Interview with Barbara Linn Probst
Barbara Linn Probst
Tell us about your new book! What is The Sound Between the Notes about?
As Kirkus Reviews has described it, The Sound Between the Notes is “a sensitive, astute exploration of artistic passion, family, and perseverance.” It’s a story about what happens when a woman—a pianist—who’s always struggled with identity is given a chance to restore the self she thought she had lost.
Susannah’s career has been on hold for sixteen years, ever since her son was born. But now, suddenly, she has a second chance she never expected. There’s just one problem: somewhere along the way, she lost the power and the magic. She needs to get them back. Now.
As her now-or-never concert draws near, Susannah is catapulted back to memories she’s never been able to purge—and forward, to choices she never thought she’d have to make as she struggles to do right by those she loves and to fulfill, through music, her deep longing for identity and a place in the world.
The story is told through the perspective of a musician. How were you able to write about music in such a powerful and authentic way?
I’m what’s known as a “serious amateur” pianist—“serious” because I study with an amazing teacher and “amateur” because I do it for no other reason than love of the piano, having returned to it after a long absence. The secret to The Sound Between the Notes is that I had to become a better musician before I could make the book what it needed to be. (You can read more about that in my essay How The Piano Made Me a Better Writer.)
I’ve now played nearly all the pieces mentioned in the book, so I wrote about them from experience—with the exception of the Schubert sonata that frames the story and is, mostly, beyond my ability. However, I set myself the goal of learning the second movement before publication date, and I’m happy to say that I’ve now achieved it!
Does The Sound Between the Notes have anything in common with your first novel, Queen of the Owls?
The two books share a theme about how art—whether it’s painting, photography, or music—can help to make us more whole and human. They pose timeless and universal questions: Who am I? Where do I belong in this world?
What the books have in common, in other words, is a woman’s search for an authenticity that’s eluded her. In Queen of the Owls, the vehicle for the protagonist’s fulfillment is art; the central metaphor is seeing and being seen. In The Sound Between the Notes,, the vehicle is music; the metaphor is hearing and being heard.
Queen of the Owls, as a title, refers to Elizabeth’s ultimate embrace of herself as a union of beauty and brains, body and mind. Her desire is to be seen and to be whole. In The Sound Between the Notes, what Susannah ultimately embraces is the union of nature and nurture, sound and silence. Her desire is to be heard and to know where she belongs.
Both books also involve relationships with sisters, husbands, and children, although the specifics are very different. And there’s something open about the way each story ends, leaving space for the as-yet-unknown aspect of where the protagonist’s journey will take her. To me, that’s the way life is, so that’s how I like to end my books.
Queen of the Owls, was released in April of 2020 as the pandemic began, and The Sound Between Notes is launching a year later, while the pandemic is still with us. What have you learned about releasing a book in this strange environment that will help you this second time around?
I was part of a unique cohort of authors who launched their debut novels just when we all went into quarantine. We had to pivot, let go, be flexible—great gifts, really, because so little in life works out the way we plan! That attitude helped me a lot, last year and is continuing to help me now. I try all kinds of things (to support my book’s release) and accept if they don’t work out, while being ready to respond quickly if a new opportunity presents itself.
The “silver lining” has been the incredible generosity of online reader groups and venues that now host virtual book events—something they rarely did, if at all, pre-Covid. That’s allowed me to reach people I never would have been able to reach if I’d relied on in-person events! People in other parts of the country, people who can’t go to a live event because they lack childcare or transportation, or because the timing is wrong. Many of these virtual events are available for viewing later, so that’s another bonus that widens the circle of inclusion.
What’s your writing process like? With this book, specifically, which has a dual timeline, how did you settle on the structure of the story?
In general, when I’m working on a novel, I spend a lot time thinking, analyzing, and writing out what I’d call the “bones” of the story. But then, during the actual writing, those bones become very porous and flexible. Something entirely new will inevitably present itself, once I’m immersed in the story—in fact, that’s how the best elements appear! They can’t be known in advance, before one has begun to live and breathe along with the characters.
With this book, in particular, the story went through several huge transformations over the course of several years until it became what it needed to be. In fact, I set it aside to write Queen of the Owls, and then returned to it when I had the “musical breakthrough” I referred to in my earlier answer.
