#80 - Balancing Truth and Fiction in Historical Novels with Emily Schultz

Kobo was delighted to recently host Emily Schultz in a “Kobo in Conversation” chat in the Kobo Café a few weeks ago while she was coming through Toronto on a book tour. Kobo Merchandiser Nora Parker interviewed Emily. In the interview, Emily and Nora talk about:

• The fact that Emily had started working on this novel before her previously released novel The Blondes
• The rum-runner history in Emily’s family and the different manner by which they traversed the water to conduct their rum running in the winter and summer
• How the story of a relative who was lost during one of these winter-time runs crashing through the ice helped to inspire Emily’s desire to explore this narrative
• The explosions of culture, literature, music and sexuality in the 1920s.
• The contrast and clash of society being both “open” and “closed” during the Prohibition Era
• Various methods of research, including old photographs, documentaries, silent films and novels written from that time period
• The concept of justice in the novel and the line “you never get caught for what you think you’re going to” that encapsulates that
• Elements of “the person who is not who they appear to be” in particular relation to religion
• The balance of mixing the “true” with the “fictional” in this historical novel
• The additional balance of being an author of fiction being a founder and senior editor of Joyland (http://www.joylandmagazine.com/) magazine
• Pairing oneself with other writers in particular locales to help ensure a slightly larger crowd at an author event
• The fun of onomatope words that came from the jazz scene of the time

Mark then highlights a few things from the interview with Emily that he wanted to call attention to. In particular, the research that she conducted for the Prohibition era time period the novel was set in as well as the manner by which she collaborated with local writers when traveling on a book tour.

There is a reminder of the Kobo Plus Subscription service available through Kobo in the Netherlands and Belgium with Kobo’s retail partner, BOL which is open to Kobo Writing Life authors via the “Rights and Distribution” tab.

Links:

Emily’s Website - http://www.emilyschultz.com/

Emily on Twitter: https://twitter.com/manualofstyle?lang=en

Joyland Magazine - www.joylandmagazine.com/