Janet Fitch

Janet Fitch is a writer and a teacher of fiction writing.

She is the author of the #1 national bestseller White Oleander, a novel translated into 24 languages, an Oprah Book Club book and the basis of a feature film, and Paint It Black, also widely translated and made into a 2017 film.

Fitch's latest novel is The Revolution of Marina M.

From her Q&A with Jennifer Haupt at the Psychology Today blog:

JH: What was at the inner furnace of this novel?

JF: For me, it was always staying in the inner life of the character, Marina, and not trying to extricate the different political positions and philosophies that were happening at the time, aspects of history that were interesting to me but not intrinsic to the story.

JH: Where did this story begin for you? Did it begin with Marina?

JF: Well, that’s like asking “Where does a river begin?” A river begins from many different rivulets, creeks, and brooks. They come together and build a broader body of water recognizable as a river; that’s your book. One strand of this novel is my background as a history major in college focusing on Russia. I’ve also long been a little bit in love with everything Russian, especially literature. I have often had Russian characters in my writing. It was only a matter of time until there would be a Russian novel.

This novel actually began with a failed novel I wrote before “Paint It Black.” A story came out of that novel, about a Russian émigré working in L.A. in the 1920s. I loved that character and thought maybe I could write a novel about her. But when I tried to write her story in the ‘20s, I realized I didn’t know enough about her. I wanted to know what her life was like during the Russian revolution. What were her memories? Her experiences? Every time...[read on]

Visit Janet Fitch's website.

The Page 99 Test: Janet Fitch's Paint It Black.

The Page 69 Test: The Revolution of Marina M..

--Marshal Zeringue