Interview with Louise Shaffer

My favorite time of the day is literally 12:30 p.m. on a weekday. Sounds quite peculiar, doesn't it? Well, let me explain. If I am lucky enough to be home alone, I follow a certain routine. (For those who know me, imagine that?!) At precisely 12:15 p.m., I stop whatever I'm doing (which most likely is writing, or at least should be writing) and head into the kitchen to whip up something tasty for lunch. I pour myself a glass of iced tea, grab the remote, and settle in for the day's episode of The Young and the Restless!

Okay...okay...I know what you're thinking! She's a soap addict! Well...sort of! I only watch the first thirty minutes and then head back to work, unless of course something really good happens. C'mon! Can you blame me? See, here's the thing. I've always thought that being a soap opera star just had to be the coolest job on the planet. What other 9 to 5 job do you know of that includes a designer wardrobe, totally hot co-workers, and lots of drama that comes to an end when the day is done? Oh can you just imagine? Wouldn't that be the life?

This month's jewel has lived out my dream! Louise Shaffer is an Emmy award-winning soap opera star as well as a talented and gifted writer! She is a multi-faceted and dynamic person who has experienced quite a bit in her life. After reading her story below, you'll see what I mean. Truly, she is an inspiration to us all.

As part of this interview, Ballantine Books has generously donated five copies of her latest release, Family Acts. So, don't forget to look for the trivia question at the end so that you can win!

Please go grab something warm to drink and get to know my new friend and colleague, Louise Shaffer.

Jen: From an Emmy award-winning soap opera actress to an accomplished writer, your credentials are quite impressive. So that my readers can get a better sense of who you are as a person as well as how your background has influenced your career, please tell us a little bit about yourself.

Louise: First, I want to thank you so much for asking me to do this interview. And thank you for the kind words! You've got wonderful, amazing questions.

So, my background... I've always loved to tell stories. I used to write all the time when I was a kid. I was weird and shy, and not good at any activity requiring a bat and a ball--I went to a school where we had to play team sports at recess, so I was the kid praying for rain every day. I liked my imaginary friends a lot more than the real kids who had a tendency to "boo" when I struck out.

My parents loved the theater and we lived outside New Haven, Ct, which was a big Broadway tryout town, so I saw just about everything that was headed for New York, and I loved it. When I was twelve, I figured out that since I was never going to be popular, I'd have to get attention some other way, and I decided to be an actress. I was very serious about it. I read plays and biographies of actors and Theater Magazine. I got my first professional acting gig in a summer stock company when I was fifteen. I was still weird and didn't have any dates, so I dreamed about being a big star one day. I'm not sure I would have been quite so dedicated to my art if I'd had a steady boyfriend.

Jen: I read that as your career advanced in years so to speak, you decided to turn the tables and write for the soaps rather than remain in front of the camera. I would think it would have been liberating in a sense that you could finally write what you always wanted to say but never could. From your perspective, what was it like? Did you find yourself pushing the envelope at times with controversial lines or topics?

Louise: Actually, it wasn't my decision. I got fired from my soap--three months after I'd won the Emmy, and I decided the thing was cursed, but that's another story -- and I was at an age where it was impossible to get a new contract role. For an actress on a soap, the thing about aging is, if you're lucky and you hang on to your job until you become a beloved senior citizen, you have a job for life. You may not ever have a story line, but they will keep you around to listen to the kid's problems -- which is a great way to do recap-- and they will haul you out on national holidays. Unfortunately, I wasn't lucky, and after a couple of years of not working I figured out that I'd better find another way to make a living. Writing dialogue for the soaps was a natural fit because as an actress, I had a good feel for what would play. But I'm afraid it wasn't a liberating experience -- see, a soap staff is very structured. There are head writers who come up with the stories and outline writers who break those stories down into daily episodes, and my job was to follow their work and make it into a script. I have to admit that writing for the soaps wasn't my favorite thing to do -- at least, not on the level that I did it.

Jen: What was the driving force behind you taking the plunge and writing a novel?

