Trudy2

Taking the Mystery out of Writing History Step I: Start with STORY I love teaching. Best of all, I love teaching writers. As a writer myself, I’m drawn to historical fiction. I’m still learning about how to master its techniques, but I love passing along what I’ve learned so far. Here goes: The first and most important thing about writing captivating historical fiction is found...

  Eventually a novelist will be asked, “Is your novel autobiographical?” The answer – for me – is “yes” and “no.” But I understand the curiosity. People are curious about the lives of others. And people are curious about the connection between life and art. In my case, my novels spring from fragments of my own experience. Just as your...

BrIDGES, NOT FENCES. wHY i wROTE SPITE FENCES. I must confess: I am a questioner. All of my novels are a struggle to answer the most difficult questions about our lives as human beings. I never entirely succeed, of course. But I never stop trying. In the case of SPITE FENCES, the question is, "Why do we try to wall each other out by building fences? Why don't we build bridges across our divides...

We used to be the can-do nation. Now, at least at the national level, we seem to be the can’t-do nation. We can’t do universal health care. We can’t do gun control. We can’t do infrastructure improvements. But when you look right under your feet at the place where you live, the can-do spirit is alive and well. There’s the father who built a two-winged chair so he...

When someone dies, we say we have “lost” them. And yet the legacy of a life is not what is lost: it is what still lives on. Toni Morrison has died, and yet she still lives on – in me. I first discovered Toni Morrison when I was book reviewer for our local newspaper. I remember reviewing Sula and The Bluest Eye, but the heart-stopping moment for me was when I finished Song of...

They say that history repeats itself. Actually, they’re not exactly sure who said it. It could have been Karl Marx, George Santayana, Mark Twain, Winston Churchill, or any number of likely candidates. But it hardly matters. Because it’s true. History does repeat itself. So if history repeats itself, why can’t I? It’s been about 25 years since my award-winning novels for...