Jill Davis's first novel, Girl's Poker Night, burst on the scene in 2002 and became a must read for women everywhere. I still remember reading it, loving it, and passing it along to my friends. Jill's new novel, Ask Again Later, is just out in paperback and in it she tells the story of Emily, a woman who has always lived with one foot out the door. When her mother announces that she has cancer, Emily glady leaves her career, her boyfriend and her life to be by her mother's side. But once she's back in her childhood home, she realizes that everything holding her back in her life may have its roots right there...
I had the opportunity to interview Jill about her books and writing this week:
BCG: You started your writing career writing comedy (for David Letterman). When you began writing your first book, Girls' Poker Night, can you describe the transition from writing late-night comedy to writing a full length novel? How much of your own life at time found its way into the book?
JD: I started writing for a newspaper while I was still in college. I wrote a weekly humor column. Later, after college, I was a feature and news writer as well as a humor columnist. Many of the things I was doing in my columns translated well to the sorts of things Dave was doing on his show. At the time he was taking the camera out on the street a lot. So I would write an idea, write some jokes in advance of the shoot and then also write on location. Of course, the funniest things were always things Dave came up with on the spot just like he does during his show with guests. But the writing on location was exactly like writing on a deadline for newspapers. In both newspaper and television I had a daily deadline which is excellent training. The major difference is that when you write for television you're really trying to write as terse and as funny of a joke as possible and in someone else's voice; in newspapers I generally had a specific amount of space I was filling and the writing didn't have to be as short as on TV and my column was written in the first person. I started to write short stories while I was still writing for Dave, I suppose after a few years of writing in a man's voice I was really ready to write in my own again. Writing short stories was pure joy for me. I think that experience solidified my idea of writing a novel. It was something I'd always wanted to do, and planned to do. I did get side- tracked and wrote a few screenplays and pilots for sit-coms along the way. The greatest transition was to my lifestlye. I was used to working 12 hours a day, and someone else deciding for the most part what material would be used and what would be discarded. When I went to work writing my first novel, I got to decide what to keep and what to throw away. As far as my own life finding it's way into my books, it's of course unavoidable. While the stories and the characters are fictious, the books are psychologically autobiographical in many ways.
BCG: Were you prepared for the response that GPN generated?
JD: No, I don't think I was. Girls' Poker Night was the first book I'd ever written and I really had no idea what to anticipate. I was so happy just to see it in a bookstore, on a shelf, that I'm not sure how much I thought about whether or not anyone would buy the book. Of course, at some point it does hit when you are standing in a bookstore, that, goodness there sure are a lot of books here - how on earth on people going to find it? Read it? It was very much a word-of-mouth book at first. The best part about a book that does well, of course, is that it allows you to write another one.
BCG: What, if anything, in your life changed between the writing of Girls' Poker Night and your newest novel Ask Again Later and how did it inform the level at which you were writing, and the themes you addressed?
The most significant experience of my life happened - I became a mother. I have a daughter who will be 5 next week. She was born the same week that the paperback of Girls' Poker Night was released. At some point that week I was breast-feeding and doing a radio interview at the same time and it struck me that it was probably time to take a little time off. I'm all for multi-tasking, don't get me wrong, but I knew I couldn't rush through things and more importantly I didn't want to. I have a tendency to throw myself into things all the way, and so then I think I got very interested in any and every new mom class that could be offered. I'm not kidding, I even went to a baby massage class. It's not like babies get lower back pain. Looking back I think it's hilarious, but I was probably sort of serious about it at the time! In terms of theme, both books deal with risk taking, loss, second chances and growing up. But in Ask Again Later I spend more time on the Mother/Daughter relationship but it is a chapter called BABY that is really the most autobiographical in terms of how I felt when my daughter was born, when I saw her for the first time.
BCG: You’ve talked to a lot of book groups, what’s been the most interesting and unexpected thing you’ve heard from them when discussing Ask Again Later?
JD: They are all interesting and always for different reasons. I love hearing how people respond to both books. When you write a novel, at least in my case, I write in total isolation and I don't discuss what I'm writing with anyone. It's a real immersion, and also in a way protective. I love when people start to defend certain characters' behavior, because to me that means the characters came to life for the reader. It's also amazing to hear people's very personal stories about having survived cancer - and you might think this would be very sad, but what's remarkable to me is the very positive way that many people deal with scary news. So many people say they are in the best shape of their lives because they've completely changed their old habits and they are more likely to train for a marathon, or travel, because their priorities are reordered. A lot of people mention the gold fish chapter - which is a chapter I really love.
BCG: What kinds of books do you like to read, and what are you reading now? I normally read fiction, but at the moment I'm reading two books. One is The Omnivore's Dilemma, a friend told me I had to read it because I will never look at corn - and eating it - the same way again. And I hadn't considered that I might need to rethink my position on corn, in fact I wasn't even sure I had a position on corn, so it intrigued me. I'm also reading The Act of Creation by Arthur Koestler. That one might be out of print - I say that because it has that old book smell when you open it and there's a receipt from a bookseller that's good at hunting things down. Anyway, my husband bought it for me as a gift. It's about - well, the title kind of says it now, doesn't it? - it's about the thinking process and creativity, and how connections that are made, that haven't been made before, and how this leads to humor, scientific discovery, general advances.
BCG: Thank you so much Jill (and note, the Act of Creation is still in print, you can find it at the link above, sounds like a fascinating read).
Jill loves calling in to reading groups, if you're interested in inviting her to talk to yours, click here, you can browse inside the book here, and you'll find the reading group guide here.
And that's not all -- in honor of the paperback publication of Ask Again Later, you can enter the Ask Again Later Sweepstakes to win a trip to New York City and a $1,000 American Express Gift Card! Enter here!
Cavedweller by Dorothy Allison
