CREATING SETTING
TAYLOR JENKINS REID:What inspired you to set your book in 1987?
Years later, after this friend died, I wanted to capture this day with him.
So I started my research to make myself feel as if Id lived through it.
Credit: Nina Subin/Deborah Feingold
How did the decade you chose influence the plot of the book?
DUKESS:No internet!
Thats what is so fun aboutDaisy Jones & the Sixto me.
from my years in New York in the 80s.
I went back and bought all of these old issues and read through them.
I read Springsteens memoir.
I watched a lot ofBehind the Music.
This was a very fun book to research!
Its the place where Ive always felt most myself.
REID:I write almost exclusively about L.A.
I moved here from Massachusetts with a dream.
But my husband grew up here.
Hollywood didnt seem mythical to him.
It seemed accessible and fun.
He could try it as a lark.
Daisy is one of those people.
REID:Daisy lives in her own world, however inspiring she may sometimes be.
Shes not actively involved in any womens movement.
Shes not fighting anything on behalf of women as a whole.
Shes just not going to willingly submit to being undermined or maligned.
Its never too late.
And writing later in life has benefits too.
It was a great solace to disappear into the world of my novel and amuse myself!
More important, achieving a lifelong dream at 56 is a pretty fantastic way to feel young and vibrant!
It feels sort of like when you have to grow into your face as an adolescent.
I was embarrassed about how ambitious I was as a young woman.
I tried to hide how intense I was about things.
I tried to act more casual and indifferent and cool.
Six books in, Im not cool.
I care a lot.
And at 35, Im much for comfortable with that than I was when I started.
REID:I might tell my younger self that big risks can pay off.
But Im glad I took the big swing and tried it.
And I hope I keep taking big swings.
