Martin Turnbull
asked
C.W. Gortner:
Hi CW, I have a question that relates more to the craft of writing. Do you approach these sorts of biographical novels the way most novels are constructed? i.e. with a definitive character arc taking the protagonist from start to finish and have them overcome a problem and/or flaw while battling an antagonist? Or is your goal to simply follow the life of your heroine and let that be the story?
C.W. Gortner
Hi Martin,
Thanks for your question. With a biographical novel, it's a hybrid of both approaches. My heroines actually lived, so I have to stay faithful to the facts of their life, yet at the same time I must find the arc in their life on which to build my novel. In some cases, as with Maria Feodorovna, Chanel and Dietrich, I select a large portion of their lives, not their entire life, because real lives can have several arcs and a novel is a finite amount of words. I find it more challenging to build a novel on the entire life, as I did with Catherine de Medici, because of limitations on word counts - you end up leaving out as much as you put in. In the end, my work is fiction, based on fact, so it's a delicate balancing act between the two.
Thanks for your question. With a biographical novel, it's a hybrid of both approaches. My heroines actually lived, so I have to stay faithful to the facts of their life, yet at the same time I must find the arc in their life on which to build my novel. In some cases, as with Maria Feodorovna, Chanel and Dietrich, I select a large portion of their lives, not their entire life, because real lives can have several arcs and a novel is a finite amount of words. I find it more challenging to build a novel on the entire life, as I did with Catherine de Medici, because of limitations on word counts - you end up leaving out as much as you put in. In the end, my work is fiction, based on fact, so it's a delicate balancing act between the two.
More Answered Questions
Sandy Vaughan
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C.W. Gortner:
I like your take on women. I think it must be hard to show the reality of the distant past to modern day women and men and get the readers to really understand all the dynamics. I first started reading romanticized historical fiction. After a while, I got bored with "hysterical" fiction. How did you take your love of history from dry tombs to lively, believable, historically accurate fiction to teach us?
Mara
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C.W. Gortner:
LOVE your books. I read The Last Queen when it first came out and have read everything since. You have mentioned that you might expand your book subjects more, except publishers prefer "marquee names" Yet, Michelle Moran wrote about India's Rebel Queen and Margaret George wrote about Nero. Do you think publishers are realizing that there is a greater market than the Tudor era? You have the following...
Maria
asked
C.W. Gortner:
Can you help? I was a giveaway winner of Madamoisele Chanel through Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ, however, I never received the book. I emailed the publisher, but did not receive an answer. I was looking forward to reading this wonderful book, but I am disappointed that I have not received it yet. Any help you can provide will be great. Thanks, Maria Cartolano
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