Gita Trelease brings a varied background to her writing: being born in Sweden, living in New York City and Italy at various points, and earning a Ph.D in British literature. Trelease, author of the Young Adult novel “Enchantée,” set in revolutionary Paris in 1789, has also taught writing, and though good research is a key to her historical fiction, she doesn’t want that to be the focal point of her books: “I use it to write the most immersive story I can.”
The Deerfield resident strives for two key elements in particular in her writing. “The first is to make the story feel at once wonderfully foreign but also very close and true, especially in terms of the characters and the choices they face. The second is to tell a story that’s about the past but also has something to say about the time it was written.”
Hampshire Life: Talk about the work you’re currently doing. What does it involve, and what are you trying to achieve?
Gita Trelease: I’m currently revising my young adult novel, “Liberté,” the sequel to 2019’s “Enchantée.” Both novels are set in the early days of the French Revolution and tell the story of an impoverished girl who uses forbidden magic to impersonate an aristocrat at the court of Versailles.
HL: What do you draw inspiration from? Do you ever have any “Eureka!” moments?
GT: Henry James once said that a writer is someone on whom nothing is wasted, and I do think that’s true. For me, inspiration comes from anything and anywhere. The time I spent in Paris as a young person clearly inspired “Enchantée,” but there are subtler things that rise up from memory to create a story.
For instance, there’s a moment in “Enchantée” when one sister tells the other it’s hard to be the one who’s left behind. Only much later did I realize it was an echo of a conversation I’d had with a friend when we were moving from New Jersey — and an echo of Beth’s death speech in “Little Women.” This is why I want to live as deeply as I can, and really feel all of it.
HL: How do you know when your work is finished?
GT: When my editor takes it from me? It’s hard to know when a project is finished. I spent nearly three years writing my first novel. Then I revised with my agent, and then again, with my editor — multiple times. If I waited two years and looked at that novel again, would I find things to change? I’m certain I would. So maybe “finished” is “finished within time constraints and ability”?
HL: Name two artists you admire or who have influenced your work. What about their art appeals to you?
GT: Hilary Mantel, for her ability to render her historical characters’ complexity in such a rich, immediate way; and Jane Campion, for the moving way she tells stories centered on the invisible and unspoken things in our world.
HL: What’s the most recent exhibition/concert/book reading/other event by another artist or group that you’ve attended and enjoyed?
GT: I was lucky enough to be in London last summer and saw “Hamlet” at the Globe Theater. Hamlet was played by the theater’s director, a woman. The play felt completely fresh, and seeing it with my son, an actor, made it even more so.
HL: If you weren’t an artist, what do you think you’d be?
GT: A teacher. I’ve taught writing and fairy tales at the high school and college levels, and I miss it.
HL: Do you listen to music while you’re working? What kind?
GT: I like to listen to film scores — no words, and plenty of drama and moodiness to inspire the writing. Dario Marianelli, Enrico Einaudi, and Philip Glass are favorites.
HL: What do you do when you’re stuck?
GT: For me, there are two kinds of stuck: not knowing what to write or how to solve a story problem, and being afraid of writing. The second has to do with perfectionism, and is much worse, but in both instances, I “fill the well”: I reread books I love, read outside my genre, watch movies, hike, take photos — anything that gets me out of myself, makes my self richer.
— Steve Pfarrer
Gita Trelease’s website is gitatrelease.com.