Vancouver Writers Fest hosts Big Little Lies author Liane Moriarty

Australian author Liane Moriarty isn’t only an internationally bestselling author, she’s also the queen of TV adaptations.

Her novels Big Little Lies, Nine Perfect Strangers and Apples Never Fall have been made into award-winning TV series starring the likes of Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, Zoe Kravitz, Laura Dern, Meryl Streep, Melissa McCarthy, Annette Bening and Sam Neill.

Her list of novels is long and now it’s even longer as her latest offering, Here One Moment, about a group of passengers on a domestic flight who learn how and when they’re going to die, has just recently been published.

Fans of Moriarty’s witty, suspenseful stories can hear more about her writing, and maybe a little Hollywood insider information too, as she will be onstage at Djavad Mowafaghian Cinema at the SFU Goldcorp Centre for a Vancouver Writers Fest pre-festival special event conversation with Vancouver novelist Eddy Boudel Tan on Sept. 18 at 7:30 p.m.

Postmedia News got a chance to ask the wildly successful Moriarty a few questions before her Vancouver event:

A: Well, it would depend on how much time I was given, but if it was only a short time I would just want to spend time with the people I love and being grateful for every day that I had. I suspect I would also be looking for a last-minute reprieve: a second opinion, a new kind of treatment, a trial of a brand new drug. It’s very hard to imagine reaching a kind of acceptance of my fate, although I know many people do, and face a terminal diagnosis with strength, grace and humour.

A: I came up with the idea for Here One Moment during a long flight delay at Hobart Airport in Tasmania. All the passengers had boarded the plane when the pilot asked for our patience as there was an issue that needed to be resolved. I can’t remember now if it was a mechanical issue or a hold-up with paperwork, I just remember sighing because the flight was already running late. The upshot was that we were stuck on the tarmac, seatbelts buckled, waiting, waiting, waiting for an excruciatingly long time. I was travelling on my own and had no book to read and that’s when this cheerful thought popped into my head: Every person on this plane will one day die. But when? And how? I looked around at my fellow passengers and thought, “Will that little girl live until she’s one hundred? Will that young man have his life cut short? What about that beautiful flight attendant?” It occurred to me that somewhere in the far-off future the answers to all those questions would be available. I thought, “What if that information was available NOW? What if someone walked down the aisle telling every passenger how and when we would die? And what if those predictions came true?” When the flight finally took off and passengers applauded with relief, I knew I had a good opening scene for a novel.

A: It varies each time but there is always a lot of flailing about as I try to find the right voice and I’m waiting for my characters to come to life. It’s always such a relief when the story finally gains momentum.

A: I would love to have dinner with Vid from Truly Madly Guilty because he is so charming and flirtatious and he’s also an excellent cook. I loved writing him so much.

A: A lot of people mention Vid from Truly Madly Guilty. More than one person has told me they visited a hypnotherapist or began training as a hypnotherapist after reading about Ellen in The Hypnotist’s Love Story. Women in their 30s or 40s often tell me they relate to Alice in What Alice Forgot and tell me about really intense conversations they shared with their partners as a consequence of reading the book. (The book is about a 40-year-old woman who loses 10 years of her memories. She thinks she’s pregnant and blissfully in love, when in fact she’s divorced with three children).

Q: After having success with other works being adapted into TV series do you see certain actors as the characters as you write them, or do you make sure not to do that?

A: I am definitely not casting as I write! While I’m writing the characters who belong to me, once the book goes out into the world, every reader has a slightly different interpretation of each character. Some actors who have portrayed my characters look nothing at all like how I envisaged them, but have still done a wonderful job.

A: Remains of the Day was a spectacular film adaptation. I also loved the television adaptation of Normal People.

A: No, I think I write in exactly the same way as I’ve always written. I make a conscious effort to never think about potential adaptations. I have a lot of internal monologues in my work and my characters often think one thing but do the opposite. If I was thinking about future adaptations I would have too much focus on dialogue and action scenes.

A: I have no idea, all I know is that it would make a very dull movie: just me lying around reading books or staring at my computer screen.

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