INTERVIEW 2: INTERVIEW WITH SUSAN HIGGINBOTHAM

INTERVIEW 3: Q&A WITH MIRELLA PATZER

INTERVIEW 4: THE BOLEYN WIFE: ALL ABOUT VENGEANCE

INTERVIEW 5: Q&A

INTERVIEW 1:THE CONFESSION OF BRANDY PURDY: AN INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHOR OF THE CONFESSION OF PIERS GAVESTON

Interview conducted by Nan Hawthorne, author of AN INVOLUNTARY KING. To learn more about Nan and her work please visit her website at www.nanhawthorne.com

A week or so ago Brandy Purdy and I sat down in a virtual parlor to talk about her new book, THE CONFESSION OF PIERS GAVESTON, about the young man whose sway over his lover King Edward II inspired resentment and revenge. As a historical novelist myself, I wanted to know about Purdy as the successful publisher of a story I also find fascinating.

Hawthorne: What attracted you to retell the story of Piers Gaveston?

Purdy: It just sort of happened. Reading has always been my greatest comfort, and when I can't read I know I'm in trouble. My mother died five years ago and I remember picking up books and trying to read them, but I couldn't, my concentration was gone, I'd read the same sentence over five times and still couldn't take it in. One of the books was about royal romances and scandals, not at all a scholarly work, just something meant to be light and informative in an entertaining way, and I was so frustrated I couldn't focus enough to read it that I was about to throw it at the wall. I decided to try one more time and opened it at random to the chapter on Edward II and Piers Gaveston, and, for some reason, I was able to read it, I became fascinated by this story, maybe my mind saw a parallel to the Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn saga, which has fascinated me since childhood, I don't know.

Anyway, I just started reading anything and everything I could find about Piers Gaveston. And I realized that very little is actually known about this man, and what was written was written after he became notorious. There are no portraits or physical descriptions of him, he left behind no diaries or letters recording his personal thoughts, there are only the reports of the medieval chroniclers, gossip, rumors of witchcraft (his mother was said to have been burned as a witch), records of the numerous gifts and endowments Edward made to him, inventories and some household accounts, and a few of the songs written to celebrate his death. We don't even know his birth date, I believe he first appears in the records when he was probably a teenager serving in the army, so there are a lot of shadowy areas in his life. This man was considered the most hated man in England, but nothing exists to tell us what he actually thought and felt.

Hawthorne: What did you want to say in the novel that historical references do not or cannot?

Purdy: I thought it would be an interesting challenge to try to give this man a voice. Gaveston is usually seen as the villain of Edward's story, the evil power behind the throne, he was a man with many flaws who in some ways was his own worst enemy, and I wondered what he would have written if he had a blank book and knew he was running out of time. And the novel just happened.

I think everyone deserves to be heard, to have a chance to speak in their own defense. As Gaveston says in the first chapter of my novel "There are two sides to every coin; but when the bards and chroniclers, the men who write the histories, tell this story, will anyone remember that?"

Hawthorne: How did you research the time and people? What were your resources?

Purdy: I read everything I could find and afford to buy or get on interlibrary loan that I thought might prove helpful. I also used the internet where I found some discussions about the identity of Amy Gaveston, believed by many to have been Piers Gaveston's illegitimate daughter, and also an interesting article about the possible role of witchcraft in Gaveston and Edward's story.

Hawthorne: How did you arrive at the individual motivations for your characters?

Purdy: It just all came together somehow. I had an outline of known incidents and events, and as I read I took notes and wrote down anything that I thought was interesting or might be useful, but I really just sat down and wrote it, I don't think I ever consciously stopped and thought "okay now how am I going to portray the Earl of Pembroke or Lancaster?"

I think I was lucky writing this book, it just flowed out, my second novel, THE BOLEYN WIFE (VENGEANCE IS MINE), about Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard, the second and fifth wives of Henry VIII, as seen through the jealousy-clouded eyes of Lady Rochford, was much more difficult, maybe because there is so much more known about the personalities involved.

Hawthorne: Tell us your thought process when deciding how to evoke the era and place? How is the characters' language part of that?

