Second World War herbal remedies kit
But I’m not talking about Coca Cola. I mean any real object that inspires you to write.
Have I lost you? Then why not pop over to Writers Abroad’s website where I’ve been discussing why I use real objects to inspire my writing. You’ll find the post here.
With the upcoming Presidential elections in the United States, interest in the story of the first female presidential candidate, Victoria Woodhull, has been stirred. Several weeks ago I interviewed Eva Flynn about her novel, The Renegade Queen. Today Neal Katz is here to discuss his new novel, Outrageous, about the pioneering woman, with us.
Welcome Neal. Let’s get started, shall we?
Tell us about your novel.
NK: Outrageous is about unfailingly believing in one’s self and a vision with such fortitude that any barrier can be overcome. The story depicts the horrific ways women were treated in Victorian America. The Saga also covers how men in power use prison and the law to suppress social, economic, and legal change, especially the advancement of women. It also covers some of the original manipulations of Wall Street and the Gold Exchange— behaviors present today.
Outrageous tells about the journey and the long, impactful lives of Victoria Woodhull and her sister, Tennessee Celeste Claflin, who broke every barrier known to women of the day. They opened the first women-owned brokerage firm on Wall Street, and published the first women-owned newspaper. Victoria was the first woman invited to address Congress, and she was formally nominated and ran as a candidate for POTUS, in 1872.
What prompted you to write about this historical event?
NK: There are many uncommon parallels between the lives of Victoria and Tennessee and my own. Having to create the full psychological reality of the two allowed me to deal and investigate the influence of early traumas in my own life. Ultimately it is a story of triumph and accomplishment, something I still aspire to.
How closely did you stick to the historical facts? If you used them loosely, how did you decide whether to deviate from them?
NK: I want my readers to experience the history, not learn about it. If I found a fact, I would conform the story line to the fact. That said, some of the history itself is contradictory, and I willingly sacrifice historical accuracy for the sake of a compelling story that allows the reader to feel the emotions, see the lighting, and smell the odors in the scenes. For me, this is the way to make the history come alive and create lasting images and awareness.
What research did you do for this book?
NK: Extensive. I include a short Bibliography at the end of the book. There are eleven histories that I read about all the main characters and the times. I also reviewed speeches, newspaper articles, and several filmed documentaries. At any given time I have 3–5 books and my web browser open to fact check while writing.
Do you use a mixture of historic figures and invented characters in the novel. Which is more difficult to write? Which to you prefer to write and why?
NK: There is only one primary character I invented, and a few minor characters to fill in the narrative. I had a lot of fun with the one primary fictitious character who will appear throughout the four volumes. I am usually intoxicated with the creativity and expression of writing, I don’t have a preference or find one more difficult.
In an historical novel you must vividly re-create a place and people in a bygone era. How did you bring the place and people you are writing about to life?
NK: I place myself in the room, at the train station, or on the streets and try to imagine the smells, the colors, the fabrics and clothes. I also endeavor to create true psychological profiles for each character. Then, dialogue is the best way to involve the reader in a scene.
There often seems to be more scope in historical novels for male characters rather than female characters. Do you prefer to write one sex or the other. And, if so, why?
NK: Great question. I find the depictions of men and women characters equally challenging and rewarding. I call my writing herstorical faction, because it is about an historical figure, Victoria Woodhull, and it is based on the real events portrayed as I imagine she experienced them. As a writer, I like to promote both sexes equally. That said, I encourage readers to “Know Your Herstory” as there are so many wonderful tales of powerful women, and I am known as The Guy Feminist, actively supporting the HeForShe movement for gender equality.
Thanks for answering my questions, Neal, and I wish you great success with your novel.
Readers can learn more about the author and the novel by visiting his website as well as his author pages on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.
About Neal Katz: He is a semi-retired, serial entrepreneur, 
CEO with a passion for women’s rights. He lives a life based on self-awareness and Love. He practices Yoga, meditates daily, has taught A Course in Miracles, produced Oregon wines, enjoys being a gourmet chef, recites Vedic sutras, and writes his own inspirational poetry.
