Part of the fun reading Nicolle Wallace’s delicious novel, Eighteen Acres, is trying to figure out who served as inspiration for each fictional character. Is Tara Meyers, the Republican Vice-Presidential candidate, modeled on Sarah Palin? Does Peter Kramer, the first first spouse resemble former President Bill Clinton, who almost occupied that position? What White House staffer in the Bush White House annoyed the Chief of Staff, the way Ralph does in the book? And is the TV correspondent, Brian, a real life Brian, or a composite of all the Brians, Toms, Dicks, Harrys, and Katies on the White House beat?

We have these thoughts because Nicolle Wallace took to heart the advice given to many novice writers—“Write about what you know.” What she knows about very well is the ins and outs of the political process, having served as communications director under President George W. Bush and campaign advisor for the John McCain/Sarah Palin campaign. When she describes the inside of the White House, we know she’s speaking from first hand experience.

Eighteen Acres (the title refers to the area covered by the White House grounds) focuses on three women at the top of the power pyramid: Charlotte Kramer, the first female President, Melanie Kingston, the White House Chief of Staff, and Dale Smith, a rising star at one of the networks who just happens to be having an affair with the first spouse. For answers to our questions, we decided to go to the source—Nicolle, a Woman Around Town.

Your three female characters—the President, her chief of staff, and the network news anchor—all have difficult, even unhappy, personal lives. Were many of the women in power that you met during your time in DC struggling in a similar fashion to balance their work with their personal lives?

The work load at the White House is crushing, the sheer volume of it is incredible, and the reader gets a real taste of how that work load impacts the personal lives of the people who work at and cover the White House. But I think this is something women in all walks of life face. We were raised to believe we can have it all – we aspire to have it all and to do it all well. We want to have strong relationships, do a good job at work, keep the family together, and we have the ability to put on a strong front and to keep a lot of the turmoil under wraps. I think this is uniquely feminine and it was a concept I wanted to play with in my novel.

How much of the book is drawn from your real-life experiences?

When I first started writing Eighteen Acres I got some great advice: write what you know. So that is what I’ve done. The story is entirely fictional but I tried to make the place perfectly correct.

What reaction have you received from friends and colleagues about the book? Anyone see themselves in any of the characters?

I knew they would tell me they liked it even if they didn’t so it is has been really fun to the see the shock and excitement when they tell me how much they really loved it.

I think people that are familiar with my professional experience may be familiar with some of the interactions and places but the characters and their stories are entirely fictional.

The book includes so many fascinating details about the White House. Like the characters in the book, did you always feel that it was a very special place to be working?

It is an incredible honor and privilege to work at the White House. In the book Melanie, who has worked at the White House for 15 years and served three presidents, is still amazed when the gates would swing open when she showed her badge. It was the same for me and almost every person I know who worked at the White House. It is a place full of wonder, majesty and really becomes part of your life when you work there, and I wanted to capture that in Eighteen Acres.

Why did you decide to write a novel rather than a nonfiction book about your experience in the political arena? Is a nonfiction book something that you still might write?

I was deeply affected by the way Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin were treated in the 2008 campaign, the special indignities they suffered as women. When Barack Obama said, “Hillary, you are likable enough,” something in my brain clicked about how this question of likability is uniquely applied to women. When it came to Sarah Palin, I was especially shocked at the fascination with her wardrobe. I kept wondering if she were a man and the money had been spent on dark suits, would anyone have cared, would it have been a story on national news for weeks? I wanted to play with this concept in a nonthreatening way and writing fiction affords me that opportunity. I think I’ll leave the nonfiction writing to my former colleagues.

Had you ever written fiction before? How did you find the process? What writers have inspired you?

This is my first novel and as someone who really had never written anything longer than an email or a speech, I was truly surprised by how much fun it was to write Eighteen Acres. I never wrote ahead of the chapter I was writing, or ahead of the character’s story I was trying to tell.

There have been many novels that really shaped me, but reading the Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger inspired me to write a story that was as much about the places, and its limitations and allure, as it was about the characters.

What did you hope to accomplish with this book? To merely provide a good read or to actually give readers some insight on what happens behind the scenes in powerful Washington?

I never met anyone who wasn’t fascinated by the White House, regardless of their personal political views. Writing about the first woman president was an idea that came to me after the 2008 campaign. Everywhere I went, people wanted to talk about Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin. It struck me that while their candidacies were unsuccessful, they had touched off a conversation about women in politics that was long overdue. I wanted to write a compelling story that captures the current political environment.

Your dialogue in some places is so real, one has the feeling you are actually recalling conversations you had or overheard during your many years in politics. How much of the talk between the characters was invented and how much was inspired by what you may have heard in the past?

I worked in the White House for 5 ½ years and on two presidential campaigns, one was successful and the other we lost. I think my characters were very well served by the fact that I experienced great triumphs and public humiliations. These experiences affected me deeply. I tried to bring some of that emotional rollercoaster to life in these fictional characters, but the characters and the story are entirely fictional.

We know there’s a sequel in the works. Will these characters continue?

Yes, the sequel is due out around this time next year. President Charlotte Kramer returns as the country’s newly re-elected president. Melanie Kingston returns as the newly appointed secretary of defense, and Dale Smith, a former network correspondent, joins vice president Tara Meyers as her senior communications advisor.

We’ve seen two women presidents portrayed on TV by Geena Davis and Cherry Jones. Would you like to see your book turned into a TV series? Who would you cast in those three main roles—Charlotte, Melanie, and Dale?

Oh wow, I’m not sure. I am just so thrilled people are buying Eighteen Acres!

To purchase Nicolle Wallace’s Eighteen Acres, go to www.amazon.com

To read Nicolle’s Woman Around Town profile, click here