Truman Capote: A Study of His Works and Writing Advice

Born in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1924, Truman Capote knew he was always destined for great things despite his mother causing him various amounts of grief throughout his childhood. Lillie Mae Faulk, or “Nina” as she liked to be called, was not meant to be a mother—something that herself and others all agreed on. Lillie had nonspecific yet big dreams of “making it” in the big city—as in New York City, of course—and would often drop everything and leave a very young Truman with his older cousins. She would return every once in a while when things got hard, but in just a day or two leave once again—Truman’s father was a salesman and was not in the picture.

He became very engrossed in books and before starting school he managed to teach himself both reading and writing. He began to read and write ferociously and entered into children’s writing contests and was even recognized by the Alliance for Young Artists and Writers at the age of twelve.

Early Success

Before he got his start in high society amongst gilded names like Babe Paley and Lee Radziwill, Truman Capote was just a young boy growing up in Monroeville, AL, alongside Harper Lee—both engrossed in literature and influenced by one another throughout their early writing careers. By his early twenties, Capote had found success among the literary world, first as a short story writer and then with the publication of his first novel Other Voices, Other Rooms in 1948. A quintessential Southern Gothic tale, Other Voices, Other Rooms is semi-autobiographical and caused quite the stir with just the author photo alone. The suggestive picture of Capote would be a foreshadowing of the gossip and dramedy that would follow him around for the next couple of decades—most of the time, Capote was in on it.

Capote was openly gay, almost unheard of in his time, and often described as flamboyant and eccentric, and without a care in the world of what others thought of him. Other Voices, Other Rooms had such frank and brazen prose that critics couldn’t help but marvel at his style.

Capote inevitably drew the attention of the Manhattan elite and cultivated a very fashionable inner circle. Known as his “Swans,” he befriended the likes of Gloria Guinness, Oona O’Neill Chaplin, Carol Marcus, Gloria Vanderbilt, Slim Keith, Ann Woodward, C. Z. Guest, Marella Agnelli, Pamela Harriman, and perhaps most famously, Babe Paley and Lee Radziwill. These women were the “It” girls of New York City at the time. Their faces and names were the biggest in social gatherings and fashion, and a couple were tied to some of the most prominent names in politics at the time—Lee Radziwill was Jackie Kennedy’s sister and went on to marry a Polish prince.

With the publication of Breakfast at Tiffany’s in 1958 and In Cold Blood in 1966, Capote skyrocketed into high society with a surplus of money and fame. Never one to shy away from the truth, or at least his own muddled version of it, Capote grew into the spotlight the way he did everything else: effortlessly. He was well sought after throughout the 50s and 60s, and into the mid-seventies, until he published a portion of his unfinished novel Answered Prayers in a 1976 Esquire issue—starting a feud that would end many friendships and potentially resulted in the suicide of Ann Woodward. The Esquire issue eventually pulled Capote into an abusive relationship with drugs and alcohol.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s and In Cold Blood

From an early age, Truman Capote knew that he was going to do something great with his life. He was determined to be loved by the public in ways that his own mother and father never had. Perhaps pushed by the abandonment that followed him around during childhood, Capote set out to write Breakfast at Tiffany’s. This novel was partly inspired by his observation “of all these girls who come to New York and spin in the sun for a moment like May flies and then disappear…I wanted to rescue one girl from that anonymity and preserve her for prosperity.” Capote watched his mother flit away to New York time and time again, never quite satisfied with her findings in the city or her quiet hometown life. This idea of a young woman, like Holly Golightly, must have embedded itself into Capote’s mind at such a young age. It seems inevitable that he would go on to author a story like Breakfast at Tiffany’s instead of being bogged down by his former quiet life.

Right around the publication of Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Capote started to move into a different direction. He started research for what would be called a “nonfiction novel,” Capote being one of the first to write this kind of novel, telling the story through an investigative lens of the murders of the Kansas-native Clutter family. After reading an article in the New York Times Capote flew down to Holcomb, Kansas, accompanied by childhood friend Harper Lee, to start a six year operation—a process of investigating, interviewing, and writing about his observations in real time.

What made In Cold Blood so unique was Capote’s real time journalism. He composed thousands of pages of notes—Harper Lee also penned a significant amount—as he talked with the townsfolk who were related to the murder suspects or the Clutter family. During his investigation Perry Smith and Richard Hickock confessed to the murders and were arrested. Capote set out to interview them and provides the backgrounds, personas, and psychologies of both of the killers in his novel. He didn’t finish writing the book until after Smith and Hickock were executed.

Friendship with Harper Lee

Both Truman Capote and Harper Lee, author of To Kill A Mockingbird (1960), grew up in Monroeville, Alabama and shared a love for literature and writing. Capote and Lee found success with each of their respective novels and shared public support of one another’s publications. Despite their very different lifestyles, the friends remained close for many years into their adulthoods and Capote hired Lee to help him with research during the Clutter case in Kansas. Two sides of the same coin, the people of Holcomb, Kansas found Lee to be softspoken and pleasant to interact with, but found Capote to be more difficult and sharp-edged. Capote quickly realized the subjects of his investigation would sooner spill secrets to Lee rather than himself.