The saga of Victoria Woodhull appeals to Neal, as it serves three purposes. First, the story provokes public awareness of the historical and continuing denigration and subjugation of gender prejudice. Second, the tale exposes the historical basis for the manipulation of the free markets of stocks, bonds and commodities. Third, the story shows how existing financial and political power structures used prison and seizure of assets to prevent innovation and social change. Victoria Woodhull overcame all these obstacles in a remarkable life.
Neal chose to write in first person using Victoria’s words, thoughts, and point of view to tell the tale, inviting the reader to see through her eyes. The style is magic realism along the lines of Allende, Marquez, and Kathleen McGowan (The Magdalene Trilogy). This is an expression of the HeForShe solidarity movement for gender equality championed by Emma Watson, and Neal proudly proclaims himself a male feminist!
Neal has pledged fifty percent (50%) of his author’s royalties from book sales and all ancillary revenues, including foreign print distribution and Hollywood rights to a foundation formed in tribute to Victoria Woodhull and her passion for woman rights. The foundation will promote and prove programs for the empowerment and sustainable economic improvement of women, especially single mothers.
A crisp, sunny morning like this morning isn’t really the right atmosphere for ghost stories. There’s a wisp of mist on the horizon, but not enough to spook you. Nevertheless, since it’s St Patrick’s Day, I thought I’d tell you a bit about some famous Irish ghosts and how I came to write about one of them.
Ireland is better known for tales of fairies, leprechauns, banshees (a portent of death, not a ghost) and other supernatural creatures. But there’s also some famous ghost stories, including ones that have been passed down through the generations.
There’s the Waiting Lady who appears at The Lady’s Stairs at Argillan Castle in Dublin who waits for her drowned husband to return, the Headless Horseman who rides past Roper’s Rest, Dublin after dark, a small girl in the Shelbourne Hotel, Dublin who appears to have died from an illness in a house that formerly stood on the same site, the White Lady at Charles Fort, near Kinsale who has been seen since the late 17th century, a 17th century soldier hanging from a tree outside Athcarne Castle, Co Meath, and figures dressed in Second World War uniforms at Derry Airport (formerly Eglinton Air Base, a military base during the war). Leap Castle, near Bear, Co Offaly, is reputed to be one of the most haunted places in Ireland. A lady dressed in red, a cowled figure resembling a monk, a priest who was murdered in the castle’s chapel and others have all been reported in the Castle. It must be a very busy place on All Hallow’s Eve (or Sawhain).
Approaching the Cooneen ghost house.
The one ghost that has particularly caught my attention is one that resided only a few miles from where I live. From the time I first heard its tale I was fascinated by the Cooneen or Coonian ghost. I initially heard about it from neighbours then went in search of more information. There’s been a fair amount written about this poltergeist and some of it has been exaggerated over the years. So I went back to the earliest accounts I could find, in local newspapers of the era and also a book by a ghost hunter, Shane Leslie’s Ghost Book, written in 1955, for what I think is closest to an accurate account of events at the house.
A widow with 6 children, a son and five daughters, aged five to
The house today
twenty-three, lived in a cottage on a mountain farm, in the townland Cornarooslagh, not far from Brookeborough, County Fermanagh in what is now Northern Ireland. One night in the spring of 1913 the family began to hear noises in the house and they were repeated regularly from that night for several months: knocking on the bedpost, scraping in the ceiling, footsteps in the loft above and other sounds. The bedclothes lifted from the bed and the family dog was driven from underneath the bed though no one appeared to be there. The family were terrified. After their local priest offered a Mass in the kitchen that room became peaceful and the family slept there rather than in the bedroom. Several priests and local politicians came to witness the disturbances and neighbours as well as others who were curious came to sit with the family each night as the priest tried to rid the house of the spirit. It was decided by the clergy that a poltergeist had come to the Murphy’s home and it should be exorcised. But the Bishop and the Dean of the Diocese could not agree who should conduct the exorcism so it never happened. Gradually their neighbours began to avoid the Murphy family and ostracised them, accusing them of practicing witchcraft or other demonic activity. It’s not clear when the family left but the farm changed ownership in 1916 and it is believed that the Murphys had already set sail for America by then.
After reading accounts of these events, my mind whirled and I started imagining what it would have been like for Bridget Murphy and her children to live through this and that was the starting point for An Unbidden Visitor. I employed artistic licence in parts of my story but tried to keep to what I believe is the true story as much as I could. I don’t think the Cooneen ghost story needs to be exaggerated or embellished to make it a scary and poignant tale. You can find my telling of the tale by clicking here.