Louise: Desperation. No, not really, although I did get fired all the time as a soap writer because I wasn't happy doing it. I just knew I wanted to tell my own stories -- I'm really a solo act and writing for television is a team sport--and after seven years of playing around with a story in my head I knew I had to try to write it. Also, a book I had ghosted had been made into a movie of the week and I got a little chunk of cash for it so I could afford to take some time off. I'm afraid a lot of my career decisions have been made because I did or didn't have to pay the rent for a few months -- you know?

Jen: From a writing perspective, what was the most challenging aspect of changing careers from an established scriptwriter to a debut novelist? How did you overcome it?

Louise: The roughest part was believing that this thing that I was doing that no one was paying me for, and no one was asking for, was really worth it. I think most creative people have devil voices -- you know, those voices in your head that tell you that what you are doing is insane and go get a paying job. I used to email my friend Charlie every morning saying I couldn't do it and I was going to get a job decorating cakes at the grocery store--just as soon as I went to cake decorating school--and he'd email me back telling me not to be a drama queen and get on with it because this was what I really wanted to do. And besides, with my lack of manual dexterity the cake decorating thing was never going to work out.

Jen: Your third and latest release, Family Acts, is a beautifully written novel that centers on the lives of two very different women who share a unique bond to an opera house. How did you arrive at the premise?

Louise: Thank you so much for saying that! A lot of love went in to that book and I'm so happy that you liked it.

My husband and his kids and I lived in Georgia for nine years and there was an old opera house nearby that had been restored. It was a magical building and my husband and I loved it. When I was looking for an idea for a new book, he suggested centering one in the opera house. We'd had a dream of starting our own theater so that was another strand of the plot, and I've always loved stories about people who are connected and don't know why, so that was another. Katie and Randa were the easiest characters I've ever written because I knew them both so well. I loved writing the book because I got to live through so many different parts of show business -- and in spite of everything I am still incurably stage struck.

Jen: I really like how your characters' names are based upon Shakespearean plays. How has the great William Shakespeare personally influenced your life? Which of his works is your favorite and why?

Louise: When I was in acting school Shakespeare was the gold standard by which everything else was judged. You just wanted to be good at Shakespeare. I wasn't a natural for that kind of classic acting because it takes a huge presence, and I was better suited to the smaller work you do on camera. But it was always a dream of mine to do it -- so I got to live out that dream in Family Acts.

My favorite part when I was studying was Kate in Taming of the Shrew because I felt I could handle that role. It's a comedy and I always loved getting laughs, and it's very physical, so you don't have to be as adept at the language which I adored when I was young, but I wasn't sure I could pull it off. I loved Romeo and Juliet although I was never a romantic actress, and you have to have so much fire and passion to play Juliet. I always figured someday I'd die onstage somewhere playing the Nurse.

Jen: In Family Acts, Katie, one of the main characters, has to live in the shadow of her mother's fame even after the woman's demise. Unfortunately, she also lacks that certain self-confidence that is so prevalent in the television industry and which quite frankly is needed in order to survive. What inspirational message, if any, were you trying to send to your readers through this character? What do you like best about her and why?

Louise: Oh I love this question so much! I think I wanted to say that even if our lives look great on the surface, we know if they're not, and we need to shake them up and get what we really need. This time we have here is not a dress rehearsal! I loved Katie for her honesty -- in her own way she's very much in touch with herself and no matter how terrified she is, she does take chances. I'm so proud of her for that. And I really hoped she'd fall for RB because she's every bit as much of a nerd as he is, although it takes an eleven-year-old to point that out to her.

Jen: On the flip side, Randa, the other main character, comes to us with lots of baggage but luckily she manages to pull herself together and raise a vibrant, yet eccentric, daughter. What do you think is Randa's biggest strength? What is her biggest obstacle to overcome?

Louise: Randa's fear is her biggest obstacle --and her biggest strength. It's a two-edged sword. Because she doesn't want to be poor and desperate like her father, she makes herself into a success. But that very need for success limits her too. I want to think that she will find a way to be more flexible, and more open to adventures. What I loved about her was her absolute determination that her little girl would not have any of her fears and hang- ups. I gave Randa my favorite lines in the book when she says that Hamlet has been around for four hundred years and right now, somewhere some actor is on a stage saying "To be or not to be" and that is her definition of what is useful.

