Boston-born author Amor Towles knew he’d find his father on the same bench at Faneuil Hall before work every day: sipping a Starbucks latte and eating half of a pre-bought stale scone because “the scone was stale to begin with.”
Towles regaled the Emerson Colonial Theatre crowd on Sept. 24 with comedic, lively tales of his childhood, his family, and his life as a writer living in New York. The event was the first stop on Towles’ tour of his latest collection, “Table for Two,” six short stories based in New York and a novella centering a character from his previous novel, “Rules of Civility.”
As Towles described, stories come to him in a sentence, like a moment of lightning-fast clarity taking shape in premises that involve people and places. He would dwell on this moment, filling notebooks with everything that happens around it, before outlining and eventually writing the work. It’s a process that can take up to six years.
“It’s the same for short stories,” Towles said, speaking to the works in “Table for Two.” “The only difference is the timeline.”
Towles shared that he spends about two months on short story ideas before writing them. He writes this kind of fiction mainly between his larger projects.
“Short fiction is the best form in which to try the elements of craft, as a novel is a commitment to one version of each of those elements,” Towles said.
Towles used an allegory to explain what writing and reading a short story is like, comparing it to overhearing a heated conversation between a couple in a restaurant at the table beside you, who have neglected to lower their voices. In this situation, the listener begins to piece together the drama line by line—but just as they begin to understand, the couple leaves the restaurant.
“You are dropped into it and you don’t get to see how it all plays out,” Towles said. “It’s a kind of liberty for the author and the reader.”
He shared more insights into his writing process, like how his characters are never static, rather cyclical, revealing themselves in moments of contact with each other—as he continues to write and rewrite their choices, constantly searching for those searing moments of clarity that reveal a character to him.
“Every aspect of the story changes with point of view and voice,” Towles said. “We all have the capacity to be anything under different circumstances. We are a bundle of all the varied emotional possibilities.”
While all the characters in his novels are fictional, his short stories in “Table for Two” are each loosely based around a real-life moment that happened to Towles throughout his life.
For example, Towles explained the backstory of one of his short stories in the collection “The Bootlegger,” which stemmed from Towles’ experience at a piano concert at Carnegie Hall, where he caught a man secretly recording the audio to bootleg the performance.
This tale from Towles particularly dazzled the audience with the cadence and friendly energy of his speech, surprising them with the twists and turns of his memories, leaving the crowd erupting in laughter and applause. He even got the opinion and input of a cellist he was friends with online when writing the classical music elements of the story to ensure he could correctly write about classical etiquette.
After around 45 minutes of speaking and storytelling, the audience was allowed to ask the author questions. One inquiry about the novella in the collection, entitled “Eve In Hollywood,” led to Towles revealing he had even moved into the Beverly Hills Hotel for a time to immerse himself in his story
Another question concerned the interconnectedness of his novels, which exist in a sort of shared universe. Some smaller characters from one novel appear in another, and certain moments allude to others in different works. One connection between two of his novels, “Lincoln Highway” and “A Gentleman in Moscow,” came as a complete coincidence—both stories ended in the same year, 1954, on the same day, July 21.
After the event, Towles had a signing with a line that stretched through the theater’s lobby and practically out the door. Fans waited patiently for a chance to meet the famed author, such as Emerson sophomore Jagger van Vilet.
“I wanted to attend the event because I have been a fan of Amor Towles’ writing for several years,” van Vilet said. “Ever since I read ‘Gentleman in Moscow’ I was hooked. At the event itself, I enjoyed when he would delve into the elements that make up his process as a writer.”
That rich experience found in Towles’ novels are what make them so popular. Under his pen, history is tangible, unfolding in intimate sequences of events that happen so close you’d think they’re real—the novel is metaphysical to say the least.
Towles used another allegory to describe his view of how to use history within a fictional work. He asked the audience to imagine a set on stage for a play. There would be a painted backdrop, in his example, of cherry trees, but the style of painting would be impressionist, rather than realist, giving the idea of cherry trees rather than the most realistic depiction of them.
In his example, a parlor stood in front of those cherry trees, with windows and shelves painted to look mahogany, and in front of that would be a real wooden table with two chairs, with a real china tea set laid out on it. When the characters come on stage, the audience can hear the scrape of the chairs on the floor, and hear the china tinkle as they move the cups.
The audience can see and hear those details within the characters, and that’s what makes it clear to them that these are real people living fully realized lives within a fictional work.
“That’s what crystallizes the illusion,” Towles said, ending the event to rapturous applause. The love his readers have for the worlds he created in his books filled the ornate theater, sparking conversation and camaraderie between fans.
Towles showed myself and the audience the kind of care and craft that makes a writer great. This night full of glimpses into the inner life of an author shined as bright as the golden Emerson Colonial Theatre itself.
