Here's Lisa's
Lisa Scottoline Q&A
Debbie
- What was your proudest moment as Francesca’s mom?
Lisa - I don't have a single proudest moment, and for me, motherhood is a teary blur of proud moments. I was proud the day Francesca was born and drew her first breath, and I've been proud every day since. My pride in her isn't linked to any of her accomplishments, though she has plenty. It's just really about unconditional love. I always think of my late father, who, when someone at one of my signings asked him if he was proud of me, he answered, "Lady, I was proud of her the day she came out of the egg."
Lisa - I don't have a single proudest moment, and for me, motherhood is a teary blur of proud moments. I was proud the day Francesca was born and drew her first breath, and I've been proud every day since. My pride in her isn't linked to any of her accomplishments, though she has plenty. It's just really about unconditional love. I always think of my late father, who, when someone at one of my signings asked him if he was proud of me, he answered, "Lady, I was proud of her the day she came out of the egg."
You write fiction and collaborate with
Francesca on your column and books.
Can you tell us how and why you became a writer?
Can you tell us how and why you became a writer?
I had
been a trial lawyer, but when my first marriage ended and I became a single
mother with a three-month-old baby Francesca, I found that I had to make under
another way of earning a living, because I wanted to stay at home and raise
her. This was over 20 years ago
now, and at the time I didn't feel that there were enough strong, smart, and
funny female main characters in fiction, and since that's what I imagine myself
to be, I started writing.
Is there a negative side to co-authoring
with your daughter?
Not at all. My daughter Francesca writes her essays and sends them to our amazing editor, Jen Enderlin at St. Martin’s, and I send mine, so we don’t write together per se, which I think is best for us. I love Francesca no end, and she doesn’t need me to tell her how to write. She’s a wonderfully talented writer herself and has her own unique voice. My job, as her mother and co-author, is to encourage her to write in her voice, not mine.
Not at all. My daughter Francesca writes her essays and sends them to our amazing editor, Jen Enderlin at St. Martin’s, and I send mine, so we don’t write together per se, which I think is best for us. I love Francesca no end, and she doesn’t need me to tell her how to write. She’s a wonderfully talented writer herself and has her own unique voice. My job, as her mother and co-author, is to encourage her to write in her voice, not mine.
Do you consider your “Chick Wit” column a
sort of comic relief from your more serious fiction writing?
Do you need comic relief from your mystery writing?
Do you need comic relief from your mystery writing?
I
don't consider writing the humor memoirs as comic relief from my fiction,
because there has always been a fair amount of humor in my fiction. Because I write it. Everybody who's any good writes from
the heart, and the soul, and I like to laugh. In fact, I like even more to make other people laugh, and I
think even my earliest mysteries are populated by characters who are witty and
clever, which I can attain after 37 rough drafts. So in a way, rather than one form of writing being a relief
from the other, they’re both parts of the same whole, probably along some
spectrum from total clowning around, to murder with intent to clown around.
You have many writing awards.
Is there one that is more special than the others?
Is there one that is more special than the others?
Most
of us authors crave praise like puppies, and I am the worst offender in this
regard. Awards, certificates, nice
reviews, reader email, and any morsel of positive reinforcement keeps me going like
oxygen, premium gasoline, or chocolate cake. I still need to be told I'm a good dog, and in this regard
probably I would single out the Edgar Award as being my most favorite treat
ever. It's given for excellence in
crime fiction, and it was a thrill for me not only to receive it, but to later
become President of Mystery Writers of America. That said, now that I've written been writing for so long for
a long time, my secret real goal is to have a body of consistently excellent
writing over the life of my career, so, no pressure.
What are you working on now?
I
just finished the my next stand-alone novel, entitled DON’T GO, which will be
out in April and is a huge departure for me, in that it tells the story of a
male main character, an Army surgeon who serves in Afghanistan. However, DON’T GO specifically asks the
question whether a single father can never feel as competent as a parent as a
mother. So in a way it's continued
a exploration of mothering, this time with testosterone.
I've
also just proofread my new entry in the Rosato & Associates series,
entitled ACCUSED, and coming out in July. It stars Mary DiNunzio and Judy Carrier, and in the novel, they
represent a 13-year-old girl who believes that the man convicted of her
sister's murder is actually innocent
So it's kind of a twisty, emotional plot, blending family and crime, if
I don't say so myself. Readers
have been asking for the Rosato lawyers to come back, and so at this point in
my career, I'm thrilled to have three types of books going out into the world,
my stand-alones like DON’T GO and COME HOME, the humor nonfiction series with
Francesca like MEET ME AT EMOTIONAL BAGGAGE CLAIM, and Rosato & Associates,
back every summer, starting with ACCUSED.
Are you a reader?
Do you prefer fiction or non-fiction?
Do you prefer fiction or non-fiction?
I read
constantly, in almost all areas, except maybe history. I love crime fiction, but I read all
kinds of fiction, nonfiction, and memoir because for me, it's ultimately about
voice, and memoir can have extraordinarily strong voice. I also listen to audiobooks, because I walk
a lot, as I have way too many dogs, and I just love to be told a story. In fact, I'm a fan of storytelling in
all of its many forms, whether it's ebook, audiobook, or somebody I just met in
the ladies room. Talk to me. I'll listen. I'm easy that way.
