In this interview, Princiotti shares what inspired her book, the first chat she had with her agent, and more. 

Name: Nora Princiotti 
Literary agent: Anthony Mattero (CAA) 
Book title: Hit Girls: Britney, Taylor, Beyoncé, and the Women Who Built Pop’s Shiniest Decade 
Publisher: Ballantine Books 
Release date: June 17, 2025 
Genre/category: Nonfiction, music, pop-culture 
Elevator pitch for the book: A nostalgic and funny rumination on how female artists in the 2000s redefined pop stardom. 

Bookshop | Amazon
[WD uses affiliate links.]

What prompted you to write this book? 

How devastating to start a Writer’s Digest Q&A with a cliché, but I really did write this book because I wanted to read it. There’s so much close reading and analysis of the current era of women in pop that I get so much from as both a writer and a reader, and I wanted to have that for the era I grew up on. 

How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process? 

The first chat I had with my agent, Anthony Mattero, about how much fun a book about aughties pop music could be was nearly five years ago, which is hard to believe. In earnest, it took about two years from medium-fleshed-out idea/proposal to publication. The idea—to write about my favorite artists of the 2000s and how they changed the nature of pop stardom—didn’t change much, but the chapters wound up coalescing around three themes of genre, technology, and celebrity that helped provide structure and clarity. 

Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title? 

This is embarrassing, but I didn’t understand how galleys are put together and had a brief hysterical episode when I thought my index was completely ruined. 

Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?  

Going into my first draft, I assumed the way for me to get it done would be to take it slow and steady, writing a little every day. I found pretty quickly that I wasn’t building any momentum. The way I’d get work done was to spend whole weekends writing or take some extra vacation days and get in a groove. 

What do you hope readers will get out of your book?  

Of course, I hope readers will come away with a deeper respect for the art of being a pop star. But in total honesty, the thing I hope most of all for my readers is that the book makes them laugh and makes them feel confident the next time they go to bar trivia. 

If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be? 

Have the elevator pitch version of your thesis nailed from the start. (I have yet to do this.)

The post Nora Princiotti: Nail Your Elevator Pitch appeared first on Writer's Digest.

(9 Things I’ve Learned Writing a Memoir.)

I have been fortunate to visit and collect some of these artists. I have visited the South Pacific many times, including Guam, Pohnpei, Taiwan, Truk, Palau, Bali, Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, its Great Barrier Reef, Tahiti and its surrounding islands, and the Hawaiian Islands. My writings take me back to regions where my subjects lived.

My first book, Tyree: Artist of the South Pacific, was published in 2017. It took four years to complete because there was little information about Ralph Burke Tyree, who died in 1979. As a Marine, Tyree was stationed in Samoa during World War II, where he first painted the Polynesian people and local flora and fauna and became a premiere artist of Tiki culture in the 1960s. To uncover his history, I conducted extensive interviews with his family, including his wife and seven children. The rewards were Gold Medals for Best Biography and Best Cover from the Independent Book Publishing Association, 2018.

My interest in Tyree and his brilliant work would later lead me to write Beauty in the Beast: Flora, Fauna, and Endangered Species of Artist Ralph Burke Tyree. This book explores the last 10 years of Tyree’s life and was published to mark the 50th Anniversary of the Endangered Species Act. It highlights his paintings of endangered animals, the gems of our planet. I co-authored it with Tyree’s granddaughter, Paige Herbert.

The second artist I researched and wrote about was Edgar Leeteg for Leeteg, Babes, Bars, Beaches, and Black Velvet Art. This book also required four years of research. Leeteg was an artist famous for painting vahines (Polynesian women) from his Tahitian estate. His life was shrouded in myth, much of it stemming from James Michener’s Rascals in Paradise. Writing his story necessitated multiple trips to Tahiti. The book was awarded the Gold Medal as Best Biography from the Independent Book Publishing Association in 2022.

My latest book, Edithe Beutler: Beautifying Hawaii with Color, completed in about a year, explores the life of Edithe Beutler, a pioneering colorist who oil-painted black and white Hawaiian photos before the advent of color photography. I had an extensive collection of her paintings but needed help getting accurate information about her life from the newspapers and Ancestry.

My search for Edithe led me to a treasure trove of material via her son’s collection of his mother, grandmother, and other family members. Fortunately, she had a famous silent film star daughter named Sally Phipps and a book written about her by her son Robert L. Harned. I tracked him down via social media. He knew Edithe, his grandmother, well, having lived with her in Honolulu. He also had a plethora of photos of Edithe to supplement my collection of her art. Together, we completed an adventure to tell the story of this most exciting lady, talented artist, entrepreneur, and family matriarch.

Edithe Beutler exemplifies resilience, creativity, and determination. She overcame significant personal challenges, including two short marriages, estrangement from her actress daughter, and job loss during the Great Depression. Despite these hardships, she built a successful career as a celebrated colorist and business owner in Honolulu. Her art, created during a time when women were expected to stay home, stands as a testament to her trailblazing spirit. Through this book, I hope readers will be inspired by her legacy and beautiful contributions to art and history.

If I could offer one piece of advice, it would be this: Write about your passions. In my case, it’s history, art, and the South Pacific. Here are three key tips for aspiring writers:

1. Be Curious: Use the internet, explore resources like Ancestry.com and Newspapers.com, and dive deep into your subject.
2. Connect With People: Interview family members, collectors, and others who might have firsthand knowledge. Approach them kindly and gently—being a detective means following leads with respect and determination.
3. Enjoy the Journey: Research and writing are adventures in their own right. Embrace the process, and let your curiosity guide you.

Check out C.J. Cook’s Edithe Beutler: Beautifying Hawaii with Color here:

Bookshop | Amazon

(WD uses affiliate links)

The post On Writing Artist Biographies appeared first on Writer's Digest.

