Ask the Author: Phyllis Edgerly Ring
Answered Questions (12)
Phyllis Edgerly Ring
Thank you so much, Irene, for these very kind words. Hopefully another book or two will come forth. We'll see what Life has in store. :)
Phyllis Edgerly Ring
Thanks for your kind words, and your question, Connie. I was fortunate to have quite a bit of input in the process of the cover's development. The setting is one that has personal meaning from my own years in Germany. And the face of Eva Braun relates both to the portrait in the story and the time frame in which she met Hitler.
Phyllis Edgerly Ring
Thanks very much for this question, Johnathan.
Albert Speer said that historians would be disappointed in what they did, or did not, uncover about Eva Braun. As a writer, I had a different experience as I researched.
Some of the discoveries were more intangible and paradoxical, such as the fact that so much of what was conveyed about her was based on presumed understanding about Hitler, when in fact, more complete and accurate facts about her could help us better understand him. This made me wonder: how much of the truth do we miss because we approach finding it with ingrained, inherited -- often blindly imitative -- assumptions? In other words, how much do our biases trip us up before we even get started?
Another paradox, for me, was the recognition that those very qualities of compassion and caring that the Third Reich sought to suppress and demean were what Hitler came home to Eva Braun for. The massive hypocrisy in that got me wondering how this continuing imbalance, which misunderstands and devalues those "softer" human aspects even as it needs and depends on them, is still creating the kind of chaotic, power-pursuing conditions that engulf our world in so much violence and suffering.
A more concrete discovery was that testimony from an officer named Gottlob Berger at the 1948 Ministry Trials at Nuremberg indicates that an action Eva Braun took in the last week of her life saved tens of thousands of Allied prisoners of war. The record shows that she almost never interfered or intervened in anything Hitler did as leader, with very few small exceptions. I believe she did this out of the regard she had for life, some understanding of the moral principles behind the Geneva Convention --and, bizarre as it may seem to us today, to protect how Hitler would be perceived after the war. This suggests to me that, much like his secretaries and others in his inner circle, she lived a compartmentalized existence that, even that close to the end, knew far less about the Nazis' human-rights atrocities than has been supposed. A personal turning point for me was the discovery that some British members of my family were likely saved by this action of hers.
Albert Speer said that historians would be disappointed in what they did, or did not, uncover about Eva Braun. As a writer, I had a different experience as I researched.
Some of the discoveries were more intangible and paradoxical, such as the fact that so much of what was conveyed about her was based on presumed understanding about Hitler, when in fact, more complete and accurate facts about her could help us better understand him. This made me wonder: how much of the truth do we miss because we approach finding it with ingrained, inherited -- often blindly imitative -- assumptions? In other words, how much do our biases trip us up before we even get started?
Another paradox, for me, was the recognition that those very qualities of compassion and caring that the Third Reich sought to suppress and demean were what Hitler came home to Eva Braun for. The massive hypocrisy in that got me wondering how this continuing imbalance, which misunderstands and devalues those "softer" human aspects even as it needs and depends on them, is still creating the kind of chaotic, power-pursuing conditions that engulf our world in so much violence and suffering.
A more concrete discovery was that testimony from an officer named Gottlob Berger at the 1948 Ministry Trials at Nuremberg indicates that an action Eva Braun took in the last week of her life saved tens of thousands of Allied prisoners of war. The record shows that she almost never interfered or intervened in anything Hitler did as leader, with very few small exceptions. I believe she did this out of the regard she had for life, some understanding of the moral principles behind the Geneva Convention --and, bizarre as it may seem to us today, to protect how Hitler would be perceived after the war. This suggests to me that, much like his secretaries and others in his inner circle, she lived a compartmentalized existence that, even that close to the end, knew far less about the Nazis' human-rights atrocities than has been supposed. A personal turning point for me was the discovery that some British members of my family were likely saved by this action of hers.
