A Powerful Glimpse into the Romanian Revolution

An Interview with the Author of Three Colors of Courage

Photo by Alisa Anton on Unsplash

I started this Substack newsletter to write about my own novel writing process as I begin a new book. But I knew hearing from other authors’ voices besides my own would be important and beneficial for readers. I was honored to endorse Taryn Hutchinson’s young adult historical novel, Three Colors of Courage and wanted to interview her for this newsletter. Taryn gives readers a powerful glimpse into the Romanian revolution in 1989 that culminated in the execution of longtime Romanian Communist Party (PCR) General Secretary Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife Elena, ending 42 years of Communist rule in Romania.

Taryn, would you tell everyone a little bit about yourself.

I grew up on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, have lived in 8 states and 3 countries (I count the U.S. as one of the countries), and now live in western North Carolina. I was a missionary with Cru for 21 years. I married late in life and became a grandmother 7 years after I got married. Now I have 5 grandchildren.

The rendering of your setting in this book is so vivid. Can you tell us about how you researched the story. Did you live in Romania for a time? And did your research reveal anything unexpected?

I lived in Romania in the 1990s, arriving a matter of months after the 1989 revolution. That was 35 years ago, and I think I’ve been researching this series ever since. Back in 1990, everyone just naturally talked about the revolution because it had been such a traumatic and formative experience. My teammates and I were given an unofficial tour where we recorded everything our driver said on cassette tapes, which I still have. I copied and translated all the epitaphs on the tombstones at the newly opened Heroes’ Cemetery. Much of what I heard in those days I recorded in my journal. So when I started writing the novel, I didn’t research as much as verify each historical detail I wrote. Amazingly, my memory and my notes agreed with everything I read in my research. One fact was new for me, however. My husband and I traveled to Romania six months before the novel was released and took an official tour. Our guide showed us a photo of a group of protestors standing several rows deep, facing down a line of tanks. The photo was taken minutes before the tanks fired and thirteen of the students fell. It turned out my husband and I were staying in a hotel outside that very spot. We found a memorial erected to the first thirteen martyrs of the revolution. I made sure that detail got inserted into the novel before it was published.

When you arrived in Romania, how had communism impacted the country?

Fear and suspicion were everywhere. People were told 1 out of 4 Romanians were spies for the secret police, so they couldn’t trust anyone. It took a long time to rebuild that. Also, the country was impoverished and basic things like water, electricity, and heat didn’t work for a few years. People weren’t used to having choices about anything. While that was exciting for younger people, the elderly were terrified.

What made you decide to write a series and not just one book?

The idea came to me nine years ago when I was in a writing class for my master’s degree, listening to a speech by Neil Gaiman. He talked about how stories can save your life, and told a story about his cousin in the Warsaw Ghetto who risked her life and the lives of young girls by reading chapters each night and reciting them to the girls the next day. Gaiman said his cousin did this because in that hour, they got away. Immediately, I was reminded of hearing countless people in Romania describing the way they escaped the oppression through fiction. And the idea for a story impressed me so strongly I think it was God nudging me to write it. I originally saw it as a three-part story and had to honor that. There were many times in the nine years that I wished it had been only one book. The first novel was published during the pandemic and just after both my parents were diagnosed with dementia. I wrote the next two books while caring for both of them and then burying both of them. There were times I didn’t think I could continue. But I did, and now I feel such a huge sense of accomplishment.

How did you decide your target audience would be young adults rather than adults for this book. Do you feel it’s something adults will enjoy as well?

When I lived in Romania and ministered to college students, I’d often wonder what life was like for them as teenagers. They only knew what they knew, which was nothing about the outside world. Many of them didn’t think anything was strange in their oppressive life because it’s all they’d seen. So I wanted readers to see the story through a teenager’s eyes, someone who doesn’t know what to believe. Usually the target audience is based on the protagonist’s age, so it made sense to classify it as young adult. However, many adults love my stories. I’ve always wished they weren’t classified as YA because I think some adults will miss out.

What do you hope readers will take away from your book?

That no matter how bleak your circumstances may seem, you can set your mind and your thoughts free. I want readers to stand up for what is right and keep hope alive by looking for those glimmers of light. God is there even in the worst situations.

Anything else you’d like readers to know about this book?

While Three Colors of Courage is a stand-alone book, it’s best if you read the trilogy in order. I made it easy by naming the books One, Two, Three. Also, it’s helpful to read the books on Adriana’s reading list (in the front of each book).

Can you tell us a bit about your writing journey, when you started and how you grew as a writer?

When I was a child, if anyone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I’d say a writer. I wrote my first novel, historical fiction about a girl during the Revolutionary War, when I was ten. But I loved a lot of things and ended up putting writing on the back shelf while I pursued other interests. I always felt I’d get back to it someday. That day came in my fifties. Rather than write, I had lived life and now I had something important to write about. My first book, We Wait You, is about the ten years I lived in Eastern Europe. I got my master’s degree at age 59 and signed the contract for the first novel in the trilogy a couple years later.

What is your daily writing practice?

One thing I’ve done every day for years is to write several pages in my journal. When I’m actively writing (as opposed to revising or marketing or doing the less enjoyable aspects of a writer’s life), I treat it as a full-time job. I go upstairs to my little guest room office after breakfast, take a long break to walk and eat lunch and do errands, and then I try to finish up by 6:00 each evening. I don’t sleep well during this time. My characters like to wake me up with new thoughts about how the plot should go, or to let me know that they never would have said or done it the way I’d written it. I write down what they tell me on a pad of paper next to my bed. So I’m tired when I’m in the writing phase but also invigorated.

What’s next for you? What are you working on?

I am planning to take a long break, catch my breath, and hopefully what’s next will become clear for me. This isn’t a very writerly answer, but after Christmas, I will start to tackle my Mom’s boxes of photographs, letters, and her writings. I expect that to be a slow and emotional process. I also hope to create art. I tend to compartmentalize, so when I write, I don’t create in other ways.

What’s your writing process? Are you a plotter or a pantser when you write?

I am a pantser, but I don’t totally go by the seat of my pants. I do have a plan; I just don’t have the details plotted out. I think of my writing as character-driven. I create the characters, give them a dilemma and let them work it out, which is what they love doing in the middle of the night when I want to sleep. After I write a chapter or two, I enter details about it in my spreadsheet, so I guess I plot after-the-fact. I record who’s in the scene, what happens, where it takes place, when it takes place, and the question that the reader is left with at the end of the chapter (in other words, why they’d want to continue reading).

Many thanks to Taryn for sharing the backstory of her book and her writing life. You can pick up a copy here for the perfect Christmas gift!

Wishing each of you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Much love,

Linda