Background on A TRIPLE KNOT: Envisioning Joan

Tags

A Triple Knot, Black Prince, creating characters, historical novels, Joan of Kent, John Holland, King Edward III, King Richard II, medieval history, Thomas Holland

In the beginning, I play with characters, trying them out in scenes, testing how they react to events and their fellow characters. With Joan of Kent, I’d already portrayed her several years before the death of her husband, the Black Prince, in A Vigil of Spies (Owen Archer #10), and she appeared at various points before, during, and after her marriage to Edward in The King’s Mistress. Now, for A Triple Knot, I needed to understand her life in full.

This morning, searching for a scene I’d written and rewritten and finally discarded, in which she teaches the young Ned (Prince Edward) to dance, I found instead this experiment in first person. I did not intend to use first person for this book, because I wanted other voices at court, but to explore  her life through her eyes, looking back, I played with the elderly Joan in this piece. Her son Richard is now King Richard II, and her sons Thomas and John Holland are adults. The daughter-in-law is Anne of Bohemia.

_____________

I lay in bed all night fingering my beads, murmuring prayers.

I am accustomed to dramatic rows with my sons Thomas and John, Richard’s half-brothers. We growl and snap at one another, they shout hateful things, I favor quieter retorts, and the courtiers pretend to avert their eyes, though they hold their breath fearful lest they miss a word. Always, my sons and I come together afterward in loving contrition. This is possible because we have shunned speaking of that which must not be questioned.

Until last night, when John uttered a hateful accusation. A look of horror made a mask of my daughter-in-law’s sweet face. She, most of all, understands the danger if what he said were widely believed. Her husband’s reign rides in the balance. John’s cruel nature has robbed Anne of her innocence.

When she arrived from the court of Bohemia to wed my son, she expected the glorious court of his grandfather, a court celebrating military prowess and chivalry with frequent and extravagant festivals of tourneying and jousting. She found, instead, a more sedately elegant, cultured court barely tolerated by barons lusting for the passion of battle and especially the spoils of war.

And now she has glimpsed the even more dangerous undercurrents threatening her husband’s crown.

Edward’s was a glorious court, but it was so by design. He and Philippa had come to power on the waves of rebellion, his father’s inglorious, forced abdication, his mother’s treason, her lover’s execution. They strove to distract the barons and the commons with the trappings of the ideal royal court, and provide them with a battleground offshore.

I do not remember a time when I did not understand the price we pay for noble birth. I was not yet four when my father was beheaded for his loyalty—albeit belated—to his half-brother. My pregnant mother, my brother and I were spared—kept in Arundel Castle until the young king’s familial affections stirred him to release us.

My parents had betrayed themselves, first supporting Queen Isabella, then King Edward, Father’s half-brother, and so had been betrayed.

The tragic result has been a festering wound all their progeny carry. If it did not smack of blasphemy I would call it stigmata, for we carried it invisibly until some crisis brought it forth, and we were revealed. It was our inheritance. In all my sons it plays out most violently, Thomas and John from within, Richard from without. Two would control with violent emotions, the third with a rigid peace—which I fear will be the undoing of his reign.

* * * * *

The royal court—what a strange and splendid stage in which to be a child, exploring possible roles, testing my strengths. We were privileged players, and all life was a performance in which at any moments marvels might arise to delight us. How exciting to be continually surprised by my surroundings.

Yet sometimes it was an unpleasant sort of excitement. People shifted roles without warning.

I remembered the darkness from which we burst out into the confusing magnificence of the court. Mother chided me, assuring me that I could not possibly remember our confinement in Arundel Castle. She swore as well that I had appropriated someone else’s memories of my father.

But I did not believe that my nightmares were borrowed.

My apprehension did not last long. My cousins Edward and Isabella soon pulled me into their circle of friends. What adventures we had! How privileged we were. I saw the other side of being royal—the fun, the extravagance.

Mother was respected by Kind Edward and Queen Philippa. I understood that we were accepted, secure. As long as the royal couple were secure.

________

Joan has been my companion through three books–no wonder I miss her.

I still haven’t found the dance lesson.

For a few more days (through 8 March), the ebook version of A Triple Knot is on sale for $1.99 in the US. Just so you know…!

A Moment in Time: Focusing the Historical Novel

Tags

A Moment in Time: Focusing the Historical Novel, historical novels, Lisa Cron, PNWA Conference, Wired for Story, writing the historical novel

On Saturday, 19 July, 4:00-5:30 pm I’ll be facilitating a workshop at the annual summer conference of the Pacific Northwest Writers Association. Details of the location are on the events page on my website (emmacampion.com).

