Lindsay Marie Morris on historical fiction writing, changing writing styles, and incorporating family history into her work

Lindsay Marie Morris is a novelist and journalist based in Los Angeles, bringing a dynamic storytelling voice to both her historical fiction and her nonfiction work. Inspired by her Sicilian-American roots, her debut novel, The Last Letter from Sicily, traces a World War II–era story of love, resilience, and family secrets that spans continents and generations. Her second novel, Beneath the Sicilian Stars, returns to this pivotal moment in history, following a family divided between California and Sicily whose lives are forever changed by the war, forcing them to confront questions of loyalty, belonging, and sacrifice. A graduate of Marquette University with a B.A. in Communications, Lindsay began her editorial career in magazine publishing. When she's not writing, Lindsay leads author talks and workshops on personal storytelling and historical fiction, coaches writers, visits book clubs, and interviews Italian culture and history ambassadors. In this episode, we discuss how she got her start in journalism, pivoting to narrative fiction writing, how she went from a short story about her grandparents to two novels, how her writing style is different in novels than articles, her unique publishing story, speed writing her second novel in just a few months, her favorite and most challenging parts of the process, and advice she has for writers who want to write stories inspired by their lives.    Follow Lindsay on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lindsaymariemorris  Check out Lindsay’s website: https://www.lindsaymariemorris.com/  Subscribe to Version 1's substack: version1podcast.substack.com/  Follow Version 1 on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/version1podcast/ Support the show: https://buymeacoffee.com/waverlycolville