Purdy: The language was a difficult point. My agent at the time thought the first draft was too modern, so I rewrote it trying to make the language have a more medieval feel. Apparently she was satisfied, but I personally wasn't happy with it, I thought maybe I went too far, and the language got in the way of the story. I love historical fiction, it's probably 95% of what I read, but when a novel's linguistic style slows me down and gets in the way of the story, I don't like that at all. When I revised my novel for the last time, I tried to think of myself as a translator or editor, trying to make the book understandable or accessible to modern readers but also to preserve a period feel. I don't know how well I succeeded, but I do know it's impossible to please everyone; I learned that a long time ago.

Hawthorne: How big of a challenge is it to stay away from anachronisms? How do you handle the issue?

Purdy: I've been reading about history since I learned to read so I don't feel it's that big of a challenge for me. If there are anachronisms they're unintentional and hopefully slight, or made for a reason. For example, I just recently read that addressing a king or queen as "Your Majesty" was not done until the Tudor era, but since my corrected proofs had already been submitted to the publisher I wasn't about to halt publication and go to the expense of correcting what I felt was a minor and insignificant detail.

INTERVIEW 2:An Interview with Brandy Purdy by Susan Higginbotham, author of THE TRAITOR'S WIFE, visit her website at www.susanhigginbotham.com

SH: We're talking today with Brandy Purdy, who's recently published her novel about Edward II's favorite, THE CONFESSION OF PIERS GAVESTON What made you decide to tell Gaveston's story in the first person?

BP: The challenge of trying to give this man a voice. In the historical records, he's very silent. I read somewhere that Gaveston's personality is largely "lost in the mists of history," that everything written about him was written after he became notorious. Taking into account everything I could find out about him, good and bad, from every side, I wanted to try to, I guess you could say, resurrect that lost personality. Also, I noticed that of the many novels about the reign of Edward II, none of them that I read or read about, that were written in the first person ever told the story from Gaveston's viewpoint, it was always Edward, Isabelle, someone else, or a fictitious lady-in-waiting or courtier. Even Chris Hunt's novel GAVESTON is written in another man's voice--Edward's. I thought the object of that obsession deserved a chance to speak for himself.

SH: Did you find it limiting, as opposed to the third person?

BP: In the case of this book, I really didn't. I consider myself to have been very lucky with the writing of this book, it just flowed out for the most part. I spent more time trying to get it published than I did writing it. My second novel, THE BOLEYN WIFE (VENGEANCE IS MINE) is also written in the first person, and it was much more difficult.

SH: As a female, did you find that writing from the point of view of a man posed any special challenges?

BP: When it comes to things like battles or sports, most definitely yes. I've got the kind of mind that just can't follow sports and I know I would be hopeless at blow-by-blow descriptions of battle scenes. Gaveston was a champion jouster and an excellent soldier and I do worry that I didn't do justice to those parts of his story, that readers might feel my descriptions of these things are like watching a war movie on fast-forward. And if I've let anyone down with that, I am sorry, I really did try.

SH: Some people in the publishing industry have said that female readers prefer to read historical fiction with female main characters. What are your thoughts on this? Do you yourself have a preference?

BP: I know for a fact that the publishing industry is very reluctant to take a chance on a historical novel written from a male perspective. I spent five years trying to get Gaveston published. My agent told me that Crown, one of the major publishers of historical fiction, wouldn't even look at it because of this. As for my own personal tastes, it doesn't really matter to me, I like a good book, an interesting story and characters. But when it comes to reading a novel about a male subject it really depends on who it is and/or what the focus of the novel is, for instance I would probably find a novel about Alexander the Great's personal relationships very interesting, but I wouldn't even attempt to plow through a book about his battles.

SH: I was struck in your interview with Nan Hawthorne by your remark that you saw a parallel between Gaveston and Anne Boleyn. Can you expand on that?

BP: First of all, Edward II was definitely not the king Henry VIII was, but, after that is said, both are stories of obsession; kings who were willing to risk all to have the object of their desire. Piers Gaveston and Anne Boleyn were both famous for their wit, both inspired great resentment, jealousy, and hatred, they were people who stood out, didn't really fit the mold, and rumors of witchcraft swirled around both; both were said to have bewitched the king. Both Kings fought to have the person they desired most; Henry won his battles but Edward lost his, and both objects of these royal obsessions lost their heads in the end.