I began writing this post to get the word out that I’ve released a new Irish ghost story, An Unbidden Visitor, yesterday. When better to do so than during the St Patrick’s week celebrations? I got a surprise this morning when I checked the listing on Amazon and found that it is already ranked in the Top 100 Historical Fiction Short Stories. So, do I still need to announce its release?
Well, maybe I’ll tell you a bit about where the idea for the story came from. Since I write historical fiction, the ideas for many of the stories I write come from snippets I hear or read about past events in the county where I live.
The house today
Not long after my husband and I moved to rural county Fermanagh, more than a decade ago, I first heard the tale of the Cooneen ghost, a poltergeist that local lore says drove a widow, Bridget Murphy, and her six children from their farm cottage and across the sea to America at the beginning of the last century. The events happened in a farm cottage only a couple miles from where I live and one Sunday when we were out for a walk in a forested area at Mullaghfad, we went to see the house. At the time, it was in the middle of a forestry plantation and could barely be glimpsed from the road (the forest was felled a few weeks ago, leaving the house starkly visible amidst the deforested fields). We jumped over a small ditch beside the road and picked our way through the trees until we came to a greying, run-down yet forbidding building in a small clearing. Although we saw nothing otherworldly that day, the house had an eerie atmosphere and I wouldn’t have volunteered to remain there after dark.
After visiting the house, the story intrigued me even more and did a bit of delving into the tale of the Cooneen ghost. It’s not difficult to find articles online about it but they can be confusing. Details conflict and the tale seems to have grown as it was re-told over the years. So I went back to earlier sources. I read contemporary local newspaper articles (1913) and Shane Leslie’s Ghost Book (first published in 1955) to get the story more or less as it was originally told.
As I delved into accounts of the events at the farmhouse, I could see the scenes and the Murphy family in my mind. I couldn’t help wondering about the family and what must it have been like to live in their house. And how it felt to have their friends and neighbours withdraw from them in fear.
This imagining was the starting point for my fictional story, An Unbidden Visitor, which was released yesterday. Although I have used some artistic licence in my telling of the story, I have stayed as true to the real account as I could.
An Unbidden Visitor – March 1913: Struggling to make ends meet, widow Bridget Murphy finds life in rural Ireland difficult, raising six children while farming her small acreage. With the help of neighbours and friends, Bridget is able to cope with the many arduous tasks and chores required of her.
When an unnatural and terrifying force invades their house, threatening their family, Bridget is surprised to see so many backs turning on her. Fearing for themselves, those she once counted on for help and support will not risk their safety for her. The one solid pillar is Father Smyth, the priest who stands alongside their family in the battle against the uninvited and fearsome poltergeist. But, prayers alone won’t run the farm. Will Bridget find a way to save her home and her family before there’s nowhere left to turn?
close-up of the house
Organiser, MC, performer – it seemed a lot to do, especially in the 
weeks leading up to Women Aloud Fermanagh when I worked feverishly to pull it all together. I had to find and encourage women writers in Fermanagh to share their writing, supply information about each participant to the main Women Aloud NI website so readers could learn about them, invite individuals and organisations (by letter and on social media) to join us on 8th March and then make sure it all happened on the night. Not much to ask.
Until the evening arrived, it seemed that I was trudging along at a mammoth task on my own. But there were plenty of willing, helpful hands and voices on the night. As I kept an eye, from my chair in the front row, that everything was on track during the evening, I was blown away by some of the women’s performances and gratified by the audience’s response. By then everyone was pulling together and it was a fantastic celebration of International Women’s Day.
You can read more about the evening – and see the photos – on Fermanagh Writers’ blog.
Welcome, Christina. Let’s get started, shall we?
Tell us about your novel.
CP: It’s a story about two young men who have been arrested and are being held in a parish workhouse for the quarterly legal sessions, so that they can be tried and convicted for theft.
That’s the single sentence description, but more, the book is about Oliver and Jack going into the crucible of the workhouse, where every action is dictated, every bite of food is monitored, and punishment is meted out in such unpredictable ways that they cannot shield themselves or keep themselves safe.
