Eliza Jane Brazier, GOOD RICH PEOPLE
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[0:41]Eliza Jane Braseer is the author of Good Rich People.
[0:45]She is an author, screenwriter, and journalist, and currently lives in California, where she is
[0:49]developing her books for television.
[0:52]Welcome Eliza, thanks for coming on mom's don't have time to read books to discuss
[0:55]Good Rich People.
[0:56]Thank you so much for having me.
[0:58]It's a pleasure to be here.
[0:59]That's a pleasure to have you.
[1:01]I have to tell listeners that behind Eliza is a horse from a carousel on the gold pole
[1:08]and everything, just right there in the background as if it's a chair.
[1:12]It's the coolest thing I've ever seen.
[1:14]It's the winner of the Zoom background award, I have to say.
[1:17]Guys, don't need chairs, but at least I have a knock.
[1:20]OK, can you please tell everybody what is Good Rich People about?
[1:26]Well, essentially it's about this sort of award-rich couple who to entertain themselves.
[1:32]They invite self-made success stories to live in their guest house, and then they sort
[1:36]of mess with them with the kind of eye to destroying their lives.
[1:42]So they're playing one such game when the sort of target of the game actually ends up being
[1:47]not who they think it is.
[1:49]Yeah, so it just kind of has these explosive consequences.
[1:54]Oh my gosh, I have to read this one passage in the beginning about Graham.
[1:59]And this is after, you know, what is her name?
[2:01]Lila.
[2:02]Lila.
[2:03]OK, Graham smells nothing like he looks.
[2:05]You would expect him to have a crisp, clean scent, newly minted cash soaked in lemon
[2:09]verbena.
[2:10]Instead, he smells like hot testosterone, like something furo, like the kind of man
[2:14]he would hack down the door with an axe to save kittens from a burning building.
[2:18]I don't know what to do with his smell.
[2:19]There is nothing more confusing than being sexually attracted to your husband.
[2:23]So true.
[2:24]That's one of my favorite lines.
[2:26]I just love that.
[2:27]There were a lot of good lines.
[2:28]So, oh yeah, Lila with a Y, that's right, of course.
[2:31]Too funny.
[2:32]The thing you said later, you said, Margot spends half her day walking bean.
[2:36]Lila, Margot's plastic surgery isn't perfect.
[2:39]If you look closely, you can see her original face, little digs, which one did I love
[2:47]on this page?
[2:49]Margot owns half the neighborhood.
[2:50]Her other houses on our street, but I don't think people live in them.
[2:53]On occasion, I will see someone rambling along the street, looking startled, as if they're
[2:56]not sure how they got there, but I never see the same person twice.
[3:00]That is what Margot likes about the neighborhood, what she likes about less angelist in general.
[3:03]You will never find a city where people care less about what you get up to.
[3:09]Also true.
[3:10]Okay.
[3:11]So, what made you think of this?
[3:13]Did you have a guest room experience and you were like, oh, imagine if X, Y, Z, where
[3:18]did this come from?
[3:19]Honestly, it is so much stuff that's from my life.
[3:21]So I would say the main, the biggest thing is probably I lived below the poverty line for
[3:25]a decade, actually in London, and during that time, so I was married to my late husband
[3:31]and he was a musician, and he had all these friends who were uber wealthy or famous or whatever,
[3:38]so we were below the poverty line, but we would go to these parties or he would play shows
[3:43]at people's houses, and they'd be these insanely wealthy people, people who's like
[3:48]names, everyone would know, right?
[3:51]And it was just like the whole contrast of that, and sometimes they'd come to our house
[3:54]and it would be like their poverty experience, and it's just like the whole contrast
[3:58]of the extreme wealth and poverty that exists in the world, particularly in large cities.
[4:05]But then speaking to the guest house thing, when I wrote this book, I was living in the
[4:09]Hollywood Hills, and I was living in a duplex, and I was living underneath.
