An interview with naturalist and debut novelist, Amy Marie Turner

followed by a brief glimpse of long dead women in STEM

The pandemic was well under way when I crossed paths with Amy Marie Turner. Despite seeing her at least several times a week, we’ve yet to meet in real life, but our friendship is one of the surprising gifts of having lived through COVID.

We are both historical fiction wonks and share a predilection for research, sorting through time and testimony in a quest to reanimate the different worlds of our characters, coaxing them out to tell their stories.  

Working on these projects, we are together almost every day, in zoom meetings which take place at https://www.thewritersroom.space.

It’s during these sessions, when I wrestle with my work, that I look up and see Amy’s steady gaze present on my screen. Her coloring lends itself to the clarity of the landscape which she calls home and her eyes are a shade of blue sometimes found in God’s country (aka Colorado), where she lives with her partner, photographer David W. Shaw.

Amy’s debut novel, The Voyage of the Pleiades is the sweeping, lush, adventure of Victorian naturalist, Linnea Wren. While Linnea is fictional, much of her world is inspired by the intrepid biologist and painter, Marianne North, whose prodigious output can be seen in Britain’s Kew Gardens.

                                    

Marianne North, courtesy of Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

One of the fascinating challenges of actual historical people inspiring our fictional characters is that the story teller must examine and then discern the character’s point of view. Would they have thought so differently from the way we do today? Sometimes we discover nuggets of information, indicating that our subjects were not so different from the way we are now. Other times, there’s proof that today’s dearly held beliefs would have been as foreign to them as chalk is to cheese. What is so interesting about Linnea is that she is very forward thinking, which is a welcome surprise in a story that is deeply immersed in its historical period.

Marianne North grew up under the tutelage of her father, travelling the world far and wide with him, until his death when she was forty. Then she resumed her travels alone. And much like Marianne, Linnea defies the common custom of her peers by embarking on a lengthy voyage without the presence of female companionship.

However, in the interest of escapism, with a nod to romance, and a jolly good read besides, Linnea does have a colleague on the journey, whose name is Matias Ward. As soon as Linnea meets him, the sparks begin flying while Amy offers her readers an irresistible, high seas romance, involving science, a murder, and more.

Amy is currently finishing up the sequel to Voyage of the Pleiades and has kindly shared her thoughts on writing.

How did the idea for the story of Voyage of the Pleiades come to you and how long did it take to germinate in your imagination?

The inklings were there after I traveled to Chiloé Island in 2015. It was the second time that I had traveled through South America, and it got me wondering why we never read historical novels set in South America. I didn’t begin writing the book until 2018, and the first chapter I wrote ended up being one of the last in the book.

photo of Chiloe Island by Carolina Lamotta

Were there times while working on that book when you thought to just throw in the towel? What made you keep going?

One of the most challenging periods was during the editing. We were deep in Covid lockdown and I just couldn’t get past some of the changes that I knew needed to happen. I went back and read some of the books that inspired me to write historical fiction, I find that usually helps to get the writing flowing again. The titles are super diverse and range from Bruce Chatwin’s In Patagonia, to Deanna Raybourn’s A Curious Beginning or Glynis Ridley’s The Discovery of Jeanne Baret.

How did your experience with your debut novel inform your sophomore book ? Did you find yourself sailing through aspects of the storytelling, which the first time around had you clutching, or did you find yourself clutching because you were aware of the pitfalls waiting in  your path?

The experience of writing the second book has been so different. With the first book, I was content to flail around. In the second book, I’ve approached it with a better idea of where I am going. I would say that my writing has also been more precise, almost too precise because I’ve been aware of the editing that needs to happen. I’m finding in the revisions that I need to loosen up, my writing as well as the storyline. I’m also less precious about cutting whole chapters. I know now from experience that the book will be better for it.

What advice would you have for someone who might have a novel inside of them and is unsure how to begin?

Don’t begin chronologically, just pick a scene you have in your head and write it. Don’t worry about how it is going to come together. And do not start thinking about querying, marketing, etc. Allow yourself to really wallow in your characters and story.

Describe a typical day's writing for you. Do you manage to work on your manuscript everyday? Or have there been times where you just need to put it down for a while and then come back to it?

I begin my day at the computer around 8. I often start with some research or admin tasks to let my brain wake up. Unless I’m on vacation, I try to write every day. And I write using a Pomodoro app built into my internet browser. 25 minutes of writing, followed by a 5-minute break. When I’m in the drafting phase, I’ll change up those sessions between research and writing. I do work seven days a week, but I’m also a freelance editor, so some of that time is working on client projects. In the afternoon I write in the Writer’s Room!

