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BIO
Leslie Schnur lives in New York City with her husband, their two children, and their dog, a mutt from a shelter named Milo.
AUTHOR TALK
 May 18, 2007
In this interview, Leslie Schnur --- author of THE DOG WALKER --- discusses the anxieties and challenges that came with writing her second novel, LATE NIGHT TALKING, and reveals the personal obsessions that fueled its story. She also describes the real-life inspirations behind the four-legged friends in her books, shares her plan to make the world a better place and explains how she thought of the concept for her current work in progress.
Question: Where did you get the idea for this book?
Leslie Schnur: I am obsessed, to say the least, with rude behavior. My kids beg me to ignore it when we see it, my husband thinks I'll get shot one day. I have, sometimes, gone too far, and have been rude myself in the quest for justice. But, for some reason, I think it is my duty, my calling, to rid the world of rudeness, one annoying person at a time.
So when it was time to write my second novel, I knew it had to be about a woman who felt the same way, who dreams of becoming a rude behavior avenger. But, since I love romantic comedy, since my favorite books and movies are about romantic longing, about searching --- and perhaps finding --- your soul mate, I knew it had to be written in this spirit.
My protagonist, Jeannie Sterling, is from Berkeley, where I grew up. Though my family was quite different from hers, some of Jeannie's experiences and the references to growing up in the '70s in the Bay Area come from my memories.
As a writing teacher once said to me, "It all goes into the stew."
So, using His Girl Friday, with Rosalind Russell and Cary Grant, as a model, I devised a story about love and righteousness, about pursuing justice while fulfilling the desires of the heart.
Q: Do you really believe that good manners can make the world a better place?
LS: I know it sounds crazily simplistic, but I do. Don't worry --- I know that poverty and war and hunger and disease will exist even if people hold the door open for each other. But by treating each other with respect, with kindness and deference, by being people who are considerate of others and the world around them, we can make the world a better place to live each and every day. We can make the world cleaner, without littering. We can make it less stressful without bad drivers. We can make it nicer by saying "please" and "thank you," and "can I help you" and really mean it.
This is not to say that I haven't been as rude as the rudest people out there. Trust me, I have. A girl does make mistakes. But I've learned from experience that being kind breeds kindness. Even when you get kicked in the face. Eventually, and this sounds awfully sweet, one good turn does, in fact, deserve another.
Q: And what about the crazy, neurotic dog, Mouse, in the book? It seems like dogs are a theme with you, as they play an important part in both of your books.
LS: When I wrote THE DOG WALKER, I had the most wonderful dog in the world, Charlie. Charlie was like a human, deeply sensitive, intelligent and expressive. He told me so. He was the first dog I'd ever had, and like everyone's first, he will always hold a special place in my heart.
Then he died of old age. We held off for a few months but then the kids wouldn't stop nudging and we gave in and went to the shelter to get them a new dog. Milo, who is Mouse in the book, is our rebound dog. He's the dog who should've been temporary, for merely a walk, a pet, a cuddle. But we adopted him and our lives have never been the same. Every terrible behavior of Mouse's in the book --- like eating Jeannie's panties --- is something Milo does.
As a friend said recently, "Think how much calmer your family's life would be without Milo," which gave me a good laugh. You could say that about my kids too. And my husband. Yes, life alone would certainly be calmer. But without the cuddle, the pee on the rug, the jumping on all fours on the dining room table to eat the hummus, where would I be?
Dogs, like love, give you trouble and joy. Where would we be without either?
Q: LATE NIGHT TALKING is your second novel, after your debut in 2004 with THE DOG WALKER, where you made the transition from editor to writer. How was this experience different from the first?
LS: If writing the first book was like climbing Mount Everest, writing this one was like climbing it with a 300-pound pack on my back. With a storm coming. And my oxygen supply running out.
The first novel you write on hope and a dream. You have few expectations, except that maybe someone will publish it. Then when you find a publisher, you pray that someone will read it and maybe even like it. Though you may find yourself secretly fantasizing that it'll be a bestseller, you're exhilarated simply being called an "author."
