Wendy Webb

Wendy Webb is editor in chief of Duluth-Superior magazine. A journalist with two decades of experience, she lives in Minnesota. The Tale of Halcyon Crane is her first novel.

From a Q & A at the publisher's website:

Although you are making your fiction writing debut with The Tale of Halcyon Crane, you’ve worked as a journalist for more than twenty years. Was it difficult to make the switch from nonfiction to fiction? What were some of the challenges?

It was difficult at first. I didn’t realize how different the two styles of writing actually are. One of the cardinal rules of fiction writing is "show, don’t tell." But as a journalist, you "tell" a story, and as I’d been writing that way for so long, it was second nature to me. It took a while before I even understood the difference between showing and telling well enough to break that habit. Also, plotting and pacing a novel was a completely new experience for me because it’s something you never have to do when writing a magazine article. The timing of when to let a bit more of the story unfold is an art unto itself. And consistency—you never even think about it as a journalist, but I found myself constantly going back to make sure Halcyon was wearing the same outfit she left the house in fifty pages earlier.

Loving, lively animals play a role in The Tale of Halcyon Crane— from the animals that Hallie’s veterinarian grandfather cared for to the boisterous dogs Hallie inherits from her mother. Do you have pets?

We have a 130-pound giant Alaskan malamute named Tundra. Readers will notice Madlyn’s dogs are also mals, Tundra and Tika. Tika was our husky-samoyed cross; she passed away about five years ago. I believe...[read on]

Visit Wendy Webb's website and blog.

--Marshal Zeringue