Maggie North: Never Stop Striving To Deepen Your Relationship With Your Craft
In this interview, author Maggie North discusses combining science, history, and romance into her new romance novel, Fossil Feud.
Maggie North lives in Ottawa, Canada, with the man she met in ninth grade, their kid, and a rotating cast of hypoallergenic aquarium friends. Before becoming an author, she went to medical school and trained as an anesthesiologist, medical researcher, and crisis simulation specialist. She now practices anesthesiology part-time and devotes the rest of her hours to happily ever afters. Follow her on Facebook, Instagram, and Bluesky.
In this interview, Maggie discusses combining science, history, and romance into her new romance novel, Fossil Feud, her hope for readers, and more.
Name: Maggie North
Literary agent: Claire Friedman at InkWell Management
Book title: Fossil Feud
Publisher: Dell
Release date: July 28, 2026
Genre/category: Romance
Previous titles: Rules for Second Chances; The Ripple Effect
Elevator pitch: A renegade paleontologist must team up with a stuffy, unfairly hot British academic to expose a fossil hoax that could ruin them both. And they’d better not dig up feelings along the way . . .
What prompted you to write this book?
The idea for Fossil Feud was born when I walked through my husband’s home office as he was streaming a lecture about the history of paleontology. Paleontologists in the 1800s were famously competitive, underhanded, and vindictive. There have also been some pretty audacious frauds over the years. As a romance author, I naturally thought, what if these kinds of shenanigans happened today? And what if there was kissing?
My experiences as a female graduate student in a male-dominated STEM field also informed a big part of Fossil Feud. In 2026, science still isn’t as egalitarian as it should be, frankly. I hope Fossil Feud can play a small part in a bigger conversation about what kinds of people have historically been excluded from science and how that injustice has been perpetrated.
How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?
The original idea for Fossil Feud came to me in 2021, but it languished on my Notes app until late 2024. I had originally envisioned a historical romance set in the 1930s because I wanted to capture the unhinged flavor of early paleontology. Once I started researching, I discovered plenty of modern frauds and scandals, so I moved the book’s timeline up to 2026.
My agent, Claire Friedman, started shopping around the partial manuscript in spring 2025. I wasn’t sure publishers would want to buy it, but Claire quickly rounded up enough interested editors for an auction. I was beyond thrilled to partner with Alicia Clancy at Dell. Editors usually want to make changes to a manuscript, but I loved her vision for the book. If you ever swoon while reading Fossil Feud, it’s probably because of Alicia!
Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?
Fossil Feud is my third book, so the publishing learning curve has mercifully flattened out a bit for me at this point. Because my editor wanted to place Fossil Feud in the summer 2026 lineup, however, we had to work fast to get it ready. I asked a lot of author friends for their tricks for staying motivated, productive, and fresh during a tight revision schedule, and I think the finished book truly sparkles as a result.
Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?
My second book, The Ripple Effect, was an incredibly emotional book to write and edit because having a physician for a main character hit so close to home. After that, as you might imagine, I needed a break! I made my main character, Ripley Adams, a paleontologist, which is a career I knew almost nothing about. Then I deliberately set out to make Fossil Feudfun to read—and in the process, I discovered that a book that’s entertaining to read is also delightful to write. I’ve never had so much fun as I’ve had while researching and writing Fossil Feud, and I think that feeling really comes through in the pages.
What do you hope readers will get out of your book?
I mean, I hope people will pick up Fossil Feud because they want to laugh, cry, and swoon, which are the feelings I try to deliver with all of my books! But I also hope it gives readers the chance to think about the things that were on my mind when I was writing it, including systemic discrimination in STEM, the tension between science and profit, and how our own dreams can get pushed aside by other people’s aspirations for us.
If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?
Something that’s helped me a lot is to dedicate the downtime between each novel to reading books about the craft of writing. There’s always something to learn, and there’s often a new way to understand a concept I was already familiar with. Never stop striving to deepen your relationship with your craft!