INTERVIEW 3:Brandy Purdy Q&A with author Mirella Patzer, author of BLOODSTONE CASTLE, www.mirellapatzer.com

Q: Welcome, I’m so glad to have this opportunity to chat with you. Can you share with my readers the essence of the story you’ve penned?

A: Thank you, I’m glad to have this opportunity. THE CONFESSION OF PIERS GAVESTON is the story of Edward II’s notorious favourite, told in Gaveston’s own words as his life is about to come to an end. But Gaveston is an unreliable narrator, one is never quite sure if he is telling the whole truth, some, or none of it, or if he is trying to show himself in the most favourable light or garner sympathy; so one has to take it all with a grain of salt, maybe even a whole shaker of salt. And, one also has to remember, the way the various characters are depicted is how Gaveston is seeing them at that particular time in his life—a life that is about to end in murder—so some measure of bitterness and resentment can be expected to cast a shadow.

Q: You’ve chosen a very interesting title. What inspired the title? What inspired the book?

A: Thank you. The use of the word “confession” in the title comes from the religious atmosphere of the Middle Ages, and also, it’s a bit of a play on words given that there have always been persistent rumours of witchcraft associated with Gaveston, and in my novel witchcraft is indeed his religion; he only pays lip service to Christianity, so one has to wonder how seriously he would take the idea of Confession; in other words: how sincere and sacred is this, his final, confession?

As for the way I came to write it, the book wasn’t born out of a burning ambition to be a writer or anything like that. It just sort of happened. Ever since I first learned to read I’ve always been a voracious reader, books are my consolation, they have always been the only constant in my life, so when I can’t read, when there is some situation or emotional disturbance that robs me of the desire or attacks and disables my concentration, then I KNOW I’m in trouble. Such was the case a few years ago when my mother died. I kept trying to read but I just couldn’t focus, I would read the same sentence over and over again, but I couldn’t take it in. I kept trying different books, trying to find something my mind could latch onto and digest. Finally I picked up a book about royal scandals, it was written in a lively, sort of gossipy tone, a factual but not a scholarly work. I started at the beginning but I couldn’t manage it, I was so frustrated I felt like throwing the book at the wall. I decided to try one more time before I gave up and opened it at random. The page I turned to was the first page of the chapter on Edward II and Piers Gaveston.

I had no familiarity with the story at all, if I had ever even heard of Piers Gaveston before it wasn’t enough to make an impression on me and I have no memory of it. But, for some reason, I was able to read that chapter, and I became fascinated by the story. I started reading everything I could find about Piers Gaveston, and I became particularly intrigued by the rumours and the gaps in his life; there is so little actually known about him as a person, we don’t know what he looked like, there are no letters telling us what he thought or felt, and I was drawn to the challenge of trying to give him a voice. And the novel just happened; I just sat down one day and started writing.

Q: What makes this book special to you?

A: Well I probably shouldn’t say this in an interview that I’m hoping may give a boost to book sales, but I will: This little book has faced a lot of opposition, both personally and professionally. I have even been told on more than one occasion that I should be ashamed of myself for writing it. When no one else would take a chance on it I decided to gamble and take the chance myself via self-publishing after having spent years trying to find a publisher in the traditional manner. Although I had an agent who genuinely liked the book, and a senior editor at one of the major publishing houses fell in love with it, in this world, money talks, and every time this book has come up against the powers that be in a publisher’s marketing department it has always been rejected because they believe that a historical novel about personalities who are not as well known as say Anne Boleyn or Alexander the Great, written from the viewpoint of a man will fail to attract readers, it has also been implied, though not explicitly stated, that the homosexuality of the characters makes it even more difficult from a marketing standpoint. Personally I happen to disagree, and not just because my book is on the receiving end of their rejections, as a straight female who has been a dedicated reader of historical fiction since the age of ten, I read any novel that intrigues me and holds my interest, the gender and sexual preferences of the characters is immaterial and has never been a deciding factor; I like a good, well-told story. As for my novel, I guess I just feel that this book needs me more; to believe in it and try to do the best I can for it since no one else will.

Q: What makes this a book that people MUST read and WHY?

