PHOTO: Donna Jones Alward, bestselling author of emotionally rich historical fiction, photographed near her Nova Scotia home where land, lake, and memory inspire her storytelling voice.
From Bestselling Romance To Titanic Tales
Bestselling author Donna Jones Alward reflects on her genre shift, creative inspirations, historical research, and the fearless pivot that led to her acclaimed novels When the World Fell Silent and Ship of Dreams.
Donna Jones Alward writes with the quiet conviction of someone who has lived many lives—each chapter etched with humility, resilience, and a sincere love of storytelling. From her earliest memories among piles of Harlequins and children’s books to the sunporch hours of her rural Canadian youth, her journey into fiction feels not only inevitable but deeply earned. It’s a path lined not with shortcuts but with seasons of waiting, listening, learning—each step a defiance of fear in favour of wonder.
Her debut in historical fiction, When the World Fell Silent, is steeped in the kind of emotional acuity that elevates history into lived experience. She threads intimate truths through grand-scale events, inviting readers not only to witness the past but to feel it. The leap from romance to historical fiction, once daunting, now seems like a natural extension of her voice—tender yet unflinching, romantic in the truest sense.
In Ship of Dreams, Alward reaches for the heart of a mythologised tragedy and reveals the people within it—those who dreamed, feared, hoped, and chose. There’s courage in her prose, a willingness to ask what lies beneath the surface, and a quiet reminder that the stories we tell of survival and love are never truly bound by genre.
Your recent novel, When the World Fell Silent, blends historical events with personal narratives. What inspired you to explore this genre shift from your earlier romance-focused works?
Do you believe in signs? After writing over sixty romance novels, I was already considering a genre shiftwhen my now-editor emailed out of the blue, asking if I’d be interested in writing historical fiction. I was thrilled and terrified. I have always loved reading historical fiction but found the idea of writing in the genre really intimidating. At the time we were in the middle of the pandemic and lockdown, and I really think it came down to “if not now, when?” I wasn’t afraid of failing; I was more afraid of regretting not trying. I loved writing romance and it was a great career, but I’ve embraced the genre switch fully and am having the time of my life.
How did your background in English Literature influence your transition from various professions to becoming a full-time writer?
The support I got from teachers and professors gave me the courage to believe I could do it. I wrote poetry and short stories all through my undergrad, but it wasn’t until I’d worked for about five years (and had a couple of children) that I decided to try my hand at a novel. The nurturing educational atmosphere I’d been a part of for so long meant sitting down to write felt a lot like coming home. It took me five years to sell a manuscript, and I worked part time during that time, and I’ve worked at other jobs and businesses over the years when things got a little lean. I’ll be honest, though – I love not having to divide myself between a regular paycheque and writing these days.
In When the World Fell Silent, you depict characters confronting their fears. How do you approach character development to ensure authenticity in their emotional journeys?
Authenticity must come by recognizing the constraints of the day while also tapping into universal, emotional truths. For example, Nora and Charlotte are living in 1917. Both are single. Opportunities for single women in that time period are very different from today. And yet they still have personal journeys, hopes, dreams. In any story, I ask myself what the worst thing could be for that character – and quite often I make that happen. How people rise from the ashes and move through challenges shows them what they’re made of. And for readers, it leads to what should be a really satisfying ending.
Your stories have been translated into over a dozen languages. How do you feel about the global reach of your work, and does it influence your writing process?
I think it’s very cool to see stories I’ve written in other markets and languages! It doesn’t really influence my writing, though. I focus completely on writing a great story with a plot that keeps the pages turning and characters readers will hopefully care for deeply.
Living in Nova Scotia, how does your environment—such as kayaking on the lake or walking sandy beaches—influence your creative process?
Nothing blows the cobwebs from my mind and gives me room to breathe like listening to the water roll onto the shore or slap onto the side of my kayak. It creates space, which is so crucial. Creativity needs room to breathe. So many story problems have been solved by me walking away for an hour, a morning, or a day, and letting my brain work it out on the backburner.
With your extensive experience in romance and historical fiction, how do you balance genre conventions with the desire to innovate in your storytelling?
Oh, that’s a great question. I bet every author has a story about being told by an agent or editor that they want something fresh and different while still wanting the story to seem familiar. I do find that there are fewer genre conventions in historical fiction, and I have a lot more latitude, which is both easier and more difficult, depending on the story and the characters. I also look at what would seem familiar and then look for a way to make it stand out either with a plot twist or by subverting something. Of course I look for a twist or something unique, and sometimes that is achieved with the help of other writers and a brainstorm session. Without giving spoilers, I had an idea for a twist in Ship of Dreams(HarperCollins, 08/25) and a friend of mind said “Yeah, but what if…” and put a twist on the twist that I immediately loved.
What challenges did you face while researching and writing When the World Fell Silent, and how did you overcome them?
Once you get to pre-World War 2, it can be harder to research certain things in daily life, especially in a particular region. What was on the ration? How much did things cost? I could easily find out the name of a popular general store in Halifax’s Richmond area, but how much was a pound of sugar or butter? My best resource ended up being Newspapers.com, which I went to for news stories in the days after the explosion, but I went down a total research rabbit hole. The papers were full of local happenings and a gold mine of advertisements! It was probably my most valuable resource for understanding the zeitgeist of the day and area.
I had a different problem with researching Ship of Dreams. There is so much information about Titanic that sifting through it and choosing what to include became my biggest hurdle.
What advice would you offer to aspiring authors aiming to transition between genres, especially from romance to historical fiction?
Don’t be afraid to try something new and be willing to fail at it. Failure is not the end of anything! As far as making that specific transition, I personally found that I tried so hard to not write romance that I missed out on going deep enough into my characters’ emotions. Honestly, by writing romance I learned so much about my process, about writing deep point of view and looking at what drives my characters and what is holding them back. Those lessons were totally transferable – I just had to get out of my own way. There’s the old adage to not throw out the baby with the bathwater… I think that’s probably my best advice.
