An Interview with Author Maureen Morrissey about "Sonder: Janie's Story"

This week, we have the pleasure of introducing––and interviewing––Maureen Morrissey, author of "Sonder: Janie's Story", among other works. With a story set in 1960's New York, she's exploring the idea of sonder, the feeling you get when thinking about how every single person you see has a life, individual ideas, a house and so on. She told us where she gets her inspiration, where she discovered her love of writing, and, importantly, why and how she wrote her work.

Q: Tell us a bit about yourself! Who are you, how did you get into writing, which work of yours are you most proud of?

A: I’m a retired educator, amateur photographer, avid traveler, runner and lifelong writer. I started an indie publishing company in my bedroom when I was in second grade in the mid-1960’s. My first rejection came at the hands of my mother, who refused to give me a nickel for my first handmade book.

I was always an avid reader, which helps with my love of literature and language. But the biggest impetus to me becoming a writer is my family history. My parents are Holocaust survivors and refugees and immigrants to this country. I grew up hearing very scary stories and stories of survival and stories of strength. Most of my friends from childhood are also immigrants and I heard their family stories as well. Being surrounded by “story” and loving the sound of language helped me become a storyteller.

While teaching elementary school and as an adjunct professor, I ran writing workshops daily for thirty-seven years. This helped me hone my own craft as I guided young writers to find their voices. Kids are the biggest and most honest critics, and loved that I viewed them as “real writers,” which they were. Some of their stories were as exciting and as heartbreaking as my own. They loved and learned by critcizing my writing, and honestly, I learned from them as well.

I grew up in NYC, and I wrote Sonder: Janie’s Story about the experiences my friends and I had being unsupervised girls in a tough time in the city. Although I’m proud of all my work, this one is pretty popular with my readers.

As a writer, I don’t really have a “lane.” My first book, Woven: Six Stories, One Epic Journey, is a historical fiction. But it didn’t want to be told in a traditional story arc, mainly because it covers one hundred fifty years, several generations and different families. Since I think of history as a series of stories, that is how I wound up writing this book. My third is about a reluctant psychic who just wants a normal life.

Q: What’s the book about? Tell us where the story takes us.

A: Here’s the blurb:

“In the gritty streets of 1960’s Queens, New York City, a young girl finds solace in her brother's love from their indifferent parents but when their home becomes unbearable, he flees, leaving her to face the neglect alone. Seeking freedom and a fresh start, she escapes to Greenwich Village at eighteen, hopeful for a brighter future through college. However, the allure of the Village's bohemian culture ensnares her, plunging her into a harrowing spiral of temptations and pitfalls. Through encounters with a diverse cast of characters, she learns profound lessons as she finds her way back from the brink. In this poignant tale of survival, growth, and self-discovery, she weaves a tapestry of personal triumphs and tribulations, trying to find her way in a world that once seemed impossibly bleak.”

You join Janie on her way to becoming a young adult, through a naturally tumultuous time made more dangerous by the circumstances of New York City during this time period. You meet a cast of characters typical of those days, and you get to experience the city like she did. New York City has millions of stories, and this is hers. She sees herself as a solitary piece in a puzzle so huge you can’t see the whole picture. But she wants so badly to find her way, and you will want her to as well. Reviewers say they root for her even as they get furious with some of her choices!

Q: What are the most important themes you wanted to get out into the world with this book? Did you struggle to incorporate them into the writing?

A: Finding Strength in the Face of Adversity and Learning from the Stories of Others are two big themes in Sonder. I generally let a story tell itself, and the themes occur naturally as a result. I didn’t set out to share these specific themes through Janie’s life story, and wouldn’t have been able to tell you what themes would be covered before they actually were.

I love the saying, “Adversity doesn’t build character; it reveals it.” The reader has to suffer alongside Janie for quite a while for adversity to reveal her character. But as I always said to my students’ parents, the thing that drives you craziest about your children will be what makes them succeed at their chosen path; and Janie’s good heart takes a beating before showing itelf. Janie is not the only character that demonstrates this theme. Mara, Ruth, and Mrs. Dorothy Geraldine Weschler Thomas all experience adversity and share their stories. Other, more minor, characters demonstrate this as well through their successes and failures, some catastrophic. When, not if, we all experience adversity, it’s important to find ways to go on, maybe even to grow and thrive. Hearing how others do it can be helpful.

One way is to read widely, both fiction and nonfiction. Another is to watch a lot of movies or shows. But my favorite way is to listen to the life stories of total strangers. People have been through a LOT. I learn about myself when I hear their stories.

Q: How long did it take you to write this book? Did you grow in your writing during this time?

A: It took almost exactly a year from start to publish. I had just published my first novel and honestly thought that was it. Writing a novel was very challenging, although the pandemic quarantine shutting down the world actually offered me the unique opportunity of being stuck at home and I got it done. But I never thought there would be a second book and I was more than fine with that. But then, by accident or providence, the idea for the book appeared and wouldn’t leave me in peace until I got started.

During the drafting of this book, I joined several writers’ workshops, read many advice books written by authors, joined many online resources for writers, and found Beta readers who gave me valuable feedback. I most definitely grew my writing skills during this project, and consider myself a lifelong learner, so I continue to grow every time I write... including this interview.

Q: The usual question is, of course, why people should read your book. We’ll get to that later, but why would you read your book, if you hadn’t written it?

A: There were no books specifically about the issues I experienced as a young child and adult. I read a huge variety of genres, but I do enjoy identifying with or at least relating to a character in a book. I believe in the saying, “Write the book you wish to read,” and that is what I did.

What I like about my book is how real, raw and authentic it is about the life of a young woman, especially one from the mid twentieth century, which was my own era. I like that the format is more like a life story than a chapter book. It forces the reader to find a convenient place to stop instead of the artificial chapter end that works for many types of books but didn’t for this one.