What is the best thing that has happened to you as a consequence of your writing?

In my non-novel work, I get to work with the best clients, on diverse projects. I never thought I would write for television, but that has happened several times now. And I met the incredible women in our Writer’s Room. Having a community to lean on is so vital to the creative process. More than anything, getting to write full-time is a lifelong dream come true. I worked hard at a corporate job for years to make this happen, so it is all amazing.

Voyage of the Pleiades is available at Amazon, Apple, Bookshop, etc. Find the links here: https://linktr.ee/amymarieturner

You can click on Amy’s preferred reading list here: https://bookshop.org/lists/books-as-muse

PART TWO: Angry Dead Women

This was originally a separate tab on my sub stack, but moving forward, it will just be the second part of my newsletter

ANGRY DEAD WOMEN – Females in  STEM or “Anything he can do, she can do bleeding.”

It is said that history is written by the winners. Alas, whatever transpired between our ancestors over who won and who lost, it ultimately resulted in the deliberate muffling of countless female accomplishments. Sadly, the history of women is such that many, many successful historical novels are given titles such as “The So and So’s Wife”, or “The Such and Such’s Daughter.” Rarely are their titles not preceded by a possessive pronoun.

I once heard writer Marie Benedict describing these women as being more easily identified when they are placed adjacent to a man of of import. So, here in a casual, chronological order are a few of these gals, whose prominence deserves noting.

The Mathematician’s Daughter Hypatia - (around 360 AD- 415 AD)

Hypatia was a widely admired philosopher, teacher and astronomer living in Alexandria. She practiced Neoplatonism which is the belief that happiness and perfection are attainable during this lifetime. Many political and religious leaders sought her counsel, but in 415, having been found on the wrong side of a political dispute, she was brutally attacked and then murdered by a Christian mob.

The Nobleman’s Mother Catarina Sforza - (1463 - 1509)

Catarina’s place in history is as notable for her vengeful, military prowess as it is for her scientific endeavors. She practiced medicine, chemistry and alchemy. Her only extant work is a manuscript entitled, Gli Experimenti containing recipes and experiments for medicine as well as alchemy. She had three husbands, eight children and a life fraught with political intrigue and betrayal. The Medici dynasty is descended from the son she bore during her third marriage. Catarina died at the age of 46 from pneumonia.

The Clergyman’s Wife - Mary Edwards (1750-1865)

Mary Edwards was one of the very select few who did computational tables for the Royal Board of Longitude and the British Nautical Almanac. Originally, it had been her husband, the Rev. John Edwards who was hired to perform these calculations, which he did to supplement their income. When he died in 1784, it became evident that she had been the one doing the work all along. She continued computing tables for the Almanac, supporting herself and her daughters until her death in 1815. Mary was succeeded by her daughter Eliza, who did the computations until 1832, when the office was centralized in London, and where women were not permitted to work for the Civil Service.

The Astronomer’s Sister - Caroline Herschel (1750 - 1848)

Caroline was originally from Hanover, Germany, but moved to England to join her brother, William in Bath. There she was expected to run the house and to learn singing, while he worked as the choir master at the Octagon Chapel. When they weren’t making music, they were pursuing astronomy. It eventually became the focus in their endeavors and William was hired to become George III’s private astronomer, Caroline receiving a salary of 50 pounds per year as his assistant. During this time, she discovered several nebulae and eight different comets. Working with her brother, over the next twenty years, she discovered 2800 astronomical objects. She returned to Germany in 1822, after William’s death. The asteroid 281 Lucretia is named for her, as is the crater C.Herschel on the moon. In 2020, the satellite Caroline which was named in her honor, COSPAR 2020-079B was launched into space.

PART THREE: Fascinating Live Ones

This was originally a separate tab as well. Moving forward, it too, shall be included in my Infrequent Newsletter.

“Follow your heart, go after your dream.” Is what Marin Hinkle, who plays Rose Weisman in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel said is the message of the series. I watched the last episode, of the final season very, very early this morning, and am now, hours later, still weepy with the joy of having seen it. The brilliant writing, the impeccable performances and the exquisite production design have been such a delight. Really great entertainment is a rare and precious thing. Thank you, Amy Sherman Palladino and thank you, Daniel Palladino for writing and working as you have done. Here is a link to an interview I think is worth watching.