It’s also about what one person is willing to do for someone they love. In this case, Jack steps up and trades his own safety for Oliver’s.
If writing Fagin’s Boy was a constant daydream for many years, then writing a book like Oliver & Jack: In Axminster Workhouse was a super-secret daydream that hid deep within my psyche. It went so deep that even while writing it I could not articulate why I would put my characters through such hell, nor even explain why I knew so much about 19th century workhouses.
Finally writing this particular book and finishing it, seeing it in solid form, was like watching part of me come alive that wasn’t alive before. Each book brings its own pleasure and its own pain, but I think I will be hard-pressed to experience something like this again.
P.S. Oliver and Jack suffer in this book. You have been warned.
What prompted you to write about this historical event?
CP: I’ve always been interested in workhouses, and the Poor Laws of 1834 that dictated that being poor is the fault of the pauper, and that people who are down on their luck should be made to feel horrible about themselves and their circumstances. That’s what they did back in the old days; if you were poor, you probably were lazy or foolish or simply not worthy to enjoy life’s bounty. And that’s the way you got treated, even if all the cards were stacked against you and it wasn’t your fault how poor you were, you were still to blame.
The Poor Laws came along to homogenize the workhouse experience and punish people for needing assistance; the buildings were designed by committee and were meant to terrify. The diet was meant to starve. The daily work was meant to grind you down; one report states that paupers inside the workhouse had to pick 5 and ½ pounds of oakum per day, which was twice as much as had to be picked by convicts in the prisons.
But really, the bottom line is that I like writing about the underdog. I like putting my characters through hell and watching how they struggle out of it. Because they always do come out of it, for even if I am cruel to my characters, I do like a Happily Ever After, or at least a Happily Ever After For Now.
How closely did you stick to the historical facts? If you used them loosely, how did you decide whether to deviate from them?
CP: I followed the facts about workhouses almost to the letter; all of what happens in In Axminster Workhouse can be traced back to an actual occurrence at a real workhouse.
I studied how paupers were treated and incorporated the ideas behind personal stories from the 1800’s. As well, I read entries from the day books that the masters of the workhouses kept; the day books contained a chronology of who was admitted and why, what food they were fed, what clothes they wore, what work they did, and what punishments were handed out.
I also read up on the reviews done by the overseeing committees when they went to examine the state of a particular workhouse. The reports always seemed to say that people slept in filthy beds with too many to a bed, with only a bucket in the corner for a lavatory, and with rain coming in the window.
I keep waiting for someone to write to me and say “Oh, this is too harsh, this really didn’t happen.” And then I’ll proudly pull out my notes and links and show them that yes, it did.
What research did you do for this book?
CP: I’m not even a little bit ashamed to say that I did tons of research for this book. But then, any historical writer will tell you what I’m telling you now: research is the most fun you will ever have while writing a book.
I read everything that I could on that era, visited every website, and mulled it over in my head.
I had several go-to websites. One was The Victorian Web, which lists and details just about anything you might want to know about the Victorian era. Another is David Perdue’s Charles Dickens Page, which examines all aspects of Dickens’s life and work, and includes interactive maps of locations mentioned in his books.
The finest website of all was Peter Higginbotham’s Workhouse site. I must have spent hours going over various maps and images, examined the Workhouse Rules section, and the Glossary, and well, frankly, I pretty much read all of it. Mr. Higginbotham is such a champion collector of the most fascinating information about workhouses, so there was a lot to read. But I read it. All of it.
As for books, I have several favorite authors whose books I have not only read, but also studied. One is Liza Picard. She writes about the era that I’m interested in, Victorian England circa 1846, and no detail is too small for her to write about, which thusly turns into my pleasure to read about. It is from her that I learned that sugar was molded into cones, and that these cones were wrapped in blue paper, because it was thought that blue paper kept the flies away.
Another favorite of mine is Judith Flanders. I bought her book The Victorian City, because I sometimes get into a mood where I want to immerse myself in the culture that I’m writing about, and this rather than writing about it!
If there’s one book I’m glad I read, it’s The Victorian City, because of the amount of details about the small things, the everyday experiences of the common man, is astounding and quite useful. For example, did you know that they used to run boat excursions from London to Greenwich, where you could attend a fish fry? To me that sounds like the most fun, so I’m desperately trying to figure out a way for it to at least get a mention, if not actually having Oliver and Jack buy tickets and go themselves.
