Hand-drawn maps are life-savers. One of the most daunting parts of writing historical fiction based in times thousands of years in the past is a very limited public historical record. It’s one thing to recount history in a reference book. Something entirely different to create the intimate relationship to place required for a novel. I’ve…
When you are diagramming a scene, you can see the characters in it. Writing is an art steeped in the lyrical use of words (stunning revelation, I know). Figuring out the magical combination of phrases, nouns, verbs and a participle or two is something we as novelists fret over on a minute-by-minute basis. Jumping in today…
I’ve been busy figuring out war and the nature of power these days. To Read Up On Hypatia of Alexandria and build more of the Sibylline world, I went to the Greek warriors. Here is my novel research reading for this week. Greek Philosophers and War Thucydides’ was exactly the kind of wisdom Hypatia would…
Hypatia of Alexandria changed my life. I sat down a couple of years ago to start researching what is now The Sibylline Chronicles. She found me. I had no clue where I’d end up. In fact, if you can believe it, the only thing I knew for sure was: Gulp! I had a few other ideas. I wanted…