Historical Fiction Romance Author Gail Avery Halverson sat down for a 10-Question Interview with Chanticleer!

We had the pleasure of speaking with Gail Avery Halverson recently. The author of the historical fiction romance novel Sea of Glass, Book Three in her Stockbridge Series. Avery Halverson took home the 2023 Chatelaine Grand Prize for Romance for Sea of Glass, and she’s sharing her journey to becoming an award-winning author with us today!

Here’s what we talked about:

Chanti: Your romance novel, Sea of Glass, also falls under the category of historical fiction. Can you talk about what drew you to both of these genres?

Avery Halverson: I began writing in my twenties when I was a flight attendant and had a lot of days off during any given month. At first, I wrote mostly spec scripts for existing half-hour sitcoms to practice the craft of conveying a story through only what can be seen or heard. One of those spec scripts found its way to an agent in LA and after signing with her, I wrote two movie screenplays which were both optioned by Longbow Productions, but not made.

I took some time away from writing to raise my son, and when he was a sophomore in high school, I began to toy with the idea of writing a novel. When I heard the story of ‘The Plague Village” in England, I knew I had my novel. From there, I had to learn a new style of writing that encompassed all the senses, in addition to creating accurate historical story arcs and believable, very real characters a reader would care about. After writing the first book, I was completely hooked!

Chanti: Have you always been a writer? When did you realize you could write?

Avery Halverson: There were several points along the way, and while I can’t say that any one of them were really a defining moment, when I was in third grade, I wrote a story about a little girl that had gone through the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. I knew in my heart the minute I finished the assignment that it was an A+ story. It turned out that the grade was exactly that, and when the teacher handed my story back, she told me that I had a real talent.

The other defining writing moments were those early screenplay options; when I read the reviews of the first book; when I won the Chanticleer awards for all three books; and when a London agent at the agency representing Julian Fellows said I was very talented (sadly, due to a personal emergency, she was not taking on new writers). Although as all writers know, the most exciting, validating, and I think, thrilling “writer” moment, was the moment when I opened that first box of books with my name on the cover.

Chanti: I can tell you have a good eye for accurate period details in your books. What draws you to write historical fiction?

Avery Halverson: As I mentioned, the first fictional story I ever wrote was about a little girl going through the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, and as I think of it, that may be where my love of writing historical fiction began. Funnily enough, I don’t particularly read historical fiction – my tastes run more toward action – Ken Follet, Clive Cussler and the like, but I find I absolutely love the research involved in writing historical fiction. If I were to refine if further, I love using fictional characters to bring to light actual women in history who did not get the recognition they deserved for accomplishing some amazing things.

Chanti: What areas in writing am I most confident about in writing?

Avery Halverson: I feel very confident in two areas of the writing process. The first is story arc, and the second is dialogue. As to the former, I’ll insert another Chanticleer author question here – which is, which craft book(s) have helped the most. The answer to that question is the book How to Write a Screenplay in 30 Days by Viki King. She wrote the book many years ago, and while it was intended for screenplays, the information also applies beautifully to novels, as well. In the book, Ms. King describes a story arc as a clothesline, with clothespins evenly spaced. The clothespins are plot points, and the corresponding visual reference in her book made perfect sense to me, in that each book has a story arc, each chapter has a story arc, and each character has a story arc. In the case of my Stockbridge trilogy, I had to create an all-encompassing, three book story arc, as well, and I find the construction of all that fascinating. As to dialogue, I can only credit being a bit of a natural mimic – and many, many years of flying, listening carefully to not only a multitude of accents, but the vocabulary and word choices, the cadence, tone and even underlying sub-text of the conversations I heard from passengers.

With respect to my books, I did a tremendous amount of research into the letters and formal writings of people in the 1600’s, not only in England but in early America as well and had to interpret that formality so that it captured the essence of what was being said, but did not sound as stilted as it did while reading the material. I also had to consider which social class a character belonged to and the way each group spoke, as well as in the case of Book Three, A Sea of Glass, the way a young, African American woman born in America, might have spoken. So, in terms of advice to a new writer, I would say eavesdrop all you can, then read your dialogue out loud after you’ve written it. Every single person on this planet has a different way of speaking – young vs. old, male vs. female, etc., and I’m always amazed when dialogue sounds stilted. People rarely, if ever, speak in grammatically correct sentences. Also, to a new writer, use the “find” button on your computer and try your very best to eliminate every single “ly’ adverb. Create a new way to say it – your writing will be clearer and far more concise.

Chanti: Those are wonderful tips for writers getting started, and great advice for editing. Can you talk about what happens when you stall (if you do), with writer’s block?

