Claire Hopple: On Surveillance, Diary Keeping, Letting Yourself Play, and Her New Novel ‘Take it Personally’

Claire Hopple’s new novel Take it Personally (Stalking Horse Press, 2025) centers on Tori, the lead singer of a local rock band. She takes on an amateur private investigator job when she’s hired to spy on a famous diarist. Tori’s story is propulsive, exploring questions of surveillance, authority, fame, anonymity, and community. This novel has everything—psychic roommates, sinister neighborhood watch groups, nudist neighbors, you name it. I’ve never read a book quite like this. Claire’s voice is very funny, often absurdist, and always entertaining. A veteran of the indie lit scene, Claire is the author of six books, all published under different small presses. 

Claire and I sat down over Zoom to discuss her witty and fast-paced book, the timeless themes it explores, and the creative process behind her vast body of work.

Emma Burger: Your protagonist, Tori, is hired to follow a diarist and determine whether the people she writes about are real or fictionalized. Where did the idea for that premise come from? 

Claire Hopple: It just sort of popped into my head. I was taking a walk and there were two women in front of me and I was just thinking, what if they think I’m following them? And it just snowballed from there. It’s still a weird concept, so I’m not fully sure how that happened in my brain, but that’s how it all started. I just kept thinking about that idea, and fleshing it out and working with it.

EB: What do you consider Tori’s employers’ motive for hiring her to spy on the diarist? 

CH: Such a good question. I love leaving a little mystery behind, especially with characters that seem like they’re in a place of authority. I’ve noticed that people often project onto authority figures based on whatever they’ve experienced in the past. If the figure is stoic or silent or just not really giving any sort of reaction, then people read into that however they like, or however they’ve experienced that before. I kind of wanted to leave that up in the air, so people could feel their own feelings about authority, because there are always a lot of them. It’s like a Rorshach. You’re just kind of interpreting it as you’re reading it. 

EB: That’s a really interesting way of putting it. What is your relationship to authority? 

CH: My personal experience with authority is complicated. I’ve experienced a lot of negative authority figures in my life, or just bad experiences with authority over time. That said, there have been some good ones. It’s not all bad, but in just about every field of your life—doctor, pastor, boss—I think we’ve all been there. We’ve all had a bad something, so that’s something I relate to. But I also need to be careful with not assuming things about people just because they’re silent. I hope that people, even though I’m not in a place of authority, don’t do that to me because I’m a shy person who doesn’t often talk for no reason. 

EB: What made you interested in questions of surveillance in the first place?

CH: Any kind of surveillance is automatically intriguing. A lot of my favorite books and movies have some sort of aspect of that. And automatically, to have someone being watched means they’re worthy of being watched in a sense. That means we have to figure out why, so it moves things along. 

EB: I find it interesting because I love watching the mundanity of other people’s everyday lives on TikTok or YouTube in those “day in my life” type of videos. There’s something inherently human about wanting to surveil other people and peer into their day-to-day lives. 

CH: I completely agree. I love going to estate sales and home tours and things like that, and it’s not so I can buy something—it’s so I can see how people live and how they organize things. There are some things, like you said, that are so mundane they almost go without saying. Nobody really talks about them. So it’s like, how do other people do this very basic thing? 

EB: I wonder how much of that has to do with us being writers. Are we more invested in these questions? Or is it just human nature to want to know?

CH: I think we probably experience it on a higher level, but it does seem like everyone feels that way. Everyone has some sort of healthy curiosity about it. 

EB: It’s interesting too that you made the victim of the stalking a diarist, because a diarist is the old school version of the influencer. 

CH: Yeah, that’s a good point. I think there’s something to that. How can someone be famous for their diaries? It seems like something that a little girl does on a ruffled bedspread with a little lock, and there’s sparkles and unicorns on the cover. So I think I liked the contrast of some people’s preconceived notions of diaries, and also being taken really seriously in a field, and having somehow gained notoriety through that. It’s a really fascinating concept to me. 