A: My novel gives Piers Gaveston a voice, it is an attempt to reconstruct a personality that has been largely lost in the mists of time and history and obscured by sensationalism and rumours that began even in his own lifetime. And for readers who like the concept of an unreliable narrator, I think they might find my version of Gaveston both interesting and entertaining.

Q: What sparks your creativity? Any tips to help others spark their own creativity?

A: I wish I could answer this one better, but I don’t know, with me it just happens. I read or hear or see something and it just latches onto my mind and won’t let go; I have to write whatever it is down on a sort of ideas list to get any peace, otherwise, it will just keep gnawing and pulling at my attention until I do. Sometimes these “little sparks of inspiration” stay with me for years, like with Lady Rochford. I became interested in Tudor England, especially Anne Boleyn who sparked my interest in history in general, at an early age, and I was always fascinated by the role her sister-in-law played in her story. Lady Rochford accused her husband, George Boleyn, of committing incest with his sister Anne, and they both ended their lives on the scaffold, then some years later she acted as go-between in Katherine Howard’s adultery, and, in an act of what some might call poetic justice, ended up bowing her own head to the headsman. The “Why?” and “How?” of it always intrigued me—Why did she do it? How did she live with herself afterwards? You don’t just do something like that and then it’s over and done and you just don’t think about it anymore, it has to touch you in some lingering way that stays with you, even if you try to push it away and bury it in the back of your mind, there will be times when it burrows its way back up to the forefront again, and that’s what eventually drove me to write my second novel, THE BOLEYN WIFE (VENGEANCE IS MINE).

Q: What has been the biggest stumbling block in your writing?

A: Loneliness, and the lack of encouragement and moral support as a consistent and Real presence in my life. At least I have the internet; it allows me to talk to people in distant places, and some of them are very supportive of my writing, and I am grateful for that.

Q: Tell me about the most unusual things you have done to promote your book.

A: I haven’t really done anything unusual. I have my website, a blog, and I’ve just recently joined Twitter, I also have bookmarks that I give out, I always include these in the used books I sell on ebay. I’m a shy person and the idea of public speaking absolutely terrifies me, but fortunately I haven’t been asked to do anything like that yet.

Q: Each author is different in the way they create a work of fiction. Please describe for us how you plan or plot a story.

A: I don’t really know how to explain it. I do research and take notes, I look at portraits and photographs, I jot down ideas as they come to me, I always keep notebooks at hand for this as sometimes they come to me after I’ve turned out the light to try to sleep or while I’m in the bath. I always write out a chronological list of events and dates I know I need to include, but beyond that I just do it. Writing seems to be an instinctual process for me, I have no formal training, I never took a class or read a how-to book, so I can’t really explain how I learned to do it, maybe I just absorbed it from reading so much.

Q: Authors are very unique in the way they write, the tools they use, when they write, etc. Please describe a typical writing day for you? How do you organize your day?

A: I am a very unproductive writer, I don’t write on a daily basis. I am constantly criticized for this; people are always trying to push me to hurry up and get another book done, despite the tension and pressure this creates. I always try to explain that it’s an emotional process with me; I have to be all there, it’s not something I can do on autopilot, I have to be in the right mood, it’s not like ringing up sales at Wal-Mart or digging a ditch, but no one ever listens to me. The creative urge to sit down in front of the computer and write comes when it comes, and when it does, I answer the call, I don’t like to try to force it; that never achieves good results. When it’s there I just go with it, I will sit at the computer and write until I’m exhausted and I can’t see to keep going. I’m fortunate in that I am a fast typist; I can keep up with what my mind dictates, I could never do this longhand and write even remotely legibly, I always say my handwriting went to the Devil when I learned to type. My bursts of creativity don’t follow a pattern, I might write one night and it might be two weeks before it happens again, or I might write for two weeks then break for two days before I’m back at it again, or the period of inactivity may be even more lengthy; it’s entirely random. When I do write, I tend to do it at night as there are fewer interruptions and distractions like telemarketers ringing the phone and chores to do, and I have a tendency to insomnia.

Q: What is your current work in progress?

A: I am doing research and taking notes for another historical novel, but I prefer not to go into specifics; I might jinx myself by talking about it. I would prefer to wait until I am further along before I make any public statements.

