An Interview with Nanette Littlestone

Nanette Littlestone’s emotional stories take the reader on a journey of the heart. An award-winning novelist and gourmet, Nanette believes in happily ever after. Her pragmatic side realizes that most people don’t live fairy tale lives, so her stories explore the struggles we face, the plans that backfire, the heart-wrenching decisions we have to make, plus the joy, the delight, the happiness when we courageously embrace our dreams. It’s all about the love, and good food. She’s the author of the historical novel The Sacred Flame (set in ancient Rome), the contemporary sequel Bella Toscana, the underwater YA fantasy The Heart of Everything, and the first two books in the Irish romance series For the Love of Brigid and Sweet Dreams by Claire. She lives in Atlanta, GA, but still calls California home, loves making origami butterflies, and watching romantic movies that make her cry. Her favorite quote: “Flattery will get you nowhere. Chocolate, everywhere.”

What inspired you to start writing this book?

My current work in progress is Book 3 of the Irish romance series, Capture the Light. So let me start with Book 1 of the series.

I’d just finished The Heart of Everything, an underwater YA fantasy that was complex and complicated and took three years to write (like most of my novels). I wanted something easier. Faster. Romance novels came to mind. I’d heard they’re formulaic and following a formula sounded much less complicated, so why not?

Once I decided on romance, my heart and mind took me to Ireland, a place that constantly calls me with its beauty and folklore. I thought of magic and enchantment and suddenly I was writing three verses of an ancient legend that forms the core of the series. The first verse corresponds to Book 1, the second verse to Book 2, the third verse to Book 3. From there, I came up with the characters for each book and started to develop the story for Book 1, For the Love of Brigid.

Let me say that romance isn’t easy. Yes, there is a basic formula to the storyline and a secured HEA, but that’s where the easy part ends. You still have to create a captivating story with characters that people can relate to. I have great, great respect for any author who can pull that off. So I’m kind of kicking myself for that “let’s write a romance” idea, because they’re not easier. But I love romances, and I’m thrilled to finally be writing them.

Tell us the story of your book’s current title. Was it easy to find, or did it take forever?

Sometimes I start the writing of a book with a title already in mind. I did that with my first three novels—The Sacred Flame, Bella Toscana, and The Heart of Everything. The titles came to me and felt fully formed, concrete and complete. And having the titles early helped inform the storylines, the characters, the overall development.

The titles for the romance series came more slowly. I was partway through both Book 1 and Book 2 before I landed on the final titles. At one point in Book 1 I was playing with ideas about the moon (you’ll understand the significance when you read the book) and asked friends for help. Some of their possibilities were In the Moonlight, Moonlight Love, The Sound of Moonlight, and Moonlight over Claremore. The actual title, For the Love of Brigid, is a double entendre, a play on the phrase “for the love of god,” meant in a sweet, endearing way.

Once I had the title for Book 1, I wanted to stay with the pattern of using the heroine’s name, which helped me create Sweet Dreams by Claire (Book 2). Because Claire’s a baker I knew the title needed to reflect food and her baking aspirations.

Book 3 features Brigid’s younger sister, Maebh. So the title will include her name. But I don’t know what that title is yet. I’m still in the early chapters of the book and a lot has to happen/develop before I’ll know what’s important to capture in the title. I hope that illumination comes soon!

What books are you reading (for research or comfort) as you continue the writing process?

If I wrote as much as I read, I’d finish my own novels so much faster. But not only is reading an escape and a rest for my mind; I also learn from what read and (often) get inspired—by information in the stories, what the characters do, how the author phrases his/her words or writes descriptions.

My reading choices include women’s fiction, literary fiction, historical fiction, YA, and romance. In the last few months I’ve read, and loved, the following:

It Starts with Us by Colleen Hoover

Last Call at the Local by Sarah Grunder Ruiz

Circle of Shadows by Evelyn Skye

The Lilac House by Barbara Josselsohn

Still the Sun by Charlie N. Holmberg

The Pelican Tide by Sharon J. Wishnow

The Watchmaker’s Daughter by C.J. Archer

The Hundred Loves of Juliet by Evelyn Skye

Secrets of the Lighthouse by Santa Montefiore

Hypnotized by Love by Sariah Wilson

Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum

Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serles

The Nature of Witches by Rachel Griffin

Happy Place by Emily Henry

Under a Painted Sky by Stacey Lee

Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan

The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston

Two Wrongs Make a Right by Chloe Liese

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune

What other professions have you worked in? What’s something about you that your readers wouldn’t know?