EB: Neighborhood watch plays a prominent part in the community where this book is set. What do you think is the psychology behind neighborhood watch, and what made that organization a good foil to Tori’s own spying? 

CH: I think I love a good conspiracy. To imagine something like the neighborhood watch being sinister. It seemed like a place that I really needed to go with this. Kind of like a secret society, in a sense. I also think a lot of people are missing groups in their lives. Socialization looks very different now than it did even a handful of years ago. It’s kind of also an antiquated idea that people would gather together physically all the time and have these close connections, even if they are for dubious purposes. 

EB: This is a book that centers around real life surveillance in a time of unprecedented surveillance over the internet. Did you have online surveillance in mind at all as you were writing? 

CH: You know, I honestly didn’t. I think the online world is in my mind so much when I’m not writing and reading, that I didn’t want it to have that much of a role. I think it would benefit everybody to  be offline a little bit more, so encouraging that, and exploring a world where that wasn’t the priority seemed important. 

EB: When does the novel take place? The world you describe feels like it’s from a time gone by. 

CH: I did have somewhat of a present in mind, but I also really liked the idea of not being tied to time as much and not mentioning certain devices or anything like that. I think I talk about her applying for remote freelancing jobs or something like that, but that’s literally the only mention I have that could be tied to the present. And the cover is very seventies. It’s a collage and the main part of it is taken from a sewing catalog from the seventies. 

EB: Your voice in this novel is very singular. Were there particular writers you drew from or were reading while you wrote this book? 

CH: I can’t remember exactly who I was reading when I wrote this because I wrote it a couple of years ago, but I have tried-and-true writers I always come back to, even if I’m not currently reading their actual books. I’m heavily influenced by Renee Gladman and Amelia Gray and Scott McClanahan and Sam Pink. People like that. I think I return to their stories even if they don’t have a new book out for me to read. 

EB: What is your day job, by the way, or are you a full-time writer? 

CH: I have a day job. I work for a marketing agency, so I’m a content strategist. I’m doing a lot of different kinds of writing during the day, and editing and brainstorming, so I can’t get enough of it, apparently.

EB: It must be hard, because you’re using that side of your brain for work and also for your own projects.

CH: Honestly, I don’t think it’s hard. It’s almost like a compulsion for me. I read a lot, and that makes you want to write more. I can’t not write. I’ve actually tried to quit before. It can be a frustrating thing to try and actually get your work published, as you know, but I can’t not do it. I just leaned into it a few years ago and said, this is just my little hobby that will forever be there. 

EB: You have many published books! It’s definitely more than a hobby. Has writing always been a part of your life since you were a kid? 

CH: Ever since I was a little girl I wrote stories, or I would play with my best friend and we would act out stories, so we were very imaginative growing up. Then, during adolescence, my brain kind of shut off. And I mean, it really does kind of shut down, scientifically speaking, and I didn’t really read or write very much, if at all, for a long stretch. Then in college it just started creeping back in and it has taken hold of me. I really do feel like it’s almost a possession at times. I don’t know how you feel about it, but it almost feels like something is coming out whether I want it to or not, and I’m along for the ride, which can be really fun. 

I think it all comes back to letting yourself play. A lot of people don’t realize or think about or want to accept the fact that play is not just for children. It’s for adults too, and it’s a healthy way to get out feelings. For us writers, this is how we play. We’re not getting in our heads too much, or thinking about the wrong kinds of things. You can be in a reading rut, and that can really change your writing life too. If you’re in a good place though and you have any sort of mental space, then it can be a really great time for that flow. 

EB: The novel has a very strong sense of community and place. Was the neighborhood you write about based on a real place? 

CH: It was totally fictionalized. It’s weird, I always make these characters that feel really real to me, but I don’t actually know anyone like them. I’ve even written a book called Tell Me How You Really Feel, and it was set in my tiny, tiny hometown in the middle of nowhere, Pennsylvania. The whole setting was so real and I was drawing on my actual memory, but none of the characters were like people I actually knew at all. I don’t know where that comes from, but maybe they’re my imaginary friends. I think part of it is how I wish people were. Or maybe I don’t actually want them to be that way, but it makes the scene more fun or interesting. 

