Heather’s Bookshelf: Author Interview with Ann Nolder Heinz
Book Title: The Reckoning
Released: 11/10/24
Genre: Historical Fiction
Interview by Heather L. Barksdale
What inspired you to write “The Reckoning”?
Heinz: The Reckoning is my fifth historical novel set during the period from 1851 to 1873. With the exception of the first novel, each successive one has taken a minor female character from the prior book and given her her own story. The Reckoning is somewhat different in that I revisited the main characters in the first novel, Last Stop Freedom, which was about slavery, the Underground Railroad, and women’s rights, and imagined their lives twenty years later. The main protagonist, Harriet Mitchell, was three years old in the Prologue of that book.
How did you come up with the names of your main characters?
Heinz: As for naming my characters, any who appear in a previous novel must remain the same. Characters new to the ongoing manuscript are named the same way the originals were: I contemplate the time and culture I am writing about as well as the function the characters will play in the current story and see what comes to mind. Every writer’s life experience gives him or her certain perceptions and prejudices where names are concerned, so I suppose those factor into the names I choose as well. My only rule is that each main character’s first name must begin with a different letter of the alphabet in order to fix each one in the reader’s mind and minimize confusion.
Is there anything that you want readers to know about you, your writing process or your book?
Heinz: After writing numerous psychological suspense novels, I switched genres to historical fiction. This change required considerable adaptations to my writing process. Not only must my characters continue to be fully drawn individuals, but I must have a grasp of the time period in which I was placing them. This required extensive research. In fact, before I even starting writing Last Stop Freedom, I spent over a year familiarizing myself with the 1850s, including the political and religious attitudes of the day, the ins and outs of slavery and the Underground Railroad, and current cultural norms such as speech patterns, social etiquette, and manner of dress and hairstyles for both males and females. To maintain a reader’s suspension of disbelief, it is important to get the little things right. Thus, my research continued throughout the writing. I printed out calendars for the year and months that spanned the story and notated events as they happened so their timing was plausible. I studied modes of transportation and how fast vehicles traveled. There was a plethora of opportunity to get information directly from contemporaneous letters and diaries, and I read whatever I could find. It was an exhilarating adventure.
If "The Reckoning" were adapted into a movie, who would you like to see cast to play your lead characters?
Heinz: If The Reckoning were made into a movie, I would stay as far away as possible from choosing actors to play my characters. I know these people intimately and see them as clearly as if they were real. That said, no living actor could ever match my mental images, and I would leave that determination to those making the film.
When you encounter writer’s block, what do you do to break yourself out of it?
Heinz: I have discovered that writer’s block is my friend. Whenever I am stuck, whether for an idea for a book or for what is to come next in the one I am writing, I know I am approaching the problem from the wrong angle. Do not misunderstand. Such times are painful and frustrating, but I have always been able to climb out of the abyss into which I have fallen when I start looking at my dilemma from a new perspective. Sometimes the answer comes quickly, sometimes not so much, but it has never failed to come eventually. And when that happens, it is truly like a light flaring up in a dark place.
Are there any tips that you would like to share with other aspiring authors?
Heinz: For me, writing is a necessity. An itch I need to scratch, to use a tired old metaphor. Any aspiring writer must have a similar impetus because the process is very much like riding a roller coaster. There are incredible emotional highs when the ideas are flowing. Likewise, there are bleak lows when the well seems to have run dry. Sometimes I cannot wait to sit down at the computer. Other times, I must drag myself there by a force of will. But the personal rewards are limitless if entered into with clear eyes and a dauntless spirit.
My website www.fictionbookmaes.com offers a section titled “For Writers” in which aspiring writers will find numerous essays that articulate my experiences and philosophies concerning the writing and publishing process. I would invite anyone who wishes to hone their writing skills to read them.
What is your favorite book, genre, and/or author?
Heinz: Anyone who aspires to write must read, read, read. I write fiction, so that is what I read. Beyond that, I am eclectic in my choices with an emphasis on the genre in which I am currently writing.
What are you working on next?
Heinz: I have left the late nineteenth century behind and am now working on a novel set in 1946. Titled Twilight of the Dawn, it tells the story of a young French woman raised on a winemaking domaine in the Bordeaux region who is damaged by events during the Nazi occupation of that region. She is instrumental in saving and helping escape a downed American pilot whose home is a California vineyard in the Napa valley. Their story unfolds in both settings but primarily in California, where a former Nazi who perpetrated an atrocity during the war complicates their lives. Anyone interested in the other books I have written can find synopses and sample chapters at www.fictionbookmates.com
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