Dearest:   RONA JAFFE is an internationally bestselling author. We've enjoyed 
becoming involved in the unforgettable characters she's created in her books 
and the fascinating and complex relationships. Among Rona's bestsellers are, 
"Class Reunion," "Mazes and Monsters," "The Cousins," "Family Secrets," "Mr. 
Right Is Dead," "The Last Chance," "Five Women" and her newest book, 
"The Road Taken".

A Radcliff and Harvard gal, media celebrity, journalist, author and general 
"groundbreaker," Rona Jaffe has been delighting us with her books for more than 
five decades and is considered one of the foremost chroniclers of relationships 
in the modern age.

Rona is also the founder of the Rona Jaffe Foundation, which offers a national 
literary award to female writers.

Rona, welcome to Power Surge. What a wonderful endeavor, to create a national 
awards program for women writers only. What prompted you to create this program, 
how many recipients have there been thus far and how does one qualify for such 
an award? 


Rona Jafe: I felt that when you have made a success in work you love it is 
time to help others. Giving back as they say... We have had about 50 recipients 
so far. People may not nominate themselves or apply. They are chosen by a group 
of national nominators. 


Dearest:   That's wonderful and an excellent incentive for young women to take up 
a writing career.


Rona Jafe: These are women who have been writers for a long time but haven't 
gotten really successful yet. 


Dearest:   Rona, tell us -- who and what was your inspiration for the writing 
you've done -- for everything you've accomplished. What has inspired you over 
the years? 


Rona Jafe: Fear!


Dearest:   Fear of ....?


Rona Jafe: Failure of course... We all feel that way. And also love of writing 
because I do love it.


Dearest:   What writers do you most admire? 


Rona Jafe: A lot. Sometimes just pieces of things I have read, sometimes all. 
And there are others I can't stand. But I won't tell you who.


Dearest:   Mary, go ahead. I'll return to my other questions later.


MaryO: I guess I don't understand the writing process...do you wait for an 
inspiration or sit at your desk everyday until you can think of something to 
write? 


Rona Jafe: Before I start a novel I wait for inspiration. But then I write 
every day and the inspiration comes. The first hundred pages is the hardest. 
Then the characters take over.


MaryO: Thanks :)


Dearest:   Debrak, go ahead, please.


debrakgh: Was there a time when you were afraid to write what you really 
wanted -- afraid it would hurt someone...and if so, how did you get beyond 
that?


Rona Jafe: Well, you have to disguise the people sometimes. But they know 
anyway. So you have to decide which is stronger, your need to express yourself 
or your need to be approved of by someone you have annoyed. I wouldn't actually 
HURT anyone, but I have annoyed them! 


debrakgh: Thanks!


Dearest:   I read in your profile that you joined the Playwright's Unit at Lee 
Strasberg's the Actor's Studio. You're quoted as saying, "I took my clothes off 
a lot on stage. They thought I was brave, but actually I did it because I hoped 
it would keep people from noticing if I could act or not." So, you wanted to 
learn to write for actors, or you wanted to become an actor yourself? 


Rona Jafe: I wanted to see how to change my stories and books into parts for 
actors. I acted because it is good experience and it was fun.


Dearest:   I remember you on Carson and Virginia Graham's show. When did you 
become involved with TV And how did it happen? 


Rona Jafe: The publicists put me on TV immediately after the book (The Best 
of Everything) came out and I had to learn fast how to do it. Then apparently 
I got good because I was asked to be on a lot of shows. 


Dearest:   I loved that film. How many of you remember "The Best of Everything" 
with Hope Lange, Suzy Parker and Joan Crawford? How much input did you have in 
the making of the film, Rona? 


Rona Jafe: It is on AMC all the time. How much input? They kept asking me 
things but they don't really listen in the movie business. 


Dearest:   Michael Korda said of "The Best of Everything" that it "...ushered 
in the new era in which the author's potential for glamour, real or faked, 
mattered almost as much as the writing." Do you agree with that assessment?


Rona Jafe: Well, they started using the writers to get publicity for the 
books, making celebrities out of them. If they were or seemed glamorous that 
was even better. 


