Chat transcript with Leif Enger, author of So Brave, Young and Handsome

Leif, I just finished reading your first book Peace Like a River and found it to be a great mix of Minnesota and The Great West. I don't normally care for westerns but the Midwest connection was great. When did you become interested in the Western sensibility and what made you incorporate that into your writing?

Thanks for kicking off with the first question, Mark, you're in queue.

I'm listening to the radio now. Leif is on and talking about writer's work - the work like addressing groups, traveling, etc that surrounds writing.

He's talking about the source of his book's title now...

Leif has joined us now!

Mark wrote:
Leif, I just finished reading your first book Peace Like a River and found it to be a great mix of Minnesota and The Great West. I don't normally care for westerns but the Midwest connection was great. When did you become interested in the Western sensibility and what made you incorporate that into your writing?

Leif replied:
I got interested because of Little Joe Cartwright, Marshall Dillon, those guys. Some literary influences, yes? But in the 60s the West came to us through television, and in high school I started reading Zane Grey, Louis Lamour, and Frank O'Rourke, who over the years have given way to McMurtry, McCarthy, etc. What I wanted with So Brave was not to simply write a standard genre western, but a post-western, a story that brought western characters into the modern age.

I was wondering if you have favorite books that evoke a sense of place. That's one thing I loved about Peace Like a River. Another book that really portrays a sense of place for me is Wallace Stegner's Angle of Repose.

Are there any you would recommend?

Can't wait to read this new book. Thanks,

Joelle

Joelle H wrote:
I was wondering if you have favorite books that evoke a sense of place. That's one thing I loved about Peace Like a River. Another book that really portrays a sense of place for me is Wallace Stegner's Angle of Repose.

Are there any you would recommend?

Leif replied:
I've not read much current fiction in the past couple of years -- when writing fiction I try not to read it -- but thought No Country for Old Men showed as strong a sense of place (desolation, dust, a despairing landscape) as I've encountered in a long time. Jack London's northern epics, "The Sea Wolf" especially, portray land and sea that seem to reach from the pages and freeze you solid.

Hi. My dad is a neighbor of yours in Aitkin and talks very highly about you and your family. I loved Peace Like A River and am looking forward to this next book. Are the mysteries you wrote with your brother still being published?
I know you and your wife home schooled your boys. I was wondering if you were home schooled growing up and if you would have any advise on homeschooling in general and helping to develop and encourage a child's creativity. Also, are either of your boys showing an interest in writing? Thanks! Alison

What advice would you give to aspiring authors about plot?

Alison H. wrote:
Hi. My dad is a neighbor of yours in Aitkin and talks very highly about you and your family. I loved Peace Like A River and am looking forward to this next book. Are the mysteries you wrote with your brother still being published?
I know you and your wife home schooled your boys. I was wondering if you were home schooled growing up and if you would have any advise on homeschooling in general and helping to develop and encourage a child's creativity. Also, are either of your boys showing an interest in writing? Thanks! Alison

Leif replied:
The mysteries I'm afraid are long gone. The world was not ready. My brother Lin however has a knockout novel coming out in July from Little, Brown; title is "Undiscovered Country," and it's a retelling of Hamlet set in northern Minnesota. Momentum like a riptide. Yes, Robin homeschooled the boys until they started 11th grade, at which point they both went to the community college in Brainerd under PSEO -- a great program, by the way. I'm reluctant to advise anyone since it's different for every family, but Robin's a fine teacher and it went well for us.

Thank you! Alison

Christine N. wrote:
What advice would you give to aspiring authors about plot?

Leif replied:
I'd let your characters have a hand in all decisions. Head into your story with a handful of developing people and see what they want, what has them scared; if they're round and whole, they'll improve any plot you might devise.

We'll close with one final, last minute question!

Carol from River Falls, Wisc. sent a question:
Do you write from an outline, or let the story kind of "meander" its way onto the page?

Leif replied:
Carol, boy, under the wire there... I don't outline, but I do have three or four plot points in mind that I sort of head for. If I try to get much more detailed or specific than that, some crucial character will abruptly die, or fall in love and disappear. But it's a balance. Meander too much and you may get stuck in some horrible backwater and sit there, turning slow circles. I find it helpful to embrace incident, action. Keep the tale out there where the current is running.

Thanks for the wonderful advice. I enjoyed your insights on Midmorning. Best wishes on your new novel.

Christine

Thanks everyone! This is now a chat transcript.

Sorry I missed this.

Me too! I was in the car on the way to the chiropractor when the live interview was on but, alas, did not have computer access. (Nor would it have been safe to log in!)