Author Confessions: Christina Clancy

On her new novel, how to capture vibe and her hardest moment in publishing.

As I write my latest novel, I’ve been thinking a lot about voice and what it means to be voicey. To me, a strong voice feels like the story is being told from such a specific point of view, the voice so clear that I can picture the main character like a real person.

When I think about an author who is an expert at voice, it’s Christina Clancy. I read Christina’s debut The Second Home while I was on vacation a few years back, and I was brought to my knees by the poignant story of complicated sibling relationships. I immediately messaged her (we’d never met) and told her how much I loved her book, and we’ve been corresponding since.

Voice is the star of Christina’s latest novel, too: The Snowbirds, which is out today. Told from the point of the view of a middle aged wife named Kim, the story follows a Madison, Wisconsin couple who move to Palm Springs, California so it will be “summer all of the time.” She wants to move, her husband is reluctant and after they arrive, he goes missing while hiking in the nearby mountains.

Once again Christina nails the voice of her main character. Kim feels like someone I’m getting to know, and then someone I know well — and the portrait of her marriage, while unfamiliar, is so familiar. I love this book so much, so I had to reach out to Christina to get a behind the scenes look at the writing of it.

Welcome to Dear Fiction, Christina!

On the surface your novels all seem really different. Do you see a common thread running through them? What is it and why does that theme keep you returning?
I'm very fortunate that my editor hasn't asked me to stay in my lane--at this point, I'm not even sure what my lane even is. A friend of mine just texted me after reading my debut, The Second Home, and my second book, Shoulder Season. He said he thought I wrote about women on their own, and I found that very perceptive, because The Snowbirds is also about a woman who is wrestling with her independence. Kim has never been able to give all of herself to her partner, Grant. Now that she's getting older and her life is changing, she's trying to decide if she can truly commit to her long-time relationship or if she's better off letting go. Another theme is "home." The characters in all my novels are trying to figure out where they feel most themselves.

Where did the idea for The Snowbirds come from? Where were you when you had it and how did it evolve and change as you were writing?
We were in Palm Springs during covid and decided on a whim to purchase a condo (#coviddecision) because we didn't want to return to the midwest, and rental prices had gone through the roof. I have never owned a condo and didn't know anything about HOAs. I found it funny that people fought over the smallest stuff, like the hot tub temperature and the color of the pool umbrellas.

Yet there was a tight community of residents who'd been coming to Palm Springs forever. Among them were friends Gord and Roger. They told me a story about how, a few years earlier, they'd gone for a hike, and only Gord returned home after Roger had slipped down an ice chute. Roger was missing for three days, and the entire complex united around his search.

I was an avid hiker and found his adventure fascinating, yet I was more interested in what it must have been like for his family and friends to wait to hear news of his whereabouts. Also, it's crazy to think of someone heading out into the mountains and possibly never seen or heard from again. That was the starting point for the story, and as I worked on it I became interested in some themes that began to emerge. One was how late middle age in an opportunity for self-discovery and change, and also the challenges of facing old age with a partner when you've been with for a long time. You don't stay married for the same reasons you get married.

What has been your most challenging moment in publishing? What did you do to overcome it?
I was so excited for the launch of my debut novel, The Second Home, that I was counting out the number of coffee filters I had to go through before my release date. My publisher made my book a lead title, and for a while it seemed like everything I could have dreamt was happening: I was flown to NYC to meet the team, they sent me to a big bookseller conference called Winter Institute, and I had a "pre-tour" with fancy dinners with booksellers in several cities.

My planned events were incredible--I was supposed to be at a luncheon in conversation with Lily King, and I was going to speak at the Boston Public Library. But then... covid. One by one my events were canceled, and I think my publisher knew it would be hard to break out a debut under those circumstances. I used that last coffee filter on June 2, 2020, the day of a social media blackout. They couldn't even promote my book! It sucked, but I still knew I was lucky to have a book enter the world, and it did find readers. My career got off to a bumpy start and I missed out on events where I could connect with readers and other writers.

I sometimes wonder what it would have been like if not for the pandemic. You can imagine that's why I'm so excited to launch my third book during "normal" times.

What was your most challenging moment writing The Snowbirds? How did you overcome it?
I was on deadline for this book and I found it incredibly challenging. While I was working on it my mom moved out of our family home into an independent living community, so I was trying to write while making trips to the Goodwill and getting her house ready for sale. I was like Annette Bening in American Beauty when she said, "Today I will sell this house!" Only I'd sit at my desk and think, "Today I will write this book!"

I'm not an outliner or a planner, and this is a difficult way to write when you have to turn in a finished product. I had a few artist residencies, and that helped. When I was really getting down to the wire I found this incredible focus and concentration I honestly wasn't sure I could tap into again. I would work twelve hour days on the book, reading it from beginning to end while editing. It was so cool to think of it as a whole thing, and to be so intensely involved in the story. I thought, this is what it's like to be an artist. It's so hard and so much work to write a book. That's why, even if I read a book that's not for me, I am appreciative of the effort and care the author put into it.

Was there a moment in the book that you feel like you really nailed? What was it and why are you so proud of it?
I'm a writer of place, and I think I captured the character, landscape and "vibe" of Palm Springs.

Palm Springs originally came to fame when people sought rest cures for illnesses like TB. Celebrities from Los Angeles, required under contract to remain within two hours of Hollywood in case they were needed on set, escaped to the desert where they could have fun away from the limelight. This is where Marilyn Monroe was discovered, and where Bob Hope, Howard Hughes, Clark Gable, Zsa Zsa Gabor and Steve McQueen lhad homes, and where the Rat Pack was formed. In the 50s and 60s it became a mecca of swanky Mid Century architecture.

These days, as a character in my book says, it's "gay and gray," although hipsters and young people are discovering the desert. It's also a pretty wealthy resort town, so most of the residents have lots of leisure time for dining, golf, tennis, and, of course, pickleball. Thrown into the mix are the year-round residents and Snowbirds. You feel like you are in a place where leisure takes priority over work, and where arts, culture and style matter.

You've set a book on Cape Cod and The Snowbirds is set in Palm Springs. If you had to live in one, which one would it be and why?
This is a tough question because they are both so different! I actually meet lots of people from Provincetown in Palm Springs because they are both gay meccas. I think I'd say Cape Cod, specifically Wellfleet, because my family has owned a house there since the 1890's and I spent every summer there when I was growing up. It's a place that is filled with nostalgia and history. My husband isn't into living there year-round, although we've talked about it. He doesn't like the crowds in the summer and wouldn't want to be there as much in the winter. But I do get to spend a few weeks there this summer. I'm teaching a workshop at Castle Hill in July.

Best book(s) you read in 2024?
The Wren, The Wren by Anne Enright. I didn't have time to read much (and my eyeballs were too tired from writing) while I was working on The Snowbirds. This was the first book I read when I finished. My bookseller friend James Boehnen from Arcadia Books in Spring Green, WI pressed it into my hands and said it had been his favorite book the prior year.

I never turn down a bookseller recommendation. What a lovely book about womanhood and relationships. I loved the writing as much as the story.

Thank you so much for coming by! Everyone go buy The Snowbirds here, here or here. You’ll love Christina’s work so much!