By THIRSTY
Sloane Tanen is the
New York Times bestselling author of nine illustrated and young adult
books, including Bitter With Baggage Seeks Same: The Life And Times Of Some
Chickens and Hatched! The Big Push From Pregnancy To Motherhood. Her
latest work, There’s A Word For That, is her first adult novel. A
graduate of Sarah Lawrence College with Masters’ degrees from both NYU and
Columbia University, she lives in the Bay Area with her husband, writer Gary
Taubes, and their two sons. She visited with Stay
Thirsty Magazine for these Five Questions at her home.
STAY THIRSTY: Your
latest book, There’s A Word For That, is a novel for adults while your
prior books were for young adults. How difficult was it for you to make the
leap from the Young Adult market to adult fiction? What motivated you to change
genres and reach out to a different audience?
SLOANE TANEN: Actually,
only two of my previous books were for young adults, Appetite For Detention and Are
You Going To Kiss Me Now? The three illustrated humor books in the Bitter With Baggage Seeks Same series
were for adults, and the other four books in the Coco series were for small children.
I started with Y/A
because I needed to take small steps to build the confidence to write an adult
novel. An adult novel felt like a giant leap from the illustrated books. Having
never taken a writing class, or even attempted to write a story, I felt less
intimidated by the prospect of writing a book for teenagers. I probably got that
wrong. My humor gears older and the truth is, it’s very hard to write a great
young adult novel. Nobody can sniff out a fake like a teenager.
STAY THIRSTY: Your
novel chronicles people in the entertainment business, from film to writing,
and their dysfunctional lives. And, yet, there is a comic flair to the bonds of
family that prevail. Where did the storyline for this book come from and how
comfortable are you writing about people going through hard times?
SLOANE TANEN: I
personally love novels about dysfunctional families at a crossroads. If the
family demons can be unpacked using humor, I’m in. I wanted to write a family
reunion story that could address the “big” issues (ageing, success, loyalty,
mortality) but underscore the gravity of those themes using humor. I’m a big
believer in humor. Laughter makes life palatable. I don’t think of There’s A Word for That as a Hollywood
novel, though. I chose New York and L.A. as the setting because I know both cities
well, and they seemed ideal for putting a microscope on the vanities of the
entitled. Though narcissism and dysfunction are in no way unique to Hollywood
and New York, both characteristics take on a heightened intensity in those spot
lit worlds. The idea was to take a handful of smart, self-involved, entitled
characters and throw them into the most awkward, ratcheted up reunion setting.
And then watch the drama unfold. I decided on a high-end drug rehab in Malibu
because what better place to force a family to confront the things they’d
rather not and to poke fun at the absurdity of their respective situations.
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| Sloane Tanen |
STAY THIRSTY: Your father, Ned Tanen, was an important motion picture executive at Universal and Paramount studios and under his watch American Graffiti and Animal House were made. Why did you become a writer of books instead of a screenwriter or film producer? Did you ever consider There’s a Word for That might be made into a film?
SLOANE TANEN: Having
grown up in the movie business, I wasn’t all that interested in it. I always
wanted to go to New York and study and my father supported my being as far away
from Hollywood as possible. I love stories but (perhaps because my dad was an
executive and not a creative) the movie business felt like just that, a business.
Mostly I heard writers complaining about their scripts getting butchered,
actors complaining about unflattering lighting, and producers panicked about
their budgets. It didn’t sound that good. That, and my father was very blasé
about his job. He fell into the business somewhat randomly and while he was
very good at his job, I don’t think he much enjoyed it. He was passionate about
certain films (American Graffiti and Animal House among them) but had a
finely tuned bullshit detector and he didn’t suffer fools lightly. Let’s just
say he didn’t make the business seem all that glamorous and he certainly wasn’t
advertising film as a career path for his kids.
I didn’t set out to have
the book adapted but I do think There’s A
Word For That would be a good movie or TV show. I love an ensemble cast and
the book has meaty parts for two older actors. The novel is dialogue heavy and
cinematic so it feels as if it wouldn’t be a stretch. I get a lot of casting
suggestions from people who’ve read it. I always like to hear what people come
up with.
STAY THIRSTY: With
graduate degrees in literary theory and art history, how has your education
informed your writing and your storytelling?
SLOANE TANEN: I
worked as a painter for all the years I was in graduate school. I sold my work
steadily, but I wasn’t sure I had the personality I thought I needed to “make
it” in the art world. But, with my paralyzing fear of public speaking, I wasn’t
sure I could “make it” in academia as a professor either. At 28, I cut out of
my Ph.D. program and took masters in both literature and art history. I’d
always been interested in the visual representation of the written word so the
dual degrees sort of made sense. And
yet, realizing I wasn’t going to be a painter, or a professor felt like a life
crisis. The chicken books, which are essentially 3-D cartoons, were such a
great moment in my life because for the first time I didn’t have to decide
between the written word and the visual image. I could convey an entire story
in one still, with one or two sentences, and then move on. That those books did well was encouraging. I
was surprised that my humor and visual sensibility resonated with so many
people. The success of those books gave me the confidence I needed to keep
expanding and to keep telling stories.
STAY THIRSTY: Having
seen “behind the curtain” how movies are made and how books are written and
produced, are you encouraging or discouraging your children about entering the
entertainment business for their careers?
SLOANE TANEN: Ha.
They can do whatever they want. As long as they don’t become professional video
gamers on YouTube.
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