“If you are a younger writer struggling to find work, do not take on more debt by seeking some advanced degree in some writing-related area. It will not make you more money.” –Michael Arceneaux, author of I Finally Bought Some Jordans (HarperOne)

“Don’t count on sticking to your timeline. Give yourself at least double the amount of time you thought it would take! And as part of this, have other sources of income to get you through the process.” –Solomon Brager, author of Heavyweight: A Family Story of Holocaust, Empire, and Memory (William Morrow Paperbacks)

“Make sure you have or develop a rich inner life. That’s the wellspring of creativity.” –Lester Fabian Brathwaite, author of Rage: On Being Queer, Black, Brilliant…and Completely Over It (Tiny Reparations)

“Grind, grind, grind! There are so many hurdles and reasons to feel self-doubt that it takes a single-mindedness and ultimately blind faith to push through and do the work day-in, day-out.” –Jonathan Butler, author of Join the Conspiracy: How a Brooklyn Eccentric Got Lost on the Right, Infiltrated the Left, and Brought Down the Biggest Bombing Network in New York (Fordham University Press)

“Keep going. There are so many moments where you come back to what you wrote and just want to tear it all up. You start to think perhaps no one cares what you have to say or maybe it’s all been said before. But there are people waiting for you to write in your tone, with your experience, and we have to almost recite this to ourselves daily as we write. So, show up and let what’s there come to the page—without editing. Editing is for later, in my opinion. In the beginning, our only job is to be in our creative space, and write.” –Yasmine Cheyenne, author of Wisdom of the Path (Harper One)

“There is so much good advice out there already! And often, for whatever reason (Platitude!) (I don’t need advice!) (Please, that advice-giver wants to make a Muppet movie!), I failed to really heed that advice. But anyway, here’s a piece of advice that I think my younger self could have used: Don’t worry about knowing exactly what you want to say. Trust that what you want to say—even if you don’t know what it is—needs to be said, and eventually, inevitably, will be. And trust that you do have something to say. Everyone has something to say. Just keep writing. Just keep writing. As you draft and revise, perhaps for what feels like an eternity (It is an eternity. (An eternity exists in every moment.)), whatever needs to be said, you will eventually say.” –Matthew J. C. Clark, author of Bjarki, Not Bjarki: On Floorboards, Love, and Irreconcilable Differences (University of Iowa Press)

“I’m still pretty new to this, so I will be taking much more advice than I will be giving for a while. But I can say this for sure: Details are what drove me. If you over-report, ask unimportant questions alongside the important ones, jot down seemingly useless observations as often as possible, the story has a way of writing itself.” –Will Cockrell, author of Everest, Inc. (Gallery Books)

“I spent much too much of my life not quite understanding that the people who I admired—writers, filmmakers, musicians, artists, athletes, whomever—were real people. It took me forever (far too long) to realize that a filmmaker was simply someone who made a film; a novelist wasn’t some elevated being, they were a person who’d written a novel. If you want to be a writer, just write. If you want to be a great writer, keep writing.” –Nate DiMeo, author of The Memory Palace: True Short Stories of the Past (Random House)

“I would ask them how they balance what they want to tell people with what the reader is looking for.” –Ronald Drabkin, author of Beverly Hills Spy: The Double-Agent War Hero and Spy Who Helped Japan Attack Pearl Harbor (William Morrow)

“Keep writing.” –T.J. English, author of The Last Kilo (William Morrow)

“Don’t be afraid to share your unfinished drafts with trusted loved ones. My wife’s early reads were a gut check on whether I was heading in the right direction. She also flagged sections that dragged or where there wasn’t enough context for the average reader to follow along.” –Mike Hixenbaugh, author of They Came for the Schools: One Town’s Fight Over Race and Identity, and the New War for America’s Classrooms (Mariner Books)

“I have one piece of advice for those interested in writing a biography or a story with a historical background: It is critically important to conduct thorough research. Don’t leave any stone unturned in trying to discover what gems might be hidden in the information you collect. Conduct interviews, read novels from the period, collect pictures, testimonies, and official documents; tour the site of the events and do whatever else you can to shed light on the character, the setting in which she lived, and the central events (public and private) of her life. The more you invest in research, the better the writing process will be.” –Zipora Klein Jacob, author of The Forbidden Daughter (HarperCollins)

“It helps to have a really, really strong ‘want.’ I really wanted to finish and sell my first novel, The Anatomy Book, and I sacrificed a lot for that dream. It didn’t come true, but that blind desire—and the discipline I developed because of it—was so strong it made a lot of other wonderful things happen. Have a specific goal and put everything towards it. I think the universe tends to meet you halfway if you do that.” –Sarah LaBrie, author of No One Gets to Fall Apart (HarperCollins)

“This question is so hard, and I’m afraid my answer is a cliché. But honestly, the thing that has helped me more than anything is just sitting down and making work. I spent so many years not making anything, because I was so scared it would suck. Or making a few things and then obsessively editing them, trying to get one thing exactly ‘right.’ For me, the transformative shift has been to make lots and lots of work, to make enough work that I can figure out what I’m trying to do before I go back and try to revise and refine it.” –Sarah Leavitt, author of Something, Not Nothing: A Story of Grief and Love (Arsenal Pulp Press)

“Find a writing community. Writing with others has been so helpful to me. Join a writing group and participate in an online community, which I did during COVID. Currently, I’m part of a text chain of authors with books coming out in 2024, and it’s been so helpful to go through the publishing process with others.” –Margaret Juhae Lee, author of Starry Field: A Memoir of Lost History (Melville House)

“If an internal voice is nagging at you saying, ‘You must get down to writing!’ ignore it. It has been around all your life, and it is not your friend. It never has been. Don’t worry about publication, praise, or productivity. Relax and find the courage to let go, trust the process, and let yourself enjoy the simple act of writing in each ordinary moment. That’s all there is.” –William Martin, author of The Daily Tao (Hachette Book Group)

“Persevere. If you feel compelled to write a story, it’s probably worth writing. I was often tempted to give up on this project. Writing is work, and I could think of a million reasons not to continue my efforts. In the end, I just couldn’t let it go.” –Cindy Miller, author of The Alterations Lady (Apollo Publishers)

