Big Little Lies author doesn’t care what label you put on her work
Little Big Lies author talks about her next novel — and her love of writing ‘women’s fiction’
Nine Perfect Strangers Liane Moriarty Flatiron Books
The timing was perfect for HBO’s adaptation of author Liane Moriarty’s 2014 bestselling novel, Big Little Lies.
A story about women getting even and righting wrongs was just the right narrative as women everywhere were deciding to not take it anymore and powerful men were tumbling off their lofty, lecherous perches faster than you can say, “Get Ronan Farrow on the phone.”
The 2017 series, like the book before it, was a huge hit and the topic of conversation at spin classes, in offices and over many, many cups of coffee and glasses of wine.
“I guess I feel proud to be part of a project that was delivering exactly the message we needed to hear,” Moriarty said recently from her home in Sydney, Australia.
“I did find it a little ironic, though, looking back over the years I think possibly some people would have thought less of my books because they were just about women. You know this idea that it is just women’s issues and of course that’s exactly what they were looking for when they optioned the book in the first place — to have lots of complex, strong roles. I just feel really proud to be part of it.”
The series directed by JeanMarc Vallee (season two is expected in 2019) starring Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon and Shailene Woodley — Kidman and Witherspoon were also producers — about three women whose kids attend the same school and who all have some big life stuff weighing them down cleaned up in awards season. The success of the series trickled down immediately to Moriarty as Kidman and her production company have also bought the rights to her recently released novel Nine Perfect Strangers. Kidman and Witherspoon also have rights to 2016 bestseller Truly Madly Guilty.
In Nine Perfect Strangers, nine people end up at an unorthodox health spa in rural Australia. The main character, Frances, is a 52-year-old, twice-divorced, kid-free writer of romance novels smarting as the victim of an internet love scam. She hopes the trip to the spa for a 10-day cleanse will help mend her heart, find her some inner peace and hopefully help her shed a few a pounds. Frances is joined at the resort by equally messed-up people also looking for some sort of plan to propel themselves forward and away from damaging habits, emotional weakness and just plain crumby choices.
“I knew I wanted to write about a novelist for the first time, which was a great relief because I understood the structure of her world. In the previous book I had a cellist, so I had to do lots of research, as I knew nothing at all. So Frances was a great relief,” said Moriarty.
The other deliberate choice — and a shifting of gears for Moriarty — was to make Frances a woman who chose to not have children.
“I think that was because I have written so much about childlessness and people know that is from my own personal experience,” said Moriarty. “Each time I write a book I say: ‘OK, I am not going to cover that theme again,’ but it finds its way in — so that was a deliberate choice. Also I had read about so many women who say they are questioned about that decision, but they knew from early on they didn’t want children.”
Knowing her protagonist would be a middle-aged novelist with no kids was the extent of the planning Moriarty had done before she began writing.
“Because I don’t plan my books, I just sort of tend to sit down and start writing and I don’t know if it is going to work — so that’s a terror,” said Moriarty who takes about a year to write a novel. “I don’t really enjoy the beginning. When I’m at my happiest, I am two-thirds of the way through and I can see the end.”
If her track record is any indication of success — she has 14 million in international sales — Nine Perfect Strangers will do just as well as or even better than her previous seven novels, all of which have made the New York Times bestselling list. And Hollywood has optioned all eight.
Moriarty knows how to write about women and women eat her work up. That simple truth has earned her novels spots under the marketing umbrella of chick lit or women’s fiction. While some may wince at those headings, Moriarty has no problem these days with those labels and thinks it’s about time the rest of the world should kick to the curb any negative connotations of the chick lit genre.
“I’ve been talking about this idea of my books being called women’s fiction and I was thinking about the fact that most female authors don’t call them women’s fiction because that’s (considered) derogatory. Men can read them, too.
“Then I was thinking why do we think that is derogatory? Because if there were men’s books that were called men’s fiction, men would not care less. You wouldn’t hear men (authors) say ‘Oh, women can read our books too.’ That just wouldn’t even occur to them to worry about, so I am starting to wonder if I should do a complete about-face on that issue and say ‘Yes, it is women’s fiction and I am proud to call it women’s fiction.’
“There’s part of me, too, that says to the world at large, call it whatever the hell you want — just read it.”
Speaking of labels, another one Moriarty and most popular authors find pinned to them is that they are the purveyors of easy reads. Somewhere along the line, it became a thing to belittle a work of fiction for being a page-turner.
“I guess because my books are easy reads, people read them fast, so the moment it’s out you’re getting feedback and people saying: ‘When’s the next one?’” said Moriarty. “I wish they were as easy to write as they are to read.”
For Moriarty, the idea that easy means less important or less interesting in itself is an easy opinion and one that confuses her.
“Sometimes people say: I liked it but — they put a but in — it was an easy read. As if books shouldn’t be easy to read. They should be hard to read? It’s a funny idea people have.”
She thinks it stems from our childhoods.
“I think it is a carry-over from school, this idea books should not be enjoyable and if you are enjoying it somehow it’s not a good thing. But you know they don’t seem to think about it with other art forms.”
The great irony is that Moriarty has the last laugh, since her books are being enjoyed in 39 languages. “I’m not complaining.” To write, Moriarty usually is holed up at her Sydney home, but for this past novel she took a different, more immersive approach.
“I don’t take myself away much, but I might start doing that more. For this book, I went off to a health resort for research purposes but also to write as well. It was great. I loved it so I am planning to do that more.”
Moriarty said the spa she would go to would be nicer than the book’s Tranquillum House, which in its quest for wellness avoids hot yoga and cool sculpting for forced silence and fasting.
With the spa and the writing of the book behind her, the time is now for the hectic world of the book tour. Moriarty says the fastpaced, on-the-run reality of promoting a new title is made a lot better for her by her readers. Moriarty says she has it on good authority from publicists who work with other authors that her fans are the nicest and those fans keep her writing at breakneck speed.
“I love the feeling in the room. I feel like there is always a lot of warmth in the room from my readers and like Frances I have the loveliest readers in the world,” said Moriarty, the mother to two kids both under 10. “I would not want to be an author that takes a decade to write the next book. I
need that. I need that feedback. It is really special to me.”
But it is that glowing feedback that Moriarty says, usually midtour, she has to start to temper and not bask so squarely in.
“It’s strange to talk about yourself. In the beginning I am awkward and weird because I have been stuck at my desk for so long but then I meet my peak in the middle and there is this awful point where I think: ‘Oh, you like that,’” said Moriarty in a voice perfectly suited for an animated villain.
“Then the self-loathing starts because I think you should not start talking about yourself so much. Then by the end, I can’t stand the sound of my own voice.”
Luckily for Moriarty, her fans really want to talk as well and are more than eager to pick up the conversational slack with their own stories about common Moriarty themes of infertility, domestic violence and loneliness.
“Often they want to share their stories, which I find is very special to me,” said Moriarty. “They tell me about when my books helped them get through difficult times. That’s really special to me.”
I don’t plan my books, I just sort of tend to sit down and start writing and I don’t know if it is going to work.