A Chat With The Author

The Brooklyn Chronicles, our nearly two-year experiment in newspaper novels, wrapped last week with the protagonist, Eve, giving birth to her first child, Noah Daniel Abramson. We sat down with the author, Karen Schwartz, this week to reminisce about the story and guess at some of the character’s future. Her first novel, “Clearing the Aisle,” is available from Simon & Schuster, and you can read the full Brooklyn Chronicles at www.nysun.com/archive_chronicles.php.The New York Sun: What inspired the column?Karen Schwartz: My move to Brooklyn, really. When I moved there a few years ago, it seemed Brooklyn was having a “moment.” In the 10 years since I’d graduated from college, it had gone from the place where your vaguely artsy friends lived and threw parties that were just too much of a hassle to attend to the place where everyone you knew lived. Brooklyn T-shirts were suddenly ubiquitous. It had a lot to do with age – we were in our early 30s, not our 20s, paired off and starting families. A lot of people were looking for something more settled-seeming but still unwilling to move to the suburbs. Brownstone Brooklyn, for a lot of people, is ideal.How much of the column was based on your life? Do you really have a nemesis?A lot of the details of the column came from my life – for example, I, like Eve, live across the street from a pizza place where a bunch of old guys from the neighborhood hang out. I also have a 1-year-old baby girl, so a lot of Eve’s thoughts on pregnancy came from my experience with that. But most if not all of the plot stuff is completely made up – I don’t have a nemesis (at least not to my knowledge!) and, while there actually was a celebrity coming into the sandwich and smoothie shop where I did a lot of work, our relationship never went beyond the mutual-acknowledging eye contact phase. The one totally autobiographical part of the column was the parking. I admit it; I am totally obsessed with finding the perfect parking place.How much did you work with the illustrator? Would you suggest ideas for the drawings?I really had very little contact with Graham, though I guess the columns themselves suggested the drawings. I’d write the column and then he’d read it and come up with something. Seeing what he came up with was always great fun for me.What did you most enjoy about writing the column?My favorite thing about writing the column was having the ability to take something that happened to me or to someone I knew and turning it in to fiction. I’ve always loved reading and writing stories that reflect and comment on the way people live right now. When you write a novel, it takes years from the time you had the idea until it actually appears in print. With the column, I could have an idea, write it, and see it in the world all within the span of two weeks. That, to me, was very exciting. Beyond that, I really enjoyed hearing from readers. As a writer, you spend so much time tooling away alone and in your own head. It’s always interesting and fun to see what people respond to.What do you think will happen to Eve and her friends?Well, the answer for Eve is an obvious one: she just had a baby, and will probably spend the next while adjusting to that. So will her now-former nemesis, Courtney. I think, much as Eve wants to be over their feud, it will probably rear its head again. My guess is that Maya makes it big enough as an artist that she could actually afford to live in Dumbo. Greg, the boy writer and resuscitated friend, will end up getting a book contract and staying in Brooklyn. And Hallie will get married and finish nursing school, though I guess whether or not she stays in Brooklyn will likely depend on housing prices.What about Eve? Do you think she’ll stay in Brooklyn?That’s a good question. Well, she rents, so I guess, like everything else, it’ll depend on the real estate market. If the housing bubble doesn’t burst, Noah’s youth might be the “Nutley Chronicles.”What’s next for you? Will you still be writing for the paper?Yes, I will. I will be writing a regular feature for the Style section on baby and parenting related stuff. I’m also thinking about turning Brooklyn Chronicles into a book, and starting on a new novel. So, stay posted!

A Chat With The Author

A Chat With The Author

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