“Dare to be different. As enticing as it might be to write about the same topics as everyone else, don’t be afraid to cover things that aren’t being covered. It may be a lonely road initially, but if you keep writing with force and sincerity, you’ll build a genuine fanbase. The world needs more writers willing to explore the unknown, because those are the stories that need to be told.” –Marcus J. Moore, author of High and Rising: A Book About De La Soul (Dey Street Books)

“Stop talking yourself out of your book dream. Stop asking ‘what if’ and filling in the answer with the worst-case scenarios, like ‘What if I can’t finish this?’ and ‘What if no one wants to publish it?’ Instead, start asking ‘what if’ and filling in the answer with the best possibilities: What if I finish writing this book and it’s great? What if it gets published and readers love it? What if I get the chance to write more books? The former will slow you down and make you doubt yourself; the latter will convince you to keep going.” –Christina Myers, author of Halfway Home: Thoughts from Midlife (House of Anansi)

“Don’t worry about pleasing an unknown child with your story. Write for the child that you once were—or better yet, for the child that you are.” –Yevgenia Nayberg, author of A Party for Florine: Florine Stettheimer and Me (Neal Porter Books)

“With this book, I learned that not only does my writing style grow and change with time, so does my process. I was shocked to discover that what got a book done in my 30s (staying up all night writing for weeks on end) just isn’t doable in my 40s, and it took me a while to accept the fact that I would have to adjust my writing process to fit my needs in the present moment. But the adjustments I eventually made contributed to this being my most personally healthy and rewarding writing project to-date.” –Ijeoma Oluo, author of Be a Revolution: How Everyday People Are Fighting Oppression and Changing the World—and How You Can, Too (HarperOne)

“Be open to possible changes to your work amid the publishing process. Hold true to your writerly goals but give new perspectives on your work careful consideration—they may open the door to something grander in the end.” –Theodore Pappas, author of Combing Through the White House: Hair and Its Shocking Impact on the Politics, Private Lives, and Legacies of Presidents (Harper Celebrate)

“To be ever mindful of our power as conscious creators. Worlds are made up of language, words, ideas, thoughts. Through the microcosms we birth in our poems, lyrics, essays, novels, dramas, and screenplays, we can bring forth a just society.” –Deborah G. Plant, author of Of Greed and Glory: In Pursuit of Freedom for All (Amistad)

“Keep the faith. Your ‘last’ submission might be the one that hits the bullseye.” –Evan Rail, author of The Absinthe Forger: A True Story of Deception, Betrayal, and the World’s Most Dangerous Spirit (Melville House)

“Write the book that will bring about the world in which you want to live. This can be grand, if your book seeks to change our social, cultural, political world, but I also mean it in a smaller sense. Write the book that will reel in the people, the ideas, and the other books that you need in your life. I did end up feeling a bit as if Katharine had mentored me, or at least had drawn women and men into my life who have enormously influenced me. What a gift.” –Amy Reading, author of The World She Edited: Katharine S. White Edits The New Yorker (Mariner Books)

“Persistence! I’d been thinking about this book for nearly a half a decade, my first proposal didn’t sell, and I wrote 14 drafts of the second proposal before my agent felt it was ready to take out. Also: Surround yourself with good people who care about you personally and want to see you succeed.” –Jennifer Romolini, author of Ambition Monster (Atria Books)

“Trust the story to reveal the structure.” –Rosie Schaap, author of The Slow Road North: How I Found Peace in an Improbable Country (Mariner Books)

“Listen to your inner voice for its creativity, but not its criticism. Creativity is complex, and the inner critic struggles to understand complexity. So, when the critical voice shows up telling you to give up, don’t listen! If it tells you it hates a sentence in chapter 12, maybe go look at it.” –Stacey Simmons, PhD, author of The Queen’s Path: A Revolutionary Guide to Women’s Empowerment and Sovereignty (Hay House)

“That it’s always better to write without thinking than to think without writing. Afterwards, editing and revision exist for a reason.” –Ed Simon, author of Devil’s Contract: The History of the Faustian Bargain (Melville House)

“If you commit yourself to the process and lifestyle of writing, rather than simply the attainment of the end result, you will eventually attain the result.” –Dan Slater, author of The Incorruptibles: A True Story of Kingpins, Crime Busters, and the Birth of the American Underworld (Little, Brown & Co.)

“I think writing about your passion makes the process a dream. I had done the background work before putting pen to paper, so it never felt like a chore. It seems like a daunting process, but you’ll never know if it’s for you unless you try.” –Dr. Richard Smith, author of The World Beneath: The Life and Times of Unknown Sea Creatures and Coral Reefs (Apollo Publishers)

“Find a couple of writers (or other good friends who get it) who make sure you don’t give up when you think you really want to. Send each other your work, your concerns, your pains, your frustrations, and your joys, and just keep each other going.” –Chimene Suleyman, author of The Chain (HarperCollins)

“There are countless forces working against writers, but the writers who manage to overcome them to be successful are not always the writers with the most natural talent. They’re often the ones with the most determination. Never give up.” –Jerald Walker, author of Magically Black and Other Essays (Amistad)

“Write what you love. Write what you need. Let it be a place of joy and soul tending. And don’t forget that we are just one small part of a conversation that has been going on long before we were here and will go on after. Let your words be a part of the conversation.” –Lydia Wylie-Kellermann, author of This Sweet Earth: Walking with our Children in the Age of Climate Collapse (Broadleaf Books)

“Write what you can, to the best of your ability, and believe in the worth of your words—especially when others don’t.” –Kao Kalia Yang, author of Where Rivers Part (Atria Books)

____________________________

While there’s no shortage of writing advice, it’s often scattered around—a piece of advice here, words of wisdom there. And in the moments when you most need writing advice, what you find might not resonate with you or speak to the issue you’re dealing with. In A Year of Writing Advice, the editors of Writer’s Digest have gathered thoughts, musings, and yes, advice from 365 authors in dozens of genres to help you on your writing journey.

Click to continue.

