Sue Miller
Earlier today, we posted a short excerpt from our April interview with Sue Miller about her forthcoming book The Lake Shore Limited. Now, we offer you a little bit more—some excerpts from the conversation that won’t be in the print edition of BookPage. The interview was conducted and transcribed by BookPage Production Designer Karen Elley.
Also, don’t miss reviews of The Senator’s Wife (2008); Lost in the Forest (2005); The World Below (2001); and an interview from 2003 about Miller’s memoir The Story of My Father.
Tell us in the comments: What’s your favorite book by Sue Miller?
Have you always wanted to write?
As a little girl, I won a high school writing prize, a National Scholastic Award, and I’ve always felt it was something I would do. I didn’t know if I would publish ever, but I always imagined writing being in my life.
What’s your writing schedule like?
I tend to try to work in the morning, the way most writers do, before the business of the day starts to intrude. I have to confess that email has changed that a bit. I’m kind of an addict so I check that first thing before I start to write.
[Editor’s note: Miller writes the old-fashioned way, in longhand, and has a particular kind of pen she likes to use that she purchases by the dozens.]
Your latest novel, The Lake Shore Limited, revolves around 9/11, a web of intricate relationships and a play—a story within the story—written by a young woman, Billy, who is one of the main characters in the novel. What form did your research take?
I’ve read a number of novels about 9/11, including Don DeLillo’s Falling Man, a novel that focused on the impact of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on one New York family. There’s one called A Day at the Beach by Helen Schulman, an intriguing tale of 24 hours in a troubled marriage that uses 9/11 as a backdrop. Then there’s a wonderful graphic novel, American Widow, written by a woman who lost her husband on 9/11 and is pregnant at the time. The couple was going through some struggles—it was all very revealing and helpful to me.
I also read some plays. I think it was useful for me to see the shape of a play on the page. I randomly chose plays that were on Broadway in production, anything I thought sounded interesting. I also sat in on the production of a play from the early days of casting, where they were talking about the parts, to the actual performance. Continue reading →
In the years since 9/11, there have been no shortage of novelists willing to take on the subject. Some of the best examples were published about 4 or 5 years ago: 
