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Linda Bloodworth Thomason
[profile]
is best known for her creation of Designing
Women, and Evening Shade. She and her husband, Harry
Thomason, formed their own
production company in 1983 called Mozark Productions--named after their two
home states, Missouri and Arkansas. Thomason grew up in Poplar
Bluff, Missouri, a small town in southeast Missouri.
SLR: You’ve had so much success writing for television, what made
you decided to write a novel?
Thomason: I wanted to try a new genre. Something different. I wrote it
with the idea in mind to make it into a movie too.
SLR: You're a master of the sitcom genre. How did you find the
process of writing a novel compare writing for the screen?
Thomason: I found it a little easier to be honest. The characters were
always there just waiting for me to show up and work. In a novel,
characters don't complain about their wardrobe, show up late, or
demand higher salaries. It was nice. Plus, there was more time to
develop the story. You know, a good sitcom, is like a good short story. There
are so many bad sitcoms out there that the genre doesn’t have the
reputation it deserves. A good sitcom has to accomplish a lot in a
short amount of time—just a like a good short story. So, with writing a
novel, I enjoyed letting these characters develop more slowly.
SLR: Any surprises?
Thomason: I was surprised to see how the characters took off on their
own. I’ve been a skeptic of novelists who have said that they didn’t
have control over their characters, or that their characters took on a
life of their own. I was always a little suspicious of that, but now I
can see what they were talking about. It sounds crazy, but that’s
what happened!
SLR: Has Liberating Paris been a story you’ve wanted to write
for some time, or was it the idea of writing a novel that came first?
Thomason: I developed the characters first, then the story. I wanted to
write a story that did a couple of things. I wanted it to show a close
knit group of southerners who live in a small town and are as
sophisticated, open-minded and beautiful as anyone in Manhattan. They do
exist. I know plenty of them, but somehow the rest of America
has defined the South as something less—they're wrong.
I
also wanted to show the beauty of these small-town relationships. I think that
anyone who goes off to a large city like LA or New York to pursue a
dream, yet still has a core group of friends from a small town to draw
strength and support from has a gift like no other. It's really
something special.
SLR: Anyone who has read my review knows I enjoyed Liberating
Paris. It has everything -- romance, turbulence. I laughed hard
and I cried a little. I have said that your greatest strength is
the richness of your characters. Can you elaborate on that?
Thomason: Southern culture is full of eccentric and romantic people.
Relationships between southern men and southern women, on a whole
anyway, interest me the most. I know I'm generalizing here, but
from my own observation it just seems like there's a stronger dynamic in
romantic relationships between men and the women in the south. I
find it very interesting.
Also, you know there is a lot of friction in the
South and interesting people come from friction.
SLR: Can I assume that you have a group of friends similar to those in
Liberating Paris?
Thomason: Yes. I have six girlfriends from my childhood and we are
still very close. We have grown together over all these years. By that I
mean, we have gone on to pursue our own dreams, but we have stayed very
close.
SLR: I don't want to say anything that might
spoil it for those who haven't read it yet, but in Liberating Paris, I was surprised
that Milan, grew to have such depth. I wasn’t expecting quite so much complexity
from her.
Thomason: That’s very astute of you. When I first started writing this
book, I didn’t like Milan. But as time went on I couldn’t help but like
her. Some of the traits that I’ve seen in people who grow up in a hard
life, then marry into an easier one are traits that I really admire. I
realized that these were traits would so naturally be a part of Milan.
SLR: Like what?
Thomason: Like the way Milan took care of people without fussing about
it. She just did what had to be done. She managed her kids this way, she
took care of Wood this way, and she even took care of Carl Jeter this way.
Others tried to get Jeter things he didn’t need. Things that made
them feel better about his accident leaving him a
quadriplegic, but Milan was practical and quiet
and did what needed to be done. She knew he needed companionship, he needed
sex, and she was so practical in finding a way to get this for him. She
was also discrete. A trait I see among southern women more than any
place else. There was no other way to develop her character than
to have her exhibit grace, beauty and discretion. As the story
developed, Milan began resembling my own mother, whom I adored.
SLR: For the liberating ending of this story, did you write it
with the thought that there are plenty of people in the south who are
liberal, progressive, open-minded and they should be represented, did
you write it hoping to inspire open-mindedness —both, neither?
Thomason: Both. I always hope for a more open-minded America, but you
know there are plenty of what I like to call purple people in the South.
SLR: Purple people?
Thomason: Yes. Blue state people who live in red states. There are more
of them than you might think. I’ve had a lot of women come up to me at
book signings, and whisper to me that they agreed with me on many of the
points made in Liberating Paris. But they live in such
conservative communities, they don't talk about it much. America can only become
a more
tolerant country if we begin by being tolerant in our own backyards. There
are people in the South who believe this, and they need a voice.
SLR: Who did you read when you growing up? Who influenced you?
Thomason: When I was a kid I really didn’t read all that much. Too
rambunctious I guess. I began reading more in high school. My
favorites are still some of the classics—Truman Capote, F. Scott
Fitzgerald, and Harper Lee. It doesn’t get any better than To Kill a
Mockingbird.
SLR: She’s a good example of great things coming from the South
wouldn’t you say?
Thomason: Absolutely. I mean, some of America’s greatest authors come
from the South.
SLR: When you left Missouri for California, before writing for M*A*S*H or
creating Designing
Women, what did you do?
Thomason: I went to California after earning an English degree at the
University of
Missouri. I taught in one of the most violent Los Angeles schools, Jordan High
School. And it was the most frightening and the most inspiring thing. These
kids lived in this horrible, tough environment, under such poor and
dangerous conditions and every day they cleaned themselves up, put on
the best clothes they had and came to school. Day after day. It
really reminded me just how much kids want
to learn. And if they could do that, I could too.
SLR: Do you think you will write another novel?
Thomason: Yes. I haven’t decided if it will
be a sequel to Liberating Paris or something different. We are in the
process of making Liberating Paris into a movie right now.
SLR: Can you tell me who’s playing whom for the movie version?
Thomason: We don’t have all the casting completed, but Billy Bob Thorton
will play Brundidge, Dwight Yoakum will play Carl Jeter, and Michelle Pfeiffer
has just agreed to play Milan. There’s still a lot to do.
SLR: Thanks so much for talking with Southern Literary Review. You
are an inspiration to all southerners who fight the unflattering
stereotypes and we appreciate strong voices like yours that come through in
shows like Designing Women, and now novels like Liberating Paris.
Thanks!
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