Sue Hincenbergs is the author of the new novel The Retirement Plan. A former TV producer, she lives in Toronto.
Q: What inspired you to write The Retirement Plan, and how did you create your cast of characters?
A: The idea came from two experiences.
First … in your 30s everyone wants to know when you’re getting married or having kids. But when you get older the questions change. I was shocked the first time I was asked, “When are you retiring?”
My first thought was: how old do you think I am? Then I realized they were also asking – how’s your bank account, and how’s your career?
That made me think about the people who get to that stage of life and realize things haven’t worked out like they’d hoped - they don’t have the partner they’d dreamed of or the money they’ll need. They’re out of runway so other than winning the lottery, how else can they turn things around?
The Retirement Plan is the story of how a few couples faced those problems, although admittedly, both the husbands and wives in this novel were “outside the box” thinkers.
The second experience is, much like the characters in the novel, my husband and I made great friends when our boys were little and in sports. The kids are grown now but those friendships have endured.
One night not long before I started writing this, the other three couples were over for dinner. I looked around my kitchen table and remembered how sad it was when my parents’ friends started passing away.
In that moment I appreciated what we have, but I also saw how quickly this time of our lives could be over. I thought to myself, which of us will die first? And basically, that’s the first line of the book.
And those friends were the root of the characters.
Q: How was the book’s title chosen, and what does it signify for you?
A: I came up with this title right at the start and loved the two meanings – plan as a framework for financial security, the also as a course of action to enable retirement--but I didn’t know if it would stick.
The publishers considered changing it and I was eager to hear a genius idea. We batted around a lot of suggestions about wives, widows, killing, death-- but ultimately came back to the starting gate and kept it.
Q: Did you know how the novel would end before you started writing it, or did you make many changes along the way?
A: I had the general idea, and knew most plot points, but not all. Funny enough, I just found a screenshot I took three months into writing, of something that became a significant plot point. It was interesting to see when I first heard of that element, and that three months in, I fit it in so seamlessly.
As well, I embraced surprises. There’s a point in the book where one character opens a door and reveals another character standing there. All along I intended it to be someone. Yet, as I was typing the name, another character popped into my head.
I remember gasping and thinking yes!! That would be even better. I hadn’t even thought of that before and was shocked. And if I was shocked, then the reader would be. I went backward and weaved that in, and I think it worked out super well.
From that I think I’ve learned, sometimes you have to go where the story takes you. Even if it is a bossy backseat driver.
Q: As a novelist and a former TV producer, how would you compare those disciplines?
A: I spent a good many years producing for morning television and that included writing the scripts the hosts would read as they introduced the guests. We had to say a lot in 20 seconds. It had to be catchy, conversational and clear.
I didn’t realize until I was well into writing this book, but that experience served as an excellent training ground. It’s easy for me to look at a sentence and carve away unnecessary words, because I’ve spent years shaving seconds off scripts.
Conversely, I’m learning as a novelist, it’s okay to keep some extra words – for voice.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: The Retirement Plan is about people in their 60s doing some bad things, and I’m dialing it back to 40-year-olds for book two. Working moms and dads, who also do some bad things in their neighborhood.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: I was pushing 60 when I opened that first word doc, and from that moment I knew the odds were against me. Against me that I’d finish the book, that it would be any good, that I’d find an agent, and then a publisher.
This is really hokey, but I write about this in the acknowledgements. When I was about 20, I saw Bruce Springsteen in concert. He spoke about dreams. Having them and not giving up on them. From the time I was a kid I dreamed of writing the kind of story I loved to fall into as a reader.
At that concert I made a silent promise to myself, in all my youthful naivete, to never give up on that dream. That promise tugged at the back of my mind while I was raising kids and paying a mortgage.
But finally, I started. But then I wasn’t sure I could do it.
Walking my dog, I’d wonder if I was just wasting my time? Could it be any good? I really didn’t know. Who could? But the thoughts I came back to time and time again were these:
The only thing I know for sure, is that if I don’t try, nothing will happen. If not now, when? Why not me?
And I say that same thing to anyone else with a story they want to write. Why not you? Someone has to write the books we read….why not you?
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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