Featured Writer Cassandra King Conroy
/Cassandra King Conroy
Interview with Cassandra King Conroy
by Shannon Shelton Brown
“All southern girls are raised to be nice and polite, can't be anything but, regardless of how meanspirited we might be deep down. The illusion of sweetness, that's all that counts. We don't have to be sincerely sweet, but by God we have to be good at faking it. Southern girls will stab you in the back, same as anyone else, but we'll give you a sugary smile while doing it. -Corrine, "Same Sweet Girls”
“All I remember for sure is this: When Loretta said “Hey Girlfriend, I found Pat Conroy for you, “I choked, swallowed, and coughed before blurting out, “Oh, God Almighty!” Pat threw his head back and laughed, a big, hearty laugh. “Not quite, but close enough.” – Cassandra King Conroy, “Tell me a Story”
“Books are the most worthy companions to take with you on this bitter-sweet journey known as life.” ― Cassandra King “Girls' Guide to Life: Advice from a Failed Southern Belle”
Author Cassandra King Conroy is a well-known “Southern” novelist whose works include bestsellers, The Sunday Wife, Queen of the Broken Hearts, Moonrise, Making Waves, The Same Sweet Girls, and “Girls' Guide to Life: Advice from a Failed Southern Belle.” Her latest book, Tell Me A Story, is a poignant rendition of and tribute to the life she shared with her late husband, writer Pat Conroy.
Cassandra and I were classmates at Alabama College (now, University of Montevallo) in the mid-1960s and have remained close friends via our reunion group, Same Sweet Girls. The SSGs’ ensemble includes two dozen ‘girls’ who (post-graduation) have met annually for 50+ years, sharing our lives’ deepest secrets while remaining loyal friends. We SSGs were and are thrilled with Cassandra’s literary successes. Blessed to have known the King/Conroy love story from its inception, we, along with Cassandra, continue to mourn Pat’s passing.
Dr. Sue Walker’s suggestion for our Writers in Nature class was to develop interview skills by choosing a favorite author as a subject. I selected Cassandra, and she graciously obliged. We accomplished the interview via e-mail. Cassandra’s responses are her own words.
SSB: What is your favorite memory of your hometown, Pinckard, AL?
CKC: Pinckard First Methodist. Trust me - there wasn’t a second or third Methodist, just First Baptist, and First Methodist. Idyllic little Mayberry-like town. But my church was so much a part of my childhood that it’s impossible to separate the two in my memory. I remember the ice cream suppers most fondly, homemade peach, strawberry, and vanilla. And the church ladies (my mother one of the leaders) would bring pound cakes to have with the ice cream. About as close to heaven as this sinner will ever get!
SSB: Who influenced you more – your Mom or your Dad?
CKC: At one time, I would’ve said my mother, but as I’ve gotten older, I wonder. Growing up, it was definitely my mother, who ruled the roost. Innately, I’m more like my father than my mother, but she was the biggest influence for many years. I’ve said before, my mother wanted so badly for me to be Betty Crocker, Melanie Wilkes, and Susannah Wesley (the sainted mother of John Wesley, founder of the Methodist church). I saw myself as Dorothy Parker or Zelda Fitzgerald. My mother failed to make me into the perfect little Southern belle she wanted me to be, but bless her heart, Mama tried.
My father, on the other hand, was a character. He was irreverent and hilarious. I enjoyed him and adored him. He taught me to fish, fix a tractor, and shoot a gun. I could talk to him in ways I couldn’t talk to Mother. (She insisted I call her Mother, not Mama, maybe because she considered it more genteel.) Daddy and I had a lot of philosophical discussions. He was a great storyteller.
SSB: In grammar and middle schools, were you shy, the smartest and most dedicated student, or the most mischievous one?
CKC: Oh, I was shy and bookish. Extremely shy by the time I got to middle school. I loved reading, writing, going to school, going to the library. A bit of a nerd.
SSB: Which high school teacher influenced you the most? Why and how?
CKC: My high school English teacher. She taught me to love grammar. I could diagram sentences till the cows came in. But she also taught Brit Lit and made us memorize poems.
SSB: How did you choose Montevallo (Alabama College)?
CKC: I was enrolled in Huntingdon Methodist College, where my grandmother and aunt had gone. But the summer before I was supposed to go, I went to Lake Junaluska with my preacher and his wife. His wife had gone to Montevallo, and she wanted to show it to me. As soon as I saw it, I told Mother I wanted to go there and not Huntingdon. I think if it hadn’t been the preacher’s wife backing me up, Mother wouldn’t have agreed.
SSB: Which college professor influenced you the most? Why and how?
CKC: Bill Cobb influenced me most because he encouraged my writing, had a lot of faith in me and urged me to keep at it. I loved his Creative Writing courses and Southern Novel course.
SSB: You enter a library – what section do you head to first?
CKC: I used to read biographies almost exclusively, for whatever reason. Much more so than fiction. Now I read a lot of memoirs. I love “food memoirs!” So, I definitely check those two out first.
