Released on September 1st, The Bridge is Bill Konigsberg’s sixth novel. As a result of this work, Bill says on his “about” page that “…30 percent of the hair [he] had at the start of writing The Bridge is now gone, never to return.”
Being such an influence on his scalp health, we had no other option but to chat with him about the novel, to unravel every little detail about such an astounding piece of literature!
We ask about his influences, his writing process, and, of course, the best ways to approach a difficult topic, such as suicide is. He says he “hopes the book winds up being worth the baldness” and we are more than sure it definitely is.
Congratulations on your new novel, Bill. Could you start by telling us a little bit about yourself?
Thank you, and sure! I guess I’d say I’m a writer who cares deeply about being authentic. That when I started writing books, it was exceedingly important to me to write books that told the truth about being gay, and that every time I start a book, the question is always, “Who am I, and what is it that I have to say?” The Bridge is a departure in that instead of focusing on LGBTQIA+ issues, I set out to write a book that spoke the truth about chronic depression, of which I suffer, and suicidal ideation, which has be a struggle multiple times in my life. It’s funny, because I seem to have this idea that I’m supposed to express the deepest truths about myself in my novels, and I’m not sure that’s something that other human beings find to be an important or compelling goal.
If you could describe The Bridge with just three adjectives, which ones would they be?
Real. Gut-wrenching. Hopeful.
Who are your main influences when writing? And were you inspired by any other literary work or piece of media when writing The Bridge?
My biggest writing influences are Toni Morrison, Armistead Maupin, and David B. Feinberg. Morrison because she is/was a powerful truth teller who can make me shiver with a sentence. Maupin because of the heart he puts into his books. And Feinberg, a writer who died during the early days of the AIDS epidemic, because he was able to see the savagely funny in the tragic, and that he was able to make me laugh and cry simultaneously without being the least bit maudlin.
I was very aware of 13 Reasons Why, the book and TV show, while writing this book. I liked that book and show, but I didn’t think they were good conversation starters about suicide. I don’t think the author meant for them to be. I really wanted to write something that could be a book of record on the subject, something that could be an important part of a national or even international discussion about mental health and suicide.
In The Bridge, Aaron and Tillie don’t make a life-changing decision; they make four. Why did you decide to give your story four different outcomes? And how did you plan the novel out?
I felt that covering all the possible outcomes up on that bridge was the only way to expose the lie that my brain tells me when I’m depressed, one that I understand many other people hear from their brains, too: that it wouldn’t matter if I was no longer here. It’s a very dangerous lie, and what I wanted to show was what happens when each character gives in to that lie, and what might happen when they don’t. I wanted to show not just what happens to the people closest to them, but also people they don’t even know and who don’t know them, which is why I wrote the part about when they both decide to jump.
Loneliness, family ties, shattered expectations, forgiveness, self-acceptance, and the steep path towards recovery are some of the main topics that follow Aaron and Tillie’s story and revolve around the broader topic of suicide and depression. If you could have paid more attention to any of those recurrent topics, which one would it be and why?
Great question! If I could turn back time, I think perhaps I would have focused more on self-acceptance because it’s so important. As a nearly fifty-year-old person, I am sometimes amazed at how little the exterior stuff matters if and when I don’t love or accept myself. That has to be where it starts, and while I did focus there, I think even more focus might be useful.
Of course, suicide, suicidal thoughts, and depression are delicate topics to write about, especially when you have suffered from them yourself. What would be your advice for someone who wants to write about these topics and raise awareness about them?
My advice would be to take care of yourself! To have a plan for getting help, because it’s pretty hard to write about these issues while staying above them. I had to go pretty deep in while writing this book, and it was sometimes challenging, at the end of a writing day, to pull myself out. For that reason, I had plans in place, people who I knew I could talk to if necessary. Beyond that, I’d just say it’s important to sit in the feelings. It can be hard to commit to feeling those feelings, but that’s what writers do. We sit in the chair and feel what our characters feel, even when it’s unpleasant.
Suicide and mental illnesses tend to be either heavily romanticised in media or approached in such a way that leave people suffering from them feeling guilty. Where you worried about unconsciously leaning into these two approaches? How did you work around them?
I really started leaning heavily away from those, so I guess I’d say it was never far from my mind. I wanted this to be a book that pulled no punches, that was as real as I could be about mental illness and suicide, and there is simply nothing sexy or romantic about either. I guess because I was feeling so avoidant of them, I didn’t really notice working around them? Not sure if that makes sense, but it never came up.
On a hopeful note, where do you see Aaron and Tillie in 20 years?
Hmm… Tillie will be working with kids, especially kids who struggle with being bullied online or kids who struggle to speak up for themselves. No doubt. She will be a very powerful woman. Aaron will probably be a bit like me: someone who still struggles with wanting people to love and admire him. As such, his life will be up and down. He will have battled depression and prevailed many times, and he will lead with his heart. But because he has not mastered self-acceptance, he will still have dark times. Wow. Heavy answer, no?
And on a less serious note, if Aaron and Tillie could each recommend a book, which ones would they be?
The Bridge. Kidding! Aaron would recommend the new book K-pop Confidential by Stephan Lee, because it touches on his desire to be a famous musical idol. Tillie would recommend Faith: Taking Flight by Julie Murphy, which is about a kick-ass, plus-sized superhero.
Finally, what are your plans for the future? Are you working on any other novel at the moment?
I’m currently working on my next novel, Destination Unknown, which is about two boys who meet in 1987 in New York City, with the AIDS epidemic as the backdrop. That’s when and where I grew up, so I’m finally trying to write the story of what that was like.
