The daily digest of Twin Cities culture | Secrets of the City

Charles is a murderer, imprisoned for killing a female college student in suburban New York. Grace is a copy-editor for a Long Island magazine. Maybe it's the sensationalism of his crime, maybe it's her own loneliness, but before long Grace becomes obsessed with Charles' story. So she starts writing to him. And then talks to him on the phone. And then...

In No One Tells Everything, the second novel from Madison-based writer Rae Meadows (one of Poets and Writers' ‘Five Authors to Watch'), Charles and Grace discover that their pasts are entangled - and inextricably so. The book progresses into something of a modern day In Cold Blood (or, at least, a modern day Capote), as the relationship between criminal and writer becomes more and more intimate.

The Rake had a chance to ask Ms. Meadows some questions about her new book, and the writing life in general.

The Rake: It seems like you fall into the growing category of writers who sort of desire to write books that are at once 'literary' and 'genre' (maybe the worst dichotomy to be made in the history of fiction). Reviews of both your novels praise the focus on character, but also make note of the whodunit aspects. Is this something you're aware of before you start out a new project, or does it just happen to be your style?

Rae Meadows: I agree that the categorization of books can be odious, especially since I think the majority of readers in this country don't make those distinctions. My style has evolved over the years due to a bunch of factors, not the least of which is my fear of being boring, so I like to keep things moving on the page. My husband is a screenwriter and he has been influential as well, helping me to understand story escalation and economy of scenes. And hey, I like to read fast books so I hope my books feel this way, too.

The Rake: In a previous interview, you (gently) fault MFA programs for failing to teach plot, at least in your experience. I wonder if you would expound a bit on why a plot is so important, and why MFA programs may be apt to ignore it. And also if you could speak a bit about how you personally come up with a plot, that would be awesome.

Meadows: I loved my MFA years and got a lot from the program. But for those of us who were more traditional in our approach to storytelling, we were left to intuit how to plot. Of course there is no One Way, but it would be helpful if writing programs provided some basic groundwork. I think that overt teaching of plot is seen as too formulaic an approach, a practical concession during a period that should be more exploratory. But we all come out of MFA programs wanting to get published, and these days it is an incredibly difficult market for literary fiction. I still struggle with plot. I usually know where something starts and where I want it to end. Although I'm not a big outliner, I do try to up the ante with each chapter to find that sweet spot of what feels both inevitable and surprising.

The Rake: Both Calling Out (Meadows' first novel) and No One Tells Everything feature protagonists who deal with their own pasts coming back to haunt them. Why do you think this theme informs so much of your writing?

Meadows: One of the great things about the novel form is how it accommodates the fluidity of time and memory. Both Jane in Calling Out and Grace in No One Tells Everything are great repressors, and Grace, in particular, is holding on to a lot, which starts to trickle to the surface. I think for all of us, unexamined stuff (for lack of a better encompassing word) never just goes away, and it may emerge in oblique ways. I like exploring the effect that past misdeeds/behavior/decisions have on a character because of the mystery and revelation this layering allows.

The Rake: You've said NOTE is "About the difficulty of knowing someone else" - do you find writing to be a way to understand others?

Meadows: I don't know how much writing helps me understand people other than my characters, but I do think it has made me a more empathetic person and a better observer. We all choose what we reveal, even to those closest to us, and in those choices we are obviously shaping-consciously or not--our presentation, how we hope to be perceived. I think Charles, especially, is an example of this. I don't think Grace and Charles ever understand each other fully, but they get what they need from each other.

The Rake: NOTE was originally conceived as non-fiction, so I'm wondering what made you choose to go the fiction route?

Meadows: I get to lie! I discovered that I am much better suited to writing fiction. A novel or a story is a containable world that I have created and can change however I want. You don't have that liberty with non-fiction. What is considered real or non-fiction or memoir was tricky territory long before James Frey. When does shaping cross the line? How much of oneself goes into it? Re-created scenes? Embellishment? What if your work hurts someone in the process? The whole thing made me uncomfortable and it felt difficult to navigate.

The Rake: And, likewise, you actually answered phones at a call-girl service in Utah while putting Calling Out together. How much research would you advise for writing a novel?

Meadows: I love doing research - in my very first novel, which is still in a drawer somewhere, I researched pig farming - but I think it just depends on what's necessary for the project. I wouldn't say it's required by any means. I have been asked a number of times how I knew so much about taxidermy (in Calling Out) but the truth is, I made it up! I think the danger in research is getting bogged down in the details, or having learned information become a substitute for story.

The Rake: Were there any differences in terms of approach writing this second novel? Did you feel more experienced already having one under your belt?

Meadows: It's funny because I definitely had a better idea of what I needed to do, yet I was still in the dark. Now that I have begun a new novel, I have no idea how I wrote the other two! A blank page is still a blank page, unfortunately. The key for me is breaking up what needs to be written into digestible units (x number of pages per chapter, x number of chapters, etc.) even if just to get through a draft.

The Rake: What'cha working on now?

Meadows: I'm glad you asked. You have shamed me into getting some work done today. I'm trying my hand at a period novel, which I'm tentatively calling Orphan Train. The main thread of its linked, three-part narrative structure follows a street urchin girl in turn-of-the-century New York City who boards an "orphan train"-an early forerunner of the foster care system-to the Midwest in the hope of being adopted by a farm family.

The Rake: Madison! Lake Monona or Lake Mendota?

Meadows: Since it's only a few blocks away I have to go with Lake Monona. I have an 11-month-old baby and we stroller over to the lake every evening to look at the ducks before she goes to bed.