W. Nikola-Lisa asked Patricia Hruby Powell:

Could you explain what a "documentary novelist" is? And is anyone else doing this kind of writing/research? Thanks.

Patricia Hruby Powell Well, a documentary novel is creative nonfiction. The book, Loving vs. Virginia, is an information book, but I told it in the voices of the protagonists, Mildred Jeter and Richard Loving--that's fiction. Although I did weave in some of the words they said in the sixties when they were interviewed by film maker Hope Ryden, for newscasts concerning their court case. Truman Capote did it with In Cold Blood, which is sometimes called a nonfiction novel. Certainly others are doing research like this--that is interviewing the "players" in the story. In the case of Mildred and Richard, I could not interview them, since they're deceased. But I spoke with Mildred's brothers Otha and Lewis and the Lovings' friends who still live in the neighborhood.

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