The post One Piece of Advice From 35 Nonfiction Authors in 2024 appeared first on Writer's Digest.

(5 Tips on Writing From Your Own Family History.)

I’m sure that to those customers, she was unremarkable and maybe even invisible. But as her daughter, I knew what she had gone through to get there—the extraordinary circumstances that had brought her to this ordinary life—and it bothered me that nobody else could appreciate her strength and bravery.

You see, my mother came of age during the Cultural Revolution in China, which had started in the 1960s and created chaos across that country. A city kid with a high-school education, she was sent to a commune in the countryside for “re-education” by peasant farmers, forced to labor in rice paddies and sugarcane fields. In 1971, she decided to escape, by making her way to the coast through dense mountain forests, then attempting to swim five miles across Mirs Bay to Hong Kong with only a basketball to stay afloat.

It pained me to think that her story might go unknown, that strangers would only ever see her as a minimum-wage worker with broken English, and that entire lives could be so easily overlooked. It’s why I became a writer: to tell the stories of ordinary people like my mother. They existed. They struggled. They found in themselves a courage that could not be extinguished. And they survived.

Every family’s story is worth telling, whether it’s epic, like my mom’s, or not. And if, like me, you believe that the purpose of great literature is to reveal what it feels like to be a person in the world—how wonderful, bewildering, and devastating life can be—then your family history, however boring it might seem, likely contains the seeds of a story that will be meaningful to others.

Do it for those who came before

I originally wrote and drew my graphic memoir All Our Ordinary Stories to honor my parents by detailing their daring escapes from communes, but it also forced me to dig more deeply into my grandparents’ and great-grandparents’ stories. Everything that happened to my family was shaped by historical forces, both in China and in Canada, and it soon became apparent that to tell the full story of my parents’ journeys, I would need to learn about everyone who came before them as well.

This led to a deep dive into the life of my father’s maternal grandfather, who arrived in Canada in 1912 as a teenager and forever changed the trajectory of my family. I learned about the racism he faced in this country, how the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1923 made it impossible to bring his wife and children here, but also about his resilience and resourcefulness.

While trying to locate my great-grandfather’s documents in our national archives, I hit a dead end. Digital records of Chinese Canadian documents were difficult to sift through and also incomplete, so I gave up. Later, I published a short memoir piece online about my disappointing search. One genealogist responded to my story and said she was sure I would find my great-grandfather’s records one day. “The ancestors want to be found,” she wrote.

The ancestors want to be found. And I believe they want their stories told, especially if they were historically silenced.

I did eventually find the records I was looking for—months after my book had already gone to press—and now I have four documents featuring photographs of my great-grandfather. My eyes look like his eyes. And although they’re just grainy scans, I make a promise to his face: “I will tell your story, ah gong. You will not be forgotten.”

Do it for future generations

If you have children and they are anything like mine, they will show zero interest in hearing about your family history, even if you’ve been working on a book about it for years. Even if you’ve presented it in a graphic novel format, their favorite medium. But I have faith that one day, when my kids are older, they will begin to think about their identities beyond the present and get curious about where they came from. They will want to place their own lives into context, to learn about their people, and when that happens, the family stories I have written will be ready for them.

Even if you don’t have biological children, your family stories arise from a community, and that community may be served by your work. Those who have lived through similar experiences or had similar family dynamics will see themselves in the specifics of your story, and those who haven’t will get a glimpse into what family means from a different perspective.

Also, let’s not forget your artistic descendants. I could not have imagined there being space in the world for a book like mine if Maxine Hong Kingston hadn’t written her seminal Asian American memoir, The Woman Warrior, in 1976, the year I was born. A well-written family story can speak across decades, across centuries, even, and inspire generations of writers to come.

Do it for yourself

Writing your family story helps you ground your identity in history, connecting your individual life to something bigger: a lineage. And writing about those who paved the way for your existence can give you a greater sense of continuity, purpose, and belonging.

It can also be a healing experience. My relationship with my parents has always been fraught, but writing their stories helped me see them more fully—their desires, their sorrows, and their limitations. The time I put into interviewing them and attempting to bring their stories to life gave me insight into how hard their lives have been. It helped me understand the roots of our disconnection and softened my heart toward them.

The author Steve Almond once wrote, “Writing is an attention racket. But it’s also a forgiveness racket […] Remember that your goal is to forgive everyone involved, yourself foremost.” Memoir is never about punishing those who’ve wronged you. That typically results in a flat and lifeless draft. But if you’re writing from a place of curiosity and openness, you will find a truer story and, I think, a better perspective on your life in general.

Writing my family story hasn’t solved my family issues, but it has given me a wider view into my parents and myself and helped me appreciate the fullness of my inheritance, as well as my own capacity to learn and grow and change.

I began my book years ago with the intention of sharing my mother’s story. But I soon realized that I was actually telling the story of myself to myself—and, in a way, writing myself into being. Partway through the writing process, it no longer mattered whether strangers would ever read it. It was enough to do it just for me.

Check out Teresa Wong’s All Our Ordinary Stories here:

Bookshop | Amazon

(WD uses affiliate links)

The post Why Write Your Family’s Story appeared first on Writer's Digest.

My Catholic Hungarian parents survived WWII and came to the US to build a better life. I was 27 years old when I learned that most of what I knew about my family was a lie. My father was Jewish. But it took 30 years to have the time and courage to excavate the truth.

(How to Write a Biography of a World Leader.)

In 2011, a box was miraculously rescued from my parents’ house fire. Its contents—documents, letters, a handwritten family tree book with unfamiliar names, and photographs—were the catalyst that launched my journey of discovery. Through a friend of a friend, I was introduced to András Gyekiczki, a Hungarian sociologist and brilliant sleuth who played a pivotal role in unraveling the story of my family’s past.

Starting with names and dates on gravestones, András traced birth, death, and marriage records, most handwritten in ancient registers. He uncovered centuries-old donation books and tablets, tax ledgers, land certificates, election registers, school reports, phone books, newspaper advertisements, articles written by or about a relative, a name mentioned in a book, or a book written by a relative. Many of his discoveries emerged from the most unexpected places.

