Liza Nash Taylor says she came to writing late, after a successful career in fashion design. Stuck at home in her 1830’s Virginia farmhouse for 8 weeks with a broken ankle, she was inspired to write “Etiquette for Runaways.” She signed up for a low-residency MFA at Vermont College to work on the manuscript. While the setting of this novel was inspired by her surroundings, the time period was chosen due to her love of the Jazz Age. And her protagonist, May, who endures a constant stream of trouble but wins in the end, was inspired by Daniel Dafoe’s 18th century heroine, Moll Flanders.
This interview is chock full of nuggets for new and aspiring novelists, especially for those writing historical fiction. Kind of like what she calls “Easter Eggs” – historical facts that she uncovers during her research that can become a descriptive detail in her manuscript, or can completely change the story.
I had to trust that process – that the character was going to make a decision to lead me to the logical ending
The world is a big place full of mistakes just waiting to be made; but maybe, just maybe, there are some second chances too.
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