Dearest:   Did you work for Cosmopolitan Magazine before your first book or 
after? What was it like working there and with Helen Gurley Brown? 


Rona Jafe: I worked for Cosmo after I had written several books. It was fun 
to work there because I was free lance and had glamorous trips and met celebrities. 
Helen was good to work for. 


Dearest:   You did some fascinating interviews. Can you share any interesting 
stories about any particular interviews.. like with Streisand or Paul Newman?


Rona Jafe: They were both hard to get to but I managed because I knew them. 
Once I got to them they were extremely nice and friendly. 


Dearest:   What's the downside to a career such as yours? 


Rona Jafe: It's a bit lonely and also very stressful. But I prefer writing 
alone in my office to having to be accountable to a lot of people in a regular 
office.


Dearest:   I read where you've been compared to authors such as Jacqueline Susann, 
Erica Jong, Judith Krantz. I can't make the connection. Why do you supposed 
you're compared to them? Is it the genre of the books?


Rona Jafe: Because they are successful and famous. But I didn't make the 
comparison, other people did, mainly publicists because they ARE famous. 


Dearest:   Thanks, Rona. 


MaryO: Which other TV shows were you on...and which was your favorite...and 
why? 


Rona Jafe: I have been on so many I can't remember. I never liked it much 
especially with a live audience because I was very controversial and I was 
afraid they would throw rocks at me. My favorite was Girl Talk even though 
it had a live audience, because it was so informal. 


MaryO: Why were you controversial? 


Dearest:   I think because Rona was always outspoken, honest, told things as 
they were :)


MaryO: ahhh...thanks :)


Rona Jafe: Because I told the truth, and people didn't do that much on TV in 
those days. They were afraid and wanted to make a nice ladylike impression.  
I was ahead of my time, before we were called feminists. 


MaryO: Oh :) Thanks again


Dearest:   I also think that Girl Talk was sort of experimental for that time, 
don't you? I mean, women didn't sit around talking very much about personal 
things and many thought women shouldn't talk about certain things. <some 
still do think that>


Rona Jafe: Yes it was. Incidentally, everyone got very dressed up on TV and 
one day I got sick of it and went on Girl Talk in slacks and a sweater and after 
that you could dress as you liked. 


Dearest:   What's the story about Al Pacino mistaking you for Rona Barrett?


Rona Jafe: Oh, I met him in Lee Strasberg's kitchen and he wouldn't talk to me 
and I just thought he was shy, but later I discovered he thought I was Rona 
Barrett and of course no one wanted to talk to her because they were afraid of 
what she would tell.


Dearest:   Is she still around?


Rona Jafe: I think so.


MaryO: Have you written any non-fiction? If so, which is harder - fiction or 
nonfiction? 


Rona Jafe: I have written a lot of non fiction and I hate it because it is 
very hard for me. 


MaryO: Why is it harder?


Rona Jafe: Like a school paper. But it's funny, "The Road Taken" has a lot of research 
in it because it is a novel about the whole 20th century, but I loved doing 
that. 


MaryO: Thanks :) 


Dearest:   Rona, what was the motivation for "Class Reunion?"


Rona Jafe: It was about how the rules of the 1950's ruined some people's lives 
and what they did to come out of it. That was the most repressive period in modern 
times. 


Dearest:   Did you like breaking rules through your characters? 


Rona Jafe: You should ask if my characters liked breaking rules. They were like 
real people to me. 


Dearest:   Of course they were. You created them, but through your characters, 
couldn't an author break rules she might not be able to break outside of a 
fictional setting?


Rona Jafe: Nope. I broke what I wanted. 


Dearest:   What is it that attracts women to the bounders and scoundrels, rather 
than the good guys? 


Rona Jafe: They are so much more fun.


Dearest:   But don't they really want the good guys? 


Rona Jafe: Most do. They get charmed. But of course some women really don't want 
a relationship, they are afraid or think they don't deserve it or like trying to 
change a man, so they get the scoundrels. 


debrakgh: When you are in the midst of writing, does the distinction between reality 
and fiction blur a great deal?


Rona Jafe: It seems totally real to me. Unless I am writing historical facts and 
I know they are real. 


