Behind the Stories | Gina Hogan Edwards

Behind the Stories documents my creative process, general research, and other rabbit holes I've gotten lost in during the writing! If you love exploring the past, too, 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 delving into how the people, the places, and the events of the past shape—and show up in—my stories and influence my creative process.

A group reaching for one another and clasping hands

Belonging

One trait Pop and I share is our curiosity which has translated into reading books that cover a variety of topics and genres. We exchange books often, and that summer, he loaned me a memoir by CBS correspondent Michelle Miller.

2 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

The Briarhoppers, Whitey and Hogan, with announcer Charlie Crutchfield at WBT Radio

Family Soundtracks

As the daughter of a radio disc jockey and having many family members in singing groups and bands of various kinds, music has always had a large presence in my life. So naturally, it plays a role in my fiction, too.

5 min read

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

A partial dictionary page defining the word MUSE

Trusting the Muse

I try to start each day with the intention to pay attention. Throughout the day, I stay aware and attuned to any ideas for my writing that present themselves to me. They often appear unbidden, sometimes gifted to me subtly. Other days, they are presented like a bonk on the head.

2 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

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