Listen in as I chat with Denny S. Bryce and Eliza Knight, co-authors of Can't We Be Friends: A Novel of Ella Fitzgerald and Marilyn Monroe listed in the Music category on Art In Fiction.

View the Video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83F2k2cCnR8&t=1s

• How Denny & Eliza decided to write their novel about Ella Fitzgerald and Marilyn Monroe
• Research tidbits that led them into the story
• How both Ella Fitzgerald and Marilyn Monroe changed the face of entertainment--Ella in jazz and Marilyn in film
• Marilyn Monroe as one of the first female producers
• Ella Fitzgerald's influence on jazz and how she made sure she was in the mix for each change in music trends within jazz
• What the friendship meant from each woman's point of view
• The power of female friendship; quote from Michele Obama
• Ella and Marilyn, and their relationships with the men in their lives
• How Can't We Be Friends is a novel about striving to be the best, about excellence even more than fame
• How Ella Fitzgerald was "dangerous"
• Challenges that Eliza & Denny faced writing a novel about two real people
• Reading by Denny Bryce from Can't We Be Friends
• Reading by Eliza Knight from Can't We Be Friends
• The collaboration process--how Denny & Eliza wrote the novel together
• What both Eliza & Denny learned from writing Can't We Be Friends
• Use of first and third person in Can't We Be Friends
• The power of spreadsheets!
• What Denny is working on now
• What Eliza is working on now

Press Play now & be sure to check out Can't We Be Friends on Art In Fiction: https://www.artinfiction.com/novels/can-t-we-be-friends

Denny S. Bryce's Website: https://dennysbryce.com/
Eliza Knight's Website: https://elizaknight.com/

Are you enjoying The Art In Fiction Podcast? Consider helping us keep the lights on so we can continue bringing you interviews with your favorite arts-inspired novelists. Just $3 buys us a coffee (and we really like coffee) at Ko-Fi. Just click this link: https://ko-fi.com/artinfiction

Also, check out the Art In Fiction website at https://www.artinfiction.com where you'll find over 1800 novels inspired by the arts in 10 categories: Architecture, Dance, Decorative Arts, Film, Literature, Music, Textile Arts, Theater, Visual Arts, and Other.

Join me as I chat with Daisy Goodwin, author of Diva listed in the Music category on Art In Fiction.

View the Video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/dYCDxSyXwAU

Highlights include:

• Why Daisy chose to write a novel about Maria Callas, the great opera singer
• The nature of the female genius
• What's a Diva?
• Writing about a real person -- getting into their head
• Maria Callas's difficult relationship with her mother
• Maria and her relationship with Onassis
• Daisy Goodwin's favorite opera
• The theme of Diva
• Reading from Diva
• Challenges of writing a novel that are different from writing screenplays and other forms of writing
• Why historical fiction?
• What Daisy has learned from writing historical fiction
• Research advice when writing historical fiction
• Daisy's new novel about the later years of Queen Victoria

Press Play now & be sure to check out Diva on Art In Fiction: https://www.artinfiction.com/novels/diva

Daisy Goodwin's Website: https://www.daisygoodwin.co.uk/

Paganology, performed by The Paul Plimley Trio; composed by Gregg Simpson

Are you enjoying The Art In Fiction Podcast? Consider helping us keep the lights on so we can continue bringing you interviews with your favorite arts-inspired novelists. Just $3 buys us a coffee (and we really like coffee) at Ko-Fi. Just click this link: https://ko-fi.com/artinfiction

Also, check out the Art In Fiction website at https://www.artinfiction.com where you'll find over 1800 novels inspired by the arts in 10 categories: Architecture, Dance, Decorative Arts, Film, Literature, Music, Textile Arts, Theater, Visual Arts, and Other.

Join me as I chat with Nancy Bilyeau, author of several arts-inspired novels on Art In Fiction, including The Orchid Hour about a speakeasy in 1923 Jazz Age New York and listed in the Theater category on Art In Fiction.

View the Video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/CvIYJYb-PfQ

Highlights include:

• Why Nancy set her latest novel in Prohibition-era New York
• The role played by the Italian American immigrant community in the novel
• Researching organized crime in Jazz Age New York City
• Real speakeasies and the fictional Orchid Hour speakeasy
• Liberation of women in the 1920s
• Greenwich Village as the setting for The Orchid Hour speakeasy
• Prohibition in Jazz Age New York City - did the cops really care?
• Why orchids?
• Themes in The Orchid Hour
• Reading from The Orchid Hour
• Discussion of The Fugitive Colours, the follow-up novel to The Blue
• Journey of a female artist/spy in 18th century London
• Opportunities for female painters in the 18th century
• What Nancy has learned from writing historical fiction
• Nancy's new novel: The Versailles Formula

Press Play now & be sure to check out The Orchid Hour and Nancy's other novels on Art In Fiction: https://www.artinfiction.com/novels?q=nancy+bilyeau

Nancy Bilyeau's Website: https://nancybilyeau.com/

Paganology, performed by The Paul Plimley Trio; composed by Gregg Simpson

Are you enjoying The Art In Fiction Podcast? Consider helping us keep the lights on so we can continue bringing you interviews with your favorite arts-inspired novelists. Just $3 buys us a coffee (and we really like coffee) at Ko-Fi. Just click this link: https://ko-fi.com/artinfiction

Also, check out the Art In Fiction website at https://www.artinfiction.com where you'll find over 1800 novels inspired by the arts in 10 categories: Architecture, Dance, Decorative Arts, Film, Literature, Music, Textile Arts, Theater, Visual Arts, and Other.