The second novel is about your life. You're a real writer now and if this book doesn't sell, you have no career, no future. That's the thinking of someone like me who knows the inside scoop about publishing, having spent twenty years of my life on the other side, with my last ten as Editor-in-Chief of a major company. I know how difficult it is. And it's harder now than ever, with more competition from other media, higher corporate expectations in terms of the bottom line and less time to build an author's readership. So, when I worry my book won't sell, I see myself begging friends for a job, and wonder what in the world could've made me even think I could write in the first place, for crying out loud.
The truth is, it's hard to write a book. Any book, every book, for everyone, I imagine. Each time you're struggling with your own voices --- creative, neurotic, poetic, ridiculous --- and you have to learn which to listen to, which to ignore. More than anything, you simply have to believe.
Q: So what's next? Are you working on another novel? Or using your energies to get people to stop littering?
LS: I do have other obsessions, besides rude behavior, thank you very much. I also think a lot about how my daughter is entering adolescence just as I am about to enter menopause just as my mother is becoming elderly. Three generations of women at critical moments in our lives --- this has captured me. Our fears, our worries, our hopes and dreams and regrets, the things we pass on from one generation to another.
Three generations of eccentric women will be the center of my next novel, which also has to do with another passion of mine --- modern art --- and a mystery involving a real-life famous painter. And, of course, romantic love. That's all I'm going to say. Because I find when I talk about my next book, it makes me feel like I've actually worked on it, when all I've done is talked about it. So, can we talk some more? Because it's so much harder to write!
© Copyright, 2007. Leslie Schnur. All rights reserved.
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AUTHOR TALK
July 2004
In this interview debut novelist Leslie Schnur, author of THE DOG WALKER, talks about the development of her characters, drawing parallels between them and the people she knows in real life. She also explains her love of New York City, the challenges of being a fiction writer, and what she would like readers to take away from her book.
Q: Nina Shepard, dog walker extraordinaire, is a very accessible character. She's quirky and has a great sense of humor, but most of all, she is irrepressible. Sort of like an unsinkable Molly Brown for the ages. Why was it important for you to write her that way?
Leslie Schnur: Life is hard. For everybody. Of course, hard is relative, different for you or me. But everyone has to be irrepressible just to survive in this crazy world. You have setbacks and disappointments and you go on. Nina is a heroine, and a hero must be brave enough, and resilient enough, to face life's onslaught. I sound a little depressed don't I? I'm not --- but I am a glass-is-half-empty person, and it's that negative worldview that pushes me to write, to do anything, to live, to love. You have to be stubborn and willful to have a good life.
Q: Your characters are very vivid and funny. Do you have a favorite character in THE DOG WALKER? Do you relate to one character more than the other?
LS: Nina, is, of course, the character to whom I'm closest. We both worked as copy writers in book publishing and we both have a dog and we both hate Hummers --- but most importantly, we're emotional twins. Her insecurities, her desires, her fears --- they're mine. But all the characters are meaningful to me in some way. I love Bono, for much of him is in my own 8-year-old-twin son and daughter. My son uses wacky lines from movies in his normal, everyday speech and my daughter is totally competent and reliable like Bono, who's more mature than Nina. And Claire, Nina's best friend, is an amalgamation of my own best friends. But Isaiah --- I don't know him at all, but would love to! When I write, it's all about my characters. I hear them, I feel them, I know them, and because of who they are, the story takes shape and things happen. It all comes out of character.
Q: The details in many of the scenes in THE DOG WALKER are very specific. How do you imagine yourself into the scenes of your novels? Do you find it difficult to understand the pain and suffering that your characters go through, if you yourself have not experienced the same degree of suffering?
LS: Trust me, I have suffered! I have stepped in dog poop. My knee was dislocated in Central Park by a leaping shih tzu. And, my heart has been broken. Many scenes in the book come from real experience, though, as all writers do, I have re-imagined them to make them funnier, more dramatic, and more moving than in real life.
