Pub. Date: 1-May-2018
Just like reading a book, writing one is an adventure for me. I don’t work from an outline, as many writers do, so I just go for the ride to find out what’s going to happen. Sometimes I speed along writing at a fast clip, other times I spend ages searching for the right word or diddling with a sentence or paragraph. Since my novels are historical, I also do a tremendous amount of research, which in some ways is as much fun as the writing. It’s all about finding out = what has happened or what’s going to happen.
With “Flying Jenny,” I wanted to explore the lives of women who through the ages have been doing interesting things and pursuing careers. My mother was a pilot in the early 1930s, and I was a daily journalist in the days when there weren’t many women working for newspapers. So I had two fields that I knew a bit about. I choose the summer of 1929 when the country was agog over the Powder Puff Derby, the first transcendental air race for women, then I invented two feisty women − a pilot and a journalist− and the three of us took off! I read everything I could find about female air pioneers, researched New York tabloid journalism in the late ’20s and the city’s bohemian culture in Greenwich Village for background on Laura, my reporter. My characters led the way − I’d put them in a realistic setting and then watch what they did. Quite an adventure!
BIO
Theasa Tuohy is a long-time journalist who has happily turned her life experiences and reporting skills to fiction featuring female reporters. She is the daughter and namesake of a pioneering pilot who flew an old-World War I “Jenny” with an OX-5 engine. Theasa worked for five daily newspapers and the Associated Press. Her “first woman” stints included assistant city editor at The Detroit News and the copy desk at The (Newark) Star Ledger.
Her first novel, “The Five O’Clock Follies,” was published in 2012. She is currently working on a mystery series set in Paris and is co-author of the book for “Lawrence,” an award-winning musical about the life of D. H. Lawrence.
She is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and lives in Manhattan. She can be found at the following places:
Website: www.theasatuohy.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ https://www.facebook.com/FlyingJennyFlynn/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/FlyingJennyFlyn