Last but not least is the book At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson. I have it on audio read by Mr. Bryson himself, and I’ve listened to it more often than I care to admit, almost to the point of memorizing it. Mr. Bryson is no slouch when it comes to the small details either, and it’s those small details that make a good story.
Do you use a mixture of historic figures and invented characters in the novel. Which is more difficult to write? Which to you prefer to write and why?
CP: I once stated that I wouldn’t want to use a real historical character, on account of so much is known about them, I wouldn’t want to get it wrong. So I prefer invented characters, as you can do more with them.
There are historical figures mentioned in my books, for example the owner of Rhode Hill House in my book Oliver & Jack: At Lodgings In Lyme. His name was Sir John Talbot, and he seemed like a nice, decent fellow so I didn’t want to make him the bad guy. But I needed a bad guy, so I determined that someone had painted Sir John’s bedroom with Scheele’s Green (which is very toxic), and that he had to go to Brighton to get his health back. The housekeeper, Mrs. Heyland, was happy to step in as the bad guy in his absence.
In In Axminster Workhouse I did not use any real historical figures, which was due to the limited scope of the book. If you’re inside of a workhouse, you have the master, the workmaster, and other staff members, as well as other paupers, and that’s pretty much it.
In an historical novel you must vividly re-create a place and people in a bygone era. How did you bring the place and people you are writing about to life?
CP: One thing I do is make sure that I use all the five senses when writing, which is pretty standard writing advice. Only I’ve found that if you use all of them in the same scene, it can be overwhelming. So I make sure that I use the senses that are most appropriate for that scene.
Also, I put in small details that a character in that scene might notice, even if it won’t move the plot forward. For example, in Axminster, Oliver and Jack stop to beg a bowl of milk from a farmer who is milking his cow. The bowl is white with blue decorations on it, and has a chip along the rim that the boys must avoid when drinking out of it.
Then I go on to describe how the milk feels and tastes having come straight out of a cow. For that, I pulled on the one time I helped a friend milk some goats, which of course led to me asking if I could drink raw goat milk straight from the goat, just like Heidi, you know? You never know what experience might be useful in a book.
In part, the answer to your question is that I pull on real-life experiences that I just happen to have, most of which relate to the Victorian era, and which I seek out on purpose. The other part is that I go inside of the character’s head, and see through their eyes.
There often seems to be more scope in historical novels for male characters rather than female characters. Do you prefer to write one sex or the other. And, if so, why?
CP: I have to admit that I’ve not noticed that there is more scope for male characters than female characters. But if it is true, then it might be because history was written about men, by men, for men, and so, perhaps, historical novels reflect that. Or maybe it’s because the Male Eye is the one that dictates what gets published or put on TV or shown in theaters, and the Male Eye sees only the Self, and women are given short shrift.
Personally, I prefer characters that feel real, whether male or female. There’s nothing more boring than a two-dimensional character, no matter what the gender, or era, for that matter. I like it when real characters live real lives, so I tend not to read about anybody who lives in an ivory tower. That is, I don’t like to read about the rich and the powerful.
One example is that I preferred the episodes of Downton Abbey that focused on the below-stairs characters, like my character Thomas Barrow, the Bad Boy With a Heart of Gold. That is to say, I like my historical novels to be a bit more gritty and dirty than is allowed by watching Lady Mary trying to figure out which beau she’ll say Yes to. But then, I’ve always preferred the Pauper to the Prince.
Thanks for answering my questions, Christina.
Readers can learn more about Christina by visiting her website and can connect with her on Facebook, Goodreads and Twitter.
About Christina E. Pilz: She was born in Waco, Texas in 1962. 
After living on a variety of air force bases, in 1972 her Dad retired and the family moved to Boulder, Colorado. There amidst the clear, dry air of the high plains, as the moss started to grow beneath her feet, her love for historical fiction began with a classroom reading of Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder.
She attended a variety of community colleges (Tacoma Community College) and state universities (UNC-Greeley, CU-Boulder, CU-Denver), and finally found her career in technical writing, which, between layoffs, she has been doing for 18 years. During that time, her love for historical fiction and old-fashioned objects, ideas, and eras has never waned.