SSB: When did you realize writing was your ‘thing?’ (Permanent career)
CKC: I always wanted to be a writer and thought that’s what I’d be when I grew up. I was always writing something. But I was about 40 before I gave myself permission to think of myself as a serious writer, and to return to school for a master’s. That’s when I started writing more with publication in mind.
SSB: Tell me about the day you learned your first book was to be published.
CKC: I’d written “Making Waves” as my master’s thesis, and my committee suggested I send it off for publication. It was what’s known as a “small book,” meaning more “literary” than blockbuster. My thesis director, Bill Cobb (who would later introduce me to his agent), had been talking with a small press in Montgomery about doing some of his work, and he was very impressed with them. So, he suggested I send it there. I did, and they accepted it. I bought my first computer with my advance. I was delighted.
SSB: Are your books autobiographical? (i.e., The Sunday Wife, Moonrise, The Same Sweet Girls)
CKC: There are autobiographical elements in each of my books. But mainly I do composites. I take bits and pieces of stories and weave them into another story, as I did in The Same Sweet Girls. There is a real group of women called the SSG’s, but none of the characters are really “us.” Instead they have characteristics of a lot of us. It’s the same with my others, too.
SSB: Any of your fictional characters based on ‘real’ folks?
CKC: Yes, as I answered above. And I had fun basing a couple of male characters on Pat. In Queen of Broken Hearts, I made him a Maine sea captain. In Moonrise, he was a journalist. Neither was really Pat, yet both were. I give my main female characters characteristics I’d like to have. They’re always beautiful and bewitching.
SSB: Early morning, mid-day, or late evening writer?
CKC: All of the above.
SSB: Do you spend lots of time editing before sending it to the publisher? Ever disagree with publisher’s editors?
CKC: Yes, I’ve learned to never send an unedited manuscript to a publisher, hoping they’ll drool over the possibilities. They won’t. Edit and polish it. Never assume they’ll overlook editing problems. They don’t need to. And yes, I’ve disagreed, but you have to learn to pick your battles.
SSB: Who is the one writer you would like to meet – but have not had the opportunity? (Note: could be a current or historical one)?
CKC: I’d like to meet Scott Fitzgerald. Virginia Woolf. And of course, Shakespeare to see who he really was.
SSB: Next to Pat, who is your favorite author?
CKC: Anne Rivers Siddons.
SSB: Rank in importance: Grammar, Research, Plausibility (of characters/plot/location).
CKC: 1st - Plausibility, 2nd - Research, 3rd - Grammar
SSB: Are you a procrastinator or get-it-done right away kind of writer?
CKC: I can be both, but more likely to be the latter. I get really uptight when I have a deadline.
SSB: Many fiction writers claim that once they get ‘into’ writing the book and telling the story, the characters choose their own paths – true of your characters?
CKC: It’s more likely with me that the plotline takes the characters somewhere I hadn’t planned on them going. I know my characters pretty well by the time I put them to paper, so mostly they behave. But I’ll think up a new direction for the plot and take them with me.
SSB: Your most favorite review and least favorite review. Why?
CKC: You’re not going to believe this, but I swear: I don’t read my reviews. Or rather, I don’t intentionally read them. My sweet little sister used to cut them out and send them to me, or other people will say, “I couldn’t believe that terrible review so-and-so gave you.” HA. Why would I do that to myself?
SSB: Is it an asset or liability to be a ‘Southern Writer’ and have a ‘Southern’ voice?
CKC: It’s both, depending on your audience. Funny, but I’ve spoken out west and places where folks came to hear me because they just love southern writers. But in the south, I’m more likely to catch hell about thinking of myself as a southern writer.
SSB: Your best piece of advice for young writers?
CKC: Cultivate trusted readers but listen to your instincts as well. I know when I write something that’s not any good. I don’t want someone being nice and not wanting to hurt my feelings and telling me otherwise. Honest feedback’s vital. But it’s not the word of God. There’s where your instinct comes in. However, it takes a while to develop.
SSB: What is the one thing you would like folks to remember about your books?
CKC: An interviewer once told me that my books all had the theme of redemption through art. I pretended like that was intentional, but I was taken back. Do they? Looking back, I saw he was right. The arts are redemptive.
SSB: Tell me a Story, I feel, had to be complicated, challenging, and heartbreaking to write and share, yet it is such a beautiful, poignant story, and one so filled with love, your and Pat’s friends and fans, (as well as critics) have embraced it. When it becomes a movie who would you choose to play you and Pat?
CKC: Well, Dolly Parton would have to play me, of course—for obvious reasons. If she’s not available, guess I’d settle for Blythe Danner, who played Pat’s mother in The Great Santini and his wife in The Prince of Tides. George Clooney would play Pat unless he’s not available. At one point, I would’ve said the Irish actor Brian Dennehy who I always thought looked like Pat. Unfortunately, he’s passed over as has George C. Scott. So, guess we’re back to George Clooney.
For Extra Credit:
SSB: Who is the prettiest, smartest, sweetest, and your favorite of the SSGs?
CKC: No contest. Shannon, of course.