Ask the Author: Liane Moriarty
Answered Questions (27)
Liane Moriarty
Thank you so much Zoe, and you're right, I really do love secrets, as long as they're not being kept from me.
Liane Moriarty
Thank you so much Leslie and please pass on my thanks to your book club too! I'm very grateful to you all for choosing my books.
Liane Moriarty
Hello Lize in Latvia. Names are important in that they have to feel right for the character's personality, age etc. (But I don't normally look at their meanings.) You also can't have too many characters with similar sounding names as everybody is already cranky with me for having too many characters so I don't want to confuse them further.
Liane Moriarty
Hi random fan, I love all the casting choices. It's a dream cast.
Liane Moriarty
Thank you Sara. That's it so far! Except for my children's books - the 'Space Brigade' series.
Liane Moriarty
I'm thrilled. It's very exciting. It has an amazing cast.
Liane Moriarty
At the moment I feel like never but I always feel like that when I'm trying to come up with a new idea for my next novel, so I should try to be positive and say, mid to late 2018.
Liane Moriarty
Thank you, Whitney! I'm at the very early (scary, flailing about) stage of the next novel, trying to come up with an idea and get started, so at the moment I am open to all possibilities for character, plot, premise, setting, etc. I will write that down...
Liane Moriarty
Thank you so very much, Kelly. I generally try to write scenes in the order that I think they are going to be laid out in the book, but then at the end I do a lot of shuffling. This was a really tricky one because I didn't want to reveal what happened at the bbq too soon or too late. I think some readers found the wait too excruciating. So I'm glad you liked it!
Liane Moriarty
Thank you, Brian. I wasn't involved with the script for the HBO series. It was written by the wonderful David E.Kelley. It's quite different from the book but I still love it. It's an incredible cast, and I think good actors can often portray that inner dialogue with their actions and facial expressions.
Liane Moriarty
Hi Apsana, thank you so much! No, I'm not an outliner. I usually only know the premise when I first start writing. For example, with The Husband's Secret I knew his secret, but I didn't know what the consequences would be when his secret was revealed.
Liane Moriarty
I don't know how I could have done it without Tess! I needed Tess so that Connor ignored Polly and was crossing the road, I needed Tess so that Connor appeared happy, thereby infuriating Rachel, thereby causing her to put her foot on the accelerator, I needed Tess as an impartial observer who could show us Cecilia and Rachel through her eyes. She was essential! please don't make me write it without Tess. (If my editor had suggested this I would have cried...)
Liane Moriarty
Hi Brenda, I'm sorry about the confusion, it's exactly the same book. My UK publisher wasn't keen on the title BIG LITTLE LIES, so in the UK it's called LITTLE LIES.
Liane Moriarty
Mmm, I think meant it literally (or as literally as fiction can be)
Maybe you're right and the part about Polly was too perfect, I remember one editor said the same thing, and wanted to take it out, but once it came into my head it felt like that was the case: Polly WOULD have been a tennis star. (I'm so glad it generated an interesting discussion for you.)
Maybe you're right and the part about Polly was too perfect, I remember one editor said the same thing, and wanted to take it out, but once it came into my head it felt like that was the case: Polly WOULD have been a tennis star. (I'm so glad it generated an interesting discussion for you.)
Liane Moriarty
Thank you so much Marcia!
Liane Moriarty
I have different publishers in the UK, US and Australia and they all do different covers based on what they think will be most effective in their markets. (This is actually the case with most books.)
I quite like it because I feel like I've written three different books.
I quite like it because I feel like I've written three different books.
Liane Moriarty
My main criteria is whether I keep thinking about it, and wondering about it, and thinking it would be fun to write. Oh, and also I study the faces of people when I mention my new book idea. If they look intrigued I know I've got a winner, If they look sort of politely interested I know I've got to keep thinking
Liane Moriarty
That was very tricky and some people thought I got it right, and others thought I got it wrong, so I don't know, I guess I just followed my instincts. I know at least one reader who couldn't bear it and skipped ahead. Looking at it now, I wonder if it was just one chapter too long before the reveal, but I don't know..
Liane Moriarty
No, no, he did get closure in the end! In the epilogue! I know that he went through a terrible time before that, but nothing else bad happened to that poor man for the rest of his life. Also, I think he ended up with four beautiful children, which I forgot to mention. Maybe even a lottery win.
Liane Moriarty
Hi Susan, I did like her, but I think Alice began to rely too much on her friendship to the detriment of both her marriage and her relationship with her sister. I thought of her as one of those charismatic friends who you have to watch yourself with, because otherwise they take over your whole life. I think women can come to rely too much on their female friends and forget to be friends with their husbands too.
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