Two books, written by my late relatives, were particularly instrumental in discovering my past. Our Family History, written by my great-great-great-great uncle, Zsigmond Politzer (1842-1920) told the stories of family members starting in the 1700s. The second was written by my father’s cousin about his experiences from 1943 to 1945 during the Holocaust.

I soon realized that simply finding my family was not enough. I needed to grasp the zeitgeist of the time and place they inhabited. To truly understand them, I had to understand history. I immersed myself in history books, articles, biographies, and memoirs, seeking depth and context. Exploring the political, social, and economic conditions of their era gave me a clearer perspective of their experiences, motivations, and decisions.

Zsigmond’s account of his growing up in Hungary highlights how historical context shapes and deepens our understanding of individual experiences. After his father’s sudden death when he was 12, Zsigmond struggled in school and faced further challenges when his mother refused to support his higher education. He went to work for several older brothers in a series of jobs, each one grueling manual labor under thankless conditions. Eventually gaining independence, Zsigmond seized an opportunity to prove himself. An Austrian army officer asked Zsigmond to source supplies for a large cavalry troop that was arriving unexpectedly to be stationed in nearby towns. Zsigmond singlehandedly negotiated a mutually beneficial contract with local farmers and the military. He not only fulfilled the contract, but did so with remarkable profitably, showcasing his resourcefulness and determination.

At first, Zsigmond’s actions baffled me. It was 1860, just 11 years after the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, when Hungary’s brave fight for independence was crushed by Austrian forces, aided by the Russians. Zsigmond’s family had endured the brutal aftermath of Austria’s reign of terror. So why would he, of all people, serve the enemy by feeding Austrian troops? Was it greed? Ambition? As I delved deeper, a more complex story emerged. I learned that Emperor Franz-Joseph had begun easing his iron grip and decided to restore Hungary’s legislative body. Elections were set for the following spring. The army’s presence was not one of occupation, but of safeguarding this new chapter. Understanding this nuance transformed my view of Zsigmond. His actions were not betrayal, but a testament to hope. He had acted not out of selfishness, but with a vision for a peaceful, united future. This new perspective reminded me of the intricate layers that shape our ancestors’ choices.

While András cast a wide net in his research, following every lead and exploring multiple threads, I chose a more focused approach, honing in on one family member at a time. Each discovery, layered with historical context, was carefully documented on my computer. I printed these pages and organized them by individual, enabling me to trace timelines, unravel relationships, and pinpoint pivotal events. My childhood love of puzzles served me well.

Next, I set out to write their stories—one family member at a time—immersing myself in their lives. My intent was to fully capture the intricate tapestry of their experiences with accuracy and respect. I resisted the urge to fill in any gaps with speculation, staying firmly rooted in the facts we had uncovered. Where details were missing, I acknowledged the uncertainty. Through writing, I sought to breathe life into my Jewish ancestors, giving voice to their stories without distorting the truth.

Over seven years I devoted myself to researching and writing. Tracing back eight generations was both overwhelming and deeply rewarding. My forbears were remarkable individuals: doctors and lawyers, entrepreneurs and industrialists, writers and musicians, artists and art collectors, and philanthropists. András once wrote “I hardly know any non-fiction sagas to better exemplify Hungarian Jewish fate of the past 300 years as this Politzer, Misner, Ambrus story …. All that fantastic talent, diligence, and readiness to act for the birth of modern Hungary. All those sufferings, torture, and misery they went through ….”

When the Hungarian Jewish Museum and Archives decided to create a permanent exhibit based on my family’s stories, I knew that I had to compile my writings into a book. Encouragement from early readers further motivated me to pursue this. I decided to collaborate with an editor.

My editor embraced the stories with enthusiasm, providing round after round of insightful feedback—a weak section removed here, a reordering there, fuller explanations where needed, a reworking to emphasize key points. She suggested breaking out some of the historical explanations into sidebars I called “Learning More.” This approach helped maintain the story’s arc and keep the reader engaged.

A designer and artist helped to integrate the prose with 150 images, including the photos I had found in the box, family trees, and maps. No longer unfamiliar names, these visual elements helped to further bring my relatives to life, allowing their stories to be felt as well as read.

I set out to uncover the truth about my family, my Jewish family. With each story, a window into their world opened, revealing the grace with which they navigated unimaginable hardships. As I wrote I felt a profound connection—not just to the events of their lives, but to the unwavering strength that sustained them. They became real, woven into my very being. In that connection, I began to understand my roots and the legacy they passed down. By bringing their stories to light, I was able to honor their memories in a deeply meaningful way and truly grasp the essence behind the Jewish expression of condolence, “May their memory be for a blessing.”

Check out Linda Ambrus Broenniman’s The Politzer Saga here:

Bookshop | Amazon

(WD uses affiliate links)

The post Researching and Writing a Family History appeared first on Writer's Digest.

In this interview, Zipora discusses the personal connection that drew her to write her new biography, The Forbidden Daughter, her advice for other writers, and more!

Name: Zipora Klein Jakob
Book title: The Forbidden Daughter
Publisher: HarperCollins Publisher
Release date: April 23, 2024
Genre/category: History; Jewish Biography; Autobiography
Elevator pitch: The Forbidden Daughter is the true story of a girl born in defiance of the Nazis, a war orphan who moves from one family to another, changing her name each time, and struggling with her identity. Then, after finally building a new life in America, her story reaches a tragic end. She was “born in fire and died in fire.”

Bookshop | Amazon
[WD uses affiliate links.]

What prompted you to write this book?

I first heard about Elida, my cousin and the protagonist of the book, when I was a teenager. Over the years, I was always intrigued by the drama of her life and the fate of my family in the Holocaust, and I spent a lot of time studying this period of WWII. I became determined to write about Elida’s unique story in order to perpetuate her memory and describe the fate of children who survived the Holocaust but continued to pay the price of war.

How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?

