Do my homework as a polite and interested reader

April 5, 2007 10:42 AM

Help me find something to say to novelist Sue Miller over lunch.

I'm going to a small lunch with Sue Miller (tomorrow). My writing teacher thinks it's a nice opportunity, but I don't think I'm knowledgeable enough to take full advantage. I've read a handful of her stories: What Ernest Says, The Birds and the Bees, Expensive Gifts. Can you suggest anything else I can read to get a sense of her, for example a short story you found especially good and well-crafted? Internet copies are the best, but I have access to a good library system so in theory I can get books. I probably don't have time to read any novels.

Thanks! (Non-do-my-homework framing of this question: what short pieces of writing give the best insight into the oeuvre of Sue Miller?)

posted by grobstein to writing & language (5 comments total)

I don't know if you'll time to skim through this, but I thought While I Was Gone was a fantastic novel. Super quick read if you picked up today. It reads so true that you have to wonder about biographical elements in it. I didn't care for many of her other novels, but this one still stands as a favorite.

Good luck! Sounds like a great opportunity.
posted by Zosia Blue at 10:47 AM on April 5, 2007

Personally, the times I've eaten with authors, they seemed more interested in talking about things other than their works (I could be completely wrong about this).

Given the chance, I would either talk about writing in general, asking questions that could not be answered with a yes, or try to find common ground in life.
posted by drezdn at 11:24 AM on April 5, 2007

Seconding drezdn -- if you can find out about her other interests, you can make the lunch a lot more enjoyable for her. Googling should reveal something about her favorite music, foreign cities, movies, etc. It is very unlikely you can ask her a work-related question she hasn't been asked. But she may not have been asked, "I read that [Groundhog Day] is your favorite [movie]. Do you see it as [a Buddhist parable] or just as [a fun boy-meets-girl story]?"
posted by ROTFL at 11:47 AM on April 5, 2007

I come to this position unencumbered by experience or facts, but I would think only the more arrogant artist would expect someone to be familiar with everything they have done. Far more impressive would be some real depth of knowledge of something they'd done or the indication that you really thought about it or were moved by it. Why not spend your time more closely examining what you're already familiar with to see what really strikes you about it?

That aside, this question reads to me like "What should I do?" to which I answer "About what?"

What's your goal in this meeting/discussion? Do you want more understanding of Sue Miller? To ask a question nobody has ever asked before? To impress her? It's hard to say what you should do or research without knowing what you hope to achieve.
posted by phearlez at 11:52 AM on April 5, 2007

Upon further consideration... seconding phearlez. You didn't in fact ask for conversational tips (which I unhelpfully gave you); you asked for something to say to her. You didn't say what effect you were trying to achieve with that something. So I revise my answer to: Dunno.
posted by ROTFL at 2:43 PM on April 5, 2007