For Jody Picoult, writing is a journey
Author Jodi Picoult has tackled controversial topics in her many best sellers, which include My Sister’s Keeper, Nineteen Minutes and Sing You Home. In her new novel, Small Great Things (Ballantine), an experienced black delivery nurse named Ruth Jefferso
Q You tackle a difficult but timely topic in your new book: racism. When you were writing, were you influenced by events like the rise of Black Lives Matter? A Absolutely.
... I wasn’t trying to write a book telling people of color how hard life is when you’re a person of color, because that’s not my story to tell. But I was writing to tell the people who look like me that although it’s very easy to point to a skinhead and say “that’s a racist,” it’s a lot harder to point to yourself and say the same thing. Q How do you pick the topic of a book? AI
don’t pick the topic of a book. I feel like the topic picks me. My books tend to come from things I’m really worried about as a wife, as a woman, as an American and as a mother. If it’s something that keeps me up at night and if I keep waking up at night thinking about it, it’s probably an excellent idea for a book. And if I continue to think about it, characters pop up like little mushrooms. They just start to take the story away from me. Q How do you come up with your twists and turns?
A When
I start a book, I actually know how it’s going to end, and part of that is the twists. ... What’s interesting to me as a writer is that I know where I’m starting, I know where I’m ending, but how I get from A to Z is always a mystery. Really, it’s the characters that take me from one place to
another. ... (I) just sit back and hold on to the reins. Q What is your favorite book ( by another writer)? AI
have a lot of favorites. One of them is Gone With the
Wind. I read that when I was 13. I loved it. I remember just stopping in the middle of a scene and I realized, “Wow, I can see Atlanta burning, I can smell it, I can envision everything. This writer, Margaret Mitchell, made that world out of words.” I remember it was the first moment in my life I stopped and said, “Well, maybe I could do that, too.” Q What are the toughest criticisms and best compliments you have received? A The
toughest criticisms are Amazon reviews, and I don’t read them anymore, and I’ll tell you why. I’m very sorry that Amazon did not get you your book on time, but don’t give me one star because of that. ... The best compliments come from my readers. I really like hearing when my books change somebody’s life. Q What do you hope people learn from your writing ? A What
I hope my books do is make you see a difficult situation from all angles and make you re-evaluate what you believe. You may not change your mind, but maybe it’s the first time you’ve heard what the other side has to say.