92 Time April 6–13, 2020TimeOff OpenerBOOKS
Face time wit hTerry McMillan
By Kiley ReidW
hen Terry mcmillan pops up on my
screen, she tells me that she never uses Face-
Time. I was nervous to meet the best-selling
author who has been diving headfirst into
the interiority of black friendships, romantic relationships
and class structures for more than 30 years. I’d watched the
film adaptation of her novel How Stella Got Her Groove Back
with my friends. I’d studied the dialogue between groups of
women in Waiting to Exhale while attempting to write my
own. And I’d marveled at her effortless wit and passion in
interviews with Oprah and on The Daily Show.
Through the phone screen, I tell McMillan that I never
FaceTime either—and felt like I had to put on makeup
to see her. She confesses she did the same, and we assure
each other that we look great. We’d long planned to meet
this way out of convenience, but the COVID-19 outbreak
has us realizing that this will become a temporary norm.
McMillan, 68, is a lot like her characters in that she’s
funny, comforting and still surprising. Talking to her feels
like talking to an old friend, which is the same experience
offered in her latest novel, It’s Not All Downhill From Here.
Her 12th book follows grouchy and loving diabetic grand-
mother Loretha Curry and her group of 60-something
friends together grappling with aging, relationships and
loss. McMillan explores seasons of grieving and rebirth
much like they occur off the page—humorously, with heart
and whether we’d like them to or not.What did you set out to accomplish in this novel that’s
different from the others? I don’t know if it’s different
from the others. I always believe that characters have to
go through something, so I put my characters in every
book in situations where they are being tested on any
level: emotionally, psychologically, spiritually, sexually,
financially. They have to figure out how to get through it or
over it—I’m not going to have them go around it. And the
more they try to bullsh-t themselves, the harder it is.Writing about groups of friends, you manage so many
bodies, opinions and voices in the same room.
How do you corral mult iple bold personalit ies into a
single scene? I know my characters before I start to write.
I do character profiles. You get a sense of how a charac-
ter thinks, what their weaknesses are. I used to give them
horoscopes and signs, as in I would give them traits of a
Virgo. Sometimes it doesn’t carry out, but it’s a place to
start. Loretha has an opinion about everybody. That’s what
I love about black people—they’ll tell you how they feel.
To me, when you’re writing a character, you have to make
sure each one has a spotlight. They have to be different;
otherwise it’s just boring.There’s a line in Lionel Shriver’s book
We Need to Talk About Kevin where
she says that there’s a moment where
you meet your child for the first time—
and it isn’t when they’re born. Is this
something that your characters are
experiencing? Yes. A lot of us think we
know our parents and children, and we
don’t, and sometimes it takes something
that makes one or both vulnerable or weak.
There’s a place where you’re so vulnerable
and you can’t run from it anymore, and
that’s when we see ourselves in the mirror.
You realize not only are the other people
flawed, but you are too. That levels the
playing field. And then you can love easier.That’s so beautiful. Girl, it’s the truth.
We judge each other too hars hly.When did you know you were a grownup?
When I had to pay taxes. And when I didn’t
have to ask my mother’s opinion.When was that? A long time ago.Loretha’s daughter struggles with
mental illness. I know from my own
experience that many black families
feel that there are certain things,△
McMillan’s late st
fo llows a group
of senior women
confronting
struggl es as a te amTimeOff OpenerMCMILLAN: MATTHEW JORDAN SMITH; WAITING TO EXHALE: PHOTOFEST
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Waiting to Exhale
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