Writing Process
BY AMY MANTRAVADI
First, get some inspiration...Growing up in the United States, I always loved history, but I never knew about Empress Mathilda. It wasn't until I started researching my family genealogy and saw her name there that I wished to learn more. From that moment on, my interest in her life grew, and I became convinced that her story needed to be told for a modern audience. It was a few more years before I decided to attempt such a novel myself. My time spent in England and my educational background in politics, international relations, and Biblical literature all served to inspire me, but with my limited understanding of the time period, I knew that there was much work to do before I could start writing.
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Next, do some research...I spent several months conducting research before writing a single word, and I then continued seeking out information while composing the manuscript. I raided my local university libraries for sources and also benefited from the large number of books now available online. As I had very little knowledge of German and Latin, I made use of modern day translation tools and the help of a few friends. It was my desire to produce a novel that would not only entertain but also serve as a prime source of information about Mathilda's life. 100% accuracy is never possible, but I feel this novel definitely embraces the "historical" in "historical fiction".
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Now, find the voice...My challenge was to create an account that could have plausibly been written by Mathilda, while making it accessible to the modern reader. I decided right away to use modern languages rather than their medieval predecessors. Reading real letters by some of the book's characters gave me insights into how they thought. One method I used was to severely restrict any words with origins after the year 1500 - a somewhat arbitrary date, but one that prevented the inclusion of words that seemed "too new". It also helped me to identify out of place "Americanisms" that I hadn't noticed. At times, I drew on real life experiences and the personalities of family and friends to help create individual characters and scenes. I can see myself, my sister, my grandmother, etc. in certain phrases or responses.
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