Ask the Author: Juliette Fay
Answered Questions (12)
Juliette Fay
Hi Wendy - That's a long flight - so glad you enjoyed the book! I'm intrigued about the festival. Do you want to reach out to me by email and we can discuss? juliette@juliettefay.com
Juliette Fay
That is very cool that you've found the pictures! If you think they may have worked in the upstate NY area, I would search their names on fultonsearch.org which is a database of old newspapers, and see if they come up. I found many articles that included my great-grandfather, both from his early vaudeville days around the turn of the century, and later when he was working at Endicott Johnson and performing in company plays and reviews. You might also just Google them, but I found that was not as useful. The only problem could be if they performed under a group name or stage names that you don't know. Reach out to any elderly relatives and see if they can help. Good luck with unraveling this mystery!
Juliette Fay
That is so nice to hear, Barbara! Thanks for taking a moment to reach out and let me know. We authors work in solitude 95% of the time, so it's always nice to hear from "the outside world" that our work is appreciated!
Juliette Fay
Whatever happened to my favorite yoga pants?
Actually, there was a boy I knew in high school who was smart and dorky, and looking back, far more interesting than I gave him credit for at the time. I've tried to search him up a couple of times, hoping that he's living a happy life somewhere, maybe connect with him on Facebook, but I've never been able to find him. He seems to have disappeared. I've started wondering if he's living under an alias on a polar ice flow or an uncharted island in the pacific ...
Actually, there was a boy I knew in high school who was smart and dorky, and looking back, far more interesting than I gave him credit for at the time. I've tried to search him up a couple of times, hoping that he's living a happy life somewhere, maybe connect with him on Facebook, but I've never been able to find him. He seems to have disappeared. I've started wondering if he's living under an alias on a polar ice flow or an uncharted island in the pacific ...
Juliette Fay
Hi Natalie,
No, I'm sorry I don't. I'm not involved with sending them out. When did you win the giveaway, and who notified you?
Juliette
No, I'm sorry I don't. I'm not involved with sending them out. When did you win the giveaway, and who notified you?
Juliette
Juliette Fay
I'm so glad you enjoyed the book, Amy, and that you got an extra kick out of knowing some of the landmarks that are in it.
I chose those locations and details with one general guideline in mind: that as much as possible I wanted to use theatres that both existed in 1919 and still exist today. I wanted them to be authentic - the Turners Sisters could actually have performed there - and I wanted them to be available for readers to visit. Unfortunately, there are many theatres that fit that criteria anymore! So many of even the biggest and most gorgeously decorated have been torn down. This limited my choices considerably.
In Columbus, I wanted to use the Southern Theatre, and then I researched what other landmarks would have been there as well, like the Lazarus Department Store and the Maramor Restaurant. Both are no longer existent but had long and interesting histories, and I hoped that some readers would remember them.
Some of the details are just happenstance - I stumbled upon them and thought they were interesting. I think that's not uncommon for writers. We're lucky to have so many ways to conduct research these days!
I chose those locations and details with one general guideline in mind: that as much as possible I wanted to use theatres that both existed in 1919 and still exist today. I wanted them to be authentic - the Turners Sisters could actually have performed there - and I wanted them to be available for readers to visit. Unfortunately, there are many theatres that fit that criteria anymore! So many of even the biggest and most gorgeously decorated have been torn down. This limited my choices considerably.
In Columbus, I wanted to use the Southern Theatre, and then I researched what other landmarks would have been there as well, like the Lazarus Department Store and the Maramor Restaurant. Both are no longer existent but had long and interesting histories, and I hoped that some readers would remember them.
Some of the details are just happenstance - I stumbled upon them and thought they were interesting. I think that's not uncommon for writers. We're lucky to have so many ways to conduct research these days!
Juliette Fay
Hi Chris,
Thanks for your question. I can't say for certain that all my future novels will be historical, but I can tell you that I enjoyed learning about a forgotten era even more than I thought I would, so it's a definite possibility. My next novel is set in Hollywood in the early 1920s, during the heyday of silent movies.
As for my contemporary novels - The Shortest Way Home, Deep Down True and Shelter Me - while they aren't set in the past, each explore issues that you may not know about. For me, the joy of historical novels is learning interesting information in an entertaining way, which each of these novels also provides, but in a more familiar setting.
Thanks for your kind words about The Tumbling Turner Sisters - I'm so glad you enjoyed it!
Juliette
Thanks for your question. I can't say for certain that all my future novels will be historical, but I can tell you that I enjoyed learning about a forgotten era even more than I thought I would, so it's a definite possibility. My next novel is set in Hollywood in the early 1920s, during the heyday of silent movies.
As for my contemporary novels - The Shortest Way Home, Deep Down True and Shelter Me - while they aren't set in the past, each explore issues that you may not know about. For me, the joy of historical novels is learning interesting information in an entertaining way, which each of these novels also provides, but in a more familiar setting.
Thanks for your kind words about The Tumbling Turner Sisters - I'm so glad you enjoyed it!
Juliette
Juliette Fay
Hi Dorie,
To answer your lovely question, I spent a LOT of time reading about vaudeville acts and watching old performance clips on YouTube (gotta love the internet!) I wanted something a little more interesting that just a singing sister act, and looked for something visual, so it would be more interesting for readers. I also needed something that the girls might be able to do, very basically at first, and then improve over time.
Then as now, there were many injuries, and not nearly the knowledge of how to care for them. An ice bag was the height of physical therapy! I'm sure you must have nursed your girls through many injuries over the course of their gymnastic careers.
I'm so glad you enjoyed the book and could relate to their acrobatics. Thanks for contacting me!
Juliette
To answer your lovely question, I spent a LOT of time reading about vaudeville acts and watching old performance clips on YouTube (gotta love the internet!) I wanted something a little more interesting that just a singing sister act, and looked for something visual, so it would be more interesting for readers. I also needed something that the girls might be able to do, very basically at first, and then improve over time.
Then as now, there were many injuries, and not nearly the knowledge of how to care for them. An ice bag was the height of physical therapy! I'm sure you must have nursed your girls through many injuries over the course of their gymnastic careers.
I'm so glad you enjoyed the book and could relate to their acrobatics. Thanks for contacting me!
Juliette
Juliette Fay
I don't wait for inspiration. It's illusive, fleeting and you can't buy it at the supermarket. I sit down to write as often as I can, start tapping away at the keyboard, and the act of writing inspires me to write more.
Juliette Fay
Get all the imagined critics out of your head: your highbrow friend, your high school English teacher - all the people you imagine reading this book and thinking, "Hmm... it's not that good." Write for you. Please yourself. It's the only way you'll take the chances you need to take to do something that you yourself are proud of.
Juliette Fay
I never considered how my books might affect people. I hoped they would be entertaining, but I never realized how much stories can actually help. If a reader has gone through or is going through a similar situation to the main character, they can feel comforted, less alone in their troubles, and maybe even be inspired as to how to rise above. The best thing about being a writer is when a reader contacts me and says, "Your book helped me."
Juliette Fay
I'm lucky in that I generally haven't had too much trouble with writer's block. I do sometimes get a bit scared of that blank page, though, as every writer does at some point. What I find works best is if I give myself permission to be really bad, write some real junk, let the cliches fly. I can always go back and fix it later, and it primes the pump for "real" writing.
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