“The
process of writing a book is so removed in my mind from the process of
publishing it that I often forget for great stretches that I eventually hope to
do the latter.” – Karen Joy Fowler
Best known, perhaps, for her
award-winning and movie-adapted novel The
Jane Austen Book Club, Fowler once said that her “process” of writing a
book involves both “being” her characters and “saying what they say out
loud.” She said that worked well when
her husband was still working full time, but now that he’s retired it’s a bit
more cumbersome, especially when it comes to “the shouty parts.”
Born on this date in 1950, Fowler
has won multiple awards for her fiction, whether that be short stories or
full-length novels. But she said she
often disdains the reactions of her characters while she’s at work.
“I hear so many writers say - and
these are writers 
that I trust completely - 'I just started hearing a voice,'
or, 'The characters came to life.' I am filled with loathing for my own
characters when I hear that because they do nothing of the sort. Left to their
own devices, they do nothing but drink coffee and complain about their lives.”
Among her varied works are pieces
that provide a new way of looking at history, often from “odd corners” of the
historical universe or with a “fantastical” or “eccentric” point of view.
“Often, when you look at history, at
least through the lens that many of us have looked at history - high school and
college courses - a lot of the color gets bled out of it,” Fowler said. “You're left with a time period that does not
look as strange and irrational as the time you're actually living
through.” Hmmm, today’s world should
provide a wonderful palette for generations of writers to come.
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