I'm pleased to welcome author Andie Newton to The Writing Desk
Tell us about your latest book:
The Girl I Left Behind is about a young woman in the youth German Resistance who infiltrates the Reich to rescue her best friend. Nuremberg, 1941.
As a young girl, Ella never considered that those around her weren't as they appeared. But when her childhood best friend shows Ella that you can't always believe what you see, Ella finds herself thrown into the world of the German Resistance.
On a dark night in 1941, Claudia is taken by the Gestapo, likely never to be seen again, unless Ella can save her. With the help of the man she loves, Ella must undertake her most dangerous mission yet and infiltrate the Nazi Party.
Tell us something unexpected you discovered during your research:
I began this novel ten years ago. In 2009, there was an average amount of information on the internet and at my library about the youth resistance, but I knew I needed to go to the source and ask questions—I needed to ask Germans in Germany. I knew that Germans were reluctant to talk about this dark period of their history, so I looked up business’ in an around the areas my characters found themselves.
I figured that if they had a section on their website about their shop’s history (which several did—mostly about the building’s history throughout the ages) they might reply to an email. Some got back to me; some did not. The Korn und Berg bookstore was one who wrote back. It was through this exchange I learned that Hitler didn’t like the bookstore’s windows, and during a rally he broke away, walked right into the store and demanded the owner change the shape. This is just one of the many nuggets I found. And yes, I wrote this into the story.
What was the hardest scene you remember writing?
The ending. I love the ending of this novel. Love. However, there are many different ways I could have chosen to end it, and I imagined them all. As a reader I want every character to have that happy ending. I want the villains to get their punishments, and I want the heroes and heroines to get their day of splendor and acknowledgement.
However, this story is set during WWII. If I tied up every single plot point into a perfect package with a perfect ending the story would have been unbelievable to me. Definitely inauthentic. War is messy. War is unresolved in the hearts and minds of those who lived through it. So, in this respect the ending was hard to write, but also very easy and satisfying. Even now, and I’ve read my book thousands of times, the ending takes my breath away. I’ve read in reviews that readers are having the same reaction and love the ending, so I know I’ve done my job as a writer and as a historian.
What advice do you have for new writers?
Write. Write a lot. After I finished my first novel (which would later become my debut, The Girl I Left Behind), I thought it was the best thing ever written. I even got a few offers. But my book needed work. A lot of work. Someone told me to start writing a second book while submitting my first and I all but laughed in their face. I felt exhausted. I felt like writing that second book was only possible if I sold my first. Boy, was I wrong.
I wrote a second book and I learned much more about tension, hooks, and scene transitions. I went back and revised my first book using all the new and glorious writing techniques I learned. The funny and ironic part of this story is that my second book saved my first. This is the book that got me that coveted publishing contract, and when I told my publisher that I had another book, this one set in Nazi Germany, they were very excited.
Also, write out of genre. I know this sounds scary, but one of the best things I ever did was write a children’s book. There was no pressure. There were no expectations. I was on submission when I wrote it, and by this time I hated writing. I hated everything about publishing. Writing out of genre was very liberating, and I suddenly remembered why I loved writing. I also got a chance to write in 3rd person, which I had never done. And, as it turns out I’m actually good at it. I would have never discovered this talent of mine had I not dabbled in another genre just for fun.
Get a writing buddy. Specifically, find someone with similar publishing dreams. You will need this person to talk to when you go on submission. You will share ideas. You will share your frustrations. You will know you are not alone.
What is your writing routine?
I write when my kids and husband are out of the house! This is only because I absolutely can’t handle being interrupted; it will kill an entire scene and ruin my writing day. I can handle noise, oddly (I have two boys who make A LOT of noise), but if you want to see what I look like completely stressed out, interrupt me while I’m writing. So, I write when nobody is at home. I turn my phone off too, because receiving texts and FB messages is just as jarring as someone walking up to me while I’m in full creative mode and asking what’s for dinner.
What are you planning to write next?
My second book, The Girl From Vichy, will be released in July 2021 by Aria Fiction. It’s about a woman who joins the French Resistance and spies on her collaborator boyfriend in the Vichy police. This book explores a family that is politically divided, which was really interesting to write, given the state of our political landscape in America and in the UK, which is very divided. My third book, to be released in 2021 by Aria, is still a work in progress, but I can tell you it is a WWII female-driven spy novel involving American women, and I absolutely love it.
Andie Newton
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About the Author
If you would like to add The Girl I Left Behind to your Goodreads shelves, click here: http://bit.ly/2mGh6bF
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