Lesley Kagen: Whistling in the Dark

Q. In what way?

A. It’s a little like that old Rooney-Garland line, “Let’s put on a show!” It sounds fun, we’ve got a couple actors here, but wait just a cotton pickin’ minute… how the heck do you go about something like that? I had no idea of the craft involved in writing a novel.

Q. How did you get around that?

A. I studied the works of other writers I admire to see how they constructed their stories. I analyzed movies. I also had the help of good early readers like my husband, Pete, who edited my everyday musings and said, “This is a nice story, dear. I like the characters. But when are they actually going to do something? They are spending quite a lot of time just, well, feeling .” It was tough for me to learn how to integrate plot and character, humor and tragedy. To find that balance.

Q. Humor plays an important part in this story, which is primarily about loss. Why?

A. All of our lives are tough. We lose people, we lose love, we lose jobs, we lose our health. Humor is the only thing I know besides spirituality that helps transcend pain.

Q. Why did you choose to write the story from a ten-year-old’s perspective?

A. I didn’t really choose too much of anything. It’s a funny thing, writing. For me it starts with the whispery voice of my main character, nudging me awake at night. Asking me to listen to a story.

Q. I know many authors outline their books before setting down to write. How about you?

A. (Laughing uncontrollably.) I’m lucky to get my grocery list straight. I just get up in the morning, drink four cups of tea, light a cigarette (I know, I know), and hope for the best. As I get to know the characters better, I’m able to apply an actual thought process. But when I start out, writing is completely about the characters.

Q. How did you feel when you completed the book?

A. Unbearably sad. I love those two little girls. I need two fluffy dogs named Sally and Troo. That’s how much I want to keep them close. To love them up.

Q. How did you feel when you found out that your story would be published?

A. It took me about a year to finish Whistling in the Dark . Three hundred and sixty-five morning mantras of… Lesley, you are a complete and utter moron. Shouldn’t you be spending the morning doing something a bit more productive? Don’t you have socks to sort? Writing is a solitary activity. There is no one in the next cubicle over, ready to tell you, good job! And no matter how many times my friends and family mentioned that they absolutely loved what I was coming up with, and how sure they were that I’d eventually get published… well, being the sunny, glass-half-fuller person that I am… let’s just say I’m pretty relieved that someone other than my cousin Joyce in Sheboygan thinks I write okay.

Q. What’s next?

A. I can’t wait to meet readers via my Web site and bookstore appearances. I’m anxious to hear their impressions, their thoughts, their memories. I’m also quite busy running my sushi restaurant, getting my son, Riley, off to college in the fall, and my daughter, Casey, is getting married next summer. I’m still doing commercial voice-overs. And, of course, I’m pecking away on my next novel.

1. Did the book transport you back to the fifties? Share some of your best or worst memories of that time. Or of your own childhood in the sixties, seventies or beyond.

2. Young women are treated differently now than they were back then. They’re encouraged to have careers. To take care of themselves financially. To stand on their own two feet. Back in the fifties, a girl’s primary goal was to find a man to take care of her. How do you think these changing mores have affected women? Are these changes all positive? If not, what are the negatives?

3. Sally and Troo forge a bond based on loss and guilt. Do you have any relationships/friendships like this?

4. Sally and Troo experienced a deep sense of abandonment after the death of their daddy. They manifested that sense of loss differently. How do you think the loss of a parent at any early stage of a child’s life affects their emotional growth?

5. After her husband’s death, Mother decided the only way to put food on the table was to marry Hall, a man she had little or no feelings for. What would you do if you found yourself in her position?

6. Sally is the product of an adulterous affair. Did you feel differently about her when this was revealed?

7. Mother hid her affair with Dave Rasmussen from her husband and children. Some women, after committing such an indiscretion, would confess and beg for forgiveness. What would you do?

8. Would you have a relationship with your sibling if they weren’t your family?

9. The story touches upon teenage pregnancy when Sally discovers that her next-door neighbor, Dottie Kenfield, was sent away to have her baby. Nowadays young girls are allowed to continue high school and, in fact, many schools provide child care. Do you think this glamorizes teen pregnancy? Why do you think times have changed in regard to this once social taboo? What would you do if your teenage daughter became pregnant?

10. Troo appears to take Sally’s “mothering” in stride. Why do you think that is?

11. Fear is a main theme of the book. Fear of our feelings. Fear of what other people think. Fear of the unknown. What are you afraid of?

12. When Sally finally accepts that Rasmussen is her birth father, she expresses a sense of relief that “she finally looks like someone.” Yet, she must now come to terms again with the loss of her daddy. Much of life is a two-edged sword. Can you recall ever feeling this way?

13. Mr. Gary and Father Jim were gay. Did you find their relationship touching in any way?

14. Sally’s devotion to Sampson was clearly based on the memories she had of her daddy. Did you find this disturbing in any way?

15. At the end of the book, Sally appears to have come to terms with her daddy’s death. Have you ever lost someone very dear to you? How did you handle it?