Listen:
Ann Hood is one of my favorite guests on the program. I love chatting with Ann so much that she is making her second appearance, this time for her brilliant new novel The Stolen Child. She previously was on episode #35 talking about her memoir about her life as a stewardess decades ago, Fly Girl.
We talked about plotting her novel, making charts, developing characters, mapping out stories and more.
In This Episode:
- How Ann came up with the concept for her book [2:12]
- Writing characters born from life experience and cultural history [7:06]
- The elements of research in historical novels [9:06]
- The Kirkus Review that changed the trajectory of Ann’s career [12:54]
- Navigating through multiple POVs [16:38]
- Food as a character in the novel and as a portal for emotion [19:55]
- How Ann tracks timelines [21:42]
- Finding the patterns throughout a book [22:48]
- Ann’s favorite part of the publishing process [27:34]
Watch on YouTube
About Ann
Ann Hood is the author of a dozen books of memoir and fiction, including the bestselling novels THE BOOK THAT MATTERS MOST and THE KNITTING CIRCLE, and editor of the anthologies KNITTING YARNS and KNITTING PEARLS. She lives in Providence, Rhode Island, and New York.
Connect With Ann
Get Ann’s novel The Stolen Child on Estelle’s Bookshop
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Latest Substack post: Writing A Memoir: What Matters Most
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Other Recent Episodes Focused on Novelists
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Episode #70 Writing a YA Romance Novel
Episode #63 Witchy Writing with the Host of the Shit Noone Tells You About Writing, Bianca Marais
Episode #47 The Way Life and Writing Should Be