Q: In THE DOG WALKER, you describe New York City to the letter. How does living in the city or being a New Yorker affect your characters?
LS: New York City is a character in my book. Though I appreciate many cities and love a few, there is simply no city as rich, as uncompromising, as alive as New York. So many different kinds of people, all under one roof, sharing subway seats, sidewalks, narrow grocery store aisles. It's a wonder they don't kill each other more than they do! And you make friends in the most unlikely of places. My kids and I have "bus friends." These are people we've met on New York City busses, on our way to school, who we've enjoyed and even invited to each other's homes. Friends from public transportation! As much as I fantasize about life in other places where you drive in your own car, listening to music and singing out loud, to work, to the dry cleaner or the supermarket, I would miss the community of New York.
Q: As a publisher, you have influenced a host of authors. Who have been the most influential authors to you, and how have they helped shape you as a writer?
LS: I have a new respect for all writers. Writing is hard! Sitting down and facing that blank page is horrifying. But, specifically, writers who have influenced me include Nick Hornby, because he writes funny and moving brilliantly. Elmore Leonard, because his dialogue is pitch-perfect, and perfectly in character. Anne Tyler because her characters are quirky and eccentric, yet entirely real. Stephen King's non-fiction and his essays, because they are funny and ferocious and full of truth. Anna Quindlen who is simply a beautiful storyteller. Edith Wharton because THE HOUSE OF MIRTH made me weep. Jane Austen and and Erica Jong because they were writing funny and sexy and relevant novels before it was referred to as "chick lit." And Ernest Hemingway, because his Nick Adams stories make me so pissed-off with their macho posturing that I want to scream. And if a writer gets you so mad, he's doing something right.
Q: What do you consider to be the greatest challenge that you face as a fiction writer?
LS: Sitting down and writing. Every day. Without knowing where a story or a thought is going, and letting it take you there, wherever there is. As an editor I used to say that the difference between writers and everyone else is that they do it. Sure, many writers have unique talent, but for most, they just do it. The actual sitting down and facing that blank page is the greatest challenge for me. Oh yeah, and then there's the part about writing something that someone else might want to read. That too. That's also challenging. And writing it well. That's a big challenge. Oh yeah, and knowing what to write about in the first place. That's challenging too.
Q: THE DOG WALKER touches on a number of poignant themes, such as real love vs. infatuation. Is there a message that you wish your readers would take away from your novels? Any issues that you would like to get people thinking about?
LS: I think that this book, for me, is mostly about desire. For love, first and foremost. For connection, for stuff you want and cannot have. What Nina learns, and I suppose what I want to say to readers, is that there is stuff you'll never have, and much of that stuff is meaningless. Like Nina's obsession for nice bedding. Of course it's not about the bedding at all, but being cherished by someone so much that you feel worthy of nice bedding. The important stuff? You'll find a way to get it. That is what life is about: getting the good stuff, like love, family, friends and, well, See's Chocolate.
The theme of "imposters" intrigues me as well. People pretending to be what they are not. People not believing enough in themselves that they feel they have to pretend to be something other than who they really are. Nina is insecure, Billy is insecure and yet both of them are special. Don't you know a million people like that?
Also, ever since I was a child, I had this habit of looking into people's windows as we drove past, imagining the lives inside. Even today, as I walk or drive through the city, or even as I look out my apartment windows, I often wonder what is going on inside other people's homes. Is everyone having a dinner party but me? Does everybody have perfect bedding? Are people living rich, full, happy, perfect lives or are their lives like most: full of laughter and pain, joys and disappointments. I'm more interested in why one fantasizes about others' lives than the other lives themselves.
Q: And finally, how are dog people different from other humans?
LS: Dog people share their beds, their dining utensils, their laps and their hearts with hairy four-legged creatures that lick their own genitals. Therefore, dog people are simply more compassionate, more egalitarian, more accepting than other humans.
© Copyright 2007, Leslie Schnur. All rights reserved.
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