Heather Frese
Author Interview - Heather Frese
Author of The Saddest Girl on the Beach
Grieving after her father’s death, a young woman seeks solace in an Outer Banks beach town of North Carolina where her best friend’s family runs a small inn.
The family welcomes Charlotte with chowder dinners and a cozy room, but her friend Evie has a looming life change of her own, and soon Charlotte seeks other attractions to navigate her grief. Will she, like in some television movie, find her way back through a romance, or are there larger forces at play on Hatteras Island? Heather Frese, winner of the Lee Smith Novel Prize and author of The Baddest Girl on the Planet, sets Charlotte on a beautifully rendered course through human frailty, unrelenting science, and the awesome forces of the Carolina coast.
Author Interview - Heather Frese
Author I draw inspiration from:
I discovered Lee Smith through The Last Girls and fell in love with her writing. It was everything I love to read - funny, descriptive, voice-driven. My all-time favorite Smith novel, though, is Fair and Tender Ladies. It's a masterpiece of voice and such a loving portrait of a life.
Author Interview - Heather Frese | Author I Draw Inspiration From
Favorite place to read a book:
On the beach, of course! The perfect reading environment for me would be a calm day with a light breeze, rolling waves as background ambiance, a beach umbrella fluttering gently above me, and my toes in the warm sand.
Book character I’d like to be stuck in an elevator with:
I think it would be wild to be stuck in a elevator with Bernadette Fox from Maria Semple's Where'd You Go, Bernadette? The encounter would likely not start well as Bernadette suffers from agoraphobia and social anxiety, but I like to think that after our initial panic, we would see one another's inner artist and have a bonding moment as we await elevator rescue.
Author Interview - Heather Frese | Book Character I’d Like to be Stuck in an Elevator With
The moment I knew I wanted to become an author:
I wrote my first poem when I was six and I've been hooked ever since.
Hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook:
Hardbacks are sturdy and elegant. I love finding the perfect spot on my bookshelf for an autographed hardback. Hardbacks are high-pressure. I feel bad if the outer paper cover tears, and they're bulky for travel reading. Paperbacks are great for tucking in a bag, and they're ideal for beach reading. I love love love the way a paperback folds in my hands, and how I feel like I have permission to tuck the cover back behind the pages. Paperbacks' downfall is the same as their desired quality, which is that they're less sturdy. If I had to pick a favorite option, though, it would be a paperback. Ebooks are fine, I guess. I have an intrinsic dislike of reading on a screen, though I do it all the time. It's nice that ebooks look like "real" books, and it's nice that you can read them on a phone or iPad or Kindle, but I still much prefer a physical copy. I have deep gratitude that audiobooks exist. I adore the audio version of Baddest Girl; Courtney Patterson (https://www.instagram.com/copatter/) did an amazing job narrating. I don't usually listen to audiobooks, though, mostly because I always have kids around when I'm in the car, which is prime audiobook-listening time, and also because I have leftover memories of my dad making us listen to this legitimately horrid 1980s narration of Edgar Allan Poe tales for hours on end during the drive from Ohio to the beach. My mom and brother and I were ready to jump out of the moving vehicle and walk to Hatteras if we had to listen to any more terribly-narrated Poe!
The last book I read:
I just finished Maggie Smith's You Could Make this Place Beautiful (a hardcover version because I knew I'd want it on my shelf!) and I loved the lyric beauty of the book, the meditation on motherhood, love, and what it means to be a family, and the Ohio setting.
Author Interview - Heather Frese | The Last Book I Read
Pen & paper or computer:
I used to love pen and paper drafting. I still turn to pen and paper when I'm stuck or need a reset, but over the years I've mostly moved to writing on my laptop. I'm a very recursive writer, so it's easier to draft, go to the top of the page, re-read, edit, write a little more, re-read, edit, write a little more, etc, on the computer. But for getting unstuck, for getting ideas flowing, for pure brainstorming and intuition, pen and paper all the way.
Book character I think I’d be best friends with:
Anne (of Green Gables), Taffy (of Torpedo Junction) and Ramona (the Brave) were my childhood best friend characters. I loved their imagination, bravery, spiritedness, and sense of humor. Who would the grown-up versions be...how about Elinor (Oliphant is Completely Fine), Bridget Jones (Diary), and Ruby Reese from Sara Pritchard's Crackpots. They're funny, quirky, smart, and dealing with the inevitable traumas of adulthood.
Author Interview - Heather Frese | Book Character I’d be Best Friends With
If I weren’t an author, I’d be a:
Teaching and editing are author-adjacent things I do, but for a completely different career, I'd want to be a lactation consultant. I think it would be very satisfying to help new mothers in the trenches of nursing.
Favorite decade in fashion history:
I love the 1950s silhouettes and style.
Place I’d most like to travel:
It's hard to choose one destination. In the US, I really want to see New Orleans. I would also love to trek through Europe, and then I've been reading about travel to India lately and that's moving up on my list. And I've wanted to visit Norway ever since the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics. Wouldn't it be amazing to see the Northern Lights there?
My signature drink:
Lately I've been on a kombucha kick. Gut health and all. But my first book received a custom "booktail" from literary mixologist Lindsay Merbaum (you can check her out on Instagram @pickyourpotions) that I adore. It's a blue, sweet, rummy delight and I love it a lot! Here's the link: https://www.instagram.com/p/CPf7wUuLOSY/
Favorite artist:
I'm a sucker for the swirling pastel Impressionism. Monet, Cezanne, Degas and the like.
Number one on my bucket list:
I'd love to hang out in the Path of Totality during a solar eclipse.
Anything else you'd like to add:
Thank you for including me, and I'm very excited to share this new book with the world.
Find more from the author:
https://www.facebook.com/heatherkfrese
https://www.instagram.com/heatherkfrese/
https://twitter.com/heatherkfrese
About Heather Frese:
Author Interview - Heather Frese
Heather Frese’s debut novel, The Baddest Girl on the Planet, won the Lee Smith Novel Prize. Her second novel, The Saddest Girl on the Beach, releases in spring of 2024. Her work has been published widely, earning notable mention in the Pushcart Prize Anthology and Best American Essays. She received her master’s degree from Ohio University and her M.F.A. from West Virginia University. Coastal North Carolina is her longtime love and source of inspiration, her writing deeply influenced by the wild magic and history of the Outer Banks. She currently writes, edits, and teaches in Raleigh, North Carolina.
