Stephanie Story
My husband and I have lived on the road/travelling full time for five years. During the pandemic, we sheltered in place on family property on a lake in Arkansas. We are now back on the road again!
Good morning, Stephanie. Welcome to Vision and Verse. It’s a pleasure to have you with us this morning. Can you tell us a little about what you’ve written?
My debut novel, Oil and Marble: A Novel of Leonardo and Michelangelo, came out in 2016. It was called “tremendously entertaining by The New York Times, has been translated into six foreign languages, and is currently in development as a feature film by Pioneer Pictures. My sophomore novel, Raphael, Painter in Rome, came out on April 7, 2020, in conjunction with the 500th anniversary of Raphael’s death on April 6, 1520. It is also in development as a feature film.
What is your favorite genre to write?
Art Historical Fiction.Like Michelangelo still carving marble a week before he died at almost age 89, I hope to be writing art historical fiction a week before my own demise.
Favorite food.
The pizza at Pizzeria da Baffetto in Rome, right off of Piazza Navona. Next time you’re in Rome, stop in for a meal and thank me later.
Tea or coffee?
I wish I could still drink coffee, but the caffeine is too much for me these days. Thankfully, I can still handle a cup of hot tea!
Pizza or ice cream?
Is there a reason I can’t have both?
Pizza for dinner, gelato for dessert?
No reason at all!
Wine or beer or soda or what?
I suppose it depends upon where I am in the writing process. What did Hemingway say? Write drunk, edit sober? So for drafting, Chardonnay.For editing, ice water.
Where would you like to visit?
During the pandemic, I have been desperate to return to Florence and hike up to Piazza Michelangelo for my favorite view in the world.
Favorite musical artist.
I’ve long had a thing for REM, however, recently, I read Jeff Tweedy’s “How to Write One Song” (which I can’t recommend enough for creative types out there. It’s brilliant and life-changing if you’re an artist), so I’m currently going through an Uncle Tupelo and Wilco phase.
Do you listen to music when you write?
What?
I create my own playlists that remind me of the characters’ journeys or a plot point in the story. I order those songs based on the build of the story in the novel, so I can always jump to the place I’m writing about “tune in” emotionally through a song.
What makes you laugh?
My husband, who is an Emmy, Peabody, and Golden Globe award winning comedy writer.
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Paperback Release Date
September 21, 2021 |
Favorite work of art or sculpture.
Favorite, as in singular? ONE?! Absolutely impossible to pick just one and practically offensive that you would ask such a question! I’ll narrow it down to my top five, IF I MUST (and I’ll only name one from every artist instead of giving you five Michelangelo’s, which is probably the truth):
1. Michelangelo’s David (there is, after all a reason why I wrote a whole novel about it).
2. Raphael’s Transfiguration (one of the greatest paintings in all of history, I think).
3. Artemisia Gentileschi’s Judith Slaying Holofernes(seeing that painting was the first time I realized women had real power).
4. Asher B. Durand’s Kindred Spirits (that painting has loomed large in my imagination for my entire life, and I just took a special trip to visit it at Crystal Bridges Museum on my first outing since the pandemic started).
5. Anton Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. A building can be a work of art, right? Even if you don’t agree, THAT building certainly is.
How old were you when you started writing?
I wrote and illustrated my first book at my parents’ kitchen table when I was seven years old. It was called “Horty the Hog Goes to School.” There was a whole series of Horty books. No, they will never be published. They live quite happily in my mother’s garage.
Do you plan out your book with outlines and notecards? Or just write?
I feel strongly that every piece of art must be a combination of both. Of course, I plan out my plots. I like big, exciting plot where the reader must keep turning the pages, and the only way to accomplish that is through planning. Plus, I write historical fiction about real life people, so there are certain historical events that I must hit in proper chronological order. And, I’ve been a screenwriter for nearly twenty years as well, which demands an extraordinary amount of planning. However, you must find your own way to let go of all of that planning during the drafting phase and let your characters find their own way.
Describe your perfect evening.
Exiting Shakespeare and Company bookstore, crossing the Seine, popping into Notre Dame for some sunset pictures through the stained glass, walking with my husband down Boulevard Saint-Michel, stopping outside that little used bookstore that always has the crates of books waiting there for browsers, and ending the day with dinner at Thai Papaya in the 13th e. Yes, there is fabulous Thai food in Paris.
Where do you get your inspiration? Art is too easy of an answer and too narrow because the truth is, I don’t think it’s the piece of art that inspires me—it’s the connection to how the artist must’ve felt while expressing themselves with that paint, through that stone, with that chalk on paper… So I get my inspiration from every moment when I’m finding a way to create something, whether that’s through words on a page, or with a brush on canvas, or singing in my car, or heading to the grocery store as one of my characters and for a moment, seeing my world through someone else’s eyes.
What do you do when you get a writer's block?
I don’t have writer’s block. I understand the FEELING of it—this feeling that you aren’t good enough, that what you’re about to write is awful, that you have nothing to say, but I don’t listen to that feeling. I write through it. Even if I keep not a word of what I write, the act of writing keeps you from being “blocked.” It’s that simple.
Who is your favorite author?
Again, “favorite” as if I could pick just one! Jane Austen (since I was very young), Margaret Atwood (because she changed the way I saw the world), Alice Walker (because she changed the way I saw me), Nick Hornby (because he taught me how to find my own voice).
Best book you ever read.
IMPOSSIBLE to name just one.These will not come as a surprise considering my “favorite author” list: Pride and Prejudice, of course. The Handmaid’s Tale should be required reading for every human. Possessing the Secret of Joy still gets me every time. High Fidelity because love and music and that voice. But also Catcher in the Rye, The Goldfinch, The Alchemist, The Great Gatsby… You ask this question, and I cannot stop. But I will.
Last book you read.
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, which is positively phenomenal and life-changing. The ONLY reason it’s not on the above list is that I’ve only had time to read it once and for a book to make my “favorite” list, I have to have read it at least half-a-dozen times or else it doesn’t compare to the others…
What would you do for a living if you weren’t a writer?
Well, when I was a kid, I wanted to grow up to be a duck, but I don’t think that’s actually a possibility so… I’ve been a national television producer for almost twenty years. I create the content for talk shows: research the guests, write the questions, shape the interviews, prep the hosts, and the guests. That IS what I do when I’m not a writer.
Who is the one person who has influenced your personal life the most and why? My husband because we create stories together all the time, he has encouraged my writing life more than I ever thought anyone could, and plus, he’s introduced me lots of fabulous things I never would’ve cared about without him: hockey, yoga, thali meals, Fountains of Wayne…
If you could sit down and have a conversation with ONE person, living or dead, real or fictional, who would it be and why?
My answer was ALWAYS Michelangelo, but I fear that he might get mad and me and walk out on the conversation—because he walks out on popes, so why not me—so instead I think I’ll say my imaginary friend from when I was a kid. I think he might know things about me that I can’t see.
What advice would you give someone who aspired to be a writer?
Write. Every single day. Don’t worry about the end product or the end results, just devote yourself to the craft and to the love of doing it. Just write for you, not for anyone else, because you can’t control what they think anyway.
Do you have some links for us to follow you?
My website: https://stephaniestorey.com
• If you’re reading Raphael on a kindle, there are links to the artwork inserted into the text, but if you read a hardcover, you can go to my website and follow along with the images as they come up in the story (there’s a red banner at the top of the home page leading you to the Raphael images! One of the photos I attached is of the image gallery where you can follow along). Instagram: @sgstorey
Twitter: @sgstorey
Facebook: Stephanie Storey - Author
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