Jen: What I found most appealing about your book was the way in which you were able to weave two distinctive stories into one as you flawlessly moved to the culmination point of the plot. How did you do it? Was it confusing for you at times?

Louise: Thank you again! I believe the past has total impact on who and what we are today. I think we probably misinterpret it at times and a lot gets lost in the remembering and re-telling. But for me, the idea that we are all in this together --and we have been for generations -- makes life not lonely. That said, I knew I wanted to span a huge amount of time and story in this book, and I would have to keep it very structured or it would get confusing for the readers and for me. I came up with the device of the statues as a way of keeping it all organized for myself. However, I did have to go back and rewrite a lot to make sure the pieces of the back-story all followed each other logically. I'm the queen of rewriting.

Jen: What has surprised you most about the publishing business in comparison to the television industry? Did you miss working on the soaps?

Louise: The people in publishing are so respectful about what I do. For one thing, they actually read what I write. I loved acting but I have always been rebellious about a profession where the way you look is so important. I wanted people to care about my talent first -- which was dumb and arrogant and given that attitude, I was lucky I kept on getting work as long as I did. Also, I have things I want to say and characters I want to create and as an actor or a script writer on a team you can't do that. So writing books is a better, happier choice for me. I get to live in my imaginary world and call the shots and no one says I'm too tall or too short or I need to have a little work done on my face. I like that.

Jen: As a writer, what goals have you set for yourself? Do you feel as if you are on your way to achieving them?

Louise: What a fabulous question. I want to write books that are entertaining. I want my readers to be touched emotionally--to laugh and to cry. I want to create characters that people can relate to -- and root for. I guess I'd just like to keep on growing. I'd like to get deeper and more honest, if I can. I've been so unbelievably lucky it feels greedy to even be thinking this way, but that's what I want for the future.

Jen: Are you currently at work on another project? If so, what can you tell us about it?

Louise: I'm almost finished with the next book! I can't believe it, but it goes to my editor at the end of November. It's about four generations of women in an Italian/American family. One was a housewife, one was a Broadway musical comedy star, one was a famous philanthropist and the youngest one is trying to figure out who she is, by finding out what happened to her great grandmother, her grandmother, and most of all, her mother. Each of the women was determined not to be like her mother and of course each of them was exactly like her.

Jen: The home page of your website is bright, cheery, and very welcoming. Your personality definitely comes through! Please tell us a little bit about your site. Do you have a mailing list? E-mail notification of new releases? Author phone chat information? Reading Group Guides?

Louise: Oh, I'm so glad you like the website! That is the work of my incredible, talented stepson, Colin. He does the website for me and posts my blogs and just in general keeps me in cyberspace and I am going to tell him what you said because he is going to be so pleased! And I do have a mailing list. I save the names of everyone I've ever met -- people are so nice to me, I just want to keep a piece of them with me -- and Colin sends out announcements to the entire list telling them when my books are coming out and when I'm traveling and he tells then where I'm going to be when. And yes, yes, yes, I love to talk on the phone to book clubs or groups of any kind! Colin arranges that for me too. And it's real easy to set up, people just email him or go to the website and click on his email address. He'll put the date of the meeting on my calendar, and then all we need is a speaker phone and I call at the time the group gives me and we can talk. For people who don't belong to a book club, I love to email with readers too. I don't have a reader's guide on my website -- I think that's something we should add-- but in the meantime, there are always suggested questions for clubs and groups in the back of my paperbacks.

And by the way, I love your website too, Jen.

Jen: Thank you so much for taking part in this interview. Best of luck in your career!

Louise: This was just lovely. And I want to thank you for all you do to support books and authors. We need people like you in this business.

I hope you have enjoyed getting to know Louise Shaffer. I highly recommend her novel, Family Acts! It's one of those books that you don't want to miss!

Okay...five people to answer the following question correctly will win a copy of Family Acts. Good luck!

Please name one of the two main characters in Family Acts.

Next month, I will be bringing to you a special interview with one of my all-time favorite authors, Dorothea Benton Frank. You won't want to miss it!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Until next time....Jen