Benevolence

20 Writerly Questions for Cynthia Holz

 
1. How would you summarize your book in one sentence?
Benevolence is about an angst-ridden organ transplant psychiatrist with marital problems who is transformed by his friendship with an altruistic would-be kidney donor.
 
2. How long did it take you to write this book?
Six years.
 
3. Where is your favorite place to write?
My study at home.
 
4. How do you choose your characters’ names?
Sometimes a name pops up at the same time a character comes into focus, and sometimes I use the name of a dead friend or relative, but mostly I try out many different names till one sounds exactly right.
 
5. How many drafts do you go through?
I always write several drafts—five or six for Benevolence—with lots of minor revisions along the way.
 
6. If there was one book you wish you had written what would it be?
To Kill a Mockingbird.
 
7. If your book were to become a movie, who would you like to see star in it?
Gabriel Byrne would be a great Ben Wasserman. I see Nicole Kidman as his wife, Renata Moon. (In fact, there’s a scene in the book where a drunken Ben refers to the actor as “Nicole Kidney.”) For Stella, Mia Wasikowska, and Dianne Wiest would be my choice for Molly. Dustin Hoffman could play Molly’s former lover Saul, and the all-important role of the altruist would go to William Macy. He has that “everyman” quality and the gravitas to pull it off.
 
8. What’s your favourite city in the world?
For many years New York was my favourite city, but now Toronto gets my vote.
 
9. If you could talk to any writer living or dead who would it be, and what would you ask?
I’d like to have a cup of tea with Doris Lessing and ask her about her life.
 
10. Do you listen to music while you write? If so, what kind?
I prefer to work in silence, with as few distractions as possible.
 
11. Who is the first person who gets to you read your manuscript?
My good friend Deborah has been my first reader for years. Early on I showed a manuscript to my husband, but that didn’t work as well.
 
12. Do you have a guilty pleasure read?
Any book I stick with and read cover-to-cover will be interesting and well-written and therefore give me pleasure. “Guilt” isn’t part of my reading experience.
 
13. What’s on your nightstand right now?
To the end of the Land, a novel by David Grossman.
 
14. What is the first book you remember reading?
The Secret Garden was read aloud to me and my fellow second-graders by our wonderful teacher. The first book I read on my own was probably Walter Farley’s The Black Stallion.
 
15. Did you always want to be a writer?
I won a city-wide short story writing contest at thirteen, after which I longed to become a writer, though I had no idea how to go about it.
 
16. What do you drink or eat while you write?
I drink genmaicha tea at my desk while writing and go to the kitchen for a mid-morning snack of fruit and something-or-other on toast.
 
17. Typewriter, laptop, or pen & paper?
I use a pen to write notes on tiny scraps of paper I often forget to look at again, but am happiest writing and editing on my laptop.
 
18. What did you do immediately after hearing that you were being published for the very first time?
The first time I heard that a story of mine had been accepted for publication in a literary journal, I cried.
 
19. How do you decide which narrative point of view to write from?
These days, I write in the third person point of view, which gives me flexibility and is a comfortable fit. The shape and conception of the novel determines right off whether there will be one, two, or several point-of-view characters.
 
20. What is the best gift someone could give a writer?
Financial support.