Barbara Pronin
Author Interview - Barbara Pronin
Author of Winter's End
An unlikely World War II love story and a tale of incredible bravery, “Winters End traces the journeys of three young women of the Dutch Resistance from the cobblestoned streets of Nazi-occupied Holland to a remarkable end more than 70 years later and a world away. Award-winning novelist Faye Kellerman calls it, “a gripping page-turner filled with honest characters that capture both heart and soul.”
Author Interview - Barbara Pronin
Author I draw inspiration from:
Many years later. I can recall the emotion and total engagement I felt while reading WIilliam Styron's 'Sophie's Choice.' My goal as a writer is to bring that kind of connection to my readers. In my view, character is everything.
Author Interview - Barbara Pronin | Author I Draw Inspiration From
Favorite place to read a book:
In my easy chair with my feet up. I am fortunate to have a view of green hills and evergreen trees, which fills me with a sense of peace and an openness to whatever world the author will draw me into.
Book character I’d like to be stuck in an elevator with:
I would love to be stuck in elevator with Stephanie Plum, Janet Evanovich's zany but lovable would-be bounty hunter. Stephanie and her cast of equally off-the-grid family, friends and lovers make me laugh - not an easy thing to do - and sometimes swoon. They take me out of the real world in a way that relaxes and delights me. I would love to have the chance to ask Stephanie which of her two long-time boyfriends she will ultimately choose - although as long as Evanovich keeps writing, I doubt that even Stephanie knows the answer. But I keep reading, book after book, waiting to find out. Meanwhile, I will keep reading. That ability to engage me time after time is a hallmark of a truly fine writer.
Author Interview - Barbara Pronin | Book Character I’d Like to be Stuck in an Elevator With
The moment I knew I wanted to become an author:
I was in sixth grade and had just seen my byline for the first time under a poem in a local bank newsletter, when Scott O'Dell, author of The Blue Dolphin, came to speak at my school. He spoke about the joy of creating characters who come to life on the page, and in that moment, I knew for certain that I wanted to be an author.
Hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook:
Hardback books seem to have more prestige, but even if I remove the cover, I find them harder to manage than today's large format paperbacks. Also, as an author who frequently speaks to reader audiences, I know there is a need for large-print books and for e-books that allow readers to adjust the size of the print. Audiobooks are fantastic for low-vision readers and for people who love to hear a story. My publisher, Black Rose Writing, and I are in process of auditioning narrators for Winter's End. It's the first time one of my books will have an audiobook choice, and I couldn't be more thrilled for the opportunity to be part of the process and ultimately reach more readers.
The last book I read:
Katherine's Remarkable Road Trip, by Gail Ward Olmsted. It's a delightful six-day journey at 20 miles an hour with an elderly driver in her 1907 roadster. There is a serious undertone buried beneath a series of mishaps and miracles that kept me fully engaged.
Author Interview - Barbara Pronin | The Last Book I Read
Pen & paper or computer:
I write mostly on a desk-top computer. I wrote my first book on a manual typewriter and learned the true meaning of 'cut-and-paste.' Fortunately, it was at a time when personal computers were becoming affordable and available, because if I'd had to keep literally cutting and pasting, there may never have been a second book. My process, once I become passionate about the story I want to tell, is to do a complete but carefully written first draft, trusting my sub-conscious to know more than I do as I write. I take notes along the way that help me revise in ways that make the plot stronger. Fortunately, I seem to get it pretty much the first time, because two revisions are all I typically have the patience to do.
Book character I think I’d be best friends with:
One book character I think could become one of my besties is Sue Grafton's private detective, Kinsey Millhone. Kinsey is smart, creative, and quick-thinking, and while she typically succeeds in cracking her cases, she has personal issues that are at least as interesting and far less easy to solve.
Author Interview - Barbara Pronin | Book Character I’d be Best Friends With
If I weren’t an author, I’d be a:
If I weren't an author, I would be a concert pianist. I've had a passion for the piano all my life, and while I've never been very good at playing in this life, I hope I will improve in my next. Meanwhile, I love listening to the romantic classics of Tchaikovsky, Liszt, Beethoven, and Rachmaninoff.
Favorite decade in fashion history:
My favorite era in fashion history would be the 1930s and early '40s, when adventurous women began to shed their skirts for trousers. If it were not for their bravery, I might never have had the freedom of wearing pants way more often than dresses.
Place I’d most like to travel:
The place I'd most like to travel to is Africa. I have loved elephants - all the more so since reading Jody Picoult's 'Leaving Time' - for their human-like sensibilities and family dynamics. My granddaughter gave me an elephant for Hanukkah - a 15-month-old rescued elephant named Korbesa, who lives in a shelter in Nairobi. I would love to visit my little adoptee and all the elephants, giraffes, and lions to be seen on an authentic African safari. While there, of course, I would also visit Botswana, the home of Precious Ramotswe of The First Ladies Detective Agency as created by Alexander McCall Smith.
My signature drink:
My signature drink is coffee - hot, cold, in any concoction but never sweetened. But on the rare occasions I order a drink, it's probably a Mai Tai or a peach bellini, which are sweetened.
Favorite artist:
My favorite artist is opera diva Renee Fleming. I am fascinated by her command of classical opera. I melt when she sings arias from Puccini's "La Boheme," or Rieu's "O mio babbino care." ," She is a multi-talented artist who can and often does sing more popular music and has acted in a non-musical Broadway play. A close second is singer Audra McDonald, who I think is another national treasure.
Number one on my bucket list:
Number One on my bucket list is an African Safari. I would love to see elephants, giraffes. and lions in their natural habitat.
Anything else you'd like to add:
I often wonder at the ability of popular novelists to crank out book after readable book, which can quickly build an avid following. I struggle between books to find a story and characters I am passionate enough to want to tell.
Find more from the author:
Https://BarbaraPronin.com
Instagram @writerbobbi
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About Barbara Pronin:
Author Interview with Barbara Pronin
Born in Brooklyn, but a Californian for most of her life, Barbara Pronin has worked over the years as an actress, a probation officer, a news editor, and a substitute teacher, the last of which inspired her first book, a non-fiction guide to effective subbing that is still in print more than 40 years later. Her eight mysteries under two names earned kudos from such best-selling writers as Mary Higgins Clark and Tony Hillerman, and her new WW II novel, Winter’s End, has won a Five-Star Reader’s Favorite award and is praised by best-selling author Faye Kellerman as, “a gripping page-turner with honest characters who will capture your heart and soul.”
