Curtis Sittenfeld is the author of the bestselling novels Prep and Man of My Dreams. She is currently working on her third novel, American Wife. Sittenfeld, who has been writing fiction ever since she could read and write attended Groton School, a prestigious boarding school in Massachusetts. She graduated from Stanford University and received a Master of Fine Arts from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Sittenfeld will to speak at Georgetown University on February 19.
I know you went to Groton, an elite New England boarding school. Is your experience at Groton reflected in Prep?
I think my high school experience in prep was more positive than Lee’s in Prep. I was more integrated into the community. Lee doesn’t participate in any extra-curricular activities, at least not voluntarily. She doesn’t really have friends besides her roommate. And I would say I was dorky, but I’d like to think I had more friends than Lee. I also wasn’t a scholarship student. I came from Ohio, so I have the Midwestern part of Lee, but I think that a lot of her sense of herself is defined on being “on scholarship.”
Why did you choose a character like Lee, who is so socially awkward and so intense with her emotions, instead of a character closer to how you were in high school?
I think stories come out of not getting what you want. Underdogs are more interesting to me rather than people who are really successful. I also see the novel as fairly comic. Lee can be overwrought as a person, but I don’t see it as a dark, bleak book. I see her as a person who’s caught up in her own adolescence and sometimes it’s painful, but it’s not necessarily as significant as she thinks at the time.
I went to a boarding school too, and I feel like I could still relate to her experiences even though she was so extreme of a character…
One of the people who I work with in publishing says that she feels like there’s two kind of people in the world in terms of who’ve read Prep: The people who admit that they relate to Lee and the people who won’t admit it and hate the book because they’re reminded of their own inner loser.
What made you want to write a book about boarding school?
As you probably know of having gone to one, it’s a very juicy setting. It’s the intersection of all these different factors like money, class, hormones, and a lot of other different things going on beneath the surface. It’s a time in people’s life where their emotions are heightened. I feel like a boarding school is anthropologically interesting. An elite New England boarding school has such a particular way of life. I actually started writing Prep eight years ago. When I started writing it at the age of 24, it was the most intense environment that I’d been exposed to for the longest stretch of time, so it was just a natural subject matter.
Was Prep based on your own experiences or did you do research other people’s experiences of boarding school?
Neither one, exactly … I think a lot of times, when you’re reading a book, it’s really tempting to think that if anything is borrowed from real life, something that happens to the main character must have happened to the author.
Have any movie offers come in for the book?
Prep was optioned by Paramount in 2005 and a screenplay exists, which I actually haven’t read. I don’t really have anything to do with it. Basically, they pay me not to have anything to do with it, which is fine.
Are you nervous about it becoming a movie?
Not really, because I think it would be such a lark if it became a movie. Even if it’s really cheesy, I think it’d be fun. I would see it as a different entity from a book and it seems like it’s in really good hands.
What was it like getting the critics’ review on Prep, which was your first novel?
It was a funny experience. Most of the time in real life, if you want people to give you their honest opinion on something, they won’t. Let’s say you put on an incredibly ugly dress, and you say to someone, “Is this an ugly dress?” They’ll say “Well, it could be more flattering” or “It’s not my favorite.” People are so hesitant to tell you their true opinion. And so, it’s very unusual and disorientating when not only are you getting people’s very honest opinion
but it’s very public, so everyone who has ever known you can see what that opinion is and see you being either celebrated or scolded in a very public forum. So it was very strange.
How would you describe your style of writing?
I think that to describe your own writing is describing your own personality. So I would say it’s kind of analytical and realistic, but then I hope that there’s a sense of fun and the absurdity of human behavior.
There are a lot of novels these days about modern women and trying to find themselves, but a lot of them are cheesy or unrealistic. So how do you stay away from that and make your writing realistic?
I know what you’re talking about. In some ways it seems like you’re talking about chick lit, which I feel frustrated with when I read something that just seems really low in terms of having dumb observations or dumb characteristics. So I might write something and think, “Okay, that would never happen in real life,” and then go back to revise it.
So would you characterize your genre as chick lit?
Within the media and in publishing, chick lit is a loaded term. Some authors are self-identified as chick lit writers and wear the badge proudly. Usually people see it as an insult to be called chick lit writers. I’ve had both experiences where some people say “Your story is definitely not chick lit” and others who say “Your story definitely is chick lit.” I consider myself a literary writer, which sometimes sounds pretentious. But I feel like this is a genre where you write stuff that’s realistic and you care about language. (https://coloredmanga.com)
So are you frustrated when people characterize you as chick lit?
I don’t care that much, but it’s not what I consider myself.
Can you explain any future projects you have in store right now?
My third book American Wife is scheduled for publication in September, so right now I’m doing revisions on it and doing things like deciding the cover. I don’t think I’ll embark on another book until this one is published. I have some ideas of short stories that I would like to write, though.
How long did it take for you to write American Wife?
It took a year and a half of the most intense workings of my life. I was a maniac and didn’t leave the house.
What was the experience of writing it in such an intense mode?
I don’t think I ever want to do it again. It was me pressuring myself. I had a particular idea, the time is now, especially with the 2008 election. I had a particular idea that seemed like it should be written in a particular moment if it was going to be written at all.
Some writers write a story every year, and I don’t think I’ll be that kind of writer. I think that my output so far has been more prolific than I’ll be in the long hall. I think my average will be a book every four years.
What is American Wife about?
It covers the life story of a woman who grows up to be first lady of the United States.
A lot of your books reflect on young modern women trying to find themselves trying to find themselves in the world they live. What interests you about this storyline?
Both my books so far are about tumultuous times in the character’s lives, which I think is interesting. It’s more interesting when people are experiencing emotional turmoil.
Do you think you would ever write from a man’s view?
Sure. I have an idea of a book that’s told from different perspectives, including some men’s perspectives. I don’t think I could write a whole book that was nothing but a man’s point of view, but maybe, never say never.
Your books obviously draw in a lot female audiences. Do you intentionally write your books for a certain audience?
I would say no, but at the same time I’m happy to have a primarily female audience. Sometimes men, or younger boys, will come up to me and ask “Am I the first male to read one of your books?” I was embarrassed to be seen reading the books because it has a girly cover,” but I definitely have plenty of male readers.
—Interview by Crystal Chung
