Elizabeth Strout; photo by Leonardo Cendamo

By Paul Freeman [May 2017 Interview]

Bestselling author Elizabeth Strout etches characters so vividly, with such insight, intimacy and authenticity, readers might well feel like eavesdroppers, witnessing emotionally naked moments, peering into the deepest, darkest crevices of strangers’ souls. And so they are strangers no longer.

That ability resulted in Strout winning the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for “Olive Kitteridge,” which was adapted into an Emmy-winning HBO miniseries. The theme of redemption runs through this and her other acclaimed novels, including “Amy and Isabelle,” “The Burgess Boys” and “My Name Is Lucy Barton.”

Strout has taken characters who had been talked about in “My Name Is Lucy Barton” and fleshed them out in her latest book, “Anything Is Possible.”

Whichever side of the tracks they’re from, the characters all have their own pains, their own histories to overcome. Strout manages to write characters we embrace, despite of, or even because of, their imperfections. As Patty Nicely, one of the characters in “Anything Is Possible” says, “We’re all just a mess, trying as hard as we can.”

Strout grew up in small towns in Maine and New Hampshire. At an early age, she read the classics as well as the biographies of great authors. Her mother was a university English professor and taught writing at a local high school.

After college, unable to find anyone interested in her writing, Strout worked briefly as a lawyer and for 13 years as a teacher in the English department of a New York community college. She was raising her daughter and struggling to find a couple of hours a day to write.

But Strout, now married to former Maine Attorney General James Tierney, never gave up. “I always had the belief that my stories would ultimately be heard,” Strout says.

POP CULTURE CLASSICS:
When and how did the idea crystalize to take characters who had been talked about in “My Name Is Lucy Barton” and then flesh them out in another book?

ELIZABETH STROUT:
It happened actually while I was writing “Lucy Barton.” That’s one reason why there wasn’t too much time between the books, because I was working on “My Name Is Lucy Barton” and then I realized that these people that she and her mother were talking about were interesting to me. So I would start to write scenes about them, at the same time that I was writing “Lucy Barton,” sort off to the side a little bit. And then I realized, “These people really do interest me, so let’s go for it. Let’s have a book of them [laughs].

PCC:
Did it also appeal to you, having the opportunity to expand the readers understanding of Lucy, as we discover these other characters’ perspectives on her life and personality?

STROUT:
That’s funny, because that realization only came to me as I was working on “Anything Is Possible.” Like I didn’t start it with that concept in mind. I really started it because the people were so interesting to me. And then I began to realize, “Oh, this is all about point of view, which is always so interesting to me. And so we’ll get different glimmers of Lucy through these different people.”

PCC:
Did you also enjoy having the opportunity to paint a portrait of a community, as well as individuals?

STROUT:
Yeah, yeah, exactly. I like to do that. I really do.

PCC:
How difficult was it to take these many story threads, many diverse characters, and weave them into a cohesive work?

STROUT:
You know, I think the way I work, the way my mind works, it’s not that difficult, because I sort of see them all in a constellation. Even when there were some stories that weren’t written yet, I still understood that they might be or would be. And so I think that they were always of one piece for me. So it wasn’t like, “Oh, I have to figure out how to fit these people together.” They were together already, in my head.

PCC:
The characters you write, their origin, do you usually build off of people you know, an amalgam? Or do they spring totally out of your imagination.

STROUT:
It’s so interesting, because I don’t really know where my characters come from. Sometimes I have a sense of, “Oh, well, that one’s more somebody that I used to know about, maybe, but I never knew them.” So no, I mean, like Patty Nicely, I was thinking about her. I have no idea where Patty Nicely came from. But she just showed up. And I really liked the idea of the Pretty Nicely girls [Patty and her sister Kathie] and what happened to them. And so Patty Nicely just showed up. It was so interesting. They just sort of appear, if I think about them… and care about them.

PCC:
So do they begin to write their own stories at some point?