[4:14]So I was in this kind of creepy dark little, like to me, it was the nicest, you know,
[4:19]the nicest place I ever lived, like it was a one bedroom when I was like, I never had
[4:23]a one bedroom, but it was, you know, one above was like clearly a lot nicer, and it
[4:28]was like this couple's like there, and one was like a director, you know, and the other
[4:31]one was a writer, and it was just kind of like, so I kind of stole the little bit from
[4:36]all those things, you know?
[4:39]As we do, so we can go back though, what can you, what happened to your husband?
[4:47]Well, he passed away probably about seven years ago, so yeah, I'm so sorry, yeah, now thank
[4:54]you.
[4:55]How long had you been married?
[4:56]Not that it matters, but well, we were together for seven years, oh, we were married
[5:00]probably for three.
[5:01]I think, but yeah, no, it's sorry, I said in or not said in, I mean, it's like, you
[5:08]know, it's just weird.
[5:09]I think I'm really lucky, like, so right before you died, as when I sold my first books,
[5:14]I sold YA books, so in a way it was really fortunate because it's like I had like
[5:19]money, so because like I said, like we had like nothing, like we lived like an extreme poverty,
[5:26]honestly, but like he made it fun, but yeah, so in that way I was like, that was fortunate.
[5:32]I have like a really great family, you know, I've been able to like make this whole writing
[5:36]thing working, I bought a house this year, I have a horse, I have a dog, you know, so
[5:40]it's like I've been super fortunate, and I think a lot of that comes from things that
[5:44]he taught me, you know, and you know, even though, obviously, you know, he's still a part
[5:48]of my life, so it's just crazy, that is crazy, yeah, did you grow up below the poverty
[5:56]line as well?
[5:57]Like what?
[5:58]No, my parents are, they're from LA, like they're, I guess, like you'd say like middle
[6:03]class, like that I have like, I'm gonna have like eight brothers and sisters, and I don't
[6:06]want to like, but you know, I mean, we definitely didn't have it like, you know, like
[6:10]a lot of the people around us, but the level that I lived at with my husband was much,
[6:16]let's say I don't know what lower on the money scale, and were you working at the time
[6:21]or were you writing or were we?
[6:22]Yeah, I know, I was, I mean, I did like various jobs, I also like had to always be trying
[6:27]to get a visa, so like I was in school for different parts, like it was just like a lot of
[6:30]different things, but yeah, like bookkeeping.
[6:32]It's really weird, I mean, not to like, I guess go too far into it, but I mean, it's like,
[6:37]I don't think people realize that when you're coming from like a certain level how hard
[6:42]it is to actually get a good job, I mean, I applied like it during that time to hundreds
[6:46]of jobs, and I've never, you know, it's like you can't even, when you can't even like
[6:50]wash your hair, you know, it's like you're not, I think it's hard to understand how hard
[6:57]it is to get out of those kind of situations and how much, I mean, how much stress you're
[7:02]dealing with all the time as well, like all, you know, trying to figure out, I guess like
[7:06]how, you know, where you're going to get money from and there's a lot of stuff that
[7:09]happens to you that wouldn't happen to you if you had money that you're constantly dealing
[7:13]with, so you're like an unduated, an unduated with a lot of trauma all the time.
[7:18]So yeah, I mean, I did work, I had, I was like a bookkeeper, I worked for real estate companies
[7:22]I did, I was a waitress, I worked at bars, I did all kinds of things, but it was never,
[7:27]I never had a good job in my life ever to this day, I mean, apart from writing, I have
[7:32]the best job, you know, yeah, that's cool, I mean, I never would have thought of that time,
[7:37]I didn't know, I didn't, you know, I didn't have plans to even, you know, be a writer,
[7:40]I wasn't very like optimistic about my future, I would say, so yeah, I'm proud of you.
[7:46]What did you do to get through those times? Like, what did you read it? Is that something
[7:49]like, what did you do? I mean, this is the thing, it's like, we're talking about such
[7:53]a long period when you're talking about almost a decade. So there's a lot, I think that
[7:58]you go through a lot of different things. And you know what else? Honestly, like, I don't
[8:03]think that I thought of myself necessarily that way. I mean, when I said it was just kind
[8:08]of a thing of like, there's just so many like little things that you, that you're so occupied
[8:14]with, like thinking about how much money do you have and how much does somebody owe you
[8:17]and how much does, how much is my husband borrow from this person, how much does this person
[8:21]borrow from him and like, oh, you know, it's just like a constant running tally. And then
[8:26]the things that break and then you don't have them anymore and you have to like figure
[8:28]out ways to do that. And then like, you know, we had, there was like, there's a lot of
[8:33]issues with our, a place that we lived, just constant drama, you know? So I don't know.