Listen in as I chat with ReShonda Tate, the best-selling author of dozens of novels including The Queen of Sugar Hill, ReShonda's first historical novel. It's listed in the Film category on Art In Fiction.

View the Video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/aIofW073t_U

Highlights include:

• Why write a novel about Hattie McDaniel, famous for playing Mammy in Gone with the Wind and being the first Black person to win an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1939.
• Hattie's famous line about how she'd rather play a maid than be a maid.
• The novel as a story about a career woman before her time.
• Hattie's troubled love life.
• Hattie's relationship with Clark Gable.
• Researching The Queen of Sugar Hill
• Fact vs. fiction - an example of a fictionalized event in The Queen of Sugar Hill
• Hattie's activism during and after the war and her successful challenge of the restrictive covenant that kept the Sugar Hill neighborhood for "whites only" that led to a landmark Supreme Court case.
• Theme of The Queen of Sugar Hill
• Reading from The Queen of Sugar Hill
• ReShonda's focus on writing historical fiction
• What ReShonda is working on now

Press Play now & be sure to check out The Queen of Sugar Hill on Art In Fiction: https://www.artinfiction.com/novels?q=reshonda+tate

ReShonda Tate's Website: https://www.reshondatate.com

Paganology, performed by The Paul Plimley Trio; composed by Gregg Simpson

Are you enjoying The Art In Fiction Podcast? Consider helping us keep the lights on so we can continue bringing you interviews with your favorite arts-inspired novelists. Just $3 buys us a coffee (and we really like coffee) at Ko-Fi. Just click this link: https://ko-fi.com/artinfiction

Also, check out the Art In Fiction website at https://www.artinfiction.com where you'll find over 1800 novels inspired by the arts in 10 categories: Architecture, Dance, Decorative Arts, Film, Literature, Music, Textile Arts, Theater, Visual Arts, and Other.

Natasha Lester, the New York Times best-selling author of nine novels. joins me on the Art In Fiction Podcast to chat about her latest novel, The Disappearance of Astrid Bricard, listed in the Textile Arts category.

NEW on The Art In Fiction Podcast: Watch my interview on YouTube!

Highlights include:

• Summary of The Disappearance of Astrid Bricard - role played by the Battle of Verseilles in November 1973
• Challenges of writing three points of view in three timeframes
• Fashion in the 1970s as inspiration for the novel
• Mizza Bricard, known to history as "Christian Dior's Muse", as the catalyst for the novel, and debunking the focus on "woman as muse"
• Combining fictional and real characters in the novel: Mizza Bricard with her two fictional descendants
• Women in fashion over the decades: has anything changed?
• Role of the Bayeux Tapestry in the novel as a metaphor for gender imbalance
• Natasha's use of language and imagery
• Reading from The Disappearance of Astrid Bricard
• Advice about research methods
• What Natasha is working on now

Check out The Disappearance of Astrid Bricard and other novels by Natasha Lester on Art In Fiction: https://www.artinfiction.com/novels?q=natasha+lester

Natasha Lester's Website: https://natashalester.com.au/

Paganology, performed by The Paul Plimley Trio; composed by Gregg Simpson

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Are you enjoying The Art In Fiction Podcast? Consider helping us keep the lights on so we can continue bringing you interviews with your favorite arts-inspired novelists. Just $3 buys us a coffee (and we really like coffee) at Ko-Fi. Just click this link: https://ko-fi.com/artinfiction

Also, check out the Art In Fiction website at https://www.artinfiction.com where you'll find over 1800 novels inspired by the arts in 10 categories: Architecture, Dance, Decorative Arts, Film, Literature, Music, Textile Arts, Theater, Visual Arts, and Other.

Listen in as I chat with Susanne Dunlap, author of more than a dozen historical novels for adults and teens. Susanne joins me on the Art In Fiction Podcast to discuss one of her newest novels, The Courtesan's Daughter, listed in the Film category on Art In Fiction.

NEW on The Art In Fiction Podcast: Watch my interview on YouTube!

