Ask the Author: Diane Winger
Answered Questions (3)
Diane Winger
Oh my -- never!!!
The dog ate the mess "like a Wet Vac" -- one of those industrial-type vacuum cleaners that can suck up wet messes.
Thanks for asking and letting me clarify that.
The dog ate the mess "like a Wet Vac" -- one of those industrial-type vacuum cleaners that can suck up wet messes.
Thanks for asking and letting me clarify that.
Diane Winger
It's not from my own life; rather, from the life of someone close to me. "The Abandoned Girl" starts with the intentional disappearance of the single mother of two young girls. She packed up and left them on their own without a word to neighbors or friends to look out for them. While some details of this situation have been changed for the novel, this is based on a true scenario. In real life, these kids (now adults) never learned the reasons for her disappearance, nor why she never tried to contact them over the years. I let my imagination fill in a possible explanation for her actions as well as create an alternative life for the abandoned children.
Diane Winger
The Daughters' Baggage evolved from a writing exercise that my husband, Charlie, suggested. "Picture a suitcase," he prompted. "Where is it? Who does it belong to? What's inside? What's the story behind this suitcase?"
I began by writing a short story about a twelve-year-old girl who receives a child's suitcase as a birthday gift from her grandmother. She hates the little, green bag (it's decidedly not cool) and tries to find a way to avoid being seen with it. She concocts a scheme to get rid of the bag...but I'll let you read more about that in the first section of the book.
As I dreamed up two additional stories about luggage, I realized I could tie the stories together by following that same child's suitcase from one owner to the next. Once I began writing the story of the second owner, I became fascinated with her character and couldn't just leave her after a single short story (chapter). Aaliyah became the primary protagonist of a novel which then began to write itself as Aaliyah, her mother, and a close friend came to life in my imagination.
As for the third short story I originally envisioned -- yes, it became part of this novel as well, leading to the little, green suitcase being passed along to another girl -- another of the daughters referenced in the book title.
I hope you enjoy the journey of this little suitcase.
I began by writing a short story about a twelve-year-old girl who receives a child's suitcase as a birthday gift from her grandmother. She hates the little, green bag (it's decidedly not cool) and tries to find a way to avoid being seen with it. She concocts a scheme to get rid of the bag...but I'll let you read more about that in the first section of the book.
As I dreamed up two additional stories about luggage, I realized I could tie the stories together by following that same child's suitcase from one owner to the next. Once I began writing the story of the second owner, I became fascinated with her character and couldn't just leave her after a single short story (chapter). Aaliyah became the primary protagonist of a novel which then began to write itself as Aaliyah, her mother, and a close friend came to life in my imagination.
As for the third short story I originally envisioned -- yes, it became part of this novel as well, leading to the little, green suitcase being passed along to another girl -- another of the daughters referenced in the book title.
I hope you enjoy the journey of this little suitcase.
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