MaryO: Do you then feel awful when something bad happened to one of the characters 
in the course of a novel? Did you treat the ones that you liked better than the 
characters you didn't like so well? 


Rona Jafe: I try to treat them the same which means give them good and bad aspects 
and explain why they do what they do. But they seem real and if I have to kill one 
I feel terrible.


MaryO: So, you wouldn't try to save one that you really liked and kill someone 
else?


Rona Jafe: Well, I don't have to kill anyone. But if I love one I might let him/her 
live to a very old age, as I did in "The Road Taken". Rose lives to be 100.


MaryO: Ok, Thanks :)


Dearest:   Rona, is there anything you haven't yet done that you'd like to do? 


Rona Jafe: I want to write a lot more books, maybe a play, travel.


Dearest:   Any possibility of doing a TV talk show?


Rona Jafe: You mean being on it? I don't think so. It's a lot of work and 
anyway no one has asked me. But you never know. Girl Talk I only had to do once 
every 6 weeks because they had so many guests, so it was easy. But being a regular 
is very hard if you are one every day or every week. 


Dearest:   Thanks, Rona. Sanlyn, go ahead, please.


sanlyn: Now I am intrigued......will have to get one of your books. Have you a 
website where I can find out more about you or your books?


Rona Jafe: Not yet. But you can read reviews and bios and stuff on amazon.com. 


sanlyn: Thank you.


Rona Jafe: Oh, and if you look up my name on any search engine there is 
biographical stuff. 


Dearest:   Rona, how did Mazes and Monsters come about? A bit of a departure 
from your usual genre, yes? 


Rona Jafe: I read in the newspapers about a group of college students who were 
playing dungeons and dragons in the campus steam tunnels and one person 
disappeared, so I liked the concept of getting carried away by a fictional 
character. It was a departure. Also it became a TV movie starring Tom Hanks, 
which was very nice. 


Dearest:   Yes, I remember that. How wonderful to see your work portrayed in 
another medium. Tell me, I know it's difficult to choose one book over another, 
but do you have a favorite? 


Rona Jafe: I like The Road Taken, and I like The Best of everything because it 
changed my life and lasted for over 40 years. 


Dearest:   That's wonderful. I'm looking forward to reading your newest, 
"The Road Taken" and maybe rereading "The Best of Everything."

If you had it to do all over again, is there anything you'd do differently?
Generally speaking, that is.


Rona Jafe: Sure, but why beat yourself over mistakes. 


MaryO: In what way(s) did the Best of Everything change your life? 


Rona Jafe: Nobody had ever heard of me before. After, everyone had. Also I could 
be a real professional writer forever more and not have to work in an office 
again!!!!


MaryO: great - it was like your Grand Entrance then :)


Rona Jafe: I guess Grand Debut.


MaryO: works for me :) 


Dearest:   Rona, are you as mellow at this juncture of your life as you sound? 


Rona Jafe: Yes.


Dearest:   What do you value most? I mean, really, really most.


Rona Jafe: Health, friendship, love, work, fun, laughter. It's hard to pick one 
really most thing.


Dearest:   Those are all important mosts. Thank you so much for your wonderful body 
of work. Your books have brought great pleasure to so many of us. I hope you continue 
writing forever and ever :)


Rona Jafe: oh, I forgot to say money. One needs that too.


Rona Jafe: I hope so too.


Dearest:   I highly recommend that everyone read Rona Jaffe's newest book <and 
all the others, are there 14 all told? .... THE ROAD TAKEN!


Rona Jafe: 16


Dearest:   Amazing. Rona, thanks ever so much for joining us in this intimate
chat about your career in writing. 



Disclaimer:  Every guest in Power Surge is a highly respected professional whose
opinions are his/her own. An appearance in Power Surge does not constitute an 
endorsement of a guest's views.

None of these transcripts may be reprinted or reproduced without 
the express permission of Power Surge™ and the respective guest.

Read other transcripts by returning to the Library.


Dearest
aka Alice Stamm
Power Surge
Founder, Facilitator, Host


Copyright©1994-2008 by Power Surge.  All Rights Reserved.