Q: Can you tell us where to find more information about you and your books and how readers can reach you?

A: Gladly, I have a website, www.brandypurdy.com, a blog, http://brandypurdy.blogspot.com, and good old-fashioned email of course, bkpbooks@yahoo.com

Q: What would you like our readers to know about you and your writing?

A: There’s really not much to tell about me. In my writing I prefer quality over quantity, I would rather have two good books to my name, books that were written because I wanted to write them, than twenty that are just written because it is expected of me or to try to earn a profit.

INTERVIEW 4:THE BOLEYN WIFE: ALL ABOUT VENGEANCE

Interview conducted by Nan Hawthorne, author of AN INVOLUNTARY KING, please visit her website www.nanhawthorne.com

NH: Why do you believe the Tudors are so compelling to readers and authors?

BP: There is just something about this story that we never tire of, the events are so incredible, yet true, and the personalities so vivid, almost larger than life, yet they all lived.

NH: What did you want to convey about Jane Rochford that other authors have not?

BP: Lady Rochford has always been a shadowy character in the Tudor saga, and I wanted to try to bring her out of the shadows. Ever since I first learned about her, she has fascinated me; I wanted to understand her and why she did the things she did. I think Jealousy was a driving force in her life, it left her bitter and ate away at her mind, and fueled her desire for revenge. I also wanted to explore her motivations for the deed that we remember her for today: her accusation of incest between her husband George Boleyn and his sister Anne. When you accuse someone, falsely, of a horrible crime and watch them die for it, it has to affect you in some way, it has to stay with you, it doesn’t just go away and you go on with your life as if nothing happened, there are repercussions, and, I think, there must be some kind of guilt, even if you suppress it or try to runaway or hide from it, it is still there inside of you, so how do you cope, what does it do to you?

NH: You paint a vivid picture of Anne Boleyn's Evergreen Gallants. What draws you to them?

BP: I have been reading about Anne Boleyn since I was about ten years old and in most of the books the men who died on the scaffold, falsely accused of committing adultery with her, are just names on a page, I never felt any true sense of who they were, what they were like, so I wanted to try to make them seem like real, living, breathing human beings.

NH: I found the connection you create between Anne of Cleves and Katherine Howard clever. How did you come up with that?

BP: You know, when I made the decision to do that I intended it as a sort of joke, but so many people have been upset and expressed outrage over it, that the reason behind it has been completely lost. Contrary to what some people think, I have immense respect for Anne of Cleves, this woman was the subject of many unflattering comments, an object of ridicule, because she was a foreigner, different from the typical Englishwoman, and because she failed to arouse Henry’s libido, yet she came out a winner, she survived, by amicably accepting the divorce terms she became a woman of independent means, wealthy in her own right, without a husband, father, or brother to rule her life and dictate her every move. In a world where women’s lives were very constricted, she attained a true prize: Freedom. And I respect and admire that. Given the intense distaste Henry expressed for her physically, and the comments that have come down to us, I thought it would make an interesting twist to have her feel equally repulsed by Henry, to set out to purposefully make herself unattractive to him, to play a game that no one realized she was playing in which she came out the winner even when in almost everyone else’s eyes she was the loser.

NH: Would you say Jane Rochford was what we now call a stalker?

BP: In my novel, I think she displays a strong voyeuristic streak. Some readers have commented that her sneaking around, spying, and always being in the right place at the right time doesn’t ring true, however, more than once in my reading I have come across descriptions about the lack of privacy in royal courts, about the walls having ears and eyes. As a lady-in-waiting Jane would have been present at many of the key events in the lives of Henry’s queens. I also think, especially in the case of Katherine Howard, she may have lived vicariously through the objects of her jealousy. Even when she professes to hate Anne Boleyn, there are things about her she also admires, for instance, when Jane watches Anne die, she admits that Anne was undoubtedly the bravest person she has ever known.

NH: What caused Henry's decline after Anne Boleyn? Was he still a vigorous man with Jane Seymour?

