I'm not a great reader of historical fiction; it's not my favourite genre.
When you're filming in Russia in Catherine's Palace, and you're in the real place where the Tsar's ball really happened, all those years ago, it does so much of the work for you. It's so vivid. You escape into this different time through the costumes, the sets and the atmosphere.
One of the things I enjoy most about writing historical romance is researching inspiring backgrounds and settings.
I just love historical fiction.
Historically, epics are set in Africa or Asia or the Wild West, but if you make an epic today it's hard to disassociate from the contemporary realities of those places.
While I was drawn to the Renaissance, my first (unpublished) novels took place in modern times. When the subject of alchemy started creeping into my stories, an astute mentor observed that the bits about alchemy might fit better in another time frame. When I finally decided to weave the pieces about the medieval science into historical settings, a successful novel began to emerge. (And I dusted off that art history book, and put it to use once again.)
For me, writing historical fiction is all about finding a balance between reading, traveling, looking, imagining, and dreaming.
I did a great deal of research to write 'The Irish Duke.' Since all the people in this Lords of the Realm series are real historical characters, everything had to be authentic. I researched Woburn Abbey, where my heroine lived, and everything about Barons Court in Ireland, which was the ancestral home of Abercorn.
I really love period pieces.
I love period dramas.
I like period pieces.
I think what happened there was just the budget would be too big to build these sets because nothing really exists here in New York of that period; you have to build it all.
There are similarities between historical novels and science fiction. Being thrown into the Napoleonic Wars is just as much of a different world as space.
I'm such a history-nerd that, with time for research, I could probably enjoy writing in just about any time period.
Each collected edition of Paper Girls that we put out will largely be set in an entirely different era.
I love period pieces. It's where my skill sets lie, with the horseback riding, the sword fighting and the accents. I love that world, and I love working on those big, epic shows. That's what I hope to find myself in, in the future.
I got a real kick when a series was set in the court of Kublai Khan or in Nero's Rome.