I also like books that challenge me, make me think and learn, make me uncomfortable and experience disequilibrium. Easy reads are entertaining, and I do love those, but Sonder is the kind of book that makes you ponder long after you’re done, and I love that.

Q: So… Why should people read your book?

A: The term “sonder” means the realization that every person you pass by has a whole, messy, complex life with friends, family, trials and tribulations, successes and experiences just like you do; but you’ll never know that. You’re just an extra in their movie and they’re an extra in yours. This stopped me in my tracks when I first heard about the word and I knew there was a novel in it immediately. If you take it one step further and engage and really listen to someone new tell their story, it improves both your lives. Win-win.

In this novel, Janie comes to understand this concept and it changes her life for the better. It helps her see there are so many opportunities and so many ways people have learned from their own experiences, and lessons you can learn from those same experiences that you never will have because your life is on its own trajectory. It opened her eyes and mind and it can open yours too. Many of the reviewers of this book state they will never see other people the same again and are excited to learn about them now. One reviewer wrote: “...shifted the way I see the people in my periphery as I walk through life.”

But Janie’s story is also a dark, sad, nearly hopeless one where she just misses opportunities and makes poor decisions. You might feel sorry for her and maybe frustrated with her too, even while you root for her to figure it out. It has ALL the triggers. But life is full of triggers, so it’s a very real story. People who want to witness someone’s tough journey from the safety of their own couch will enjoy this book. People who are open to the stories of others very different than themselves will also appreciate it.

Q: Are there any characters that you wrote parts of yourself into? Or did you detach yourself from the story to write from an entirely different perspective?

A: Many of the characters in the story are based on people I know and yes, there are pieces of me in Janie. But she is her own person, and she made that very clear while I was telling her story.  I did not so much as detach, as I was shoved out of the way by Janie herself. It may be the biggest evidence of her strength to me as the storyteller!

This book is character-driven. All the events happen to Janie because of who Janie is; and she is reluctant to change as she can’t see her way until finally some things happen that leave some breadcrumbs she can pick up. Where I am driven, stubborn, an idealist with realist leanings and resilient, she is a victim of her circumstances, smart and loving but lost. Some of the things that happen to her actually happened to me, but we dealt with them very differently.

Q: Are there any scenes or plot points you cut out because they just didn’t work?

A: I didn’t cut anything but I did have to rethink the structure and format of the book pretty radically. I wound up not using traditional chapters and also letting other characters tell their stories in their own words so that the reader is listening to that person tell their story at the same time Janie does. In this way, reader is also having a sonder experience while Janie does.

Q: Where did you draw inspiration from, when you were looking for outside inspiration? Did you do a lot of research? Did you look for pictures with the right vibe?

A: The term “sonder” appeared very randomly on one of my writing websites as a Word of the Day. It gobsmacked me hard. I immediately bought a copy of the book it comes from, The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows by John Koenig, which is filled with words he created to get at emotions he felt were not expressed in English the way they are in other languages. It’s a treasure trove of ideas, if anyone needs one for inspiration.

As far as research, this is a historical fiction based in the 1960’s-80’s and I definitely had to make sure all my references were accurate. Even though I lived through those days, I wanted to make sure the story tracked and was believable and didn’t have any errors in content. Writing historical fiction is no joke! When I read one, even a small mistake like catching an item that wouldn’t exist in that time period can make me pop right out of the story.

Also, I wanted to bring people who didn’t experience those days into the story and show them what that life was like on a very personal level. I needed to do research to demonstrate how life was then in a way that was relatable, making the reader feel like they could have been there and think How would I have handled that if I had been there then?

Q: Did you have alpha/beta readers? If so, what was the advice or comment that stuck out most to you, and helped you develop your story better?

A: I have a friend who is an avid reader and she Beta reads all my fiction. She is good at pointing out things she doesn’t understand or that don’t make sense to her, which is very helpful. Sometimes as a writer, I think I’m explaining things that are actually stuck in my head and she finds those so I can add detail to make things clearer. She helped a lot with this book, but part of the problem was she also experienced NYC in this era, making a lot of the events too familiar to see missing details, so I needed to find people who hadn’t.

I hired two college students as Beta readers to make sure the story would not appeal only to people who lived through these decades. One of them said it was a very important story and she wanted all her friends to read it. Both of them found some content inconsistencies that were very helpful, which is one of my goals for Beta readers.

Q: Are there any easter eggs in your story, or things that you’d only see if you read the book a second time?

A: A lot happens to Janie over these two decades, and it might be overwhelming the first time out. You’d probably miss some of the details of her early childhood that led to issues and poor decisions later, but that also demonstrated her character early on.

Without spoiling anything specific, there are references to true events that one might now recognize as a reader in the twenty first century but that the characters of the time were ignorant about and just dealing with as part of their daily lives. It might take a couple of readings to realize what those were.

Q: Rapid fire word association. One word (yes, you’re allowed more for titles) to describe your book for different topics. Here we go. 1: song, 2: different book, 3: color, 4: meal or food, 5: weather type, 6: environment (forest, cinema, kitchen, etc.), 7: mood.

A:

Song: White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane

Different book: Go Ask Alice by Beatrice Sparks

Color: Violet

Meal or food: Pizza (NYC style)

Weather: Frigid

Environment: City

Mood: Dark with a side of hope

Q: Is there anything else you’d like to tell us about you or your book?

A: My goal as a writer is always to help readers grow, learn and think to improve their lives and maybe even the lives of others. I hope Sonder: Janie’s Story will do that for them.

Q: Lastly, where can people find you and your book?

A: Find the book on Amazon, or at any bookstore in print.

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