In addition to writing, her interests include road trips around the U.S. and frequent flights to England, where she eats fish and chips, drinks hard cider, and listens to the voices in the pub around her. She also loves coffee shops, mountain sunsets, prairie storms, and the smell of lavender. She is a staunch supporter of the Oxford comma.
A couple months ago I read Letters from a Patchwork Quilt by Clare Flynn and I’ve been turning the story over in my mind ever since.
Here’s what the publisher, Cranbrook Press, says about 
the book: “In 1875 England, a young man, Jack Brennan, from a large and impoverished Catholic family refuses to be pushed into the priesthood and runs away to fulfil his dream of becoming a teacher. Jack falls in love with Eliza Hewlett, but his dreams and plans are thwarted when his landlord’s daughter, Mary Ellen MacBride, falsely accuses him of fathering the child she is expecting. Rather than be forced to marry his accuser, Jack decides to run away to America with Eliza. Just as they are about to sail, Jack is arrested and dragged from the ship, leaving Eliza alone en route to New York with just a few shillings in her pocket.”
I must say that the novel surprised me as it doesn’t follow the usual story arc. It made me question how I think a story should be told.
I found the opening chapters, during Jack’s childhood and early years teaching, rather slow moving and the plot didn’t initially hold my attention but as the story progressed I was drawn in. Toward the end of the novel years often flew past and I was sometimes disconcerted by these jumps in time.
As I’ve said, the novel didn’t unfold in the way that I expected. I found it strange to follow two separate story threads that didn’t actually overlap as I had expected them to. Each of the strands, Jack’s and Eliza’s stories, was engrossing in itself, but I was disappointed that they weren’t more firmly bound together. I felt that the two characters’ paths should eventually meet or that there should at least be a ‘near miss’. Although the plot is true to life, I can’t decide whether I found it satisfying or not. In the end, Eliza’s descendant provides the closure to the story but I wondered whether it was enough.
The characters were well drawn and I found it easy to care about Jack and Eliza, and some of the minor characters. I felt empathy for Eliza as she struggled through harrowing experiences and annoyance with Jack for his repeated weakness. The author understood and skilfully portrayed each character’s motivations and actions.
The vividly evoked settings in England and America were another of the book’s strongest points: from the tranquil town of Bristol to the rough streets of New York to middle class St Louis. Each place is portrayed in convincing detail.
Overall I enjoyed this novel, even though I struggled with the fact that it didn’t follow the form and course I expected. For readers who enjoy historical fiction it is an insightful glimpse into British and American life more than a century ago. It is also a moving tale of love, loss, suffering and survival.
Readers can learn more about the book by visiting its Amazon page. They can connect with Clare Flynn on her website, as well as her Facebook and Goodreads pages and Twitter.
About Clare Flynn: She is also the author of A Greater World, set in Australia in 1920 and Kurinji Flowers, set in India in the 1930s and 40s. She is a graduate of Manchester University where she read English Language and Literature. After a career in international marketing, working on brands from nappies to tinned tuna and living in Paris, Milan, Brussels and Sydney, she ran her own consulting business for 15 years and now lives in West London. Co-founder of the popular website, Make it and Mend it, and co-author of the 2012 book of the same name, Letters From a Patchwork Quilt is her third novel. When not writing and reading, Clare loves to splash about with watercolours and grabs any available opportunity to travel – sometimes under the guise of research.
I’ve invited Jodie Toohey here today to tell us a little about Taming the Twisted.
Welcome, Jodie.
Tell us about your novel.
JT: Taming the Twisted is written in a similar style to Laura 
Ingalls Wilders’ Little House books though updated for modern times. It might read as if she’d left in all of the juicy tidbits about things people didn’t talk about during the time when she was writing. Taming the Twisted is a story of destruction, romance, mystery, and deceit set against a back drop of an actual historical event.
In early June, 1860, Abigail enjoyed a peaceful home life with her parents, younger sister, and twin toddler brothers. Their home in Camanche, Iowa, where they’d emigrated from Pennsylvania, was almost complete and her beau, Joseph Sund, had recently proposed marriage.