STROUT:
You know, that’s such a good question. And, no. The truthful answer is that I always know that I’m writing their story. People sometimes ask, “Do the characters take over?” It’s not like that for me. I know some writers say it is. It’s like I always know that I’m writing their story. But there will always be surprises for me in the process.

PCC:
Your process, is it all organic, or a methodical approach where you start with outlines and psychological studies?

STROUT:
No, it’s really, really organic. And I’m a really, really messy worker. Like I’ll just write pieces of scenes. And I lose some of them, a lot of them, actually. I just keep pushing them around this big table that I work on. And after I write enough scenes, they begin to make sense together. So it’s very organic how I work [laughs]. And very, very messy, how I work.

PCC:
Have you figured out the key to creating characters we embrace, flaws and all?

STROUT:
No, I’ve never figured that out. But I was always just try to write about a character as emotionally truthfully as I can. And the other thing that happens as I write is I suspend judgement. So I am not judging my characters, which is very freeing. So just the combination of trying to make it as emotionally truthful and not judging them so that I don’t personally care what they do, whether they are doing something bad or good. And then I just hope for the best [laughs]. I never really know how readers will take them.

PCC:
Do you think about what readers’ takeaway will be from this book?

STROUT:
No, I don’t. I always write with the reader in mind, and yet, I don’t write with a specific idea of what the reader should take away. I guess I just always hope that the reader will be engaged and care enough about people that might not be like himself or herself and that they’ll have a glimpse into another life. And they’ll also maybe recognize themselves in some ways, as well. So those are the two things I would hope for, I guess.

PCC:
And did you recognize anything of yourself in Lucy?

STROUT:
Yes, I always recognize myself in all my characters, basically, because I’m the only person I can use [laughs], fundamentally, because I’m the only person that I’ve ever been. I really haven’t been anybody else. So anything that I’ve experienced in my life, anything, I just push and push and push to the extreme and try to get at the emotional truth that way. But the factual stuff is frequently not at all from my life.

PCC:
Lucy, in particular, in what way might she be similar to you?

STROUT:
Well, she’s a writer who’s trying to write as honestly as she can write. In some ways, that’s what I share with her. Her background was not my background at all. But I felt like I understood her, as I kept working on her.

PCC:
She’s such a specific character, and yet, has resonated so universally. What do you think it is that has caused that strong connection that readers feel?

STROUT:
Yeah, exactly. I don’t know. I wonder about that. I think, hopefully, because there is something truthful in her voice. I think her voice is a very honest voice. I mean, I hope it is. That’s why I kept writing it, because I thought, “This is an honest voice I have going here.” So I think that people intuitively understand that. They may not consciously understand it, but they intuitively understand that they’re listening to an honest voice. You know?

PCC:
For you, has it always been part of the appeal of writing, being able to get to the inner dialogue, which may be very different from what is actually spoken?

STROUT:
Exactly. That’s exactly what’s always been very interesting to me as a writer. Exactly. Because we all have our outer lives and then we have our inner lives. And they can be very, very different. And the way we present ourselves to other people is one thing and then what we’re actually thinking inside is a whole other thing. Or can be. And that’s always been interesting to me, the dichotomy between the outer world and the inner world.

PCC:
When did you make the leap from just writing for your own pleasure, going back to childhood, and then deciding that this was something you want to make a career?

STROUT:
I always knew I wanted to be a writer. As a kid, I was writing, I guess for my own pleasure, but I was really perfectly aware that I was going to be a writer [laughs]. So I don’t think I ever really made that leap. I think I was always going to be a writer.

PCC:
Was part of that your mother being an English teacher and writing professor?

STROUT:
Yes and often she gave me notebooks, when I was a kid, and she would tell me, when I was a very, very young kid, she’d say, “Write what you did today.” And so I would. And so sentences became, immediately, a part of my life. Just immediately. And yes, I’m positive she’s the reason I’m a writer.

PCC:
Did she give you advice on writing?

STROUT:
No, she never did, actually. And that was interesting… but also helpful, I think. It left me free to bumble through and make my own mistakes.

PCC:
How important was writing to you, growing up, in terms understanding yourself and those around you?

