Creative Conversations: An Interview with Elizabeth Crane
September 20, 2023
Creative Conversations is sent bi-weekly. Two times a month I share an interview with a writer whose work I admire. This time, it’s Elizabeth Crane!
I’ve been following the work of Elizabeth Crane ever since hearing one of her stories on NPR’s Selected Shorts over ten years ago. You can listen to her story, “Football,” read by Martha Lavey at the Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago.
Crane is an incredibly talented, prolific, and hard-working (talent is nothing without hard work, right?) writer whose work is honest and touching as well as (often) hilarious. This is a combination I’ve always wanted to master, and as a fellow writer I always admire those who can balance humor and tragedy.
In short, reading Elizabeth’s writing makes me want to write, and try new things, and challenge myself as a writer. This is the highest compliment I can give another writer.
Her debut novel, We Only Know so Much, was published in 2012 before being adapted for film, ultimately premiering at the Nantucket Film Festival. Crane has written seven (!) books; three novels, three books of short stories, and her latest book, This Story Will Change: After the Happily Ever After; A Memoir, which explores her experiences following the ending of a long marriage.
Leslie Jamison writes of This Story Will Change: “This book is picking up the shards of something big and beautiful and broken—a marriage—and rather than trying to put these fragments back together, it uses them to create something utterly devastating, utterly alive, and utterly new.”
You can read Jamison’s full review, as well as reviews by Gina Frangello and Maggie Smith, on Crane’s website.
Elizabeth Crane responds to the Creative Conversations Questionnaire
(note that I will be using the initials CC and EC to represent questions and answers, respectively)
CC: How did you come to writing?
EC: Like many kids, I was inspired by Harriet the Spy! I don't know how serious I was at this time, since I was eight, but I definitely knew I found my thing. As a kid reader I was definitely drawn to anything offbeat or even creepy and my dad was always my biggest writing champ from the time I expressed interest.
CC: What are some features of your writing life?
EC: I’m not strict at all. I’m mostly a morning writer when I’m working on something, but I do take breaks. It’s a little bit random!
CC: Where do you turn when you need inspiration?
EC: Honestly, inspiration comes from anywhere and everywhere for me, books, TV, people I meet, but it often has some element of the question "why do humans act like this?"
CC: Tell me something you struggle with as a writer.
EC: Sometimes the struggle is kind of an emotional one, depending on the work. A couple of my books that were more autobiographical were at times wrenching to write. Other times the struggle comes in the structure; I am always accidentally challenging myself with form (multiple and layered povs, and non-linear structures, things like this). At which time I say to myself "What made me think this was a good idea!"
CC: What are your wildest writerly dreams?
EC: I think the main dream is just to always try to improve my craft, rather than anything else. Also for better or worse I never think very far ahead. Hopefully I will still be writing then!
CC: Tell me about your book. How long did it take to write and what was your process of creation? How long has this book been living inside you, and can you pinpoint its moment of germination?
EC: My most recent book, This Story Will Change, maybe took about a year to draft before going to work with my editor, which took some good time after that. Because it was a memoir, my first, about the sudden end of my long marriage, it had not been living inside me at all! At the time, I was hoping to write anything but that story, but I couldn't think about much else, so I figured I'd scribble it down and put it aside, but it ended up coming out better than I expected.
(Side note— Some good advice to all writers is to “scribble it down and put it aside.” I love that she uses the word “scribble,” because it lowers the stakes and, in my mind, might make it easier to write about something so difficult).
One can find many lovely interviews and conversations with Elizabeth across the internet simply by Googling her name. In particular, I loved this conversations between Crane and Leslie Jamison:
Have you read Crane’s book, or any of her work? Tell me about it in the comments! And make sure to buy This Story Will Change. It’s a beautiful read.
I love all of her work, including the film based on We Only Know So Much. Her latest memoir took my breath away. I am thrilled to say that not only am a giant fan of hers, I also learned in 2017 that we are extended cousins. This was a fantastic interview!
Great post. I'm with you on “scribble it down and put it aside.” A really good way of putting it.