Q&A With Cynthia Weiner 

Jeffrey Yamaguchi connected me with author & teacher Cynthia Weiner. Cynthia is the author of the novel A Gorgeous Excitement & has had short stories published in several publications which are Ploughshares, The Sun, and Epiphany. 

Q: Cynthia, would you please give a brief description of your novel A Gorgeous Excitement? Where did the idea for the novel come from?

A: The novel could be described as coming-of-age suspense, inspired by the 1986 Preppy Murder in New York City when 18-year-old Jennifer Levin was strangled to death in Central Park during a hookup with preppy “It Boy” Robert Chambers. It follows a bright but insecure 18-year-old Jewish girl that summer named Nina Jacobs, living with her father and profoundly depressed and volatile mother on the WASPy Upper East Side of Manhattan. Nina, who is desperate to lose her virginity before she starts college—and is desperate to save her mother from last-ditch electroshock therapy—meets Upper East Side legend Gardner Reed at a popular preppy bar one night and is smitten. After Nina discovers cocaine, and her mother starts a new medication, both spiral happily out of control, oblivious to their own and each other’s mania that is propelling them toward mortal danger. 

The idea for the novel sprung from my formative years which were much like Nina’s and included an association with the real-life Preppy Killer at the time.

Q: How long did it take you to write A Gorgeous Excitement? 

A: Counting my unsuccessful attempts to write it as a short story, about nine years, give or take. I wrote and published short stories for most of my career. When I finally realized this story needed a larger canvas, I had to learn how to write a novel as I went, especially how to organize scenes to build suspense and weave several storylines together so that the whole would feel coherent.

Q: What lessons do you hope readers learn and feel after reading A Gorgeous Excitement?

 A: I’d like for readers—especially young women and parents of young women—to appreciate the youthful, illusory sense of invincibility, which, coupled with youthful insecurity (about being popular enough, pretty enough, cool enough, etc.), can drive a young person to make reckless, ill-advised decisions no matter how smart they are or how well they’re raised. I hope readers sometimes want to shake Nina but feel empathy for her and perhaps gain insight into how “bad” behavior is often rooted in a desire for love, attention, connection, and acceptance. Say what you will about the advent of 24/7 “surveillance” of kids via cell phones and social media, but at least there is more connection between parents and kids today than in the 80s when we all ran wild with little to no real-time supervision. I also hope readers in difficult parent-offspring relationships might experience a glimmer of hope from the book’s conclusion.

Q: Congratulations on your short story fiction being published in several publications, especially The Sun! What’s it like having your short stories published in several publications?

A: You send out dozens of stories to dozens of magazines over the years, and when an editor suddenly says “yes” – it’s thrilling! Literary magazines are amazing, how dedicated they are to publishing stories and poems year after year, often as a labor of love. The Sun is one of my favorites, especially the Readers Write section, where readers submit personal writing on a topic set forth by the editors. Those are always so much fun to read.

Q: Will your next novel be like A Gorgeous Excitement? Or will it be something different entirely?

A: I’ve never considered myself a true-crime aficionado, and yet, there’s another murder I can’t get out of my head! This one took place in the 1990s, so there’s a very different zeitgeist to explore, and it will be interesting to see how crime and the times reflect each other.