“Deciding to write was always a visceral rather than an intellectual decision for me”– Barbara Hall
Barbara Hall wears many hats and wears them well in television, music and literature.
The talented writer and producer has a successful Emmy nominated television career that includes creating Joan of Arcadia and Judging Amy. She is currently working as co-executive producer on the Showtime drama series Homeland and is also working with Morgan Freeman on a pilot called “Madame Secretary”.
Barbara also finds time to make music and has a current rock album release titled Bad Man.
The third hat and the reason for our spotlight feature is that of an author. Barbara has 11 published books with her latest being a novel called Charisma.
Charisma is the story of Sarah Lange who frightened by her desire to terminate her existence on earth, she checks into a trauma center in Malibu, California and meets Dr. David Sutton, an intellectual, a scientist, a reductionist, someone who believes in nothing beyond his immediate experience. David’s world is as divorced from mystery and magic as Sarah’s is alive and animated by it.
For our author spotlight series we asked Barbara to share with us her writing inspirations, what she’s reading and more.
What inspired you to become a writer?
Early in life, I realized that I knew how to write. Which is to say, I understood how to put words together in a certain order and cadence to recreate a moment in time.
Since I didn’t seem to be overwhelmingly good at anything else, I just followed that thread. Looking back, I can see that growing up in a small town, Southern gothic environment, surrounded by gifted oral story tellers and a cast of colorful characters, all led to that inspiration.
But deciding to write was always a visceral rather than an intellectual decision for me. As far as who influenced me is concerned, I always want to steal a quote from Roy Bittan, Bruce Springsteen’s piano player who, when asked what music influenced him, said, “Everything I heard that I liked and everything I heard that I didn’t like.”
How would you describe your book (Charisma) in 30 words or less?
By pairing a medical doctor and a person who is enduring a metaphysical experience, Charisma is an exploration of the mistaken notion that religion and science are at odds with each other.
Do you have a favorite of all the books you’ve written?
I always favor my latest book, so Charisma. But second to that, The MusicTeacher. It’s a book about music, physics, teachers and kids. So the things I care about most came together in it. It was a love letter to music and musicians, a chance to put forth the notion that music is, in fact, the highest art form—capable of not just entertaining and comforting but, in fact, transforming and healing the human psyche.
Who’s your favorite author right now?
By which I assume you mean a writer who is alive and writing today. Alice Munro. Not alive and writing? Flannery O’Connor.
What were the last three books you read?
The Red Notebook by Paul Aster, Tenth of Decemberby George Saunders and The Best AmericanShort Stories of 2012, edited by Tom Perrotta. Short fiction strikes me as, except for poetry, the most perfect form of writing.
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