Elizabeth Berg

BIO

Elizabeth Berg is the author of ten national bestselling novels, including the New York Times bestsellers TRUE TO FORM, NEVER CHANGE, and OPEN HOUSE, which was an Oprah's Book Club selection in 2000. DURABLE GOODS and JOY SCHOOL were selected as American Library Association Best Books of the Year, and TALK BEFORE SLEEP was short-listed for the ABBY award in 1996. The winner of the 1997 New England Booksellers Award for her body of work, she is also the author of a nonfiction work, ESCAPING INTO THE OPEN: The Art of Writing True. She lives in Chicago.

INTERVIEW

On April 21, 1997, THE BOOK REPORT welcomed ELIZABETH BERG, the beloved author of TALK BEFORE SLEEP and the new novel JOY SCHOOL. Interviewing for TBR were Judith Handschuh (JHScriba) and Jesse Kornbluth (Bookpg JK). Our online host was MarleneT.

Bookpg JK: Tomorrow, you get to accept the New England Book Award for Fiction. Have you prepared any remarks?

ElizBerg: Yes. I am 80% finished with a little speech.

Bookpg JK: May we have a preview?

ElizBerg: Certainly not.

Bookpg JK: A hint of a theme?

ElizBerg: Sincere gratitude.

Bookpg JK: John Cheever once told me that the purpose of awards for writers is to make life easier for others --- you become like Shredded Wheat. A product. Do you agree?

ElizBerg: No. I think awards are utterly arbitrary. I don't think you can make too much or too little of them.

JHScriba: Elizabeth, I'm curious, you always thank your writers' group in your acknowledgments, and I'm wondering: Have you always been in a group?

ElizBerg: I was in a class, and I was asked to join the teacher's group.

JHScriba: How does it help you?

ElizBerg: Because I write full time, it's a way to be sociable. It's a way for me for to hear my work read aloud by someone else. Everyone in the group writes. Everyone shares his/her work. It provides a lot of support. It's fun. And we eat good food!

JHScriba: I'm an avid reader of your books. What made you go back to Katie in this latest book?

ElizBerg: I have a real fondness for the characters in DURABLE GOODS --- it's my favorite novel, perhaps because it's my first ---- and I wanted to revisit them.

JHScriba: Do you expect to go back to these characters?

ElizBerg: No.That's the end.

JHScriba: Are you working on something else?

ElizBerg: I am working on something else, but I have a hard time talking about work in progress.

JHScriba: What about how you work -- or your process?

ElizBerg: I have the best job in the world. I work whenever I feel like it. It's play, it's not really work. I tend to write in the morning --- for up to 4 hours. I work almost every weekday.

JHScriba: And you have an office in Natick, which is one of most beautiful places in the world. Does that inspire you?

ElizBerg: I have a study in my home, and an office outside. It's good to have both places. The office has no phone --- and no refrigerator.

JHScriba: Does it happen to overlook the ocean?

ElizBerg: Not yet.

Question: Regarding Elizabeth's book Talk Before Sleep - did she experience the loss of a loved one to cancer?

ElizBerg: Yes. And there is statement about that in the introduction.

Question: What are Ms. Berg's favorite authors or inspirations?

ElizBerg: E.B. White --- head and shoulders.

Question: You wrote for Parent's magazine, didn't you? That's where I first read you, and you always made so much sense. Thank you for your writing.

ElizBerg: I wrote many many essays for Parent's. Thank you.

Question: Where do you get the material for books like Range of Motion? I  was moved by it.  

ElizBerg: I wrote RANGE OF MOTION because I wanted to write from the point of view of someone in a coma --- now there's a writing challenge! Much of the material comes from my nursing experience --- I was an RN for 10 years.

Question: How long have you been writing?

ElizBerg: Since I could hold a pencil.

Bookpg JK: Is writing a destiny for you --- or a choice?

ElizBerg: I think writers are born, not made later. It's some fire in you. A need. In my case, I would write whether I were published or not.

Question: Does Ms. Berg have an email or snail-mail address for those who would like to write her?  

ElizBerg: I don't have an e-mail address. I do as LITTLE on a computer as possible! If you want to write me, PLEASE do so through my publisher.

JHScriba: I've noticed how well you get into the voices of your characters and that's very difficult. So how do you do that?

ElizBerg: I feel almost as though I become them as I'm writing. Writing is as much acting as writing.

JHScriba: So when you write dialogue, how does that work?

ElizBerg: I feel as though I'm typing what I'm hearing. It feels as though I'm eavesdropping.

JHScriba: Because, for example, to take on the voice of a 13 year old is hard.

ElizBerg: Not when you feel as though you're 13! I guess I believe there are many characters inside each person. It's a matter of how open you are to accessing those aspects of your personality.

JHScriba: Are you particularly interested in women's issues --- is that why you write about women?

ElizBerg: I don't have a plot --- I just have a feeling.

