Interview with Rebecca Hardiman, Author of “Good Eggs”

By Gabby Grosbety, Staff Editor

Rebecca Hardiman is a former magazine editor living in New Jersey with her family of seven. Like the characters in Good Eggs, her first novel, she lives among a sense of chaos where tension and conflict sometimes arise, but within that dynamic also exists a whole lot of love. Good Eggs follows the storyline of a family in Ireland composed most notably of existentially frustrated father Kevin Gogarty, rebellious and soul-searching teenager Aideen Gogarty, and firecracking, part-time kleptomaniac grandmother Millie Gogarty. The novel builds a lot of humor into the everyday, and its authentically crafted dialogue genuinely sets the scene in a way where the light and dark moments of existence memorably intertwine and complement each other. Each character learns that, although we may make mistakes along our journeys, we all have a brimming sense of goodness in who we are and how we treat others—and that can go a long way in reinforcing the notion that our care and compassion for others is a beacon of steadying hope amongst the darkness.

Interview with Rebecca Hardiman

Q: How long did it take you to conceptualize the story you wanted to capture? As I found it to be intricately drawn out and the layers of it, the moral and more distinctly personal, eloquently realized.

A: Just about half my life. No, in all seriousness this has been percolating for a long time. To get a sense of where it began there are two main germs to how it was conceptualized. The first germ was in eighth grade, because I went to a Catholic school where we had to do community hours before you graduated. What my friend and I decided to do for our hours was go to this nursing home in Cleveland and we would spend time with the elderly patients there. And one of them, her name was Dorothy, and she had long gray, greasy hair and not a ton of teeth, and she was a real, very hard-boil, funny woman, a true character. She’d sing songs and ask us to smuggle in cans of beer for her. My friend did, but I was too scared to. Anyways, in getting to know her I could tell that I’ve always been drawn to elderly people. I just find them really interesting. They have lived these really colorful lives. They have stories to tell. So, the kind of takeaway of visiting her as we did was that she was not how you would expect an elderly woman to behave. She did her own thing and didn’t care what people thought which was refreshing and really inspired me to want to write about her.

And then the second germ was in college and I was reading the paper one day. I came upon this story about these two old women who broke out of a nursing home. These women made this plan to escape a nursing home and where they ended up going was Burger King, which I remember thinking was hilarious and dark and tragic all in one, which is my favorite mix of things. It’s like you make this plan and that’s as far as you’re gonna go. I just thought that was so funny for them to go against societal norms like that and take life into their own hands and do what they want to do and I really wanted to capture that in my writing.

It’s also inspired in part by my own grandmother. Millie is like her on steroids. Initially in fact the story was solely going to be told through Millie’s perspective, but then I decided it was more fun to look at her through other’s eyes.

Q: Any other forms of inspiration you wanted to share with us? As I believe inspiration can come in fits and spurts and not always be so easy to come by.

A: The characters are all a little bit me and an amalgam of different emotions and experiences I’ve had and bits of people I’ve met. I also had experience at an Irish boarding school growing up, and at times felt like an outsider, which really went into the character of Aideen and what she was going through. So that was all a part of the world I was in, but a fictionalized version.

Q: Did you write your scenes from beginning to end or was your process less linear?

A: It’s hard to know exactly because I’d work on it and then put it away and then work on it again, but the rough answer is that I eventually had a sketch of an outline. I decided it would be best to break into three scenes, like a script. And I found that really much easier, because, to be honest, plot is the hardest part for me. So structuring it as a script really gave me a skeleton I could hang it on.

Q: How did you tap into past parts of yourself you mentioned before, since you were stopping and starting while writing, to get such a genuine grasp on Irish culture, dialect, and experience, as well as grow along with the characters as you were writing them?

A: You’re right, because as I experienced motherhood, for example, I didn’t know how that would feel earlier when I was dabbling in writing this before. So I was definitely able to channel some of the frustration of a middle aged person who’s stuck, as in my own experience I’ve felt, later in my process of writing. For Millie, I was able to go back to my grandmother again, which felt very natural to me because I know her so well and remember her and our memories so vividly. I loved this idea of a book about the relationship between a grandma and a granddaughter, because it’s so unlikely, so I wanted them to join forces and go have this adventure together. The Aideen character also came naturally to me in terms of writing because of my experiences, as I talked about, in Ireland and what it feels like specifically to be sent to boarding school. And even the idea of being in a family, and how I look at the world through that lens, informed me greatly because it’s all around me and if it isn’t I’ll just make it up a little bit.

Q: Do you start writing before you know exactly where it’s going to go or plot it out more definitively to give you direction? As I think in that regard a story can go through many phases and drafts until you feel like you have what you more genuinely want to say and capture.

A: I wrote it chronologically and had an idea of where the scenes were going to some extent, but for a long time I was just writing it and didn’t know where it was going to go. I changed the ending around a couple times until I got what note I wanted to leave these characters on the best I could. Above all, though, I wanted all the characters to have learned something and have more empathy for each other. So in that way I knew emotionally where I wanted it to end.

