Elizabeth Hutchison Bernard

I started out as a touring musician and songwriter. At a certain point, though, I realized that I needed to make a life transition, so I turned to what had been my "second love," writing. Writing can take many forms, and for a long time my fiction writing took a back seat to business writing--mostly public relations and magazine editorial work. Finally, however, I was in a position to devote my full attention to writing historical fiction. It's been ten years now since I have been doing that exclusively.

I have been driven more by characters than settings, though obviously the two are closely intertwined. Three of my novels are biographical historical fiction, and only one has purely fictional characters. My last two novels have focused on historical women of the Scottish Highlands, and most likely I will write at least one more book in that series. A lot of people are passionate about Scotland, and Scottish history and culture, as am I.

Once I have found an intriguing character or developed a general story concept based on an interest I have at the time, I immerse myself in reading everything I can find related to that person or idea. That is a process that is concentrated in the beginning but continues more or less throughout the whole writing experience, since new questions always arise. Researching a historical novel is what I would call "grueling fun." It takes a long time, but it is immensely rewarding.

I guess what inspires me is discovering someone or something of great interest to me and wanting to know more. But I like to use my imagination. I would not enjoy writing a straight biography. Filling in all the missing pieces of the puzzle is what attracts me to historical fiction, biographical or not.

It feels great, of course, but "success" for an author is multi-faceted and is certainly a relative term. Success for me starts with that wonderful feeling of creating something that "feels right" to me, as the author. Then, if other people enjoy it, that is very gratifying. Awards and bestselling status are important to an author's career, and I can't deny that I check my books' rank and ratings almost every day! Because if you don't stay on top of the marketing, a book will simply disappear among the other millions of books out there. And after so much work in creating it, an author surely doesn't want that to happen!

I have a personal connection to the story of Temptation Rag, which is that my husband's grandfather was the great ragtime pianist Mike Bernard, one of the characters in my book. When I started researching Mike, I discovered the whole story of ragtime music, and the book became much more meaningful. I was attracted to the story, also, because of my own former musical career. I felt I could write about music and musicians with a measure of insight.

The Beauty Doctor was the first novel I published, and I didn't yet have a publishing contract. So, while the book received excellent reviews in its first edition--including being a finalist for the Eric Hoffer Book Award--I felt it could reach a bigger audience now that I have a publisher. My publisher agreed, and so we decided to release a second edition with a new cover and an Author Preface that gives readers a context for viewing the story they are about to read, the details of which might otherwise seem somewhat improbable. But they really are not! People were actually undergoing what we today call "cosmetic surgery" as early as the late 1800s.

That's a very good question. It's a tricky balance. I try to educate myself as best I can about historical events that may impact my story, and I also try to stick more or less to an accurate timeline. But I like the quote from the acclaimed historical novelist Dame Hillary Mantel (author of Wolf Hall): "As soon as we die, we enter fiction . . . Once we can no longer speak for ourselves, we are interpreted." It is that interpretation that, to me, is the fun of writing historical fiction.

The world of ragtime was a rough and tumble place, and fame did not always bring the expected reward. Or, even if it did for a while, jazz was lurking just around the corner to make ragtime obsolete. Though Black musicians were the true originators of ragtime, white musicians generally were the ones who made money from it. In writing Temptation Rag, I wanted not only to create interesting characters--which included both Black and white musicians of the era and a few fictional characters as well--but to examine the consequences of their creative passion, ambition, self-centeredness, and racism.

I was very honored that Sisters of Castle Leod was selected as an Editors' Choice of the Historical Novel Society in 2023. There is a lot of great historical fiction out there, and so many authors whom I admire. I am just happy to be doing what I love to do and, hopefully, gathering a few fans along the way. I try to write novels that are thought-provoking, asking the reader to consider what they may not have considered before. Readers of historical fiction always like to learn something new, and it's important to me to give them that. .

Well, the romantic elements of my novels are never the focus of the story. I have never written a true romance novel. But relationships of many kinds are central to character development, so an author has to analyze what each character is, or is not, looking for in these relationships and why. A writer has to "feel" their characters, and that's challenging. Astute readers want characters with authentic emotions, and I think that's the most difficult aspect of fiction writing.. Ultimately, when it comes to feelings, an author has to first look inside before they can understand and convey another person's emotions.

Read as much as you can, both fiction and nonfiction, about the time period you wish to capture. And once you feel comfortable in that time period, give your imagination permission to explore.

The second edition of The Beauty Doctor is the same story as the first edition, with a few minor edits that do not constitute significant changes. I included the Author's Prelude, however, because I wanted readers to appreciate that the story they were about to read was grounded in a lot of factual information about the era. So, while the story is a mystery-thriller, it is also a thought-provoking tale about the true meaning of beauty and how the society we live in influences how we see ourselves and others.

I am not the greatest when it comes to social media, maybe because I am a very private person and don't feel compelled to share a lot about myself. So, when I engage in social media, I tend to focus on my books and hope that people will think they look interesting enough to want to read them. Not because they like me, but because they enjoy historical fiction!

I believe I discovered AllAuthor on some Internet list of the best promotional sites for authors. I took a look at it and thought it was very well done. The site actually gives authors tools that they can use in their own marketing, such as graphics, which I find very helpful for developing my own social media posts. The site also helps promote authors' books by regularly communicating about specific books to its followers on X and other platforms. There is some good thinking that went into developing AllAuthor, which I find to be among the more unique websites aimed at helping authors promote their work.