Phyllis Edgerly Ring
Thanks for your great question, Patt. :)
I did a heap of reading (120+ books) about the time period in Germany, as well as about Braun’s life. I watched the films she had made, and spent hours reviewing many of her photographs. Eventually, I made two trips to the U.S. National Archives to see photo albums of hers that were confiscated by the Allies after the war. Those characters who were real people required research accuracy, of course, but I also wanted every aspect of the scenes to feel authentic and true to their time. Over several years, I spent time in various locales in Germany that are a part of the story. Also, in the time I spent looking at Eva Braun’s photographs and films, I got to know interiors and exteriors of many settings as they appeared during the 1930s and ‘40s. A fun element of research was a growing collection of vintage postcards I found that show scenes from that era in many of the settings of the story. You can find more about my process with the book and its story at my blog if you like, under the category of posts for The Munich Girl: https://phyllisedgerlyring.wordpress....
I did a heap of reading (120+ books) about the time period in Germany, as well as about Braun’s life. I watched the films she had made, and spent hours reviewing many of her photographs. Eventually, I made two trips to the U.S. National Archives to see photo albums of hers that were confiscated by the Allies after the war. Those characters who were real people required research accuracy, of course, but I also wanted every aspect of the scenes to feel authentic and true to their time. Over several years, I spent time in various locales in Germany that are a part of the story. Also, in the time I spent looking at Eva Braun’s photographs and films, I got to know interiors and exteriors of many settings as they appeared during the 1930s and ‘40s. A fun element of research was a growing collection of vintage postcards I found that show scenes from that era in many of the settings of the story. You can find more about my process with the book and its story at my blog if you like, under the category of posts for The Munich Girl: https://phyllisedgerlyring.wordpress....
Phyllis Edgerly Ring
Thanks so much, Sylvia. :) As I encounter your creative posts and sharings all over, I'd say you're already well in motion - ! Blessings. :) #writinglife #fiction #joy
Phyllis Edgerly Ring
Thank you so much for asking! She's on her way, and coming very soon. Watch this space. More at the blog at release time, too, plus social media.
Phyllis Edgerly Ring
In the instance of Snow Fence Road. I dreamt the accident experience that shatters its hero’s life, as if I were witness at the scene. That created the irresistible pull that drew me through the story. With my latest novel, hopefully releasing in 2015, I wanted to understand more about the civilian experience of WWII, and especially that of Germany. This is likely because Germany was my childhood home, and also because the war in Europe is a part of my parents' history, and is where they met.
Phyllis Edgerly Ring
On especially blessed days, I go straight into the work. But most often, I read a little and spend some time writing in a journal, first. When I travel, I'm often inspired by something in my surroundings and then write things down as I go. Being out of my usual surroundings always seems to bring this, for me.
Phyllis Edgerly Ring
The Munich girl: A novel of the legacies that outlast war - Anna Dahlberg grows up eating dinner under her father’s war-trophy portrait of Eva Braun. Fifty years after the war, she discovers what he never did—that her mother and Hitler’s mistress were friends. The secret surfaces with a mysterious monogrammed handkerchief, and a man named Hannes Ritter, whose Third-Reich family history is entwined with Anna’s. Immersed in the world of the Munich girl who became a tyrant’s consort, and her mother’s confidante, Anna retraces a friendship that began when two lonely teenagers forged a bond that endured throughout the war, though the men they loved had opposing ambitions. As her journey uncovers long-buried secrets, it reveals that Anna has suppressed her own life nearly as much as Eva Braun did. Ultimately she and Hannes will discover how the love in one friendship can echo on in two families, until it unites them at last.
Phyllis Edgerly Ring
Read, persevere, learn craft - do all of these until you find both your voice and the process that works for you. Then relish the rewriting as much as you do the exciting early drafting that brings so much discovery. Also, learn how to be edited, so that you're able to recognize when someone's applying this fine skill to your work and it really does improve it, help you past your blind spots, etc.
Phyllis Edgerly Ring
The pursuit I love is also one that I can engage with every day, no matter where I am.
Phyllis Edgerly Ring
Thankfully, because writing remains a source of joy for nearly 30 years now, this hasn't been a challenge. Also, I've come to accept that every writing work has its own timetable, which it's wise not to try to force or speed up.
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