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Interview with Tawni O'Dell Interview by Jennifer Minar
I'm excited to bring you this interview with author Tawni O'Dell, whose 2001 debut novel Back Roads (Viking) not only garnered glowing reviews from the likes of Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, and the Chicago Tribune, but also won a coveted spot in Oprah Winfrey's world-renowned book club.
In this interview, O'Dell discusses her novels, Back Roads and Coal Run. She also shares how she became a writer and her favorite part of being one.
Why did you decide to become a writer?
I don't think that I ever decided to become a writer. For as long as I can remember, I've always just been one whether I wanted to be one or not (and believe me, there have been many times when I've been stuck on the same page for five hours or receiving yet another rejection letter that I did not want to be a writer.)
I started writing stories when I was a child. I was-- and still am-- an obsessive reader with an overactive imagination and a knack for storytelling. Putting my own ideas and characters down on paper was a very natural thing for me to do, and I've always done it, even when I had little or no hope of actually having anything published. It's something I need to do.
How and when did you get your big break?
I had written five novels over a period of ten years before I wrote Back Roads, and was finally published in January 2000. I had two big breaks in my career. The first one is one I made for myself. After years of writing what I thought readers would want to read about, I decided to write what I wanted to write about, the area where I grew up and the people I grew up with. I had avoided writing about it because, frankly, I didn't think anyone would want to read about dying Pennsylvania coal towns and the people struggling to survive there. But there's an old adage for writers and it says: write what you know. There are no better words of advice for a writer. Once I wrote what I knew, I captured some intangible magic that my other books didn't have, and I went from receiving dozens of rejections letters to having a dozen publishing houses bid on my book.
My other big break came one afternoon, about two months after Back Roads had been published, when Oprah Winfrey called me and told me she would like to make my book an Oprah Book Club pick. The book became an immediate bestseller as soon as it was announced on her show. I met Oprah and was on her show. It's a thrill I will never forget.
Tell us about Coal Run.
Like Back Roads, Coal Run is set in the coal mining country of western Pennsylvania where I grew up. Thirty years after a mine explosion took the lives of nearly half the men in the small town of Coal Run, the repercussions are still being felt by the residents and particularly by former football hero Ivan Zoschenko, who lost his father on that fateful day. Returning after almost two decades of self-imposed exile after a freak accident had destroyed his promising professional career, Zoschenko, still known to locals as "the Great Ivan Z," is now a reluctant deputy spending a week seemingly preparing for an old teammate's imminent release from prison.
While he waits, Ivan introduces a rich cast of characters and also reveals himself to be a man whose conscience is burdened by a long-held and shocking secret that he must finally reckon with if he has any hope of being able to stay. Ivan's struggle to accept the love he feels for a place he blames for his failures will ultimately determine if he will stay or go. His search for a new identity within his old world mirrors the region's search for a new purpose after the loss of the mining industry. The results may enable him to finally forgive the people who he believes ruined him with their adoration and to finally forgive himself for a mistake he made a long time ago. Filled with the same kind of energy, intriguing characters, and unflinching honesty that made Back Roads a success, Coal Run is another example of my attempt to find the humor and humanity in the bleakest situations and to portray a place and a way of life with authenticity and also compassion. I think it's an absorbing novel that advances on, even transcends, the promise of Back Roads.
Do you have a writing schedule?
When my children were very young, I had to write whenever I could steal a moment and I also did a lot of writing at night after they were asleep. Now I'm happy to say I have a much more regular and tolerable schedule. I write everyday while they're in school. They walk out the front door, and I go straight to the computer. Now that they're older (twelve and nine) they have friends and homework and after school activities so I can usually continue to write until I quit to make dinner. Depending on how well I'm writing, sometimes I'll work in the evenings, too.
What is your favorite part of the job?
When I go back and read something I just finished writing, and I think it's good.
What's the most important lesson you've learned as a writer?
Never give up on your dream. Talent is a necessity but only part of what goes into making a successful writer. Perseverance is all-important. If you don't have the desire and the belief in yourself to keep trying after you've been told you should quit, you'll never make it.
Jen Minar is a Washington, D.C.-based freelance writer and the managing editor of Writer's Break. She can be contacted at jminar@writersbreak.com.
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