Dot Ryan, author of the historical novel, Corrigans’ Pool, lives in Corpus Christi, Texas with her husband, Sam, and in close vicinity to their sons and daughters and grandchildren. She is busy writing her second, third, and fourth works of historical fiction, one of which is the upcoming sequel to Corrigans’ Pool. To learn more about Dot and where to buy Corrigans’ Pool, and also to read Part One of the upcoming sequel, please visit her website at http://www.dotryanbooks.com.
Q. Thank you for this interview, Dot. Can we begin by having you tell us why you chose historical fiction?
A: I learned at a very early age that my Irish paternal great-great grandparents came to Texas from Pennsylvania in 1819 and to America long before that. Some years later, my maternal German grandfather was born in New York harbor. Stories passed down from generation to generation about the hazards they and others faced piqued my interest in history even before I was old enough to read and write. In time, my interests gravitated to novels, books with strong characters struggling to survive, in one way or another, through an era of American’s diverse history. I grew up knowing that someday I would write such a novel. Corrigans’ Pool’s characters popped into my head years before I actually wrote the book.
Q. Did you outline before you wrote your book or did you just go with the flow?
A: Early on, I did not outline. Then, as the book grew, I did a bit of rough planning for future chapters. More often than not, my characters balked at this and insisted on telling the story their way!
Q: Who was your favorite character in Corrigans’ Pool and why?
A: That is a hard question to answer! Besides the central character Ella Corrigan and her younger sister, Honor … I liked their domineering grandmother, Beatrice Corrigan. She is a contradiction of her time, extremely old fashioned in many of her beliefs but scandalously modern in her views of divorce. A sample of this is when she said to Ella, “There is a part of me that says scandal is to be avoided no matter what—the part of me that taught you all those unbendable rules that apply only to females.” She grasped Ella’s chin and studied her face. “And there is a better part of me that argues a woman should not have to hinge her well-being, her happiness, her value, on the decree of a callous husband or a pitiless society.” I don’t think Beatrice would have burned her bra in the ‘60s but she would have marched alongside the dissenters even as she tried to cover their bosoms with her shawl. Another favorite character was Timon Pledger, a guilt-ridden young preacher—a character that readers have told me they found fascinating. He fascinated me, too, as I wrote about him. I also liked the twin slave girls, Moonbeam and Sunbeam, along with Ella’s protector, Meshach. I’ll stop here before I tell you that I love all my characters.