BP: I think chasing Anne and turning the world upside down to get her, then get rid of her, wore him out. With Jane Seymour he was craving someone who was Anne’s complete opposite, soft-spoken, demure, and domestic. He was approaching middle-age and wanted to settle down. Years of indulgence at the dinner table were catching up with him, and a jousting injury to his leg that never truly healed kept him from the vigorous exercise of his youth that had helped to keep his weight in check. Who knows what might have happened if Jane Seymour had lived? Giving birth to his much coveted son would have made her future secure. The fourth marriage, to Anne of Cleves, was a political match that fell apart due to complete lack of physical attraction. In Katherine Howard, who was about 15 to Henry’s 50, I think he was looking to recapture his lost youth, I think he saw her as a sweeter, softer version of Anne Boleyn without the tart tongue and temper, but the results were disastrous for both, though more so for Katherine since she ended up on the scaffold before her eighteenth birthday. I think disillusionment over finding out his “Rose Without A Thorn” was not the sweet, pure, innocent little thing he imagined, largely contributed to his further decline, and by the time the sixth and final wife, Catherine Parr, came along, he was a cantankerous old man more in need of a nurse than a wife.

INTERVIEW 5:Q&A

Q: At what age did you start reading books?

A: I think I actually started reading at about age four or five, but I looked at books, like children's picture books or adult books with photographs and illustrations that appealed to me from the time I was physically able to, I remember I always loved to look at books with historical costumes and castles and things like that. I was a classic movie fan from a very early age and even before I could read, or was old enough to understand, them I used to get books about classic films filled with glamour portraits of stars like Jean Harlow and Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers from the library and look at those.

Q: Growing up, who were your favorite authors?

A: I've always been drawn more to the subjects of books than who the author is. I read GONE WITH THE WIND at an early age, when I was about ten I think, because that has always been my favorite movie, and GREEN DARKNESS by Anya Seton, FOREVER AMBER by Kathleen Winsor, and THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY by Karleen Koen are also great favorites of mine.

Q: Describe the thought process behind self publishing your first book?

A: I spent about five years being represented by my first agent, trying to get published in the traditional way, when it didn't happen I decided I didn't want all that hard work to just be stuffed into a drawer and forgotten about or thrown away someday by someone who didn't care and saw it as just junk or old papers. Since no one else would take a chance and gamble on me, I decided to do it myself. And, in all honesty, I think I was a bit rankled by the fact that those around me, people who did not understand or care about the intricacies of the publishing industry and realize the difficulty in getting published, assumed that my failure to do so meant I wasn't any good, that I had no talent and had just been wasting my time and ink cartridges all those years. I suppose a part of me wanted to prove them wrong, to silence the complaints and criticisms if possible.

Q: When you are working on a new book, what little things do you do to help get the thought process going?

A: I read and take notes about the subject and I also like to look at portraits of people and places from the era. I always look for little details, things that will jump out and latch onto my mind, that I can use in some way to lend the story a special touch.

Q: Who are your favorite authors now?

A: I still read more for subject than for author. I read mostly historical fiction, biographies, true crime, and books about ghosts and real-life unsolved mysteries, really just anything that grabs my attention.

Q: Is the Tudor era your favorite period in history?

A: I don't know, if I had a time machine it might be nice to visit but I wouldn't want to stay in any era without the advantages of modern dentistry.

Q: If you could write about anything, absolutely anything, what would you write about?

A: I don't know, I suppose whatever I felt drawn to at that particular moment.

Q: Is there a particular chapter in your books that mean the most to you?

A: The chapter called "In The Dungeon of Warwick Castle" in THE CONFESSION OF PIERS GAVESTON.

Q: If you could be a character from either of your books, who would you be and why?

A: Anne Boleyn because she was confident, assertive, talented and creative, and never lonely. Granted many despised her and her life wasn't all sunshine and lollipops, but she had the ability to fascinate and captivate, to inspire loyalty and passion.

Q: Everyone wants to be remembered for something, Brandy what would you like to be remembered for?

A: I'm not ambitious, so being famous or leaving a publicly available legacy doesn't matter all that much to me, I would rather be remembered as having been special to, or even loved by, one person, and that I was an important part of his life. Having talent, and having that talent appreciated and admired is a very nice thing indeed, but I know from personal experience that published works and praise are not a balm against loneliness.

Special thanks to those who supplied the questions for me to answer.