Diane
asked
Richard Russo:
Dear Mr. Russo, So excited to read this! I had written in a previous review that I love your writing so muchI would even read your grocery lists. Do you have a favorite among your own novels? I still laugh out loud when I read Straight Man...especially the part about getting the dog. Hilarious! Thank you for enriching my life. Diane
Richard Russo
Dear Diane--
I have special affection for Straight Man, too, but mostly because it was by far the easiest of all my novels to write. I'd been storing up academic lunacy stories for a good decade and they all just gushed out. As to my other novels, couple stand out not so much because of what's in them as where I was when I wrote them: The Risk Pool written as my father was dying, Empire Falls when my daughters were teenagers and I was terrified I wouldn't be able to protect them from the world's cruelties.
I have special affection for Straight Man, too, but mostly because it was by far the easiest of all my novels to write. I'd been storing up academic lunacy stories for a good decade and they all just gushed out. As to my other novels, couple stand out not so much because of what's in them as where I was when I wrote them: The Risk Pool written as my father was dying, Empire Falls when my daughters were teenagers and I was terrified I wouldn't be able to protect them from the world's cruelties.
More Answered Questions
Shelley Russell
asked
Richard Russo:
Hi there! Thanks for taking questions...such a fan of your work. Straight Man and Empire Falls...didn't want them to end. So many characters you've created have "stuck with me". Is there any character that you have identified more closely with? Which character felt most personal to you? Thanks and looking forward to your newest!
Joe D M-H
asked
Richard Russo:
I loved Empire Falls and Straight Man; you capture so much in the way of the humor and humanity of your characters' inner thoughts and the closeness (and intense, familiar realness) of the towns/communities they inhabit. What do you do, if anything, to prepare yourself for writing? Any habits? Do you outline or discovery-write your plots and characterizations? Do you do world-building beforehand or as you go along?
Mark Zaborowski
asked
Richard Russo:
Hello Mr. Russo. I'm a big fan of your writing, particularly your ability to make "ordinary" characters' lives so interesting. I have not found another author who can make the seemingly mundane life of a small town so fascinating. So my question to you is: can you recommend other authors that have styles similar to yours? Looking forward to reading your new novel.
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