Olivia asked Ruta Sepetys:

Hi Ruta! I loved OotE and BSoG! I'm an aspiring author and avid writer. I love to write LGBTQ fiction, and I also want to tackle writing historical fiction one day. But I have a firm belief that LGBTQ people deserve to see characters like them in fiction who don't die sad and alone, and I'm not sure how to combine these two genres while still retaining that principle. Do you have any tips? Thank you!!

Ruta Sepetys Hi Olivia! What an excellent question. Writing historical fiction means that history often writes the outline of my books, there is already an arc and I create a story around that based on my research. To incorporate specifically LGBTQ characters may lend itself some difficulty because not many of their stories would have been well documented throughout much of history, but I think the idea is to bring believability to the story you create within the history.

The hardest part of writing historical fiction is the research and finding people who have knowledge or direct experience with what you're writing about. It can be a challenge to track them down and convince them to share their experience. I am drawn to writing historical fiction because it gives me an opportunity to give voice to those who might never have a chance to tell their story.

In terms of advice, I always suggest that writers think back on their own experiences of love, loss, joy and even humiliation. Those triumphs and scars are part of our individual emotional truth and if we write about them - and through them - the work will have a feeling of authenticity. In this way, you can create believable, authentic story arcs with historical narratives.

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