A workshop is a workshop, not a lecture. I do talk a bit, moving from general ideas about writing to the topic at hand, in order to give everyone a chance to arrive, physically and mentally. And then we begin. In this workshop, “A Moment in Time: focusing the historical novel,” I’ll introduce the prompts, giving some examples, and then invite each person in the room to formulate a story concept using the prompts. We’ll then workshop them, talking about what works, what doesn’t, and why.

So here’s the “handout”. I begin with a bit of background information:

current reality of what publishers want in historical novels

• tight focus
• an emotional experience
• a clear protagonist
• 100-110 k words

The panoramic historical novels of, say, Michener and Renault, are out except for authors who have track records of high sales.

Knowing that, here’s a way to narrow down your concept:

focusing

• involve your protagonist in a transitional moment in history
• show your protagonist swept up in it
• show your protagonist profoundly challenged by it
• the story is about how your protagonist changes, grows in dealing with it
• no matter how exciting or famous a fact or event, if it moves the story away from your protagonist’s struggle, take it out

Try it:

prompts for this workshop

• think of an event or a character in history you find fascinating or puzzling
• choose a protagonist—can be the historical character or a fictional character caught up in the historical event
• find a transitional moment leading up to the event or in the protagonist’s life that will result in entangling them in a momentous event

Not going to be at the workshop, but trying this out? Feel free to share your concept in the comments.

 

Here’s some general background that might help:

Some key ideas from Lisa Cron (Wired for Story) in a TEDxFurmanU talk this year, The Power of Story:

Brain science has revealed that we use story to make sense of our experience; it’s a cooperative effort of left and right brain.

We turn to story to navigate reality. The brain learns by feeling something subjectively.

Hence the “power” of story: You can’t change how people think about something until you change how they feel about it.

All stories are a call to action.

I highly recommend, Wired for Story by Lisa Cron (10 Speed Press 2012)

 

A Triple Knot

Tags

A Triple Knot, historical novels, Joan of Kent, King Edward III, medieval history, Queen Philippa, writing

Yes, I’ve been quiet, but for a good reason. I’m reviewing the copyedit of A Triple Knot and making the last substantive changes–a tense yet exhilarating point in the birthing of a book. I’m reading it aloud to catch infelicitous phrases, inconsistencies, and repetitions. To my delight, I’m finding it a great pleasure. This is a good sign!

I am, however, quite hoarse by the end of the day, requiring copious amounts of lemony tea with honey. And my cat is irked that my office door is closed for hours. But she, clever kitty, has found a workaround: she approaches from outside my window, mewing and tapping on the pane until I succumb.

And now, without further ado, the unveiling of the cover and my publisher’s marketing copy.

The critically acclaimed author of The King’s Mistress brings another fascinating woman from history to life in an enthralling story of political intrigue, personal tragedy, and illicit love.

Joan of Kent, the renowned beauty and niece of King Edward III, seems blessed with a life of royal privilege until her father is executed for treason and she becomes a ward of the king, living amongst those who deem her the daughter of a traitor. Joan begins to understand the brutal constraints and dangers inherent in being of royal blood. There is one at court who loves her, but his love proves the greatest threat of all.

As an impetuous teenager, she escapes into a clandestine marriage in a bid for freedom, then must hide it for nearly a decade, as her guardians marry her off to another man. After her first husband’s death, Joan—now a mother of four—enters into another scandalous relationship, this time with the heir to the British throne, Prince Edward, hero of Crécy and Poitiers, who has loved her all along. But his devotion comes at a terrible price. Haunted by nightmares of her father’s execution and the ruthlessness of her royal kin, Joan must reconcile her passion for the crown prince with the potentially tragic costs of a royal life.

Look for it on 29 July 2014!

Shop Talk: Uses of History in a Novel

Tags

A Vigil of Spies, Alice Perrers, Black Prince, historical novels, Joan of Kent, King Edward III, Margaret Kerr, Owen Archer, revising a manuscript, Rosencrantz and Gildenstern Are Dead, The Hero's Wife, The King's Mistress, writing

I’ve been thinking about the various ways I use history in novels. In the Owen Archer novels, I (as Candace) make use of the history to create the motivation for the crime and the circumstances–political, cultural, local–that led to it and that create obstacles during the investigation–including whether, in the end, justice is served. In the Margaret Kerr novels the history is even more to the forefront, informing everything. The conflict between Scotland and England is the occasion for the upheaval in Margaret’s life. In The King’s Mistress, my focus is on the history of a specific woman, exploring a plausible scenario for Alice Perrer’s rise in status from the daughter of a merchant to the notorious mistress of the king. So the larger historical backdrop is significant as it pertains to Alice.