For example, the very first version of the book had three alternating timelines: one for Susannah’s teenage years (which included other plot elements that I ended up deleting); one for her early adult years, trying to succeed as a musician in New York and traveling to Texas to find her birth family; and a third for her mature adulthood as she grappled with the concert and the disease. However, it was too confusing and fragmented, and I eventually saw that the front story had to be the main one, with the back story taking a secondary role. That made the book so much stronger!
What do you hope readers will take away from the book?
The first word that comes into my mind is hope. Although Susannah does have a second chance for the very thing she renounced when her son was born—and she might (or might not) achieve a level of professional success that she never thought possible—I don’t see that as being the essential hope that the book offers. Rather, I think it offers hope for the healing, connection, and sense of belonging that are so essential to the human experience.
I’d also say that The Sound Between the Notes is about embracing everything we are—and everything that’s made us who we are. So the other message it offers is about integrating all the influences we’ve received, bringing together nature and nurture.
In a nutshell, what’s the most important thing you’ve learned, as a writer?
What I’ve learned, over the course of two books, is that I need to love my characters much more generously than I thought. I need to listen to them, feel their humanity, and find the thing in each of them that’s worthy of love and respect. And that goes for secondary characters too!
Any advice for aspiring writers?
First, have a really good story that you are burning to tell. Let the story lead. Listen to the characters, rather than worrying about how to please agents and publishers, or conform to any of the writing templates out there.
Second (and this is the essential complement to the first principle), find a couple of really smart people whom you trust, and listen well to what they have to tell you about your work. Be open, not defensive.
Third, read up. Read books that are really well written to see how the authors did it. Write books that you would love to read.
What would be your 6 word memoir?
Risk. Give generously. Let go. Transform.
—
Barbara Linn Probst is a writer of both fiction and non-fiction, living on an historic dirt road in New York’s Hudson Valley. Her debut novel Queen of the Owls (April 2020) is the powerful story of a woman’s search for wholeness, framed around the art and life of iconic American painter Georgia O’Keeffe. Queen of the Owls was selected as one of the 20 most anticipated books of 2020 by Working Mother, one of the best Spring fiction books by Parade Magazine, and a debut novel “too good to ignore” by Bustle. It was also featured in Pop Sugar, Entertainment Weekly, and Ms. Magazine. It won the bronze medal for popular fiction from the Independent Publishers Association, placed first runner-up in general fiction for the Eric Hoffer Award, and was short-listed for both the First Horizon and the $2500 Grand Prize.
The Sound Between the Notes (April 2021) is Barbara’s second book. Kirkus Reviews has called the book “a sensitive, astute exploration of artistic passion, family, and perseverance.” Dubbed “a breathtaking emotional journey” impossible to put down, The Sound Between the Notes explores timeless questions of identity and belonging through the unique perspective of a musician.
Barbara has a PhD in clinical social work and is a former therapist, researcher, teacher, advocate, and traveler to odd places, as well as a serious amateur pianist.
To learn more about Barbara and her work, please see http://www.barbaralinnprobst.com/
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Sound-Between-Notes-Novel/dp/1647420121
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100011410511548
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/barbara_linn_probst/
THE SOUND BETWEEN THE NOTES
Susannah’s career as a pianist has been on hold for sixteen years, ever since her son was born. But now, suddenly, she has a second chance. There’s just one problem: somewhere along the way, she lost the power and the magic. She needs to get them back. Now.
As her now-or-never concert draws near, Susannah is catapulted back to memories she’s never been able to purge—and forward, to choices she never thought she’d have to make.
Susannah needs to find out, once and for all: Who am I, and where do I belong?
“Beautifully told, The Sound Between the Notes, is the story of tragedy and triumph, of the push and pull of family, of the responsibility we feel to ourselves and those we love. Once I started the book, I couldn’t put it down until I reached the last, gorgeously written note.”
—Loretta Nyhan, author of The Other Family and Amazon best-seller Digging In
“As soaring as the music it so lovingly describes, poignantly human, and relatable to anyone who’s ever wondered if it’s too late for their dream, The Sound Between the Notes is an exploration of our vulnerability to life’s timing and chance occurrences that influence our decisions, for better or worse. Probst creates her trademark intelligent suspense as Susannah, an adoptee trying for a mid-life resurrection of an abandoned music career, confronts lifelong questions of who she is. A story that speaks to our universal need to have someone who believes in us unequivocally, and how that person had better be ourselves.”
—Ellen Notbohm, award-winning author of The River by Starlight
Category: Contemporary Women Writers, Interviews, On Writing
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