Avery Halverson: On occasion, I’ll run up against a brick wall where nothing comes to mind. When that happens, I usually dig deeper into history – nothing made up could ever top some of the things that actually happened. At one point in The Skeptical Physick, I needed a side character with a talent, which could then be something my heroine could learn. At that time, the Great Fire had just decimated nearly all of London, and my heroine had natural artistic talent, so I searched the history books and found Lady Elizabeth Wilbraham, a real-life 17^th Century architect. Perfect. Lady Wilbraham and her story became that side character. I also try to read a few chapters leading up to wherever I am to get in the flow and that will usually get me started again. I also find that doing something else away from the computer – laundry, gardening, errands, or even soaking in the bath – allows my mind to wander and the creativity or solution to the current writing puzzle usually comes.

Chanti: Taking time away from the screen can be one of the most valuable tools for moving forward. Would you talk a little bit about your writing “comfort zone?” Are you a structured writer, or do you write when the moment feels right?

Avery Halverson: When I started writing my novels, I was very disciplined. At first, I tried every desk and office area in my house, but finally ended up sitting on the couch, feet up on the coffee table in front of the fire. I would start at 9am sharp and write until noon. If I hadn’t written 1500 words, I’d began again at 3:00pm, then continue until I hit that number. With that structure, I finished my first book, The Boundary Stone in six months.

I confess that I relaxed a bit on the next two books in the trilogy. I still tried to meet that 1500 word a day goal, but if a natural break point came and I’d only written 750 words, I would not panic, but I would spend the other hours editing or researching. I had a lot more fun that way, rather than forcing myself to reach a hard goal. Interestingly, I found that on most days, I would still exceed that 1500-word goal.

Chanti: 1500 words a day is impressive! What excites you most about writing to keep that drive?

Avery Halverson: What excites me most about writing are those two magical words, “The End.” I absolutely love accomplishing a goal I’ve set for myself, and I don’t think there’s a more exciting moment than finishing a novel. I also love those writing days when the words just seem to flow out, and the days when I don’t even look at the word count until I close the computer for the night and find I’ve written far more than I thought I had. I love writing a great scene, or even a great sentence, and I especially love the research into and writing about the extraordinary accomplishments of ordinary people long forgotten by history – especially women.

Chanti: Your love of extraordinary people is clear in your intriguing cast of characters, absolutely! Who is the perfect reader for those forgotten stories of brilliant women?

Avery Halverson: I think anyone who likes historical fiction with strong, intelligent characters and a touch of elegant romance. I’m not one for stories where someone deliberately makes a bad decision and ruins the lives of everyone else around them. I much prefer to write the stories of good people who are thrust into circumstances beyond their control and how they use their intelligence, their wits and their integrity to survive. It’s funny, I thought the trilogy would appeal to mostly women, but some of the best reviews I’ve had have been from men, so I hesitate to limit the category of readers.

Chanti: I believe there are a lot of men who love romantic adventures! How do you come up with ideas?

Avery Halverson: I read everything! I’ll read everything from the National Enquirer to Neuroscience News and anything in between, but my favorite thing to do is to go down Google rabbit holes. I’ll start with Wikipedia for a general introduction to historical figure or event, then start to dig from there, and in that digging I very often find the story.

Chanti: Reading deeply is definitely crucial! What about for readers? What is the most important thing they can do to support an author who they want to read more of?

Avery Halverson: I’ve found that the most important things a reader can do to help an author is to post reviews on Amazon, Goodreads and other reader sites, to create social media posts about the books, and to generate interest via word of mouth and any other promotional ideas they can think of, and an especially helpful thing is to invite an author to their book clubs. All authors are tremendously grateful to any reader offering to help promote their books!

Award-winning writer, Gail Avery Halverson, is the author of The Boundary Stone, and its sequel, The Skeptical Physick, a historical romance novel set in 1666 England at the time of the Great Fire and the Scientific Revolution. The Boundary Stone is a Chaucer Award First Place winner (historical fiction) and The Skeptical Physick won First Place in the Chaucer Awards and 2019 Grand Prize in the Chatelaine Award. Sea of Glass was awarded Grand Prize in the Chatelaine Award in 2023. 

Ms. Halverson is also the writer/producer for “Take it From The Top,” (sitcom pilot, Twin One Productions, Inc.), as well as the playwright and composer of musical plays that have been performed for nearly 300,000 children since 2004. Writing for both theater and television, she holds a B.A. in English Literature/Communications from the University of California, Davis, and is currently at work on the third novel in the Stockbridge Series. She lives in Northern California with her husband and son.