In part two of Bill Clegg's chat with This Writing Life's podcast, we begin with the trauma (a house fire on the night before a wedding) that propels his debut novel, Did You Ever Have a Family? ----more----From there (soundtracked by some funky flutes) we move to:
- how the novel began and progressed for Clegg
- first vs third person narration
- Wilkie Collins, collective truths and the range of voices
- what we think about each other, for right and mainly wrong
- empathy, judgement and global problems
- why small-towns are a metaphor for the entire world
- town vs wealthy, weekending outsiders
- small-town life and small-town thinking?
- how do you break family destiny and leave small-towns?
Part 3, with more funky background music and cell phone buzzes, to come.