That changes the evening of June 3rd when a tornado rips through town, killing her parents. At the mass funeral for the over two dozen people who perished in the storm, she learns Marty Cranson, with whom Abigail witnessed Joseph having a heated argument, died, but at the hands of a person rather than the tornado.
In addition to being faced with raising her young siblings, Joseph has disappeared without a trace and a stranger, Marshall Stevenson, appears, offering to help Abigail repair the families’ home and cultivate the newly planted farm crops.
Abigail, while developing romantic feelings for Marshall, tolerating the scorn of town woman Pamela Mackenrow, and working as a seamstress and storekeeper to support her siblings, becomes obsessed with finding out who killed Marty, hoping that, and not that he no longer loved her, was the reason Joseph left without saying goodbye.
What prompted you to write about this historical event?
JT: I grew up in Camanche, Iowa, and heard many times growing up how if it hadn’t been for the tornado, Camanche would’ve been bigger than Clinton, a town of about seven times higher population just north on the Mississippi River. I also always loved hearing the stories my grandmother, Betty (Sinkey) Shaw, told about growing up in Camanche, where she was born in an old train depot my high school friend actually lived in.
How closely did you stick to the historical facts? If you used them loosely, how did you decide whether to deviate from them?
JT: I stuck to historical facts as much as I possibly could. The tornado was real, the stories of destruction were real, and the setting as far as town layout and street names were real; my character’s family and the murder were invented to create an interesting story. I basically used the real tornado as a backdrop and catalyst to create my fictional story.
What research did you do for this book?
JT: I spent a lot of time researching, including in several books, which are included in the book’s bibliography, and microfilm at the library. I researched the tornado as well as the look and feel of life in 1860, in Camanche in particular and in Iowa and the Midwest in general. I tried to verify every historical fact I could, down to the weather where I could get the information.
Do you use a mixture of historic figures and invented characters in the novel? Which is more difficult to write? Which to you prefer to write and why?
JT: I used mostly invented characters in the novel. Some of the characters, such as the owner of the store Abigail frequents, were real people living in Camanche at the time. I haven’t tried to write a story from a real historical figure’s point of view, but I imagine it would be much more difficult. I would be afraid that I would get something wrong and offend someone. So far, for that reason, I prefer to write the most intimately about fictional characters.
In an historical novel you must vividly re-create a place and people in a bygone era. How did you bring the place and people you are writing about to life?
JT: I accomplished this (I hope) mostly through research and just the familiarity of growing up in Camanche. I spent a day walking the ground where my characters would’ve walked in Camanche, taking photos and notes, and then I used that to mentally put myself in those places back in 1860 as I was writing. The other part of it was including all of those details from my research and “walking the ground” into to the story to give it authenticity and make it feel alive.
There often seems to be more scope in historical novels for male characters rather than female characters. Do you prefer to write one sex or the other. And, if so, why?
JT: I prefer to write from the female’s point of view, simply because, since I’m female, I feel like I understand more how they would think, feel, and behave. I’m always impressed when I read something from one gender’s point of view and find out the author was the opposite gender; that is evidence of a very skilled author. I’m not quite there. I wouldn’t say I’d never attempt writing something from a male perspective, but at this time, I have plenty of ideas for female-centered stories.
Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions, Jodie, and good luck with your novel.
Readers can learn more about Jodie and Taming the Twisted by visiting her website, her Facebook and Twitter pages.
About Jodie Toohey: She is the author of four additional books, 
two poetry collections – Crush and Other Love Poems for Girls (2008) and Other Side of Crazy (918studio, 2013) – as well as two novels, Missing Emily: Croatian Life Letters (2012) and Melody Madson – May It Please the Court? (2014).
When Jodie is not writing poetry or fiction, she is helping authors, soon-to-be-authors, and want-to-be authors from pre-idea to reader through her company, Wordsy Woman Author Services.
Today I’ve invited Nicole Evalina to tell us about her historical fantasy, Daughter of Destiny.
Welcome, Nicole.
Tell us about your novel.
NE: Daughter of Destiny is the first book in a historical fantasy trilogy that tells Arthurian legend from Guinevere’s point of view. This book focuses on her early life before King Arthur, when she was a priestess of Avalon, a warrior and in love with someone quite different from the king. Here’s the back cover copy:
“Before queenship and Camelot, Guinevere was a priestess of Avalon. She loved another before Arthur, a warrior who would one day betray her.
