Paula Hawkins speaks at annual Signature Author Series
All people tell stories. Whether it’s a story about the past, a story to soothe a frightened child at bedtime, or a story about fictional characters, everyone is a storyteller. Some people, like No. 1 “New York Times” bestselling author Paula Hawkins, make a living out of storytelling.
Hawkins was recently in The Woodlands to talk about her writing and also pass on some advice to attendees at The John Cooper School.
For the last 13 years, The John Cooper School has hosted an annual Signature Author Series featuring names such as Nicholas Sparks, Barbara Bush, Gillian Flynn, author of “Gone Girl,” and Cheryl Strayed, author of “Wild.” During the event, authors give a keynote speech following a luncheon and later autograph books. On Dec. 8, at this year’s event, there were 675 attendees to listen to Hawkins speak.
Co-chairs Susan DeMarco and Christie Swanbeck gave opening remarks and welcomed 22 visiting authors with backgrounds varying from fiction, children’s and non-fiction genres. The two women also thanked the many sponsors and announced that the Montgomery County Memorial Library System and the Barbara Bush Branch Library are this year’s beneficiaries of event proceeds.
Following the welcome address, Michael Maher, head of The John Cooper School, introduced Hawkins.
Maher told the crowd Hawkins started out as a freelance writer in London and a financial journalist for “The Times.” She then decided to try her hand at being a novelist, Maher added. Hawkins wrote four romantic fiction novels that met with only limited success, and she decided to take a last chance at writing fiction on a story with a darker tone.
After writing for a year, Hawkins sent her suspense thriller to a London publisher for review before she had even completed the story. That thriller became “The Girl on the Train,” Maher said, which has sold 18 million copies worldwide, been published in more than 40 languages and was adapted into a motion picture in 2016.
Hawkins was born and raised in Zimbabwe until the age of 17, when she moved with her parents to London. She attended Oxford University and studied economics, politics and philosophy. In 2015, “The Girl on the Train” earned Hawkins the Goodreads Award for Best Selling Thriller and she won the same award this year for her newest novel, “Into the Water.”
“Today, I want to talk about telling stories,” Hawkins said. “This is, of course, what I do for a living. It’s what I’ve done my whole life, as a job and as a hobby. I’ve been telling stories since I was a child.”
Telling stories was also the euphemism that her mother would use when Hawkins was little to ask if she was lying, Hawkins added, garnering a few chuckles throughout the audience. Making up strange and shocking tales was her favorite hobby as a young girl.
When she grew up and became a writer, Hawkins was interested in not only telling a story but also telling the truth. She wanted to create a factual, attention grabbing story with her writings as a freelancer and a financial columnist.
“My day to day was to tell the reader a story. It was to grab them with an introduction and to hold their attention until the end of the story — and that’s not an easy thing to do when you’re writing about the technicalities of a pension plan,” she said. “I was never completely satisfied by the stories I was telling as a journalist and it wasn’t so much that the subject matter was on the dry side. It was rather that I felt restricted by the need constantly to report facts. I found myself wanting to tell stories unbound by everyday realities. And if I knew that I was going to lie, I wanted to do so honestly.”
Thus, in order to lie honestly, where the reader knew that the story wasn’t real, Hawkins said she switched to fiction.
After providing some background, Hawkins began to speak about the complexities of truth and storytelling. She also discussed her new novel, “Into the Water.” The characters in the book are trying to find meaning within the events of their lives. What Hawkins discovered during the writing process was that the reality of what happened to the characters and the stories they created were not necessarily the same thing.
“The sense that these characters make of their lives didn’t need to have anything to do with the reality of what happened to them. What I discovered was that the truth was not the most important thing,” she said.
There are several mysteries within the novel, and the main action centers on the relationship between two estranged sisters. One of the sisters is found and questions about how she died, whether or not she was murdered or if it was a suicide, begin to form. Other characters must also reconcile memories and come to terms with the death of someone.
“My characters find answers,” Hawkins said. “They construct narratives which make sense to them and which allow them to find purpose in their lives. But what they do not find, in every case, is the truth.”
Hawkins says she doesn’t condone the behaviors of her characters—making up stories to force the world to make sense. But she said it does reflect real life. People often embellish or rearrange the order of events in their lives when piecing together memories of the past. When that happens, people construct history and oftentimes stray from the truth. Sometimes it’s because the truth isn’t very interesting, and other times it can be because the truth hurts too much. Hawkins did offer some conciliatory words for those who make up stories—we’re not alone.
“Our storytelling is normal,” she said. “It’s human.”
— Patricia Dillon is a features reporter for The Woodlands Villager. Contact her at her office 713-362-4433 or on Twitter: @Dillon_Villager.