[8:40]Like, I mean, I've always been like a reader as a kid, but I would say that during that
[8:43]time, I didn't really read that much. Right. To be honest, did you have any escapes
[8:48]from the stress? I mean, you know, it's like, we had, my husband had great friends.
[8:54]We had a ton of people that were super helpful. My husband also, like, he would have
[8:58]people, I mean, this is like not necessarily an escape, but speaking to the point of the
[9:02]book, yeah, the character, Michael, you know, who comes and lives with her is 100% based
[9:07]on we have people living with us for most of our relationship, living on our sofa. And
[9:13]kind of like looking back now, I obviously like, wow, these were sort of like grifters,
[9:17]who sort of took advantage of us. But yeah, no, I mean, it's like, it's just a weird,
[9:24]I, so different world, you know, because I can't even imagine doing that, but my husband
[9:28]would have people come and live with us and be trying to help them with their lives.
[9:31]And I was like, what honey? And yet your depiction in the book of like, you know, the wealthy
[9:39]woman in the supermarket just sort of picking up a housekeeper and all of that. So where
[9:43]does all of that come from? I mean, definitely like just all, I guess I would say like
[9:48]observation. Yeah, I think I really, I'm definitely like an observer of people and I find
[9:53]people just so funny the way that they act. And I don't know. So I definitely think like
[10:00]people I've maybe interacted with or just almost like making fun of, I think people make such
[10:04]weird decisions. You just wonder why. So it's kind of like just trying to like imagine maybe what
[10:11]somebody's thinking might be. So how did you then end up as a writer? How like what happened?
[10:20]Well, so I'm like, go all the way back to like the strange people staying on your couch
[10:25]and not washing your hair and take me to this book. I tried to wash my hair, but there's
[10:30]points we didn't have hot water. And we only had a bath so it was hard in London, right? Anyway.
[10:37]But yeah, so I guess like about a year before my husband died, my sister-in-law is a very
[10:42]successful writer, Kirsten White. And she like at that point, I already had like six or seven
[10:48]books and I was like dude, like she can do it like maybe I can. Like I'm just going to kind of do what
[10:51]she did. And so what that was was basically, and this was what I guess like seven, eight years ago,
[10:58]joined Twitter, read every blog about how to write, how to approach agents. What do agents want?
[11:05]How do you get an editor? Like how do you do all this stuff? And I got involved in like, you know,
[11:08]those contests and stuff. And so I did all that and I just like really worked very diligently for
[11:14]like a year on a book. And then, you know, I had some agents who were who, who like read the book
[11:19]and said, we like the idea and we don't like the book. So I rewrote the entire book, sent it out.
[11:25]And then I started getting interest from agents. I actually had them on that. So this is my YA book.
