Interview With Karen Bergreen, Author of Perfect is Overrated
(Interviewed by Elizabeth Cassidy, National Blogger and Columnist http://www.myviewsfromtheedge.com/
Karen Bergreen, is a former attorney who quit her day job to become a stand-up comic (I wonder how many lawyer jokes she has written) and if that wasn’t enough of a career change, she is now the author of two novels. Her newly released, Perfect is Overrated, is a hysterical account about what doesn’t kill you – can cure you. Her protagonist, Kate Alger, suffers from post partum depression and gives up on life, love and her career in the district attorney’s office. She only comes back to life when the bodies of the super rich mommies from her daughter’s preschool start showing up in dead, but dressed to the nines. I promise you this is a funny, funny book. Haven’t you wanted to off a real housewife or two? Your nose is growing.
Q. So there you were, clerking for a federal judge and then one night there you are performing at Caroline’s Stand up and The Comic Strip in Manhattan. What made you decide to give up your work as an attorney and pursue a career in comedy? As former stand up in NYC, I know it is not the easiest thing to do and I suffered from performance anxiety, so I went behind the scenes and wrote in my lair on east side.
KB: I was numb working in a law firm and I felt alive doing comedy, which is ironic because it is very hard to feel alive when you are earning seven cents a day.
Q. What do you love about being a comic? What would you rather not see repeated when you perform on stage? Mine was drunken men at 3AM saying they wanted to have my babies.
KB: No one ever says they want to have my babies. Maybe it is because they are afraid I will hand them over. As for the bad nights: Indifference is the worst. I would rather someone screamed that I was terrible than that they ignored me. I love the adventure of comedy. Comedians are gamblers, I think. You just never know how it will go. I often go on stage with no set plan as to the material I will do. I might think I am going to talk about my kids but will get into a deep discussion with a fortune-teller in the front row—I am not particularly mean, and I love that improvised banter.
Let’s move away from performing in smoke-free venues and enter the world of Karen Bergreen,
the published author. I felt I needed to start with the stand up part because people have
such respect (whether it is obvious or hidden) for people who get up there and perform without
a net. Even the ones who tell you to have your tubes tied.
Q. I have a confession to make. I have avoided women’s literary fiction for the longest time because I didn’t think there would be much of a story or characters that could hold my attention. But authors Claire Cook and Bonnie Trachtenberg made me a believer and now you have given me a gift that is Perfect is Overrated. Your novel drew me right in and I found the storyline intelligent and refreshing and the characters were so real and that I would invite them to Sunday dinners. As long as they bring dinner. Where did the storyline come from and is the cast of characters from your fertile imagination or composites of people in your life?
KB:Everybody and everything comes from my imagination. Of course the characters have qualities that are similar to people I know but their language and actions are different. All of the eating habits in book are lifted from friends and acquaintances. Women – including me - are so odd with food that I can’t ignore it in this kind of book.
Q. They say we should write what we know. Did this apply with both Following Polly and Perfect is overrated? And who is “they?”
KB:They is Oprah. Because she is in charge of everything. I think that’s right. Write what you know. Obviously, the plot of the mommies dropping like flies in a New York City preschool isn’t exactly what I know. But I know the world of the crazy New York private school people. And I know what it’s like to be depressed after having a baby. I had a melanoma scare too. And my husband knows his way around a sandwich — and he is an incredible investigator. So yes. They are right.
Q. I just love the premise of the ultra rich getting whacked. It‘s a guilty pleasure for most of us who have watched any of the Real Housewives shows. Why did you choose to pick on them? And do you think this might become a new reality show on Bravo? I’d watch.
KB:I didn’t want the readers to care about the victims. And the victims here were very fortunate people who treat others badly. On the page, they deserve to die. In reality, they deserve to get scammed by their dry cleaners.
Q. How was it incorporating brutal murders and mounting suspense with an abundance of irony and sarcasm into Perfect’s plotline?
KB: Ultimately, I’m a funny person and my take on many horrible things is often infused with humor and irony. Because that is how a cope. So, I don’t know that it is totally unrealistic.
Q. Did you know the ending of your book when you started? I must say that I kept guessing and I kept getting it wrong. And that was a big part of the fun in reading this book - it was not predictable. Kate’s relationships with everyone took unexpected turns and just when I figured it out, you proved me wrong.
KB: I knew the ending. But I wanted the twists and turns. Everything I learned about plot, I learned from the Law &Order franchise. By the way I was on that show—I was a witness to a witness to a witness – I am sure you remember me. I was the beautiful one.
Q. For the writers out there who are looking for some inspiration from a published author, what three things do you think are vital to do in order to go from writing at your desk tobook signingswithadoring fans and being interviewed by me?
KB: If your book isn’t getting picked up and everyone in the industry is giving you the exact same specific advice—please take it. Don’t be married to your words. I wish my book had 500 pages of bondage scenes.
Q. What is your writing routine like? Are you really regimented or do you fit writing into your uber busy schedule when the time allows?
KB: It’s hard to write everyday, but I try to force myself even if it is just awful. Easier to fix awful than fix nothing. I play little games with myself like withholding Oxygen until at least two chapters are written and wearing an adult diaper at my computer.
Q. So, Ms. Bergreen, what is next? Are you working on a new novel? Will you continue with your stand up career? Who are you planning on killing next?
KB: I am working on a YA which has no killings. But there are plenty of entitled people who get what is coming to them.
Q. And finally - is perfect really overrated?
KB By all means.
You will have a great read when you pick up Karen’s two funny novels that are available on Amazon:
Perfect is Overrated
Following Polly
You can also order at Barnes and Noble
Visit Karen at: www.karenbergreen.com.
You can follow Karen Bergreen around on Twitter at: @karenbergreen
And check her out on Facebook at: Karen Bergreen
© 2012 My Views from the Edge ™
Please visit elizabeth cassidy’s site: My Views From The Edge
