SIX QUESTIONS WITH NANCY BILYEAU
Histories, Mysteries, and Corsets, Oh My!
Nancy Bilyeau is a writer and magazine editor who has worked as an editor at "Rolling Stone," "InStyle," and "Good Housekeeping."
Her new historical novel is "Dreamland," set in 1911 New York City, and tells the story of a rebellious heiress who escapes from her overprotective family to experience the delights of Coney IIsland--but there are dangers too. The novel has received starred reviews from Publishers' Weekly and Library Journal.
Nancy is also the author of "The Blue," a novel of suspense set in the art and porcelain worlds of 18th century Europe featuring a young female artist turned spy, and a trilogy of award-winning Tudor mysteries, published in 9 countries: "The Crown," "The Chalice," and "The Tapestry."
SIX QUESTIONS
1 - Which writer who came before, do you admire the most?
I keep coming back to the literary suspense of Daphne du Maurier, not just for her famous work like Rebecca and Jamaica Inn but for her lesser-known novels and her short stories. She wrote short fiction that was unforgettable because of the darkness of her stories and her twisted characters. I wrote about it for medium: Go to DARK WORLD OF...
2 - Which teacher(s) had the most profound effect on you?
My high school English teacher in Livonia, Michigan, a woman named Mrs. Erickson, read fiction aloud in class and inspired me to want to write. More recently, I took classes at Gotham Writer’s Workshop and learned a lot about fiction from Russell Rowland. My writing improved when I took classes from Max Adams, who is a screenwriter. I am a visual novelist, I try to immerse my readers into another time and place. I learned some of that skill in classes and workshops taught by Max.
3 - Besides writing, what’s your favorite hobby or passion?
I always feel like I don’t have impressive hobbies when someone asks this! I wish I were a champion knitter or horseback rider. I do have a passion for touring historic homes and thinking about how people lived 100, 200 or 300 years ago. I moved to the Hudson Valley last year and there are some wonderful places to discover. It’s always startling to see how tiny their bedrooms could be, within these mansions.
I also find cooking complicated dishes relaxing, like beef stew, baked ziti, or a cassoulet. I’m always on the hunt for the ultimate farmer’s market. I have to tell you, the markets in New York City, like the ones in Union Square or Forest Hills, are much better and bigger than the outdoor markets up here, which are among the actual farms!
4 - What is something that those who don’t write fiction do not know or understand about it?
That for me it is physically and emotionally exhausting to write fiction with the required intensity because I write in the first person and I am living the feelings and reactions of another person within the story. It’s hard but satisfying. I don’t write super fast, I simply can’t. When I see people talking about a large number of pages produced in one day, I am dumbfounded.
5 - Can you think of a key breakthrough moment in your work, for you, that you’d be willing to share?
It took me a while to transition from screenwriting, where everything is in scenes, to fiction, where detailed scenes live within descriptive passages that move the plot along. I had to learn how to condense the narrative now and then but to do it in a way that was interesting. I don’t think I learned how to do that well until I wrote The Blue.
6 - What’s next for you?
My sixth historical novel, The Fugitive Colours, is going through editing now. It will be up for sale next May. I should be seeing a cover any day now. I’m mulling over what’s next. I might write another novella set in New York City. I enjoyed writing The Ghost of Madison Avenue, a novella set in 1912 NYC about a strange woman in the Morgan Library. It was fun. I could use some fun 😊