EB: Tori is the lead singer of a local rock band. Why was it important to you that your protagonist be a musician? 

CH: I think music is important, and it’s an important part of my life but I don’t actually have any experience being a musician. I failed at playing the recorder in school when I had to for music class. So I feel a little bit like a fraud having a musician as the main character, but there are a lot of stories and books about writers, and I think it’s a way to represent a creator of some kind—an artist—without being too on the nose. It gives her a vehicle for a change of scenery and allows her to have adventures in an easier way. 

EB: Your writing style is very funny and even a bit absurdist. Are you a comedy fan? Do you feel like comedy influenced your work at all?

CH: I am a fan of comedy. I don’t watch stand-up necessarily, but yeah, people have said the word absurdist a lot, and I think I read more absurdist authors. Comedy is important when it comes to writing, even if it’s subtle. It’s just another way to play, like we were talking about, and it’s a way to relate to people, which is what writing should be. 

EB: Why did you choose to make the object of Tori’s stalking a diarist? 

CH: I’m just fascinated with the idea that somebody could be famous as a diarist, and that something so personal that feels like a release to some people, like a private diary that’s very mundane and normal, could be published and out there, and you make a name for yourself based on it. It’s just unreal to me. It happens. It’s a real thing, but it feels very unreal at the same time. 

EB: Are you a diary keeper?

CH: You know, I’m not. I tried for a year a couple of years ago and I did follow through on that just because I wanted to give it a serious go, but I just don’t know. My life doesn’t seem interesting enough for a diary, but I do think it’s a good way to release some emotions or talk about things that need to be talked about, so it would probably be healthy for me. 

EB: This novel feels very peopled. It contains a huge cast of characters. Was it difficult to keep track of everyone? What does your process of character development look like?

CH: So for this one, I think I had sort of CliffsNotes for myself, or some kind of diagram to keep track, but it being on the shorter side, it didn’t feel as immense. I honestly don’t know how people with these giant tomes or who do actual world-building like Faulkner keep track of all those things. It was a little bit easier for me, and again going back to that sort of possession feeling, there’s a sense in which I’m just kind of letting them out, and I don’t really have to think about it too hard. I think if you write something in a shorter span of time that can also help. Going back, of course, and making sure it makes sense, but otherwise just running with it. Let it run wild. 

EB: What is your writing process like?

CH: I’m not one of those “write every day” people. If I did that, it would be total garbage.  I kind of just make notes like bulletpoints in a notebook and then when I have enough to go on for a chapter or a story or whatever it is, I’ll sit down and write it. It could be once a month, it could be once every three months, but it’s usually on that kind of schedule. 

I really do think process is totally an individualized thing, but I also think that people are either motivated by convenience or accountability, and you have to figure out which one you are. I’m very much a convenience person. I’m not gonna do it every day. I’m not gonna make it a chore, but I am just gonna sit down on my couch and just write whenever. Just squeeze in the time. 

I handwrite the first draft, and I’m kind of editing as I go, then I’m typing it up and editing some more. Then I read through it when it’s actually typed up, which is a good way to make sure everything looks the way that you want. Of course there’s only so much you can do before perspective and time, but that gets it to a halfway decent place at least. 

EB: How did the process of writing this book differ from others you’ve written? 

CH: This was the first time I tried to actually write a novel. Apparently that’s the only thing people like to read. So this was me thinking, there’s no way. I’m a short story writer to my core. There’s no way I can write anything even close to novel length. This was me trying to prove myself wrong without going too far out of my comfort zone to do it. I have since written another novel that’s in the ether, but I’m trying to figure out a good home for that, and trying to have patience. 

EB: Was it easier the second time around? 

