Q&A with Diane Parrish

 

 

 

Diane Parrish is the author of the new novel Something Better. She lives in Connecticut.

 

Q: What inspired you to write Something Better, and how did you create your characters Ruth and David?

 

A: I was inspired to write a novel with forgiveness as its primary theme. I’d studied forgiveness as a concept and observed its importance in my own life, and the lives of pretty much everyone around me.  

 

I also saw the terrible toll of holding a grudge, for, as I think Anne Lamont says, “Not forgiving is like eating rat poison and waiting for the rat to die.”  

 

On the other hand, I had little patience with the unrealistic instant forgiveness of a greeting card tale. Forgiveness is essential, but it also hard, can take a long time, and often requires sacrifice. 

 

Ruth was based loosely on a couple of women I knew and admired. I decided to make her a practicing lawyer, as I once was, because I knew that working life well.

 

David started out as something of a prototype, but he showed himself to be more complicated than that as the story unfolded. I suppose all of the characters have a bit of the author in them. 

 

Q: How was the novel’s title chosen, and what does it signify for you?

 

A: The book had a few different working titles, but in the end I chose Something Better because the story offers all three main characters the opportunity to make their futures something better than their current situation.

 

For each of them there was also more than one answer to the question, “What would make things better?" The title was open-ended enough to give the characters, and readers, room to evaluate possible choices without being constrained by my pre-scripted solution. It also pointed in a positive, hopeful direction. 

 

Q: The writer Liz Matthews said of the book, “Something Better explores all facets of love, faith, and forgiveness while maintaining a propulsive plot and unexpected turns and resolutions.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: I loved it! I thought Liz highlighted the primary themes of the book well, and appreciated her noting that it was also a book where “stuff happened.” 

Q: Did you know how the novel would end before you started writing it, or did you make many changes along the way?

 

A: There is a pretty shocking plot point in the book that I resisted writing for a long time. I kept thinking, “No. I can’t have THAT happen!”  

 

But as many other writers have said, sometimes the characters assert themselves and lead you in a direction you hadn’t planned to go. I did, however, always think it would have this realistic ending.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I am working on a historical novel set in 18th century Virginia. Very different from this book!  It will have aspects of Hamnet, The North Woods, and a medical mystery. (What the heck??) But I am early in the process, so who knows where these bossy characters will take me!

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I worked on this book over many years. Most of the time I didn’t think I would finish it. I just liked writing. After a while I started to think I should at least complete a first draft, even if it only ever lived on my hard drive.

 

Then the pandemic shut-down, as awful as it was, gave me time to complete, edit, and revise the draft. My daughter, who is also a writer, really encouraged me to try to get it published. Without her encouragement I would never have risked sharing it with anyone. 

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb