Interview with Rebecca Makkai
Ten years ago I met Rebecca Makkai at a coffee shop to discuss the first 100 pages of the very first draft of my novel. I was in her Novel in a Year class through StoryStudio Chicago, an experience that very much shaped me as a writer. I remember looking around the coffee shop thinking, does anyone here realize how brilliant this woman is? Because surely, she’ll take the literary world by storm. True story, I really did, and I was right. The Great Believers, her third novel (fourth book— please don’t sleep on her story collection, Music for Wartime), was a finalist for both the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize, and won The Stonewall Book Award and ALA Carnegie Medal. Her latest novel, I Have Some Questions for You, was a New York Times bestseller and is now in paperback.
I Have Some Questions for You tells the story of a true crime podcast host returning to her old boarding school, where a classmate was murdered in 1995. The novel manages to be a total page-turner, while also being very smart and thought-provoking, asking questions about memory, who gets believed, and our culture’s obsession with true crime.
Rebecca is a generous literary citizen, and also very funny, so be sure to check out her delightful Substack, SubMakk, for writing advice, bizarre Zillow finds, and book recommendations from around the world as part of her 84 Books Project.
I’m so happy Rebecca agreed to this interview!
We typically begin these interviews asking about doubt because it seems to be an inevitable part of the publishing process. But you're at the point in your career many of us dream of, so maybe doubt is a thing of the past?
Oh good lord, no, you don't ever get past it. If nothing else, previous success means you have a bigger audience that could potentially be disappointed or mad. Also, you know what's possible in terms of reception — whereas for my first novel, in 2011, I really had no idea — so you know exactly which good things are less likely to come your way depending what kind of book you write. You don't want to write the same book you wrote last time, and yet every different choice you make might be moving you farther from what made that book a success. You're also more aware of how harsh critics and readers can be... Whatever choice I make, I can (if I let myself) imagine the voice of the snarky Goodreads reviewer who hates that choice.
One thing helping me move past doubt is knowing how long and thorough the editing process is. Whereas with my first book, I felt I'd be judged on my own final draft (and indeed I was, as that was the version that went out to agents and then editors), with subsequent books I know that my agent will stop me if this thing is a disaster, and I have a very real sense of how many rounds of edits I'm going to go through with my editor, the copyeditor, any sensitivity readers, etc. It's easier to take risks when you know you have that safety net.
Speaking of risks, that’s one of the things I admire about your work— each novel is totally different. How do you cultivate courage on the page?
This honestly isn't something I think about much. My ADHD means I'd get deeply bored retreading the same territory. Of all the different competing ideas I have for a new book, I'm most likely to go with the thing I haven't done before. That's not a matter of courage or artistic vision so much as just trying to keep myself entertained. The same goes for form. The Great Believers went back and forth between two time periods, and that was fun, but now that I've done that, I never want to do it again, because I'd be bored by it.
What's your favorite piece of advice for writers at any stage of their career?
Write characters who are smarter than you.
Can you share a few reading recommendations?
I absolutely adored Marie-Helene Bertino's new novel Beautyland, about a normal girl in Philly who is also an alien. I'm completely hooked right now on Liz Moore's The God of the Woods, which I'm blurbing; it won't be out for a while. I'm rereading some Danielle Evans stories right now, because I had my grad students analyze them; I'll never get tired of any of her work. I absolutely can't wait for Lyz Lenz's This American Ex-Wife, which comes out the same day as my paperback (2/20).
Is there a song that ties into your novel in some way?
I made myself a whole Spotify playlist of the songs of 1994, because a lot of the novel is set in 1995 and I figured that since they're at a boarding school in the woods, they wouldn't be listening to the absolute latest music. There are many songs I love on that playlist, and there are many songs mentioned in the book, but one that actually serves as a plot point is Melissa Ethridge's "Come To My Window."
Thank you, Rebecca!