Currently, I’m an author, editor, and publisher, and I’ve been those three for a number of years. But in my distant past I’ve been a bank teller, a sales clerk in a gourmet food store, a legal secretary, and a paralegal for a divorce lawyer. I’ve sent telexes for Boeing, made potpourri arrangements, maintained a plant database for a landscape architecture company, played editor-in-chief for an inspirational magazine, owned a gourmet brownie company, managed the office of a chemical software company, scheduled county public hearings, recorded voice-mail greetings, interpreted zoning codes and ordinances, and answered phone bill inquiries and complaints. I’ve also written over fifty songs, recorded three, and had my Christmas song played on the radio in Mississippi and North Carolina.

Who/what made you want to write? Was there a particular person, or particular writers/works/art forms that influenced you?

I didn’t grow up wanting to be a writer. It never occurred to me that I could be one. and nothing writing-related happened until I was forty-one.

One Saturday I was reading in my bedroom (in my one-bedroom apartment), when I heard a voice say, “Nanette.” Just that one word. I looked around the room for the source of the voice, but nothing was there. After waiting several seconds for something else to happen, I shrugged and went back to reading.

The rest of the week proceeded normally.

The next Saturday I was reading in my bedroom again—about the same time as before—when I heard a voice say, “Nanette.” I wasn’t so patient this time. irritated, I yelled, “What!” and nothing happened. No neon light, no lightning bolt, no burning bush. Instead, a feeling came over me—the feeling that I should write.

But what would I write? Other than term papers for school and letters to friends and family, I had no writing experience. Then I remembered that adage “Write what you know.” I thought about my life, only the most exciting thing at the time was the Publishers Clearing House Sweepstakes. (Talk about being dull and ordinary.) So I began a story about a woman who wins the sweepstakes and goes to New York to claim the prize. The story quickly devolved into a mystery, complete with a dead body, and that’s where I stopped because I knew nothing about mysteries or dead bodies. Six months later I started a romance novel and have been writing ever since.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t the type of writer who instinctively knew everything there was about writing from the start. The process of writing was long and challenging. If you count how many hours I’ve put in with classes and lessons and workshops and tons of trial and error, I’m definitely an expert now. But I will say that the art of writing is one of the most thrilling things I’ve ever done. I love playing with words, with phrasing, giving flavor and color and shading to images and objects to make them come alive in unique ways. Infusing my stories with emotion and meaning.

I may not have planned this path for myself, but I’m so grateful it appeared.

Where is your favorite place to write?

Any flat surface was fine when I first started writing—a desk, the dining table, a yellow pad. I wrote my first novel by hand, and as long as I had paper and pen and some surface to write on, all was good.

Today I love to stretch out on my bed with a yellow pad and pencil and let my thoughts take fruit, using the ruled lines to maintain neatness and precision. I don’t need the structure of an office. I’d rather give myself permission to relax in a quiet setting and take advantage of the soothing yellow walls and sea-green quilt. This, to me, is luxury. A writer’s paradise. Now if I could just transport myself to the beach, I’d be in heaven!

What is one thing you hope readers take away from reading your book? How do you envision your perfect reader?

I love love. Romantic love. The love of friends and family. The love of animals. Love for the planet, for art, for music, for math, or whatever field makes you passionate. The love to build, to create. To lift up and inspire. Love is so many things to all of us. And I believe the heart is the key.

My books take readers on a journey of the heart. through love and joy, pain and sadness. Through flaws and tragedies, self-discovery and revelations. Examining how people relate, why we do what we do, how we carry the best and worst of us in our hearts, and how we can release some or all of the pain to find what we need, what will keep us going, what will make us happy.

My hope is that readers can find an escape from their troubles and lose themselves in a home away from home. a place where there is hope and laughter. A place of good food and good friends, warmth and understanding. A place where the light shines a little brighter. A place of magic and a whole lot of love.

Are you a writer, too? Submit your manuscript to Atmosphere Press.