Our New Perspectives in Historical Fiction panel on November 30th took a deep dive into the new works with women protagonists living in the same era as our founder, Madge Jenison. Authors, Kitty Zeldis and Eileen Donovan, gave us terrific insight as to what inspired them to write historical fiction as well as reading an excerpt from their novels. Sheila Lewis, longtime-standing board member of the WNBA was the moderator.
The Dressmakers of Prospect Heights by Kitty Zeldis, tells the story of Alice who immigrated from a post-Revolutionary Russia to New Orleans, where she would become a prostitute, which was legal in New Orleans, (circa 1898-1917), just to survive. After meeting Beatrice, Alice is unofficially adopted and they moved to Prospect Heights in Brooklyn, New York, to be exact.
A Lady Newspaperman’s Dilemma, by Eileen Donovan, takes place in Post-WWI Montana where an aspiring journalist, Alex, is hired as a reporter for her local paper. While at the time when newspapers were becoming commercialized, the lead story would go to a senior male associate and blaze over the women. Though, Alex was determined to get the lead story, it in turn, paved the wave for women to strive in their careers to the fullest of opportunities.
The panelists were fielded questions that ranged from inspiration for writing these works, to what their experience was like going through research of the time period, to how their writing may or may not have been affected by the pandemic. Both drew inspiration from various places but channeled their love for the genre writing it for the first time.
In terms of research, Donovan admitted it was difficult to not fall down a rabbit hole though it’s “almost a part of the process”. During the COVID-19 pandemic, most of us had extra time on our hands to write, so Eileen wrote long hand then typed and edited later while Zeldis found herself more efficient when she had left time to write.
Writing a novel is a daunting task on its own, let alone, a new genre. There is always a learning curve to take the book from draft to completion. The commonality among these authors were new technology and having good connections. It is arguably true that word of mouth is still the best form of communication. Though, with new technology it becomes challenging to keep up with readers. Coupled with that, networking your book (and yourself), is a puzzle all on its own.
