Big Think Interview With Lionel Shriver
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A conversation with the novelist.
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Lionel Shriver:
Lionel Shriver's latest novel, "So Much for That," was published in March 2010. Other novels include the New York Times bestseller "The Post-Birthday World" and the international bestseller "We Need to Talk About Kevin," which won the 2005 Orange Prize and has now sold over a million copies worldwide. Earlier books include "Double Fault," "A Perfectly Good Family," and "Checker and the Derailleurs." Her novels have been translated into twenty-five languages. Her journalism has appeared in the Guardian, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and many other publications. She lives in London.
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TRANSCRIPT:
Question: What wasrnthe first piece you read that made you want to become a writer?
Lionel Shriver: Oh, I was big on “Curious George.” I decided I wanted to be a writer when I was seven yearsrnold. So it was only shortly afterrnI learned to read. So, it wouldrnhave been the very early books of my childhood; Dr. Seuss, “Where the WildrnThings Are,” and “Curious George.”
I just lovedrnstorytelling. I loved the way thatrnwords could bring something to life that imaginary. And I’m still fascinated by that. So fascinated by the way a novel, little by little, createsrnsomething that seems so tangible and so real, even to me, and yet it isrngossamer really. It’s justrnwords. And that’s magic tornme. And I’ve never got over thatrnmagic. I hope I never do.
Question: What wasrnthe first piece you wrote?
Lionel Shriver: Oh, one of the first pieces I wrote was in second grade. I won a contest writing about our newlyrnrenovated cafeteria. You know, thernnew colors are very nice. And Irnremember they were very ceremonial about this little contest and what you gotrnwas a Chef’s hat and a box of cookies. rnSo, I walked around all day wearing my Chef’s hat, and I just thought,rnright - this is the business. I’m going to be a writer.
I think it’s important thatrnI grew up in a literate household because both my parents have written books,rnalbeit non-fiction. That made thernwriting of books accessible and doable, not a distant weird thing that otherrnpeople did. So that helped a lot,rnand also both my parents are well spoken and always talked with their childrenrnusing a large vocabulary. And that’srna big advantage because I believe that the words that you learned as a childrnget deeper inside than the ones you learn later in life. I always find that words I learned asrnan adult don’t stick in the same way. I don’t think I understand them completely in the samernway. They’re notrninternalized. There’s a way inrnwhich I have to recite a little definition to myself, they don’t quite stick. So, I was especially fortunate to bernexposed to a range of more complex words, nuanced language than a lot of otherrnchildren would have been.
Question: Who is thernfirst person who sees your work?
Lionel Shriver: I show my work before submitting it to my agent to practically nornone. I will let my husband read itrnbefore I send it to my agent. ButrnI’ve gotten to the point where I am less interested in soliciting a lot ofrnopinions. I find that morernopinions tend to obscure my mental landscape. Most of all, it obscures the fact that the buck stopsrnhere. You have to be able to trustrnyour own judgment. It doesn’t meanrnthat I don’t sometimes take my editor’s advice, but fundamentally, I have tornrely on my own opinion of my own work and showing it to my best friend, or evenrnto my husband, it’s ultimately a fruitless exercise because it’s all aboutrnlearning to trust your own editorial judgment. Which doesn’t mean that you rubberstamp everything yournwrite. It means that you subjectrnit to your own fiercest criticism. rnIt’s one of the good things about being a writer, it’s also one of therngrim things about being a writer. rnThere is no resort really. rnIt all begins and stops with you.
Question: Why do yournwrite?
Lionel Shriver: I think writing -- the impulse to write -- comes out of a failure to communicate by any otherrnmeans. I think most naturalrnwriters are socially incompetent. rnAnd I would include myself generously in that category, especially as arnchild and in my early adulthood, and yeah, often as not at parties I still feelrnlike a 13-year-old fish out of water, would prefer to crawl off in the cornerrnwith a book.
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