“I can be a fairly hands-on editor, and when I'm editing someone I feel intensely invested in that writer and her work. I love helping to shape a book, and I feel very privileged to get to do that with writers I'm excited about. I think doing that work for the past six years has changed me, and it better prepared me for the questions and suggestions.” ThinkingFeelsYearsI CanBookHelpingHandsPastChangedShapesSixPreparedExcitedEditorsEditingPrivilegedSuggestions Author:Danielle Dutton
“As a publisher what you are trying to build is a long life for a book, to help it find its readers in many different ways, whether or not it made this list or got that review, etc. I'm sure some of that thinking has been useful to me as a writer as well.” ThinkingWayTryingWellsLongHas BeensMadeBookDifferentHelpingReaderListsDifferent WaysEtcReviewsPublishersLong Life Author:Danielle Dutton
“Margaret Cavendish was one of the people who came up in the course. That was when I started thinking about her as a character for a book, but my idea was for a totally different book. It had all these characters in it; Samuel Pepys was one of the main characters. He famously wrote these extensive diaries through the period that are really funny and sort of saucy, actually.” PeopleThinkingBookIdeasDifferentCharacterCoursesPeriodsDiariesMain CharactersDifferent BooksThinking About Her Author:Danielle Dutton
“Back then, when I had that original idea to write about the seventeenth century, the whole thing was set in 1666. I was thinking of Margaret near the end of her life, and that was the voice I heard for her.” ThinkingWritingIdeasEndsWholeVoiceHeardCenturyOriginalsOriginal Ideas Author:Danielle Dutton
“I'm not entirely sure what a historical novel absolutely has to be, but you don't want a reader who loves a very traditional historical novel to go in with the expectation that this is going to deliver the same kind of reading experience. I think what's contemporary about my book has something to do with how condensed things are.” ThinkingWantKindBookReadingNovelReaderExpectationsHistoricalContemporaryTraditionalHistorical NovelsReading Experience Author:Danielle Dutton
“I loved reading historical novels when I was young, but I definitely don't think I wrote one. When I read my book through, when it was completely done and in printed galleys, I was surprised by how uninterested in the passage of time and history the book seemed to be. Even though you can feel it all there, that's just not what it's focused on.” ThinkingFeelsBookDoneYoungReadingNovelHistoricalFocusedPassagesPrintedPassage Of TimeUninterestedHistorical Novels Author:Danielle Dutton