I worked on the book for eight years before it was published in Hebrew in Israel. A year later, it was translated into English and became available for purchase on Amazon. Much of the work involved research, including many interviews with members of the family and searching for documents, certificates, and letters. I found long-lost photographs and read many books on historical events connected to Elida’s life. I thought about writing the book as a novel at first, but the authentic material I collected enabled me to tell her story as a non-fiction biography.

Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?

While collecting material for the book, I came across surprising sources of information, some of which added significant new “twists” to the plot. For example, at the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum in Israel, I was surprised to discover the identity of the Lithuanian family that had hidden Elida in their home during the war, when she was still a baby. When I traveled to meet with the family, they gave me a box of letters, photos, and other items the mother of the family had received from Elida’s mother 70 years earlier. The box also contained letters and pictures from the years Elida spent with their family. The names and events written on the back of the photos also led me to the story of the people involved in passing the girl from one family to another.

Another learning moment came when the Welfare Services office in Israel gave me access to a legal file with Elida’s adoption papers, and this information provided the basis for writing an important chapter in the book.

Letters written by Elida and the recollections of family members provided another vital source of information that helped me to describe the protagonist’s personality and not only the events she experienced.

What do you hope readers will get out of your book?

My motivation for writing the book was the desire to recount a chapter in the history of WWII. But instead of focusing on the major historical events of the war, I wanted to tell the story of ordinary people and the heavy price that families and children paid (and continue to pay) because of crazy leaders.

The story of Elida’s life illustrates how the personal fate of human beings in war is at the mercy of external, cruel forces and how their bitter fate continues to haunt them many years later.

And in particular, I wanted the book to introduce readers to the heroine of the story and to imprint an indelible memory of her in their minds.

If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?

I have one piece of advice for those interested in writing a biography or a story with a historical background: It is critically important to conduct thorough research. Don’t leave any stone unturned in trying to discover what gems might be hidden in the information you collect. Conduct interviews, read novels from the period, collect pictures, testimonies, and official documents; tour the site of the events and do whatever else you can to shed light on the character, the setting in which she lived, and the central events (public and private) of her life. The more you invest in research, the better the writing process will be. 

The post Zipora Klein Jakob: On Ordinary People in Times of War appeared first on Writer's Digest.

She lives with her husband and three children and divides her time between Washington, DC and London UK. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

In this post, Leah shares what inspired her book on three historical queens, what surprised her about her editorial team, and more.

Name: Leah Redmond Chang
Literary agent: Jill Grinberg, Jill Grinberg Literary Management
Book title: Young Queens: Three Renaissance Women and the Price of Power
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (US); Bloomsbury Circus (UK)
Release date: August 15, 2023 (US); released May 11, 2023 (UK)
Genre/category: Literary Nonfiction; History; Group Biography
Previous titles: Into Print: The Production of Female Authorship in Early Modern France; Portraits of the Queen Mother: Polemics, Panegyrics, Letters (co-authored with Katherine Kong)
Elevator pitch for the book: Young Queens paints an intimate portrait of three Renaissance queens: Catherine de’ Medici, her daughter Elisabeth de Valois, and her daughter-in-law Mary Queen of Scots. Following their intertwined lives from girlhood into young adulthood, the book explores how women living the orbit of power fought to survive, and lays bare the traumatic cost of being female and royal in the Renaissance.

Bookshop | Amazon
[WD uses affiliate links.]

What prompted you to write this book?

I had two reasons.

First, as a feminist, I wanted to write a novel-like history that captured the complexity of women from the past. This was important to me because I was working against a centuries-old tendency to paint women like Catherine de’ Medici or Mary, Queen of Scots as either all ‘good’ or all ‘evil’—narrative allowed me to capture the multidimensionality and raw emotion of the characters.

Second, I had to write something about Elisabeth de Valois. She’s a forgotten queen. Even scholars and readers who know their queens don’t know a lot about her. And we have so much fascinating material about her teenaged life in Spain, on everything from her menstrual cycle to her fraught relationship with her mother, Catherine de’ Medici. Through Elisabeth, we really get a glimpse of what it was like to be a royal teenager—she is almost a royal Everywoman.

How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?

It took me about six or seven years to go from the first idea to publication. The research was complicated, and the pandemic slowed things down. Finding ways to keep the narratives of the three women as braided as possible also took lots of focus and rewriting.

After the first draft, and some serious discussion with my editors, we decided I should cut out the fourth queen—that’s right, initially there were four women featured in the book, with Elizabeth Tudor, Queen of England, as the fourth. But the story was really crowded, and the queens were fighting for space. Demoting Elizabeth Tudor to the second tier turned out to be the best idea.

Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?

I didn’t fully anticipate the energy and savvy that would come from my editorial teams at FSG and Bloomsbury. They truly love books, and I am grateful for the opportunity to work with them.

Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?

Besides the pandemic?

Actually, the pandemic led to some serendipitous discoveries. An example: Since libraries and archives were all closed, I ended up buying huge quantities of books, including a set of rare volumes from Spain. I had consulted these books previously in various libraries—I had always thought there were two volumes in the set. When I ordered them on Ebay, however, it turned out there were three volumes—and that last volume ended up containing a rich trove of primary texts that I had never seen before.

I am hardly thankful for the pandemic, but that third volume changed a lot, and I am thankful for it!

What do you hope readers will get out of your book?

There is a way in which women from the past get flattened in history, almost as if they weren’t real humans with real emotions and complex lives. I wanted to offer a closer, more complete picture of these three women, one of whom is almost unknown and the others who are often misunderstood.

More importantly, I think these queens can really teach us something about women and power—how women used it, how they were abused for it.

If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?

Listen to your editors. They are a tremendous resource, and they are on your side.

[Click to continue.]

The post Leah Redmond Chang: Breathing Life Into the History of Misunderstood and Forgotten Queens appeared first on Writer's Digest.

During his years of reporting, he has embedded himself with confrontational Christian street preachers in Cincinnati, bunked at an historic multiracial communal farm in south Georgia, met with elder Black Panthers in New York, and been tear gassed by federal police in Portland during the 2020 protests for racial justice. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.

