INTERVIEWER: Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen and welcome to The Crystal Night show. Today we have a very special guest Kristin Hannah! Ms. Hannah thank you so much for coming out tonight.
HANNAH: Thank you for having me!
INTERVIEWER: I’m sure the vast majority of the audience knows you from your incredible work but can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your journey as a writer?
HANNAH: Of course. I was not one of those people who always wanted to be a writer. In fact I really never wanted to be a writer. When I was about 25, my mom was dying of breast cancer, and so everyday after law school I would go to her hospital room and hangout and talk with her. One day, during these visits, I was complaining about my life. At that time I was also taking a corporate tax class, and for someone that cannot add, multiply, divide, balance a checkbook, it was terrible! And so I was complaining to my mom and saying that this is a ridiculous class I don’t why I’m taking it. And she says, “don’t worry honey, you’re going to be a writer anyway.” I thought, ‘wow, someone needs to check her morphine drip, something’s going on here.’ But we started talking and for some bizarre reason my mom said, “lets write a book together.” It was a really lovely way for us to sort of bond to talk about anything other than the realization that she wasn’t going to be at my wedding and all of the things I was facing. I actually wrote the first nine pages on the day she passed away, so unfortunately she did not get to read them, but I was able to lean down and say, you know, I started, I started writing a book. After she passed away, I put everything into a box and packed it away, I didn’t have an interest of becoming a writer. It was several years later, when I was pregnant with my son, that the idea of writing came up. I was bedridden from week fourteen and with nothing to do, I took up writing and that is where my journey of writing began.
INTERVIEWER: thank you for sharing that bit of life experience. Now, Ms. Hannah, before we get to the main part of our interview, we’re going to play a little game-quick rounds. I’m going to ask real quick questions and you have to answer with whatever comes to mind first. Got it?
HANNAH: Oh okay! Go, I’m ready!
INTERVIEWER: spiderman or superman?
HANNAH: Batman
INTERVIEWER: good luck charm?
HANNAH: My mom’s engagement ring, which I wear on a chain
INTERVIEWER: Ocean, lake, desert, or mountain?
HANNAH: Ocean
INTERVIEWER: Bookmark or Dogear?
HANNAH: Okay here’s something that makes me guilty; your right. Dog ear
INTERVIEWER: Wonder Woman or Batgirl?
HANNAH: Trinity from The Matrix is my girl
INTERVIEWER: Midnight snack?
HANNAH: No midnight snacking. Does a glass of wine count?
INTERVIEWER: Favorite ice cream topping?
HANNAH: Fresh peaches cooked in butter and brown sugar, with just a hint of cinnamon.
INTERVIEWER: Items on your grocery list?
HANNAH: Tonight’s? Well I’m in Hawaii right now, so: fresh tiger shrimp, sweet thai chili sauce, lilikoi puree, coconut flakes, vegetables for roasting, and new skewers.
INTERVIEWER: French fries or Onion Rings?
HANNAH: Only fries. No onion rings for me.
INTERVIEWER: Where do you like to write your books?
HANNAH: I write longhand, so I can be in bed, in a chair, on the beach, on the ferry going to town, on an airplane. Anywhere.
INTERVIEWER: favourite musical?
HANNAH: oh, I’ve got so many! But I’m going to say West Side Story
INTERVIEWER: YES! That’s one of my favourites too! Well that brings us to the end of our game, you did pretty good for a first timer.
HANNAH: why thank you!
INTERVIEWER: Now your book, The Nightingale, is such a beautiful story. Many people around the globe are falling in love with this book and I’ve heard that it’s been translated to 39 languages. Is that right?
HANNAH: yeah (nodding and smiling)
INTERVIEWER: Can you tell us the backstory of this incredible book and do you have any personal experiences with the Second World War, since you tend to write historical fictions?
HANNAH: I first came across the idea for The Nightingale years ago, when I was researching World War II Russia. When I read about an otherwise ordinary young Belgian woman who created an escape line for downed airmen, I was mesmerized by her courage and resilience. And at that time I thought, ‘wow this would be an extraordinary story to write but I’m not writing it, it’s to much work. I’ll just wait for someone else to write it.’ But as time went on, no stories were written and it has always been in my heart to do something about it. The story of the young Belgian woman was the inspiration for the character, Isabelle. And then there were the women who hid Jewish children in their homes. Many of them paid a terrible price for their heroism. As a mother, I found these stories impossible to ignore. And like so much of women’s history, the stories are largely ignored or overshadowed or forgotten. I do not have any personal experiences with World War II. Maybe that’s why I love the stories of women who joined the Resistance during the war. They are powerful, compelling stories of ordinary women who become heroes, some at great personal cost.
INTERVIEWER: What challenges do you tend to face when writing in terms of plotting and structure for these kinds of books?
HANNAH: Well for historical fiction, absolutely the biggest challenge in writing these kinds of novels is weaving together the fictional and non-fictional worlds. Especially in the Nightingale, because the novel covers the entire war, it meant that every single scene had to be built upon what was actually happening, and to be honest, adhering to the factual timeline was a constant battle. I literally couldn’t write a sentence or a paragraph or a scene without consulting the research material. On top of that, I wrote the first draft of this novel before I went to France, so I couldn’t really own the landscape in my head; i just couldn’t envision it. It was difficult to see the trees or the roads without experiencing it.
INTERVIEWER: How would you say the Nightingale has left on impact on your life?
HANNAH: As I researched, I found myself consumed by a single, haunting question, as relevant today as it was seventy years ago: When would I, as a wife and mother, risk my life — and more importantly, my child’s life — to save a stranger? That question is the very heart of The Nightingale. It was a risk for me to write this novel. World War II. France. A sweeping historical epic told in an intimate way, about women. I wanted to write a novel that remembered their sacrifice and courage while vividly showing what it was like to live in Occupied France during the war. It isn’t what I’ve done before. But I had to do it. When reading it, I hope the reader asks: What would I do?
INTERVIEWER: And for our final question, Ms. Hannah, what is your piece of advice to these young aspiring writers?
HANNAH: I know it sounds cliché, but the hardest thing you will ever do is to commit completely to beginning to write. The most important moment is to simply begin. Then you write the next day, and the next and the next. Don’t worry about how good you are, just focus on learning the craft. Take classes, go to conferences, find a critique group. And read everything you can with an analytical eye. And most importantly, don’t give up. It can take a long time, but every hour you spend learning your craft will matter in the end.
INTERVIEWER: Once again thank you so much for coming in! Ladies and gentlemen give a hand for Kristin Hannah!
Featured Image: https://kristinhannah.com/about-kristin-bio