CH: I think it was. It’s still a stretch for me. Take it Personally was technically novella length because it’s 21,000 words. My next project is called Change the Subject and it’s 31,000 words, so I think it’s technically a novel. I don’t know. Everyone has different definitions. But yeah, it was a bit easier. I still think I’m meant primarily for short stories, and that’s how I think best. I’m definitely writing a lot more short stories again these days. 

EB: You’re quite prolific! You have six books out. Do you have any tips for motivating yourself to write, or does this productivity come naturally to you? 

CH: I think it’s almost embarrassing how much I have out there right now. I don’t know if being prolific is always a good thing, but I really just can’t help myself. It’s a form of therapy for me. But I hope people get something out of it too, and feel like they’re known and understood at the same time. Any tips I have are just to allow yourself space, carve it out, fight for it any way that you can. Read widely, especially living authors, and just let yourself play. 

EB:  Has the book made it into readers’ hands yet? What has that been like for you? 

CH: I’m just starting to send out ARCs now, and I had some people blurb it so I’ve gotten some feedback already, and it’s been encouraging. It’ll be interesting to see what I get once it’s fully released. I’ve only gotten one bad rating on Goodreads. I got a one star review once for one of my books and I was upset about it and then someone was like no, that’s actually a really good thing because it means that more than your mom is reading it. People are reading it more widely. And I had never thought about it like that. 

EB: It’s good to have critics, right? That means you wrote something polarizing in some way, which is interesting. 

CH: Yeah, I saw some Tweet that was like the best books on Goodreads are rated 3, 3.5 stars because of exactly what you’re saying. There are a bunch of people on one end and a bunch of people on the other, and it all evens out. 

EB: Are you doing a lot of publicity for the book?

CH: It’s been so great, Emma. I have not planned anything, and everything has just kind of fallen into my lap. The local bookstore here, Malaprops, asked to do my book launch, and I was invited to read at Tree Fort Festival. It’s this big music festival in Idaho where they have a bunch of other forts, like Story Fort, where the readers are. I’m really excited about that. I was asked to do a home reading series in DC, so I feel like things are happening. My 2025 is planning itself and it’s great. I’m just along for the ride. 

EB: Is it weird to talk about the book? Are you like, the work should speak for itself, or do you enjoy the process of describing it for the public? 

CH: I think naturally I’m on the side of it should speak for itself, but at the same time, I really enjoy having conversations with people one-on-one or in small groups—I’m enjoying just talking to you right now, so in that sense I really like it. When I think about it as a conversation between people, it’s enjoyable. When I think about it like let’s discuss my work, then not so much. 

EB: What was the process of publishing this book with Stalking Horse Press like? 

CH: I feel like trying to figure out where you’re gonna submit is almost like dating. I’ve always wanted to go with a different press just to see what the experience was like. I was impressed by Stalking Horse when they sent me some ARCs of other books they’ve published. They seem to really have it together. I enjoyed previous books they published so I was like, I think it makes sense to try this one. And they were onboard! It’s not always that smooth, but this one happened pretty quickly. I’ve been talking to James Reich, the guy behind it. He’s been wonderful. 

EB: Is there something you’re working on next? 

CH: I’ve got this other book that I’m kind of just putting out there and seeing if anybody wants it. Then I’ve just been writing stories. There’s this story and essay collection that I’ve been noodling with for a few years now and I don’t know how I feel about it. I think it’s gonna need a lot more refining than my other books, so I’m adding to it. That’s giving me the freedom to cut some things that aren’t as strong. 

I feel like a total fraud, though, when it comes to non-fiction. I just have never done it until the past couple of years and it feels like a totally different world. It almost feels like becoming a poet overnight, which I can’t imagine either. It’s taking me a lot of time to get used to that idea. It’s personal essays but the kind that are woven in with other facts and things that have nothing to do with me at the same time, because I like those a lot better. I think they’re more interesting than just straight-up, here’s me. 

*

Claire Hopple is the author of six books and the fiction editor at XRAY. Her stories have appeared in Wigleaf, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, Forever Mag, Cleveland Review of Books, and others. More at clairehopple.com.