In this post, Santi discusses the process of writing his new biography, An Amerikan Family, his hope for readers, and more!

Name: Santi Elijah Holley
Literary agent: Kerry Sparks at Levine Greenberg Rostan Literary Agency
Book title: An Amerikan Family: The Shakurs and the Nation They Created
Publisher: Mariner Books
Release date: May 23, 2023
Genre/category: Biography/history/race/American studies/social science
Previous titles: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ Murder Ballads
Elevator pitch for the book: A gripping history of the Black liberation movement and the long fight for racial justice in America, as seen and influenced by the revolutionary Shakur family—home to Assata, Afeni, Tupac, and others.

Bookshop | Amazon
[WD uses affiliate links.]

What prompted you to write this book?

I’ve been a fan of Tupac Shakur’s music for many years, but only in recent years did I begin to examine his lyrics and interviews more closely, and I was stunned by the depth of his knowledge about the Black liberation struggle and his commitment to highlighting racial and social injustices. I sought out more information about his mother Afeni Shakur, his stepfather Mutulu Shakur, and other family members, and I was surprised and disappointed to learn how little had been written about this remarkable family and this pivotal chapter of American history.

How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?

I first began thinking about this book in the summer of 2020 (there wasn’t much else to do that summer but think and ponder). I finished drafting my book proposal fairly quickly, and it wasn’t very long before the proposal was accepted by my editor Rakia Clark. The finished book is almost exactly how I’d first envisioned it, which is a testament to the trust of Rakia and the Mariner team.

Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?

Because this book chronicles a highly charged and often incendiary piece of American history, I was concerned that, when I turned in my manuscript, the higher-ups would have some trepidation over the content, or ask me to censor or revise certain sections to make it more palatable to a particular market.

That wasn’t at all the case. If anything, I had to be reassured by Rakia that the book was solid and that I had the team’s full support.

Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?

When I first began reaching out to Shakur family members, family friends, and other Black liberation movement elders and veterans, I was worried no one would agree to speak with me. This is understandably a sensitive story for many of these survivors.

I was amazed when people responded and agreed to share their stories with me. They understood how important their stories were and they recognized the value in documenting this important history.

What do you hope readers will get out of your book?

Of course, I want readers to be riveted and glued to their seats while reading this book, but I also expect they will learn a lot about the long and difficult struggle for racial justice in the U.S. I also expect readers will gain a greater understanding of—if not respect for—this incredible family and its impact on today’s art and activism.

If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?

Don’t quit.

Click to continue.

The post Santi Elijah Holley: On Writing About Black Liberation appeared first on Writer's Digest.

Windsor Castle, late afternoon. In St. George’s Hall, surrounded by guests, Her Majesty the Queen catches sight of something shiny beside her shoe. She bends down and retrieves it.

“A drawing pin!” she tells the small group of people close to her, with her trademark smile.

“Yes, indeed, Your Majesty,” comes the reply.

There is a pause.

“Very sharp, drawing pins,” the Queen offers.

“Yes, very.”

The Queen struggles to find something else to say on the subject of drawing pins, does so and is again greeted with monosyllabic agreement. Again, a pause follows.

You get the picture.

Three years ago, I had only recently embarked on my biography of Elizabeth II when, in the bar of one of London’s old-fashioned gentlemen’s clubs, a friend told me a number of anecdotes—this one among them—of his own encounters with the woman who, through seven decades, has reigned over the United Kingdom and her 15 Commonwealth realms: Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and a clutch of states in the Caribbean, the Pacific, and the West Indies. What does it show us? 

The difficulty—indeed the oddness—of a royal world in which only the Queen can initiate conversations, in which only she can ask direct questions and in which the pressure to put people at their ease, make them feel better about themselves and ensure that an encounter they will remember for the rest of their lives is happy and fulfilling rests solely with her. And obviously, sometimes, inspiration fails the world’s longest-serving head of state. Who can’t sympathize?

(How to Write a Biography of a World Leader.)

But as a writer, anecdotes of this sort are of limited usefulness. One smiles, an impression is confirmed, and the narrative remains unchanged.

My biography of the Queen—and in Britain and across the Commonwealth she is always ‘the Queen,’ a sort of doyenne of Queens who eclipses her peers and requires no other name to distinguish her—is my fourth royal biography. I have previously written about her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria, Victoria’s youngest daughter, Princess Beatrice, and the remarkable wife of George II, Caroline of Ansbach, Britain’s queen consort during the second quarter of the 18th century. 

The Problem With Anecdotes

What I have learned in 15 years of writing about royalty is that oral testimony and records of once-in-a-lifetime meetings can be unreliable. This is partly to do with the nature of royal encounters. The non-royal is invariably keyed up, over-excited, unrelaxed, not quite themselves. They will remember their meeting forever, frequently telling and retelling it as a dinner party anecdote, until any accurate record has been polished by repetition, in the process becoming something quite different. Memories of royals are extreme: wild devotion or virulent dislike. But they’re not necessarily either representative or trustworthy.

Nevertheless I kept on talking. For three years I badgered people—not always the people who had talked a million times before—asked questions, listened. A number of friends had worked in the Royal Household; others were country neighbors close to Sandringham or Balmoral; men of my own age, as young teenagers, had served the Queen in a ceremonial capacity as pages. 

Several asked to remain anonymous and so I conferred anonymity on all my sources, embedding their views within the text, but not leaving a trail by which their confidentiality could be rumbled. And then I looked for other sources of information.

Learn more about The Queen, by Matthew Dennison

IndieBound | Amazon

(Writer’s Digest uses affiliate links.)

The Elusive Private Papers

When Elizabeth II dies, an official biography will be commissioned by the Royal Family: the chosen writer will be granted access to the Queen’s private papers, including her diary. I have enjoyed this sort of access before, working in the Royal Archives at Windsor Castle on my biographies of Princess Beatrice and Queen Caroline. In both cases, the women’s private writings revealed a lot. But Caroline of Ansbach was a forceful, hot-tempered, powerhouse of a woman, married to a buffoonish husband, with an eldest son whom she heartily detested. 