JHScriba: Would you ever write about men?

ElizBerg: If I write about women's issues, it's because I'm a woman. But my next novel has quite a lot of football!

Question: What do you like to do when you're not writing?

ElizBerg: I like fabric. And cooking. And I like walking my dog. It's boring.

Question: Elizabeth!! congratulations on your success! Do your friends see themselves in your characters??

ElizBerg: Rarely. And they are ALWAYS wrong if they do.

Question: Are you happy with the choice of Goldie Hawn for your work The Cost of Living?  Do you get input in the casting??

ElizBerg: Yes, I'm happy because I very much like Goldie Hawn. I have no idea if I'll have input.

JHScriba: Will you have input in the screenplay?

ElizBerg: I didn't meet with Goldie. And I'd rather concentrate my efforts on novels.

Question: I was impressed with the detail you were able to use in Range of Motion ---i.e., dusting off his feet before putting on his socks...did you have a similar personal experience?

ElizBerg: Only in that I cared for people in a coma when I was a nurse --- but I didn't care for them exactly in that way.

Question: Can you tell us something about The Cost of Living?

ElizBerg: It's about a woman who is intractably in love with a gay man and wants to have a child with him. It's told from the woman's point-of-view.

Question: Any chance of Talk Before Sleep being made into a movie?

ElizBerg: It was optioned, but there is no movie yet.

Question: Tell us --- are you married, have kids?

ElizBerg: I am divorced. I have two daughters, 16 and 21.

JHScriba: You first attempted to be published at age nine. Were you upset when you were rejected?

ElizBerg: Yes. I wept. And I did not submit anything for 25 years.

JHScriba: What got you going again?

ElizBerg: I never stopped writing. I started submitting again because I wanted to work at home. I bought some magazines and entered an essay contest. And I won.

Bookpg JK: Elizabeth, when you've had that kind of rejection and have waited so long to submit again, are you foreever skittish? Even now, with this award and all the critical acclaim and the love of your readers, do you feel a certain insecurity?

ElizBerg: Yes, but that's the kind of world it is and that's the kind of person I am.

JHScriba: Do your daughters write?

ElizBerg: They do write beautifully.... but neither is interested in becoming a writer.

JHScriba: Is that because they have other interests?

ElizBerg: Yes. One wants to work in advertising. One wants to be an actress in musical theater.

Question: Do you have lots of ideas for different novels in your head at one time or just the current working draft? I love your books - the emotions and feelings are very real.

ElizBerg: Thank you. I sometimes have a couple of ideas --- but once I get started on a novel, I focus only on that one.

Bookpg JK: Do you sometimes read books that are ideas you had, but rejected? If so, can you read them with pleasure?

ElizBerg: I have only had the experience of reading a book like one I wrote once. It was LADDER OF YEARS. I read it when I finished PULL OF THE MOON. As I read it, I saw it was very much different.

JHScriba: Do you ever go to writer's conferences --- either to teach or to learn?

ElizBerg: I have gone to one to learn, and I've spoken at one.

JHScriba: And how were those experiences?

ElizBerg: Valuable in both cases.

Bookpg JK: Elizabeth, there's a purity about you as a writer. Do you insulate yourself from the commerce and harshness of the book business?

ElizBerg: This is where the quilting and cooking and dog walking come in. New York is great --- in small doses.

Question: You mentioned you liked to walk your dog. What kind of dog do you have?

ElizBerg: Five month-old golden retriever. Named Toby, after one of my favorite authors.

Question: In my English class, we've been reading your book, Durable Goods. I wanted to know if you have known a person like Cherylanne, because she seems to be a flat character, but she is marvelously realistic, all the same.

ElizBerg: Cherrylanne is a composite character.

JHScriba: Cherylanne is a girl named Kathie Hanke! Do you think you should write about what you love, not what the market wants?

ElizBerg: Absolutely. Without question. You can never second-guess the market. Secondly, if you don't write out of love, it's not fun.

Question: What sparked The Pull of the Moon?

ElizBerg: The sight of a leatherbound journal in a bookstore. When I saw that, I saw the character who would buy it. I knew why she bought it. And I knew what she was going to do with it.

Question: The character of Katie in JOY SCHOOL rang very true to me. Is there a lot of you as a girl in her?

ElizBerg: Yes. There is. But she is a better person than I am.

JHScriba: When you wrote Durable Goods, did you expect it to be successful? Or did you care?

ElizBerg: I wrote it out of a great need to write it. That's what mattered most. But I was thrilled that it was taken.

Question: How did you celebrate when you found out how successful your novel was? Champagne? What?  

ElizBerg: I laid on my bed and wept.

Bookpg JK: I'm so sorry. So many questions still to ask, and no time. Elizabeth, we very much hope you'll return --- and soon. Thank you so much for joining us.

ElizBerg: Thank you to everyone who chose to sit in front of a computer instead of lying around reading.

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