I am thinking about this as I rewrite this first novel about Joan of Kent*,  A Triple Knot, chronicling Joan’s marriage complications, caused in part by King Edward III’s determination to wage a costly war with France. I touched briefly on her “scandalous” history in A Vigil of Spies, then again, in a bit more depth, in The King’s Mistress. But I didn’t realize then the extent to which Edward’s war was one of the catalysts for the mess. The war is an antagonist in this story, as it is in the Margaret Kerr books.

Poor Joan. I keep thinking about what Guildenstern says toward the end of Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead:  “There must have been a moment, at the beginning, where we could have said—no. But somehow we missed it.” For Joan it isn’t so much that she misses her chance at no, but that she impulsively chooses a way out that leads to–well, in the long run the War of the Roses. I certainly wouldn’t want that on my conscience. Even so, it’s a beautiful love story.

You’ll see what I mean.

*The Hero’s Wife is the title of the follow-on book, covering Joan of Kent’s life after her marriage to the Black Prince. As publishers seek leaner novels, I split Joan’s story in two in order to do it justice. And I know, I know, I’ve been writing this book forever.

Q&A with Patricia Bracewell, author of Shadow on the Crown

Tags

Aethelstan, Emma of Normandy, historical novels, Patricia Bracewell, Shadow on the Crown

Several years ago Patricia Bracewell introduced herself to me at the medieval congress at Western Michigan University. I’d just presented a humorous paper about the perils and pitfalls of writing a novel as my publishers on both sides of the pond were struggling to redefine the ideal historical novel. When she told me she was working on a novel about Emma of Normandy, the wife of King Aethelred (one of the Emmas who inspired my pseudonym), I hoped my paper wouldn’t scare her off. It didn’t. This past autumn I had the great pleasure of reading the ARC of the first in her planned trilogy about Emma, Shadow on the Crown.

Here’s the blurb I wrote when I finished: “Bloody portents in the sky, a blizzard burying villages ravaged by the Danes, with these chilling strokes Patricia Bracewell opens Shadow on the Crown, brilliantly mirroring the brutal landscape of the court into which young Emma of Normandy comes as Aethelred’s wife and queen. Bracewell skillfully shapes this tale of a young queen determined to establish her authority over her enemies as a thriller rich in complex, passionate characters and vividly realized settings. From the moment I picked up the book it captivated me, calling me back and back again until I abandoned everything to finish it in a breathless rush. Brava!” I meant every word. I can’t wait for the next installment.

Loving shop talk as I do, I asked if she’d be willing to answer some writerly questions for this blog to be featured during the month of publication. She graciously replied: “I am honored to be hosted by an author whom I have admired for many years. Thank you for having me.” You’re most welcome, Pat, and now,  without further ado, here’s our exchange.

