An Interview with Author Jennifer Niven

Writer's Break recently had the pleasure of interviewing Jennifer Niven. Besides being an author and reviewing books as The Book Babe, Jennifer earned an MFA in screen writing from the American Film Institute in Hollywood, was an associate television producer, played Shania Twain in a music video, and won an Emmy Award for a short film she wrote, Velva Jean Learns to Drive. Her books have been translated into eight languages.

Your books, The Ice Master, and Ada Blackjack, have garnered media attention for little known historical events. You must take great satisfaction from bringing the true stories to light. The full truth wasn't known about the journeys and the men who took them; Ada Blackjack actually came to be reviled. Does recording the facts of these journeys make you feel like a vindicator for those who attempted them?

Absolutely. One of the most rewarding things about writing these books is knowing that I am bringing to life people who have long been forgotten, maligned, or misunderstood, and whose stories deserve to be told. The other most rewarding aspect is that, in the process of my research, I have met and grown close to the family members of my subjects, and have helped them to know their long-lost ancestors. That is more gratifying than I can ever express.

Searching through old records and personal journals must have been painstaking work. How long did it take you to complete the research and write each of your books?

For The Ice Master, which was my first book, it took me a year and a half to conduct the research and nearly a year to write it. I researched Ada Blackjack in a year's time and wrote the book in approximately eight months.

In speaking of being influenced by your mother (author Penelope Niven) to write, you said, "It has never occurred to me to limit my imagination." Do you think that will encourage you to go into the fiction field, or do you prefer to stay with non-fiction and screenplays?

I definitely consider myself a writer, first and foremost, as opposed to a "non-fiction writer" or a "screenwriter." I like to think that I will be able to write in all of the genres that interest me—nonfiction and screenwriting, of course, but also fiction, teleplays, memoirs... and I would love to co-write a project with my friend Joe Kraemer, who is a brilliant playwright. We grew up together in Indiana writing stories, plays, screenplays, and teleplays, and it has always been inspiring, stimulating, and fun working with him.

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