“I’m drawn to stories that unfold as I look into them, and they are usually something I find in the margins of life rather than right in front of me.”
Alberto E. Rodriguez / Getty Images
We caught up Susan Orlean, biographer of Rin Tin Tin, author of The Orchid Thief, inspiration for the movie Adaptation. Here's what she had to say about her journalistic interests and writing process.
Susan Orlean: I'm drawn to stories that unfold as I look into them, and they are usually something I find in the margins of life rather than right in front of me. And I rarely write about things that I'm already doing – again, there doesn't seem to be a chance for discovery, which is so important to how I write.
It must have been weird then to write about treadmill desks last spring right before they became a "thing."
SO: An unusual experience! Unlike most of my stories, this one wasn't my idea. An editor at the New Yorker knew I had just gotten a treadmill desk and wanted me to write about it. I resisted, but the editor finally persuaded me, and I did have a lot of fun writing the story. It was astonishing to see how much it got discussed and circulated; as a person who usually writes about things no one has heard of or thought about, I'm not used to that degree of currency. There's nothing wrong with it; it's just not what I do.
SO: I often think of myself as having deep knowledge of a few very specific things, but no broad knowledge of any particular area. It's my fault, of course, since once I learn about a topic, I really don't want to revisit it, even though a second story about, say, orchids, would be much faster and easier than my first one, since I would come equipped with all the knowledge I'd acquired first time around. I'm just attracted to the process of learning, and then turning around and teaching, but then I want to start the process again with a new experience of learning. I appreciate expertise, of course, but I really crave that deep dive into utterly new, strange worlds, and then telling about the experience. Then I want to dive again. I sometimes am amused by how I have a pretty thorough understanding of such diverse topics as urban grocery stores, Bulgarian tennis, show dogs, trailer parks, and taxidermy.
Via susanorlean.com