Viking, February 2013

Do you remember when Emma caught your attention? What was it about her?
I first read about Emma in an online history forum at least a dozen years ago. I was astonished to discover that there was a queen of England I’d never heard of before, never mind that she was married to two different kings of England. That alone piqued my interest in Emma. When I discovered that the book she commissioned to be written about the events that she had witnessed made no mention of her first husband, King Æthelred, I was completely hooked. I wanted to imagine the part of Emma’s life about which she was silent.
Sometimes I find it difficult to visualize a character and then suddenly, something clicks, something I hadn’t realized about this person, and there they are, vividly come to life. Did you find this with any characters? Which ones?
This happened twice. First with Athelstan, the king’s eldest son. One of the very first scenes that I imagined for the book is set among a circle of standing stones when Athelstan hears a prophecy about his future. His reaction to that foretelling – his determination to change his fate – defined his character for me. A similar thing happened with King Æthelred, as well, when I read William of Malmesbury’s 12^th century Gesta Regum Anglorum. He wrote that Æthelred was haunted by the shade of his murdered brother, and that single sentence gave me the image of a haunted, brooding king.
You’ve fiddled with some historic figures to enhance the story. Was this a difficult decision?
This will sound somewhat cavalier, but I didn’t worry a great deal about that, especially with minor figures about whom very little is known. My goal was to create a good story, and so the dramatic elements of storytelling were a priority for me. At the same time, I tried to present characters and events that were plausible. We know very little about the relationships among the members of Æthelred’s court and nothing at all about the personalities involved or how alliances might have been forged. I tried to write within the historical gaps as much as possible.
[Emma says, Ah, spot on! That’s the trick of it.]
The beginning of the book is deliciously mysterious and atmospheric. Did you have this in mind from the start? What inspired it?
Certainly the seeress, as she appears later in the story, was in my mind from the very beginning. But the prologue that you are referring to was a very late addition to the novel. I wrote it in a single sitting, and it is one scene which has changed very little in subsequent drafts. I think it’s my favorite scene in the novel. It was inspired by that quote from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle that opens the book: …a bloody sky was often seen…like fire in the form of misty beams; and of course by the many stone circles scattered across England.
You’ve managed to bring to life a period of history unfamiliar to most readers. Clearly you worked hard at evoking the times and subtly explaining the unfamiliar by context. Did you have a general strategy for this?
A great part of my strategy, and I have to credit my wonderful editor, Emily Murdock Baker for suggesting it, was the use of the quotes from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle to stitch the story together. That was a way to ground the reader in the history. Beyond that, I tried to portray Emma’s world as I imagined it, drawing upon my research into every aspect of early 11^th century England that I could find. This included books and journal articles on architecture, religion, food, clothing, travel, roads, trade, literature, weaponry and much more. Films, too, gave me a visual feel for the period. I’ve seen every Beowulf film ever made, and I looked, too, at films set in later periods for inspiration: Lion in Winter, Becket, Visions, even the fantasy The Two Towers because so much of Tolkien’s work is based on that Anglo-Saxon world.
Moving into the second book of the trilogy, what are some of the challenges for you? (I’m thinking of things like keeping it fresh, explaining things just enough for someone who didn’t read the first book, showing Emma’s growth, trying not to repeat types of scenes….)
Because the second and third books are set during years of unrelenting conflict in England, the biggest challenge for me is imagining Emma’s place in that world. I’m not interested in writing battle scenes, although I can’t completely avoid them. Nevertheless I want my focus to be on the distaff side – the story of the wife and children of a haunted, beleaguered king in a time of great peril. The written history of that period is all about war. My job is to discern the stories behind the history. Setting is always a difficulty, of course. The last thing people want to read about is a queen who sits in a chamber and embroiders for hours on end! It’s been quite a challenge to take Emma out of that chamber and set her on a stage that is new and interesting for the reader, but at the same time appropriate for an 11^th century queen.

For more background on Pat and the book, go to patriciabracewell.com. But first, read this book!

Winter Solstice

Tags

historical novels, Joan of Kent

I’m ensconced in my office with Joan of Kent, dreaming about her marriages. Actually, because she doesn’t get to tell this all in first person, it’s quite crowded in here–Joan, Thomas Holland, Queen Philippa, King Edward (III), Edward of Woodstock, Joan’s mum Lady Margaret, and William Montague to name just the major players. It gets loud when the men put on their fighting gear. And the festive headdresses on both sexes get caught on the shades, the clock, the calendar….

Some people say that writing is a solitary profession. They’re not writers.

But to the winter solstice–what about that lunar eclipse?! I saw that 1648 was the last time winter solstice and lunar eclipse coincided like this–just after Charles I was captured. Takes you back, doesn’t it?

Wishing you all a winter of wonder.

Getting Real With History in Novels

Tags

Alice Perrers, cognitive dissonance, historical novels, Joan of Kent, medieval history, reputations, theory of the novel

I love the idea of sharing a blog with you, Emma. Now to see how the reality feels.

First, an update on my appearance at Bouchercon in San Francisco this coming week–my panel is at 3:00 pm Friday:

BITTER WINE
Writing historical crime fiction. How accurate do you have to be?
Oline Cogdill (M), Rebecca Cantrell, Candace Robb, Roger Hudson, Caroline Todd,
Charles Todd
Room: Seacliff C

Neither I nor anyone else on the panel understands the title, but we hope you’ll engage us in some great discussion.

And if you’re in the Bay area this week but not going to Bouchercon (well, even if you are)–come see Emma read from The King’s Mistress and talk about Alice Perrers at A Great Good Place for Books, in Oakland, on Wednesday evening (13 Oct) at 7:00 pm.

* * * * *

I had intended to play with some of the ideas Emma and I came up with while brainstorming the Sarum Seminar talk: On Second Thought: Reconsidering the Reputations of Alice Perrers and Joan of Kent , but suddenly the talk’s just a few days away and I’m tidying up loose ends.