STROUT:
Yeah, well, I think it took me a long time to understand myself and those around me [laughs]. I don’t know. That’s a very good question. I honestly don’t know. As I’ve gotten older and written far more, and just matured as a person, I think that would be true. But I don’t know, as a young person, whether that was important in that way. I just always really, really wanted to write. So I did [laughs]. I was just always writing.

PCC:
Were you also reading biographies of writers, studying their work? Was that invaluable to your development?

STROUT:
Yeah. I was always doing that. At a young age, I was reading biographies about other writers. Also, I would make myself a list of classics, mostly, and pick them up, read them. So I was reading, really seriously, from a young age. So I would read and I would write and I would read and I would write. And I’ve just done that over and over.

PCC:
As you were reading, were you analyzing what made them work?

STROUT:
Yeah. Yeah, I would just read them for pleasure, but I would also be taking note - “Oh, look, this is interesting - look what he’s doing here.” Yeah.

PCC:
Knowing so firmly that writing was what you wanted to do with your life, what led to studying law and going into that briefly?

STROUT:
Because nobody wanted my work. I graduated from college and nobody was interested in anything I was writing. So I tried for a few years and not one bit of interest. So I decided I’d go to law school and write at night, be a lawyer during the day and write at night, which was not a very good idea, but that’s what I did.

PCC:
Was it after that, that you were working at the community college?

STROUT:
Yes, it was after that, because I was a lawyer so briefly. And then we moved to New York City and the law degree was considered a graduate degree, thank goodness, because I didn’t have one in English. And then I had a few stories published and the chairman of the English department liked me and liked the few stories that I had written, so he let me teach in the English department and I loved it. I did that for 13 years.

PCC:
And you were raising your daughter at the same time?

STROUT:
Yes, so there were many days when I only had two hours a day to work on the writing and I would have to put everything into that.

PCC:
Struggling to find those couple of hours, in the years without commercial success yet, did you always believe you had something that needed saying, stories that needed to be told and that one day, people would pay attention?

STROUT:
I always had the belief that my stories would ultimately be heard. And I don’t know where I got that belief from, because it was a long time before that happened [laughs].

PCC:
So how did you deal with all the rejection notices you received in the early days?

STROUT:
I don’t know, it’s funny, because, when I finally did get my book published, I remember I went down in the basement and I looked at the box of rejection letters that I had accumulated over the many, many years and I thought, “Oh, well, now I can look at these and they won’t be upsetting.” But they were. And I thought, “Why am I even keeping them? I’m going to throw them out.” So I threw them all out.

You know, it’s not easy. It’s not easy to be rejected continually. But every time, I would think, “Well, wait a minute. Let me try it this way. Let me try the story from this point of view” or something. So I just kept on.

PCC:
So having gone through that phase, getting the Pulitzer, was it that much more validating?

STROUT:
Sure, yeah, it was great, it was great to win the Pulitzer. It’s funny. I don’t think of it as validating. But, of course, it would be. It was a good thing [laughs]. It was a happy thing for me.

PCC:
So your reaction when you first heard it, was it not off the charts? Did you just take it in stride?

STROUT:
No, I was amazed. I was absolutely amazed. And I was thrilled when I first heard it.

PCC:
And what sort of effect did it have on your life afterwards?

STROUT:
Well, it brought me a lot more readers, so that made me feel responsible to the readers. But the fact is, I always felt responsible to my readers. So in essence, that didn’t change. And then I think it arrived late enough in my life that it didn’t really change my life very much.

PCC:
That responsibility, does that add pressure, to live up to that honor, when you sit down to begin writing a new project?

STROUT:
Well, I’ve always held myself to an enormously high standard. I was already writing a book, when that happened, and I just realized, “Okay, well, you’re just going to have to keep your high standards.” And so I’ve tried to do that.

PCC:
Are you constantly getting new ideas for projects? Are you always juggling what you want to do next?

STROUT:
Well, kind of, yeah, I tend to very often be jotting down scenes of different things. And then, they’ll begin to either coalesce or they won’t. And then, some bookish thing will be emerging, sometimes in spite of myself, almost.

