Character-driven fiction, multi-perspective narrative, and historical fiction await in this episode of the True Fiction Project! I’m Reenita Hora, your host, sitting down with award-winning journalist and novelist Marshall Fine. We’ll explore his new novel Hemlock Lane, releasing today, November 25, 2025! It’s a women’s fiction masterpiece told through a multi-perspective narrative over four days. Marshall shares his creative writing process, narrative structure techniques, and how film criticism and writing shaped his character development approach. Set in 1967, this book club fiction tackles second-wave feminism through family drama.
Finally, Marshall reads an excerpt from Hemlock Lane which follows Nora Levitsky, a young woman on a quiet drive through upstate New York in the summer of 1967, at a roadside stop and with a handwritten note from her boyfriend which stirs unexpected emotions and the realization that she may be ready to imagine a future she once swore she’d never want.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
✅ How to structure character-driven fiction using a multi-perspective narrative approach that reveals secrets gradually over four days
✅ Narrative structure techniques for writing historical fiction set in 1960s America while making themes resonate with contemporary readers
✅ How film criticism and writing, biography writing, and documentary filmmaking experience can enhance your creative writing process and character development skills
✅ Methods for crafting compelling women’s fiction and book club fiction that explores second-wave feminism and family dynamics through literary character study
✅ Hemlock Lane is releasing on November 25th and is available for pre-order here: https://www.amazon.com/Hemlock-Lane-Novel-Marshall-Fine-ebook/dp/B0F1Z37XX6
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TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Introduction to Marshall Fine’s character-driven fiction novel Hemlock Lane and his background in film criticism and writing, biography writing, and documentary filmmaking
01:49 Marshall’s restless creativity philosophy and his approach to the creative writing process while working on multi-perspective narrative projects
08:33 Discussion of Hemlock Lane’s narrative structure: four days told from different character perspectives, classified as women’s fiction and book club fiction
11:06 Exploring the character development of domineering mother and daughter dynamics in historical fiction writing set in 1967 with second-wave feminism themes
16:59 Marshall reads an excerpt from Hemlock Lane, introducing Nora Levitsky, demonstrating literary character study and flashback narrative techniques in contemporary fiction
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
💎 Character-driven fiction works best when you challenge yourself with structure—Marshall crafted Hemlock Lane as a multi-perspective narrative unfolding over four days, with each character’s perspective revealing new insights into previous events through flashback narrative techniques
💎 Writing historical fiction set in 1960s America requires balancing period-specific tensions with universal themes—while second wave feminism was shocking in 1967, the story’s core about domineering parents and family members treading on eggshells resonates across generations in women’s fiction
💎 Drawing from diverse creative experiences enhances your creative writing process—Marshall’s background in film criticism and writing, biography writing, and documentary filmmaking about rebels who charted their own paths directly influenced his character development approach in book club fiction
ABOUT THE GUESTS:
Marshall Fine is an award-winning journalist, critic, and filmmaker with a 50-year career. Before his bestselling 2024 fiction debut, The Autumn of Ruth Winters, Fine wrote biographies of filmmakers John Cassavetes and Sam Peckinpah, directed documentaries about film critic Rex Reed and comedian Robert Klein, conducted the Playboy interview with Howard Stern, and chaired the New York Film Critics Circle four times. He currently lives in Ossining, New York.
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