And, by the way, here’s another chance to see Emma and me–at Stanford University this coming Tuesday, the 12th (busy week):

http://events.stanford.edu/2010/October/12/

For now, I wanted to post a comment on one of Emma’s earlier posts and my response–not everyone reads comments. I’ll expand on this later.

A reader (Mary Beth) wrote:

Your new blog is a timely find for me, as I just finished reading “The King’s Bishop ” and found your portrayal of Alice in this book quite fascinating.

How was the experience of writing/researching “The King’s Mistress” compared to Alice of the Owen Archer series?  Do you feel that she is a different woman from the character of your earlier series?  Or was the new book a chance to indulge in a desire to dig deeper and deeper into someone who just intrigued you and deserved a new understanding?

I mean, do you recognize the Alice of your earlier books as the same Alice in your new book?  (Which I just now found out about by reading this blog- great!  I’ll have to get it!)

I replied in the comments:

I remember with what fun I used Alice Perrers in The Lady Chapel, but by the time I wrote The King’s Bishop I was taking her more seriously. It’s been a while since I reread that book, but I do know I was already feeling far more empathy for her than I had in TLC—she was no longer just Thoresby’s nemesis. It was during a long tour for the book in the UK that I began to question the standard story of her life—it seemed more and more implausible to me as I explained it to audiences. So, yes, in The King’s Mistress I present a very different Alice, brought to life through years of pondering and presenting papers at academic conferences to entice fellow historians to share the snippets they’d collected. It’s been a fascinating and rewarding journey, leading to a new set of books in which I’m reconsidering reputations.

Emma and I both have much more to say about this. Stay tuned!

Candace

Reputation

Tags

historical novels, medieval history, reputations, writing

My work on Alice Perrers, a woman much reviled since the 14^th century, has inspired a fascination with reputations—or, more specifically, why we give them such credence. We limit our understanding of the world when we base our opinions on reputations rather than ferreting out the facts for ourselves.

Alice’s reputation was based on the opinion of a monk, Walsingham, who took little trouble distinguishing between his heavily prejudiced and overblown opinions and and the truth, and a parliament looking for a scapegoat. And although historians and antiquarians admitted their dissatisfaction with the theories they set forth regarding her parentage, no one ever seems to have questioned whether or not Perrers was her maiden name. Even worse, their half-baked theories were accepted by those who came after. Nor did they seem to question the incredible power over the king and his household that Walsingham and the Parliament had ascribed to a female commoner. Could they not see that her reputation was exaggerated? Couldn’t I? I admit, I misused Alice in earlier books.

But we were not alone; all of us do this all the time. We accept others’ opinions about people as fact. Shortcuts are useful. Still, at least in one’s profession….

So I’m hooked on this topic. In October I’ll be delivering a lecture at Stanford University on medieval reputations. I’ll have the great honor of sharing the stage with Gary Alan Fine, who wrote Difficult Reputations: Collective Memories of the Evil, Inept, and Controversial. I’m also exploring other medieval people whose reputations strike me as too simplistic.

Needless to say, I’ll be sharing my immersion in medieval reputations on this blog. And I hope to have some guests sharing their thoughts on the topic as well.

******

According to the OED (confession—I love the Oxford English Dictionary):

The second definition for reputation is:  “The common or general estimate of a person with respect to character or other qualities; the relative estimation or esteem in which a person or thing is held.” This isn’t about anyone’s personal experience of the subject, but a vague consensus. Curiouser and curiouser.

But I really like this one, the first definition of “reputation” in the OED, which is labeled “obsolete; rare”: “Opinion, supposition; also, the opinion or view of one about something.” Aha!

I’m having a think….

******

Meanwhile, medievalist.net has posted a lovely review of THE KING’S MISTRESS and an interview with me that we recorded during the medieval congress at Western Michigan U here:

http://www.medievalists.net/2010/06/19/the-kings-mistress/

And so it begins….

Tags

historical novels, writing

As it’s  just over a month until my novel The King’s Mistress hits the bookstores in the US, I thought it a propitious time to launch a blog. I’ve been inspired by all the promotional pieces I’ve been preparing for the book launch. I hadn’t expected to so enjoy writing about why I wrote the book and why I write what I do (which is really all about what I love about what I do).

So I’ll continue to do so, here.

Stay tuned. I look forward to engaging with you.

Emma