Behind the Stories | Gina Hogan Edwards

Behind the Stories documents my general research and other rabbit holes I've gotten lost in during the writing process! I do love exploring the past. Also check out Retracing Asheville, which is part research diary, part journal, part historical record; it documents how Western North Carolina, and particularly the town of Asheville, influence my writing.

In both Behind the Stories and Retracing Asheville, I hope you enjoy exploring how the people, the places, and the events of the past shape—and show up in—my stories.

Camelot

Serendipity happens in my life a lot. I used to dismiss it as coincidence. I now like to think of it as my intuition paying attention. It happens in my writing, too, and here's how it showed up in Chapter 6 of Dancing at The Royal Jade, entitled "The Knight Alone."

2 min read

Promotional poster for the James Bond 007 movie entitled You Only Live Twice

Truth or Consequences

Movies often show up in my fiction. But I picked one to use in a scene in my novel that wouldn't actually have been playing in that time. This triggered a series of considerations about the use of historical facts in fiction. Dozens of authors have bent history in various ways and/or depicted events that never actually occurred in the lives of real people. Where am I willing to draw the line in the name of fiction?

5 min read

Harry Belafonte and Petula Clark during a 1968 NBS musical special

Doyle Lott Has Left the Building

On the evening of April 2, 1968, American living rooms were graced by an unprecedented moment on national television. During an NBC musical special called Petula, British singer Petula Clark and the iconic Harry Belafonte shared a stage, united by song and a brief, gentle touch. That fleeting moment of human connection spiraled into a controversy that reflects the era’s tumultuous racial tensions.

6 min read

Road sign showing the direction of LOGIC as straight ahead and INTUITION as a right turn

Bringing Nate Boniface to Life

For several years now, I’ve actively sought anything that would contribute to my understanding of intuition and how to tap into it, especially in my writing. Still, it has seemed out of reach for me, a fantastical superpower for only a few divinely gifted souls.

4 min read

Postcard: Greetings from Kent Creek, Gateway to the North Carolina Mountains

Story Inspiration

What we read cannot help but influence what we write...not in a copycat way, but as inspiration that sometimes is so subtle we may not even realize it.

2 min read

Portrait of Angelique from the TV show Dark Shadows

Angelique: RIP Laura Parker

At the end of Chapter 1, “Alleys and Shadows,” in my serialized novel Dancing at The Royal Jade, nine-year-old Libby Billings sneaks to watch Dark Shadows, a show I was not allowed to watch either. That’s probably not 100% true. I was prone to nightmares as a child so even though I was fascinated by the show and my parents weren't all that strict about what I watched, my fears kept me from tuning in. It was creepy, y’all.

2 min read

Subscribe to Gina's Quill, my monthly digest to receive story updates, research discoveries, travel, and other writerly happenings directly in your inbox.