITTERIDGE was first published in 2008. I told her that my novel, EVA, was almost complete, but I didn’t know who would read it. She said to keep writing and not to worry about who will read the story. It’s more important to write what you want to write. I remember her advice whenever I start a writing project.
Today, I heard a thirty-minute interview on KPFA radio where she discussed her new novel, THE BURGESS BOYS. She said the inspiration for the story came when she cleaned out files from her novel, ABIDE WITH ME. The Burgess boys were minor characters at the end. She had scenes with them as children , which she didn’t use in that story. She thought about what they would be like when they grew up and realized as adults they could be the main characters of a new novel.
She wrote sketches and more sketches about them, then cut, revised, and developed the plot for this new published novel.
Since Elizabeth Strout is one of my favorite authors, I’m looking forward to reading THE BURGESS BOYS.
