2017 GANYC Apple Awards Nominee: Fiona Davis
Each year, GANYC proudly honors organizations and individuals that encourage and promote New York City tourism, culture and preservation, while supporting the work and contributions of professional New York City tour guides. The 2017 GANYC Apple Awards is coming up, on Monday, March 6, 2017. This year there are 44 nominees. Below, is an interview with one of them.
Nomination: The Dollhouse, Fiona Davis, Outstanding Achievement in Fiction Book Writing (published October 1, 2015 - September 30, 2016)
Like many who come to the Big Apple, Fiona Davis, arrived from elsewhere (Canada) to pursue theater and acting. After working for a number of years on and off Broadway, she began writing and continues to work as a journalist, specializing in health, fitness and the arts, and has edited and written for numerous lifestyle publications. The Dollhouse is her first novel.
What was the main source of inspiration for The Dollhouse?
A few years ago, my real estate broker took me to see an apartment in the Barbizon 63, a condo that used to be the Barbizon Hotel for Women. While there, I learned that a dozen or so of the long-time residents had been grandfathered in to rent-controlled apartments on the fourth floor when the building was converted to a condominium in 2005. I was intrigued by the changes these ladies had seen over the decades they’d lived in the building (for example, a week’s stay at the hotel in 1966 cost $6.75, while a penthouse today goes for $17 million), and thought it might make a good set-up for a novel.
Please describe, briefly, what your process is like for writing the novel?
I’m a journalist, so I approached the book the same way I would an article. First, I did a lot of research into the time period (part of the novel is set in the 1950s). I poured through old magazines and newspapers, read books about that era, and interviewed women who’d stayed in the Barbizon Hotel in the 50s and 60s. Once I’d figured out who my main characters were, I plotted out the story and then began writing. Because there’s a mystery element involved, as well as two time periods (1952 and 2016), there were days my head was spinning and I was wondering what on earth I’d been thinking!
What’s been a highlight of writing in general or a particular event or happenstance that has kept you motivated to continue writing?
I’m one of those people who love checking things off a list, so hitting a daily word count was key to keeping me going. As time went on, I became so fond of my main characters that I had to see them through to the end of their stories. And the community of authors I’ve gotten to know, both online and in real life, has provided a ton of support and encouragement for both the creative process as well as the business side of getting a book published.
For our professional GANYC tour guide members, what things about your work might we share with the thousands of visitors to NYC we meet every year?
I’m such a fan of historic buildings, and the Barbizon Hotel for Women, on 63rd Street and Lexington Avenue, is one of my faves. It was founded in 1927 as the go-to residence for cultured young ladies to stay while they worked or studied in NYC, filled with editors, writers, actors, models, and students. A short list of the icons-in-the-making who lived there includes Grace Kelly, Lauren Bacall, Joan Crawford, Joan Didion, Eudora Welty, Elaine Stritch, and Liza Minnelli. The Dollhouse gives visitors a sense of what it was like to be a single girl in the city in the 1950s, from the white gloves and pearls of the Barbizon to the downtown jazz clubs where bebop reigned, and depicts how the city has evolved over time.
Favorite tour you've taken in NYC, or if you haven't taken a tour, where in NYC would you next like to have a tour (preferably led by one of our GANYC members)?
Just this year I’ve taken two tours of Grand Central Terminal, and learned so much about the history of the building, including its near-demolition in the 1970s. Like authors, tour guides are storytellers who bring the past to life, and I love the idea that a building or neighborhood is basically a collection of short stories.
What is your favorite place in NYC and why?
Every spring, I make sure to visit the northeast corner of Sheep Meadow in Central Park, where dozens of lilacs grow. It’s like a private garden in the middle of the city.
If you could be any one of the five NYC boroughs or a particular store/restaurant in NYC, what would you be and why?
Can I be Central Park? I get so many ideas for my novels while walking through it, and it provides New Yorkers with a necessary sense of the passing of time, of the seasons, that we might otherwise miss. From the first yellow buds of the forsythia to the sugar maples that look like they were dipped in butterscotch each autumn, it’s my favorite place in New York.