PCC:
So are you always observing life and people and thinking, “Oh, that might work its way into a good scene”?

STROUT:
Oh, always. Yeah [laughs].

PCC:
Does that become a burden at any point?

STROUT:
No, it just always makes life seem so interesting.

PCC:
What was it like for you, having “Olive Kitteridge” adapted into a mini-series and “Amy and Isabelle” into a TV movie?

STROUT:
I thought “Olive Kitteridge” was just wonderful. I thought they did a fabulous job. So I was really, really happy with that. And “Amy and Isabelle,” they did a good job with that, as well. What I forgot about television back then - and even now, I suppose - is that there are ads, so that every eight minutes or 15 minutes, or something, it would just stop and there would be some ad. So by the time she was getting ready to cut her hair off, it’s like all of a sudden there’s this ad [laughs]. So it was nice with Frances McDormand’s production just to have it straight through.

PCC:
Is there talk about adapting “Lucy Barton” to the screen in some form?

STROUT:
No, there hasn’t been. But “The Burgess Boys” is going to be an HBO production, directed by Robert Redford.

PCC:
And in those sorts of situations, do you just hand off the reins?

STROUT:
Yes, I do. That’s what I do [laughs]. Yeah.

PCC:
It doesn’t worry you to give up creative control?

STROUT:
It does, but I make my choices carefully, and so, first of all, I like Robert Redford’s work a lot. And the screenwriter that he’s chosen for this production, I’ve met with him a number of times. He lives in New York. And I really like him. I feel like he really, really gets it. And that gives me confidence. And Frances McDormand and I talked a lot before she did the role of “Olive Kitteridge,” and I just said, “Okay, let’s let her do that.” So that helps me in my saying, “Okay, go and do this now. So long. I won’t look.” [Laughs]

PCC:
What would you say are the most important themes that recur throughout your work?

STROUT:
You know, it’s so interesting, because I don’t think in terms of themes. I just think in terms of people. And I just think that I write about ordinary people. And I just think that I’m recording the lives of ordinary people, basically. So I don’t really know about themes. I think there’s always a theme of redemption, I guess. I’m aware of that a little bit.

PCC:
You had mentioned readers being able to get a glimpse into other lives, different lives. So, dealing with ordinary people, do you think, as the readers get involved with the characters, they might think a bit more intently about the people they encounter in their real lives, be a little more empathetic?

STROUT:
I would love that. I would absolutely love that, because I’ve always been struck by the fact that we don’t know what it’s like to be another person, ever, in our whole lives. And so, if we can open a piece of fiction, go to a piece of fiction, and have some glimmer of what it’s like to be somebody else, then I really do think that’s helpful for the world. I think it can make empathy become stronger and that’s really a hope I have.

Also, as I said earlier, if they can recognize themselves on some level, too, and they realize that whatever they’ve thought or felt has probably been thought or felt before, because it probably has, but they may not know that, because of our inner lives that we keep so private, then that would be great.

PCC:
And, to this point, what have been the most rewarding and the most challenging aspects of life as a writer?

STROUT:
The most challenging aspect is when the work doesn’t go well. That’s just aways so awful. And it’s not infrequent that that happens. It’s like any job, you just sit there and you have a bad day at work. It just doesn’t go well. And that’s always been very hard for me - to understand I’m not producing the right stuff. That’s the most challenging part of being a writer.

PCC:
Have you found ways to better work through that, over the years?

STROUT:
I think I’ve gotten better over the years, from doing it so much. I recognize something that’s false faster. Let’s put it that way. So that’s helpful.

PCC:
And then, the most rewarding?

STROUT:
When I meet a reader and they’ll say, “Oh, you know, I understand my mother-in-law better now, because of “Olive Kitteridge,” something like that. Or somebody says to me about “Lucy Barton,” “I understand my husband better now, because he came from a very difficult background and he’s always been shy and now I understand him better. Those kind of remarks mean a lot to me.

Discover more about this writer by visiting www.elizabethstrout.com