[11:30]And I had like 12 agents offered representing, right? Well, one who honestly like, she's,
[11:36]she's not my agent anymore, but she's like one of the best agents in the world. So she,
[11:40]at that time she was kind of starting out. But anyway, so she represented my book. She got like
[11:45]multiple editors interested in auction and all this kind of stuff. And like, you know,
[11:49]it was like a such a huge thing. Like I remember like me and my husband like waking up to
[11:52]getting that because you know, it was in different times. I'm getting the email that like from Disney
[11:56]Hyperion with the offer. Oh my gosh. Being like, it was more money in that contract than I would have
[12:01]made it my current job in my entire life. Do you know what I mean? Like it was crazy. Like we're like
[12:06]jumping up and down on the bed. Just wild. So yeah, just I mean, honestly, I think that the
[12:12]publishing world can feel super inaccessible. But then the internet, I think is kind of like the
[12:16]great equalizer and really really helps with that. And there were so many resources out there
[12:20]and people that can support even all that kind of stuff. And if I think if you're really diligent
[12:24]about it and just like, you know, I'm very obsessive about things. So yeah, I just got really stuck
[12:30]in and like just kept working. But it's still it's up and down. I mean, I didn't get another book
[12:35]deal for probably four or five years after that. You know, like so it's just never like you're just
[12:42]like, oh, he's trying. But were there books you wrote that they rejected or you just didn't
[12:47]repose those or like what happened then? Sorry. Yeah. No, no, no. It's just because it's like
[12:51]it's such a, I don't know. I think I pack a lot into like short amounts of times. So, you know,
[12:56]I sold that book. My husband died literally like I got my first check and I was in LA and I got
[13:03]my first check from Disney. And literally the next day my husband had this accident where he like
[13:08]lost the use of his arm and then he died probably like a month and a half after. So it was just a
[13:12]lot. Oh my god. Yes. What was the accident? Can you talk about it? Well, I don't want to go to like
[13:20]I felt a glass partition in our house. They severed like his arm like it was just like a lot.
[13:26]Oh, God. Yeah, crazy. Very. I mean, I'm and also like and so this is like a well, because now
[13:32]you maybe, but it's the weird thing, right? Because you know, there's people living on our sofa. So
[13:36]like there was some guy living on our sofa that, you know, made a turn and get out of a belt
[13:41]called 999, you know, like a bajillion ambulance to showed up. They actually life lighted them in a
[13:46]helicopter. Oh my god. Which was like not even far from us, but I guess that's like how they do it
[13:52]in this. There was like an army surgeon like this is how amazing to the UK is by the way like the NHS.
[13:57]Oh my god. Yeah, but this like army surgeon and like operated, you know, like while they were flying
[14:02]to, you know, to paddock and like it was great. Oh my gosh. Amazing. Amazing. But anyway,
[14:07]yeah. So he died and then I still had another book in that contract and I was just like,
[14:11]I was struggling. Like I was working so hard. Like I was trying so hard, but my brain was just like
[14:16]not working. I mean, just like that thing that I think a lot of people go through. It's like to
[14:21]you know, depression, grief, whatever. And it was just like the hardest thing because I really was,
[14:26]you know, like working and writing and rewriting and trying. And it was like I couldn't even
[14:31]think straight. So yeah, it took I honestly and I was sending so after I finally got the second
[14:39]book through and then I was like sending other books to my agent. She was rejecting them over and
[14:43]over. Oh no. You know, I was just kind of realizing like maybe like I'm like the kind of the problem.
[14:49]Maybe I need to just stop doing this. And then I just had like a couple different things where I
[14:52]felt like that was the message I was getting. So I like quit basically. I said to my agent,
[14:58]I don't want to, I don't want you to represent me anymore. Like I'm done kind of thing. I need
[15:02]you know, whatever. I didn't think I would go back to it. And I moved back to America to work in a
[15:08]dude ranch because I used to ride horses when I was a kitten. I was just trying to find anything
[15:12]that would kind of make me happy. So I go to this dude ranch and it was like a nightmare. It was
[15:19]terrible. I was there for like six weeks. The people were totally crazy. We were in the middle of
[15:23]nowhere. And I was like, okay. So I had to leave. It literally got like dangerous. And I was like,
[15:28]well, I have to leave. So I, yeah, I left. But then six months later, like fast forward, I moved to
[15:35]Los Angeles, wanted to be a TV writer, had this idea that like the setting of that dude ranch
[15:41]would be a good setting for a novel or a story, right? And then I ended up writing it as a novel
[15:45]because I couldn't, I didn't know how to sell for TV. Yeah. So it all kind of like weirdly worked out,
[15:51]because like I quit, ended up at this ranch. And then the ranch turned into, if I disappear,
[15:57]which was the novel before this one. And then I, you know, sold that actually to like be involved
[16:02]in the TV show. And then now I have good rich people. And it's like, it's just weird. It's like this
[16:07]crazy journey. But like, in a way, even the bad things have fed into good things, which I think
[16:14]like by four sometimes because I'll make that happen. But you know,
[16:20]Wow, I'm like super impressed. And it's like so confusing to people, but it's kind of crazy.
