UW-Eau Claire – Barron County recently presented its newest installment of the Thursdays at the U lecture series, which featured award-winning author Nickolas Butler.

The lecture, called “Writing From Home: Finding Inspiration in Small Town, WI,” included Butler’s reflections on his own career and thoughts about what it means to be a writer.

Butler’s first novel, “Shotgun Lovesongs,” centered around small-town Wisconsin but became an international bestseller featured in the New York Times.

The New York Times wrote, “‘Shotgun Lovesongs’ is about a hometown in Wisconsin and the close band of friends who will always feel its pull.”

Butler said his newest novel is similarly set close to home, and the idea for it came from a real-life interaction he witnessed at The Tomahawk Room in Chippewa Falls.

Butler said he observed a couple reuniting while at the bar The Tomahawk Room one day, and their love story was so moving that it inspired his most recent novel, “A Forty Year Kiss.”

“I didn’t know if [the couple] were high school sweethearts, college sweethearts or if they had been married in their early 20s, but it was clear to me that they hadn’t seen each other in about 40 years,” Butler said. “Even though the last novel I’d written was really dark, I thought, ‘I have to write this book.’ For me, writing a novel isn’t about telling the same story every time.”

Butler said most of his books take place in Wisconsin, which is uncommon for best-selling novels.

“I love writing about small-town Wisconsin,” Butler said. “If you’ve read any of my books, they’re almost always set in rural Wisconsin. If I was trying to become a millionaire writer, you wouldn’t do that. You’d set your books in New York City or Los Angeles or something like that. But I don’t care; this is what I want to write about.”

After reading a chapter from “A Forty Year Kiss,” Butler shared advice about his writing process for aspiring authors. 

“One thing about writing this book, or any book in general, is that I take great inspiration from listening to people and their stories,” Butler said. “But, when you’re writing a 400-page novel, it’s not enough to just listen to the two lovebirds at the end of the bar; you have to find inspiration and plug yourself into the novel.”

This process has won Butler numerous awards, including one he did not know about until a trip he took to Paris.

“One time, I was in Paris, and I had no idea I’d won an award,” Butler said. “There were a bunch of American writers much more famous than me sitting behind me, and I blubbered through my speech. The first person I saw was Margaret Atwood reaching her hand out to shake hands with me.”

Butler said he always felt pulled towards being an author, and the experience in Paris made him feel grateful for his career path.

“I always wanted to be a writer,” Butler said. “I feel so fortunate, and that was one of those moments that I thought, ‘How are you here? How did this happen?’”

Garrison can be reached at [email protected].