Amy Stewart on Storytelling and Reinvention

Author Amy Stewart got her start writing about gardens with a twist, titles such as Wicked Gardens: The Weed that Killed Lincoln’s Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities and The Drunken Botanist. But during her research for the latter title, she came across a story so compelling that she just knew she had to turn it into a novel. The result, Girl Waits with Gun, is her first work of fiction and marks a huge shift in her writing career.

What’s the risk for a bestselling author to switch genres so completely? How did she get started writing about plants and bugs? Stewart answers these and many other questions about craft and the importance of storytelling in her recent interview with Jonathan Fields. This runs nearly an hour, so be sure to set aside some time to settle in for a nice long listen.