[16:25]No, you know, you're saying all this with like, you know, if people couldn't see you,
[16:30]right, like pretend they were just hearing your words, they would imagine that you were,
[16:35]you know, very somber, like that the, because the things you're talking about are just
[16:38]curious. And you say it with like a laugh and a, and this like joyousness is like buoyancy to you.
[16:44]It's, it's like sort of, it's great. I mean, it's wonderful. What can you do? What can you do?
[16:50]I don't know. You know, that is like a very real thing though. I've read up on grief a bit. And
[16:55]you know, this whole brain fog is a thing. Like you literally are compromised until
[17:00]you're frustrating because it was like, you know, you're under contract. They pushed my book back
[17:04]a year. I still feel like the book was terrible. I think they probably felt that way too. It
[17:08]just sucked. Like it sucks when you're, you're sitting there and you're doing it. And you're like,
[17:13]what, I can't, does this even make sense? Like what, like what are senses? Like what are
[17:18]we're like floating on the, you know what I mean? It's like this is not fun. Yeah. But like I said,
[17:24]like I've been like, you know, lucky, I think it's like if you push, if you just keep going forward,
[17:29]and that's like the thing too. It's like there's so many times in my life when it's like you just
[17:32]think like, oh my gosh, is this going to be forever? Like it might always going to be like this.
[17:36]This is like always going to be this hard. And it's like, no, it won't. It might be harder. It might be
[17:42]easier sometimes. It's going to be up and down, but it's not going to be the same.
[17:45]Right. I mean, I guess that's like why we focus on the day at hand, right?
[17:53]Yeah. You don't know what's coming next. So you just, you know, focus on all you can do.
[17:58]Oh, right. Because you can only control your perspective of things like for real, like 100%.
[18:03]That's it. And even sometimes you can't control that.
[18:06]So be glad when you can.
[18:09]Oh my gosh.
[18:11]So are you still writing? Like, are you enjoying writing?
[18:16]I honestly enjoyed it a lot more. Yeah.
[18:18]I think it was hard. Like when I wrote, if I disappear, it was like a very cheerful,
[18:22]I don't know why. It's like torture.
[18:23]You don't know why. I wonder why. It's such a mystery to me.
[18:26]But when I started writing, yeah, then I started writing good rich people and it's like,
[18:29]hello, pandemic. I'm like, wow, that's another level. But when I wrote like the final draft
[18:34]of good rich people. So I like rewrote the entire book in like five weeks because I just
[18:39]didn't think it was working. And I enjoyed that. Like I was laughing. You know, it was hard.
[18:43]It's like, I was writing very quickly. But I think it was, it was fun. And like the book I'm
[18:49]working on now, it's like, there's times when I'm like, this is so good. And then there's other
[18:53]times when I'm like, oh my God, a crazy person wrote this. What is your book now?
[18:59]It's basically about like mothers and daughters in like the horseback writing sort of world
[19:05]in Southern California. It was like I wrote writing horses and like I actually worked at like
[19:09]some super posh barns in like Orange County and LA when I sold if I'd superior actually,
[19:15]that's what I was doing. So I am very like fascinated by that. And I just want to
[19:19]write some cool kind of, you know, it's sort of like a woman's fiction kind of mystery vibe in
[19:24]that world. Oh, that sounds awesome. No, it's cool. It's, I mean, it'll be cool eventually. Just,
[19:30]you know, my sister-in-law grew up working as a, she wrote a lot and then I didn't. And then
[19:38]it was a teacher for like all these, you know, she has some really funny stories. Let me just
[19:42]say that. Yeah, probably have similar stories. But we have similar stories. I should put you
[19:47]too in touch. You know, it's very funny that things that she'll say. I mean, while I was like, you know,
[19:53]taking my little writing lessons for one summer. Anyway, oh my gosh. Okay. Well,
[20:00]Oh, do you have any advice for aspiring authors?
