Erin Morgenstern Returns to Brookline Booksmith To Promote ‘The Starless Sea’

Eight years after the publication of “The Night Circus,” Erin Morgenstern returns to the spotlight to herald the release of her second novel, “The Starless Sea.”

On the night of its publication, fans of Morgenstern’s work flocked to the auditorium at the Coolidge Corner School in Brookline, Mass., to hear her speak. Liberty Hardy, a critic on the online platform “Book Riot,” host of the podcast “All the Books,” and reader of 300-400 books a year, mediated the discussion.

Brookline Booksmith, a local indie bookstore, hosted the event, and aptly so. When Morgenstern first published “The Night Circus” in 2011, Brookline Booksmith held her release party.

Her new novel, “The Starless Sea,” features an enchanted underground library and a graduate student named Zachary Ezra Rawlins. The book is layered — it features stories within stories, fables and fairytales interspersed within the pages of a larger novel.

It took Morgenstern eight years to write and publish another book. When Hardy mentioned the prodigious success of “The Night Circus,” Morgenstern expressed more discomfort than pride.

“It’s equal parts delightful and terrifying,” Morgenstern said.

The success of her debut did not spur Morgenstern on to prolificity. Rather, Morgenstern confessed that the fame and fortune of her first bestseller — accompanied by a host of avid fans clamoring for more and a cohort of unfettered critics — made her artistic progress difficult.

In fact, “The Night Circus” took five years to write, the finished product of a work first started in November of 2005 during National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), an online challenge that asks writers to produce 50,000 words in a month. The initial draft included a sizable amount of circus imagery but did not include the main character, Celia, and the final copy did not hit shelves until September of 2011.

“I’m never going to be a book-a-year person,” Morgenstern said.

Still, Morgenstern admitted that she was glad that “The Night Circus” required the kind of revision and effort that it did. She added that “The Starless Sea” required a similar process of extensive edits and reimagining.

“I have to write it wrong to write it right,” Morgenstern said.

Morgenstern began the hour-long discussion with Hardy by speaking about her artistic process. She did not create the character of Zachary, she asserted; rather, the character came to her.

“I have this weird thing that happens where I just have people in my head. It’s a little disconcerting sometimes, actually,” Morgenstern said.

But before she ever creates a character, Morgenstern begins her books with “spaces.” She has the backdrop before the proverbial actors ever strut onto the stage. Before Morgenstern ever coaxed Celia and Marco, the protagonists of “The Night Circus,” to life, she had the circus. Before Zachary appeared in her head, she had the sprawling, underground library that defines “The Starless Sea.”

In fact, Morgenstern revealed that she doesn’t particularly like circuses. In “The Night Circus,” she created the kind of circus that she would have liked to visit: a magical, otherworldly space of performative art. In the library of “The Starless Sea,” she brought to life what she calls “the ideal introvert space.” She builds her novels around what she calls “curating” an “ideal fantasy space.” She said that while some people thought of fantasy as escapism, she preferred to think of it as “interesting travel.”

These ideal spaces have made for a devoted group of fans. During the portion of the discussion in which audience members asked questions, one woman stood up and confessed that the imagery of “The Night Circus” was so fantastic that, when she raised a newborn baby, she felt as if she were going out every night to the circus as she stayed at home.

Before the event began, outside the auditorium, members of the show lined up for a block and a half on the sidewalk. Some of them were longtime fans of “The Night Circus” and knew it well.

“I was amazed by [‘The Night Circus.’] I really liked the descriptions in the book, especially of the circus itself,” Emily Swanson, a Boston resident, said.

Others, who regularly frequented author events, expressed their appreciation for Morgenstern’s insights on her work.

“I really like hearing from an author their perspective on their work. I think you get another added layer of depth you don’t get from just reading their work on the page,” Katie Schneider, another Boston resident, said.

Still others were writers, hoping to learn about craft.

“I read ‘The Night Circus’ back when it came out and thought it was really richly envisioned and a really lovely book. I’m actually a writer, and I’m interested in hearing her talk about her process and what it’s like to be a first-time novelist,” writer and audience member Diana Doty said.