Lisa, thank you for this and good luck with the book.
And here's Francesca's
Francesca Serritella Q&A
Francesca-First thank you for taking the time to do this.
Debbie
-What’s the best thing about being Lisa Scottoline’s daughter?
Francesca -There
are so many wonderful things about having Lisa Scottoline as my mom, but the
best is easily her warmth. Anyone
who comes to one of our signings knows that my mom is a hugger, and she’s the
same at home. She has a big, warm,
cuddly personality, and although I strive to impress her, she never makes me
feel like I have to. She is always
my soft place to fall.
What’s the worst thing about being Lisa
Scottoline’s daughter?
She’s a worrier. Every
mother is, but all of my mom’s emotions are larger than life, and this is no
different. I tell her she has a
“Chicken Little energy” where she gets some worst-case-scenario stuck in her
head and then goes around and around it until she’s ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN the sky
is falling. You can’t reason with
her once she’s in a tizzy, so I usually give in. But even this has its perks—thanks to my mom’s worrying, I
evacuated my New York apartment just before Hurricane Sandy hit—my building has
been without power and heat for over ten days, but I’m safe and cozy at
home. Thanks, Mom!
This is your fourth collaboration in book
form with your mom.
Do you see more ahead?
Do you see any solo books ahead?
Do you see more ahead?
Do you see any solo books ahead?
We
have another of these collaborations coming next November, entitled HAVE A NICE GUILT TRIP, and honestly,
we have so much fun writing these memoirs, I hope there will be more after
that. The transition of child to
teenager gets a lot of attention, but I think the period of greatest
transition, especially between mother and daughter, comes after college. That’s when the child-parent
relationship really has to change to one between adults, and ours is
ever-evolving. I’m sure my mom and
I will have to readjust when I get married, and again when I have kids. And again much later, when she
inevitably moves in with me—yikes!!
It’s
always been my dream to become a fiction author, and I just finished a novel of
my own, titled GHOSTS OF HARVARD.
It is a psychological drama about a young woman struggling to come to
terms with her older brother’s suicide at college. When she starts hearing voices, she fears she may be losing
her grip on reality—or are they ghosts?
The story has elements of American history as well as the supernatural,
but it centers around the fact that in a family, no tragedy touches only one
person.
Did you seek advice from your mom when you
decided to become a writer?
I talk to my mom often about the ups and
downs of the writing process. It’s
great to have a parent who understands and accepts the realities of working in
a creative profession. But I don’t
typically ask her for specific advice on my writing, even for the books we
write together. In that department,
she has truly given me the space I need to find my own literary voice, and I’m
so grateful.
Is having a famous author in the family a hindrance
or a blessing for your own writing career?
It’s been a blessing, but maybe not in the ways you might expect. My mother’s struggle has given me more advantages than her success. My mom was not an author when I was born; I got to watch her build her career. She worked for years on her first novel and it was never published, but I saw her dust herself off and write another. Today, her great success might be daunting if I hadn’t seen the everyday hard work and perseverance it took her to get there. Now I can start on my own knowing that failure is an event, not a definition, and that any writing career is hard-fought, not an inheritance.
It’s been a blessing, but maybe not in the ways you might expect. My mother’s struggle has given me more advantages than her success. My mom was not an author when I was born; I got to watch her build her career. She worked for years on her first novel and it was never published, but I saw her dust herself off and write another. Today, her great success might be daunting if I hadn’t seen the everyday hard work and perseverance it took her to get there. Now I can start on my own knowing that failure is an event, not a definition, and that any writing career is hard-fought, not an inheritance.
I have to admit that the covers of your
books really grab me, this is, in part, what makes me choose what to read.
How do you choose what you read?
Are you a fiction or non-fiction lover?
How do you choose what you read?
Are you a fiction or non-fiction lover?
I’m
so glad you like the covers! We
love them too, and we put a lot of thought into them. I am definitely influenced by cover, who isn’t? But the main influence of my reading
list is word of mouth. My friends
will tell me the latest books they enjoyed, or I’ll ask a bookseller for a
recommendation, or I’ll even check reader reviews online. It’s why I think book clubs remain so
popular—for a supposed solitary activity, reading is fundamentally social.
Fiction
is my first love and I always make time for it, but I also really enjoy
memoir. I just love stories about
people, I don’t care if they’re true or false. I like biography too, but memoir has the added bonus of the
author’s own voice and possibly slanted perspective on his or her life. For a while I was on a kick of
addiction memoir—those are fascinating because, at bottom, it’s always a family
drama, just with life and death stakes.
But if that gets too grim, I’m a sucker for those “I have a bad dog”
or “My rescued cat rescued me”
animal memoirs. I cry every time.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
In ten
years, I hope I will have several novels published and a happy family
started. In addition, my mom and I
will have probably written a couple more memoirs, one on my mom’s mania
planning my wedding, and one on her hysteria over my first baby. It will be a blast.
Thank you Francesca
Good luck with the book
Good luck with the book
Thank you, Debbie, for your thoughtful and fun questions! -Francesca
Buy the book here
Great review and it was neat hearing how Mother and daughter relate.
ReplyDeleteHey thanks Kim :)
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