In Cold Blood and To Kill a Mockingbird are some of the most successful books of the 1960s, yet Capote became jealous of Lee’s money and acclaim and their relationship turned sour. Lee continued to show Capote public support but confided in personal letters to close friends that Capote “nursed his envy for more than 20 years.” When the full version of In Cold Blood was eventually published in 1966, Capote failed to mention the huge contributions Lee made to the project, and instead only mentioned her in the dedication along with his long term partner, Jack Dunphy.

It was a known fact that Capote also had a tendency to meddle with the truth when telling stories—whether in his novels or in conversation. Lee has been among some sources—although hers were in private letters—to go as far as say “compulsive lying” happened to be a trait Capote exhibited. Others have criticized In Cold Blood for its lack of veracity at times. Residents of Holcomb, Kansas have claimed certain events or dialogue in the novel did not actually happen or that they have no recollection of the events.

Truman Capote’s Writing Advice

In a 1957 interview with Pati Hill for The Paris Review, Capote presents his belief that “maintaining a stylistic and emotional upper hand over your material” is essential when writing stories and that a “faulty rhythm” can completely wreck your material. He cites Virginia Woolf, Ernest Hemingway, and Henry James as masters of this—claiming that he is no expert and not always successful, but tries his best.

Capote recognizes that story telling should come naturally to the writer; a story should, by the end, have no other way to end because its natural ending is already being presented by you, the writer. He quite literally references nature as an example: “The test of whether or not a writer has divined the natural shape of his story is just this: after reading it, can you imagine it differently, or does it silence your imagination and seem to you absolute and final? As an orange is final. As an orange is something nature has made just right.”

Capote was also determined as a young boy, around 11 or 12, to practice his writing. He would arrive home every day and sit for hours after school writing—just like other kids practice basketball or instruments, Capote was penning his next story. He began to believe that this would lead to self-discovery, which would be a process that takes as long as a writer’s life, something that would never be finished.

Another piece of advice from Capote: “Writing in the first person automatically gives you a point of view. One of the most difficult things in writing a novel or anything at all is to choose the point of view from which it’s going to be told.” There are a few instances in interviews where Capote is asked about his writing process and what it may look like. A common denominator amongst many of these is that Capote is very much a planner and was meticulous about his process. And he advised other writers to be the same. If there is an area of writing or grammar or a law of language that you don’t know or understand, it’s best to learn it quickly. Take time to consider where your story is going. Capote would often write the last page of his story so that he would know where it was heading. In the same interview with The Paris Review, Capote is asked about his writing process and he details the several longhand drafts he crafts and then the next and the next and even the next one.

There are many benefits with this kind of writing process. Capote was able to find holes and mishaps in his stories. He would often read them aloud to friends and the different mediums he would use—pencil and paper, then typed on yellow paper, then a final draft typed on white paper, and all the while in bed—gave him ample opportunities to make changes where he saw fit. Obviously today there are many more chances to fix things since we’ve gone completely digital, but Capote’s point is that planning and drafting are always going to take long because it’s essential when crafting a well-developed story.

Answered Prayers

Remember that vague thing I mentioned that happened in the mid-seventies? In the height of his limelight, Capote made the biggest mistake of his career and published a very gossipy, very revealing, and poorly disguised chapter called “La Cote Basque, 1965”  from an unfinished novel, titled Answered Prayers, which spilled secrets from some of the most coveted female celebrities and socialites of his era. This was already a very daring thing to do, but what Capote later said about Answered Prayers is arguably worse. When Capote was confronted about the whole fiasco, he only had this to say: “What did they expect? I’m a writer, and I use everything. Did all those people think I was there just to entertain them?” This quote contradicts Capote’s true intentions of the novel, however.

He had previously mentioned that some of the women featured in Answered Prayers would not have known who he had written about due to the fact that they were too “dumb.” Critics are divided on what Capote’s true intentions were but most can agree that the publication of “La Cote Basque, 1965” was probably not a good idea and definitely did not go down favorably the way he had calculated. In the aftermath, Capote began to realize what he’d done and was sort of shocked that some of his former “Swans” were not answering his calls or letters.

Capote began a dark descent into drugs and alcohol shortly after and he never recovered. In the last years of his life, Capote was in and out of rehab centers and eventually passed away at the age of 59 due to liver disease complicated by phlebitis and multiple drug intoxication while staying at the home of his dear friend, Joanne Carson, in 1984.

Discussion Questions

Provided are some discussion questions which you can answer below in a comment or on your own in a journal of your choosing. Remember there are no right or wrong answers—these are meant to be fun. Enjoy!

·       Think about Truman Capote’s example of nature’s creation of an orange being divine and his comparison to an almost divinely crafted end of a story. Are there stories that you have read where you feel there was absolutely no other ending you could have imagined after reading? Are there any stories where you think the story wasn’t final?

·       What do you believe Truman Capote’s intentions were in writing “La Cote Basque, 1965” and Answered Prayers? Have you ever read it or something similar that was equally scandalous?

·       After reading Capote’s mention of Virginia Woolf, Henry James, and Ernest Hemingway, do you see any similarities between their prose and his?

·       What did you take away from reading some of Capote’s advice? Do you have a favorite piece or one that you’ve found really works for you?