(How to Write a Nonfiction Book Outline.)

Elizabeth II, by contrast, has made reticence her watchword throughout her long reign. Among her achievements is the extent to which she has simply floated above both celebrity culture and the invasiveness of social media. She is simultaneously the most famous woman on the planet and its least known. Of her private opinions we know virtually nothing. And perhaps that will never change. 

She has indicated that her diary is a brief and straightforward record of events, rather than a compendium of reflections or the sort of vehement views that make Queen Victoria’s journals such compelling reading. However, since I wasn’t being offered this material, there was no point in worrying about it. I needed to find something else.

Scouring Other Sources

Much of it I found in local archives, in regional newspapers, in magazines, old Pathe news footage; in the letters and diaries of ordinary Britons reflecting on the great events of the Queen’s life—her marriage, her Coronation, the births and marriages of her children; in concert programs and religious orders of service; in letters written by families close to the Royal Family, or the correspondence of soldiers, diplomats (and, particularly, diplomat’s wives), couturiers, jewelers, clergymen, servants (known in royal circles as “staff”); in poems and speeches addressed to the Queen in the course of official engagements. I looked at presents she had been given, portraits painted of her, versions of the Queen made up by schoolchildren in entries to competitions organized by popular television programs.

My aim was always very clear. Biographies of the Queen can become accounts of the timespan of her reign; they discuss her prime ministers, members of her family and, as a result, royal scandals. She herself slips into the background. I was determined to write a book in which this remarkable woman remained consistently center stage. After a lifetime’s unwavering service to this country and the many other countries across the globe who acknowledge her as Head of the Commonwealth, she deserves no less. 

*****

Research, interview, and explore the subjects that interest you. Then write about what you’ve learned in Writing Nonfiction 101: Fundamentals. Writing nonfiction is a great way for beginner and experienced writers to break into the publishing industry.

Click to continue.

The post How I Researched My Biography of Her Majesty the Queen appeared first on Writer's Digest.

• Why do you want to write a biography on a world leader?
• How will your biography impact society?
• Will your biography contribute something more than a book?

(Through Another’s Eyes: An Auschwitz Survivor Inspires His Biographer)

I always like to interview the subject of the biography before writing about them. I have interviewed all the women Nobel Peace Laureates, several prime ministers, and presidents, so I write on womanhood to push women’s role in peacebuilding.

Here are my personal tips to write an impactful biography of a world leader.

How to Write a Biography of a World Leader

Stage 1: Decision Making

Before writing the biography, make sure you can resonate with the qualities of the leader to ensure you’re writing a positive biography. This ‘decision-making stage’ is when you listen to all the speeches of the world leader. For example, the historic speech “Ask Not What Your Country Can Do For You” by John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address, on January 20, 1961, still gives me goosebumps. In my first book, Battling Injustice: 16 Women Nobel Peace Laureates, I interviewed all the Laureates, including the first woman President in the African continent, because their speeches and goals resonated with my personal goal to serve humankind. This practice of listening to all the past speeches will give a better understanding as to why you want to write about a particular leader. For example, before interviewing Nobel Peace Laureates like Malala Yusufzai, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbbowee, or world leaders like Jacinda Ardern and Jullia Gillard, I made sure to understand their inner drive and their future goals for the betterment of humankind.

IndieBound | Bookshop | Amazon
[WD uses affiliate links.]

Stage 2: Research

An extensive amount of research is necessary, get hold of every book, article, and interview about the leader. This will help to create a timeline and also be sure to keep track of the leader’s government website and social media accounts (Twitter, Facebook, etc.) to stay informed about their government actions and policies.

Stage 3: Personal Interviews

Approach the leader for interviews and be sure to take the time to understand the leader as a human being and not just a politician. Interview the leader’s family, friends, colleagues, and collaborators for a deeper insight. As far as the leader is concerned, ask questions about the leader’s childhood because that will give you a foundation to understand their personality. For my latest book, Jacinda Ardern: Leading With Empathy, I made sure during my interview with Jacinda to ask about her childhood:

Supriya Vani: I would again come back to your childhood on this because I feel that a building that is going to be huge and magnificent is known by its foundation. And I feel that you laid the foundation of your personality when you instantly empathized in your own childhood with the children on the streets of New Zealand without shoes on their feet or anything to eat. Would you agree with me that you could observe all these things because you were born an empathetic person.

Jacinda Ardern: I would like to believe that it is something that is an inherent trait for all of us. It’s about having the space to be empathetic, and I think the more that we have situations where our children and our young people grow up in circumstances where they themselves are living in deprivation or are living in violence or are living with mental distress… How can we expect them to demonstrate empathy and compassion for others when their situation and circumstances, you know, are what they are. And so, for me, making sure that children have their needs met is also part of ensuring that we can build an empathetic and compassionate society that’s inclusive, tolerant, and diverse as well, because otherwise we breed resentment and we breed an insular approach, where people instead worry about their own needs, if understandably. So that, for me, I had the privilege to be empathetic. But it shouldn’t be a privilege. So it’s probably that the two, you know, go hand in hand.

Stage 4: Personal Views

Don’t hesitate to form your own opinions and add those thoughts to the biography. If the Leader is well-loved, then make sure to justify in your book why your biography is more than a biography and indeed is a tool to bring a positive change in society. In my books, I ask questions to the leaders on humanitarian subjects to inspire the younger generation. For example, in my interview with the President of Iceland, Kathrin Jakobsdottir, when I asked her how she feels in politics. Can women take to politics as comfortably as men do? She was quite candid in her confession. She informed me, “Well, politics is difficult. You know, it’s a difficult job.” I am entirely satisfied to share with the world at large my belief that when more and more women would be elected as heads of governments, it shall palpably impact the lives of people across the globe for the better and it is highly satisfying to note that ‘better’ is a relative term and not absolute.

Click to continue.

The post How to Write a Biography of a World Leader appeared first on Writer's Digest.