Highlights include:

• Inspiration for The Courtesan's Daughter - Alice Guy-Blaché, a pioneering French filmmaker who appears in the novel
• Focus on developing the story of a mother and daughter in early-20th-century New York and exploring generational conflict.
• What silent films were like in 1910 when the novel is set.
• Research into the period--Vitagraph, the innovations of early filmmaker J. Stuart Blackburn, and why the film industry eventually moved from New York to LA.
• Role of "pornographic" postcards in the novel
• Writing the "messy middle" of a novel
• Themes in The Courtesan's Daughter
• Reading from The Courtesan's Daughter
• How story is the most important element in historical fiction
• Advice about research methods
• What Susanne is working on now

Press Play now & be sure to check out The Courtesan's Daughter and all of Susanne's other novels on Art In Fiction.

Susanne Dunlap's Website

Paganology, performed by The Paul Plimley Trio; composed by Gregg Simpson

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Also, check out the Art In Fiction website at https://www.artinfiction.com where you'll find over 1800 novels inspired by the arts in 10 categories: Architecture, Dance, Decorative Arts, Film, Literature, Music, Textile Arts, Theater, Visual Arts, and Other.

Listen in as I chat with Madeline Martin, the New York Times bestselling author of novels set in World War II along with dozens of romance novels. Madeline joins me on the Art In Fiction Podcast to discuss her three novels listed in the Literature category on Art In Fiction: The Last Bookshop in London, The Librarian Spy and her newest novel, The Keeper of Hidden Books.

Highlights include:

• Why Madeline chose books as her way into stories about World War II.
• Why The Keeper of Hidden Books is set in Warsaw.
• The role Poland and the Polish Resistance played in WWII.
• The theme of The Keeper of Hidden Books.
• Two short readings from The Keeper of Hidden Books.
• Book banning in WWII Poland and contemporary United States--parallels?
• The Librarian Spy and its setting in Lisbon and Lyon.
• Fado in Lisbon.
• The Blitz and The Last Bookshop in London.
• Research about London during the Blitz from memoirs contained in the Mass Observation published in the 1930s and 1940s in England.
• Differences between historical fiction and historical romance.
• Advice about research methods.
• Madeline's next novel.
• What Madeline is currently reading

Press Play now & be sure to check out The Keeper of Hidden Books, The Librarian Spy and The Last Bookshop in London on Art In Fiction.

Madeline Martin's Website

Music Credit
Paganology, performed by The Paul Plimley Trio; composed by Gregg Simpson

Would you like to support Art In Fiction? Please consider buying us a coffee on Ko-Fi. Thank you!

Subscribe to Art In Fiction to find out about upcoming podcast episodes, blog posts, featured authors, and more.

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Are you enjoying The Art In Fiction Podcast? Consider helping us keep the lights on so we can continue bringing you interviews with your favorite arts-inspired novelists. Just $3 buys us a coffee (and we really like coffee) at Ko-Fi. Just click this link: https://ko-fi.com/artinfiction

Also, check out the Art In Fiction website at https://www.artinfiction.com where you'll find over 1800 novels inspired by the arts in 10 categories: Architecture, Dance, Decorative Arts, Film, Literature, Music, Textile Arts, Theater, Visual Arts, and Other.

In this episode, I'm chatting with Pip Williams, author of two novels featured in the Literature category on Art In Fiction: The Dictionary of Lost Words andThe Bookbinder.

Highlights include:

• The Oxford English Dictionary and Oxford University Press as inspiration for both novels.
• Finding treasure in the archives of Oxford University Press.
• Inspiration for The Bookbinder and an examination of women's work before and during World War I.
• The role class plays in both novels.
• Women and the vote in 1918 - working-class women were not included.
• Finding information about the lives of working women in archives written primarily by men.
• The characters of the identical twins Peggy and Maude in The Bookbinder.
• Reading from The Bookbinder featuring Calliope, Peggy and Maude's canal boat home in Oxford.
• Reasons for the breakout success of The Dictionary of Lost Words.
• Description of research methods.
• Two excellent pieces of advice for new authors.
• What Pip is currently reading

Press Play now & be sure to check out The Dictionary of Lost Words and The Bookbinder on Art In Fiction.

Pip Williams's Website

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Music Credit
Paganology, performed by The Paul Plimley Trio; composed by Gregg Simpson

Would you like to support Art In Fiction? Please consider buying us a coffee on Ko-Fi. Thank you!

Subscribe to Art In Fiction to find out about upcoming podcast episodes, blog posts, featured authors, and more.

This website contains affiliate links. If you use these links to make a purchase, I may earn a commission. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

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Are you enjoying The Art In Fiction Podcast? Consider helping us keep the lights on so we can continue bringing you interviews with your favorite arts-inspired novelists. Just $3 buys us a coffee (and we really like coffee) at Ko-Fi. Just click this link: https://ko-fi.com/artinfiction

Also, check out the Art In Fiction website at https://www.artinfiction.com where you'll find over 1800 novels inspired by the arts in 10 categories: Architecture, Dance, Decorative Arts, Film, Literature, Music, Textile Arts, Theater, Visual Arts, and Other.