In a recent interview, Ottessa Moshfegh revealed that her approach to writing her 2015 novel, Eileen, was rooted in necessity, as she needed to support herself financially. However, her motivations for writing her subsequent novel, My Year of Rest and Relaxation, were different. Moshfegh described the process as more introspective, stating that she had to write it for her own sake, reflecting deeper frustrations in her life. As she wrote, she felt a tension between the potential reception of her work and her own truths, ultimately noting the darker themes and humor present in the novel.
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She highlighted the setting of the book, taking place in New York City before the September 11 attacks, as more of a canvas for exploring existential concerns rather than a primary focus. Moshfegh emphasized that her character was crafted to tackle the heaviness of existence with a sense of humor, despite the book’s exploration of intense themes.
The author shared that writing often felt contradictory to the themes of wanting to escape one's existence. During a period of profound isolation while writing in Montreal, she grappled with her own feelings of disconnection. Moshfegh viewed this isolation as a necessary rite of passage, which ultimately led her to meet her partner soon after completing the novel. This intense phase enabled her to confront the choices between isolation and vulnerability.
Moshfegh expressed that every novel for her is a transformative experience, filled with pain but also crucial lessons about choice and connection. She described a sense of being compelled to write, suggesting that her imagination operates under a kind of higher influence that prompts her to confront difficult lessons through her work.
She also noted that she considers the reader's engagement with her novels crucial, desiring her work to provoke self-reflection and genuine emotion. Moshfegh explained her process as one of editing rather than generating new content initially, emphasizing the importance of deadlines in her work habits, inherited from her background as a classical musician.
Addressing her relationship with anxiety, she acknowledged a distinction between anxiety and passion, with anxiety manifesting mostly as physical agitation. Moshfegh recounted pivotal moments in her youth when she consciously chose writing over music, recognizing the need for a fulfilling path in her creative endeavors.
The themes of body image and self-perception in her characters stem from personal experiences, which she finds to be shared by many women today. Her structured approach to writing includes setting deadlines and implementing self-discipline, although she contemplates how her recent life changes may affect her work ethic.
When discussing potential creative blocks, Moshfegh stated she views such times as signals that she should not push herself unduly. She prefers to let ideas develop naturally, advocating for respecting one’s own creative timing. Although her eyesight issues once limited her reading while writing, she affirmed that she would continue writing even without financial incentives, emphasizing that writing is a fundamental aspect of her identity.