A WORD FROM THE AUTHOR

Choosing to leave the TV adaptation of her sixth novel in someone else’s hands, Liane Moriarty tells us how she had the chance to see her work through fresh eyes

“I WAS LUCKY ENOUGH TO VISIT THE SET WHEN THEY WERE FILMING THE SCHOOL TRIVIA NIGHT. IT WAS A SURREAL EXPERIENCE AND A GREAT THRILL TO MEET THE CAST AND CREW. I REMEMBER I BECAME UNEXPECTEDLY TEARY”

Big Little Lies is the story of a school trivia night that goes terribly wrong, when one parent ends up dead, possibly murdered. It’s a funny, heartbreaking, challenging story of ex-husbands and second wives, new friendships, old betrayals and schoolyard politics (I stole that from the back cover). I came up with the premise when I was on a book tour with friend and fellow author Ber Carroll, who was spending every spare moment searching for the perfect necklace to wear to a school trivia night. She and her friends were all planning to dress up as Audrey Hepburn. For some reason the image of all those “Audreys” at a school trivia night stayed with me. That was my spark.

I can never remember the exact decision-making process for how I develop my characters. Sometimes the plot drives it. I wanted a series of tiny events to lead to a violent climax and for that to happen I needed a character who would overreact to a perceived injustice. I wrote down “Madeline – perpetually outraged”. That’s the character played so beautifully by Reese Witherspoon in the HBO adaptation. She was one of my favourite characters to write – and to see on screen. My characters are always thinking one thing but saying or doing something else entirely. So I was confused as to how they would convey all those inner monologues on the screen, without a clunky voiceover. It was fascinating to see how it could be achieved through the script and, of course, a talented cast. When Nicole Kidman appears as Celeste for the first time in Big Little Lies, she instantly conveyed everything I had written about Celeste just by her demeanour. I was lucky enough to visit the set in LA when they were filming the school trivia night. It was a surreal experience and a great thrill to meet the cast and also to chat with people like the producers, the set designers, the stuntmen, makeup artists and so on. I remember I became unexpectedly teary when I first saw Nicole Kidman dressed exactly as I had described Celeste in the book. It was a special moment.