[20:04]I guess like my advice is that I think,
[20:07]you know, I think that it's way harder
[20:09]than anyone realizes.
[20:12]So if you feel like it's really hard,
[20:15]you're doing something right.
[20:18]And I think just it's like perseverance
[20:20]and like, you know, that's the biggest thing.
[20:22]It's not about like some, you know,
[20:23]being able to like stick with something
[20:25]and keep working on it even when it's bad,
[20:27]I find for me it's the hardest thing
[20:29]because I'll look at something
[20:30]and I'll compare it to other people
[20:32]and I'll be like, this is terrible.
[20:34]You know, like I should just stop, I should quit.
[20:36]Like I'll never be as good as everyone else.
[20:38]Which maybe I won't do cares, but like,
[20:40]but just like, you know, you can get, it gets better,
[20:43]you know, like you have to keep working on it.
[20:45]And that's like I think just the hardest thing.
[20:48]But if you can do that, then your golden, you'll be fine.
[20:52]You know, it's a funny,
[20:53]because I've been like putting some quotes that I love
[20:56]that I hear like on the podcast during a book
[20:57]or something and I've been like,
[20:58]thinking about putting them on t-shirts or something
[21:00]and like doing like a little line of t-shirts
[21:02]with like unique quotes or something.
[21:04]So I was just thinking, at least I haven't,
[21:05]you were saying, if it feels really hard,
[21:07]you're doing something right.
[21:08]And then I'm like, people could totally misinterpret
[21:11]what that quote is about.
[21:13]I'm like, I cannot put that on a t-shirt, actually.
[21:15]I'm kind of like my settle, yeah,
[21:17]so I'm like, yeah.
[21:18]Yeah.
[21:19]Yeah.
[21:20]Anyway.
[21:21]Oh, okay, everything is really sexy.
[21:24]Yeah.
[21:26]Oh, and eventually.
[21:29]Yeah.
[21:30]Back to your attractive husband,
[21:32]see that we talked about the beginning, but yes.
[21:35]Oh my gosh.
[21:36]Well, Eliza, first of all, I'm really just,
[21:39]I know you talk about it in a way
[21:43]because you've had to find a way to just,
[21:45]I'm just so, I'm really sorry for your loss
[21:48]and all the stuff you went through.
[21:49]And I know sorry is such a pathetic thing to say,
[21:52]but I'm sorry you had to go through all that.
[21:54]And thank you for sharing it.
[21:55]And it's really inspiring how you've gotten through that.
[22:00]And I can see it like your attitude is like so huge, right?
[22:03]It's so, look at this like laugh and smile
[22:05]and look at all the stuff.
[22:06]I mean, this is amazing, right?
[22:07]People with every resource and their fingertips
[22:10]couldn't write this book.
[22:11]So anyway, it's amazing.
[22:13]Well, thank you.
[22:14]Appreciate that.
[22:14]It's very kind of you today.
[22:16]It's a problem.
[22:17]All right, well, go enjoy your carousel horse
[22:19]and your actual horses and laugh
[22:23]of take a victory lap by this success of this one.
[22:26]So thank you so much.
[22:29]You're welcome.
[22:30]It's so nice to connect.
[22:31]Have a good weekend, have a good weekend.
[22:33]Bye-bye.
[22:35]Hi, I'm City Owens and you're listening
[22:37]to the award-winning podcast.
[22:39]Moms don't have time to read books.
[22:40]If you like this podcast, you will love my new anthology
[22:44]called Moms Don't Have Time to Have Kids.
[22:46]Check it out and you'll hear from 49 authors
[22:49]about all sorts of things.
[22:50]Moms don't have time to do.
[22:51]All the authors have been on this podcast.
[22:53]Also, check out my TikTok at with Zibi and Tracy.
[22:56]My other podcast, Sex Talk with Zibi and Tracy.
[22:59]Check out Moms Don't Have Time to Write on Medium.
[23:02]And of course, my new publishing company called Zibi Books.
[23:06]And now back to our daily author interview site
[23:08]and a quick hello from some of my kids.
[23:10]Hi, hi, hello.
[23:12]Enjoy the show.