Q: How is family dysfunction an important subject to cover in your work since I think it can manifest in different ways depending on the family? I know in my family we don’t always get along, but they’re the ones I trust and love with my life. So I really appreciated that you created characters that felt deeply, painstakingly true to a reality I think many have experienced. Plus, it’s never as interesting to read about a life where everything is going perfectly. There needs to be some conflict to stir up a more impactful story.

A: Ultimately, I wanted to show that family isn’t always easy and personalities will clash, conflicts will arise, but in the end there’s a lot of love there as well. Are you a little bit stuck with your family? Definitely. But in the end they are the ones who are going to be there for you. Also, I wanted to show that in a family you can hurt each other and be mad at one another, but ultimately you’re going to forgive one another.

Q: What was your favorite scene and character to write? I have to admit I’m partial to Aideen as I feel like I’m still finding ways to be and feel comfortable in my own skin and work on being more unapologetic about the person I am.

A: One of the scenes that I do love is the scene where Kevin goes for a job interview just because I like that funny boss that he gets interviewed by and the fact that that part where he asked for the cookie was directly inspired by an experience I had, which makes me laugh when I look back on it now because of how nervous I was in that moment/for the interview. Millie was my favorite character, though, and the most fun to write because she is so free to do what she wants and not care about how others view her, which I find super empowering.

Q: What’s the best piece of advice you wish someone would’ve told you before starting the whole process of writing a novel? It can be such an intricate process to sort through and stay with through all the ups and downs, and moments of feeling motivated and less motivated.

A: To read a lot and to write a lot, as well as persevere and be disciplined. Don’t just write here and there, but try to set up a time every day dedicated to writing. Take it seriously like a job. And even get others to hold you accountable and help you through the process by joining a writing group or sign up for a writing class, which gives you strict deadlines to get things in by. Try to also silence those inner voices telling you you can’t do this. Ultimately, you have to have this ridiculous belief that what you’re writing could be or turn into something.

Q: In the same, more personal vein, for a first novel, how did you know where to start with looking into an agent/publisher that you felt would represent you and your novel the best as possible? I think a lot of aspiring writers, like myself, would like to know!

A: When I felt like I couldn’t make what I’m writing any better myself, I turned towards that whole process, which can be very challenging and competitive, especially if you’re wanting to stand out in a crowded field. But for most agencies, you send either 30 or 50 double-spaced pages and a cover letter that’s going to get them excited about the prospects of your project. You also have to determine who you’re going to send it to so the advice I got was to look at my own favorite novels and Google those writers and find out who their agents are. The problem with that for me was that the reading I liked to do was nothing like what I wrote. However, in my case, which might not be helpful in this particular instance unfortunately, ultimately the person that ended up being my agent happened to be a friend of a friend so look for those connections wherever you can, which may be unexpected and come up more spontaneously.

My Review of Good Eggs (5/5):

“At sixteen or seventeen, a year from now is unfathomable.”

Wow, what a beautiful book about the Gogarty family, one with all the right kinds of dysfunction and flawed lovability, including its memorable grandmother, Millie, with all of her hilarious, screwball antics and her minor problem with kleptomania! She urgently wants to maintain her independence amidst her growing concern that her son, Kevin, who creates wishful fantasies in his head about what his life could be as he has lost sight of what he has, gets closer and closer to putting her in a nursing home. I loved every minute of getting to explore these characters, especially teenage Aideen. I enjoyed seeing how she grew, confronted her insecurities, and worked through her mistakes. She also had to find ways of reconciling with the feelings of mounting alienation she felt towards her family, which were captured powerfully. Her budding romance with the adorable Sean, whom she shares playlists and off-limit midnight adventures with, felt ineffably pure as they got to know each other through a power and subtlety that I could feel deeply.

“She marvels that one day can be so brimming, others so bereft.”

The Irish dialogue was also very authentic and made these characters feel all the more alive. As they sprung from the pages and took me on an adventure through the whimsical vibrancy of their worlds, emotions, and perceptions. Each character has an inner life that mixes recklessly with the choices and decisions they make in their outer life, leaving each individual to face up to their actions. However, they also are able to then move forward after having learned more about themselves in the process. People and the everydayness and unpredictability of life were organically explored through zany humor, which felt very true to reality as humor can be used as a more pacifying antidote to pain.

“‘Sometimes she doesn’t know who I am, and I’m the closest one to her.’ Both statements, Millie realizes, contain truth.”

I think throughout this story, too, the characters learned more about each other and how interpretations of a certain person aren’t always right on the first read, even if you thought you knew that person intimately. There is always more to uncover and experience in someone as we all at different times in our lives have our own feelings of stasis, anxiety, and uncertainty that we have to work through. The world comes with growing pains and the love for one’s family can undergo bumps comparable to a rickety roller coaster ride, but what is increasingly apparent in this novel is the capacity to be resilient and for love to persevere even when it seems impossible.

Image credit: Simon & Schuster