In the war-torn world of late fifth century Britain, young Guinevere faces a choice: stay with her family to defend her home at Northgallis from the Irish, or go to Avalon to seek help for the horrific visions that haunt her. The Sight calls her to Avalon, where she meets Morgan, a woman of questionable parentage who is destined to become her rival. As Guinevere matures to womanhood, she gains the powers of a priestess, and falls in love with a man who will be both her deepest love and her greatest mistake.
Just when Guinevere is able to envision a future in Avalon, tragedy forces her back home, into a world she barely recognizes, one in which her pagan faith, outspokenness, and proficiency in the magical and military arts are liabilities. When a chance reunion with her lover leads to disaster, she is cast out of Northgallis and into an uncertain future. As a new High King comes to power, Guinevere must navigate a world of political intrigue where unmarried women are valuable commodities and seemingly innocent actions can have life-altering consequences.
You may think you know the story of Guinevere, but you’ve never heard it like this: in her own words. Listen and you will hear the true story of Camelot and its queen.
Fans of Arthurian legend and The Mists of Avalon will love Daughter of Destiny, the first book in a historical fantasy trilogy that gives Guinevere back her voice and traces her life from an uncertain eleven year old girl to a wise queen in her fifth decade of life.”
What prompted you to write about this historical event?
NE: When I was in college, a friend of mine gave me a copy of The Mists of Avalon for Christmas. I LOVED it, but I hated the author’s portrayal of Guinevere as meek and well, boring. That made me seek out other books about Guinevere and I read Parke Godwin’s Beloved Exile, which tells the story of what happened to Guinevere after the fall of Camelot. That made me wonder what happened to her before and after Arthur, which is something you don’t hear much about. Then Guinevere came into my head, telling me she wanted me to write her story (which I thought at the time would be all one book). The rest, as they say, is history.
How closely did you stick to the historical facts? If you used them loosely, how did you decide whether to deviate from them?
NE: It’s hard to call anything about Arthurian legend “historical fact” because we know so little about what was real and what comes from mythology and legend. If we accept that someone like King Arthur probably existed, all we know is that someone beat the Saxons badly at a battle now known as the Battle of Mount Badon that took place sometime between 490- 503 AD and ushered in an era of peace. Some people also credit Arthur with the ancient title Dux Bellorum, which is like calling him “duke of battles” and means he was a great military leader, maybe not even a king. But beyond that, everything else is left up to the imagination.
I did choose to follow some of the traditional legendary sources. For example, in my world, King Lot is married to Arthur’s half-sister, Ana, a character usually dumped in favor of Morgan le Fay or Morgause, but who actually dates back to Geoffrey of Monmouth. I also use Monmouth’s story of the “Kingmaker,” a comet that prophesies the birth of a great king. Most of the older sources tell us little, if anything, about Guinevere before her marriage to Arthur, so I was on my own there.
What research did you do for this book?
NE: I spent 15 years researching Arthurian legend, Celtic Britain and the various peoples, cultures and religious practices that shaped the country after the withdrawal of Rome. (A full list of my resources is available here.
I was fortunate to travel to England twice to research the Guinevere’s Tale trilogy, where I consulted with internationally acclaimed author and historian Geoffrey Ashe, as well as Arthurian/Glastonbury expert Jaime George, the man who helped Marion Zimmer Bradley research The Mists of Avalon. He led a two-week Arthurian legend tour that changed my life in so many different ways.
Do you use a mixture of historic figures and invented characters in the novel? Which is more difficult to write? Which to you prefer to write and why?
NE: I’m going to substitute the word “traditional” for “historic” in my answer. Yes, I used a mixture of the names you know and love, like Morgan, Kay, Lancelot, Isolde, Arthur, etc. but I also created some of my own characters, like Galen, Rowena, Mona, Lyonesse, Grainne and Octavia. Both groups have their positives and negatives. Traditional characters give you a starting point, but you have to be able make them fit into an established framework and try not to deviate too far from tradition, lest you irritate purists. Invented characters are kind of the opposite because you have free reign with them, but you also have to make sure they fit in with the traditional ones and are appropriate for the story. It’s hard for me to pick one over the other because my favorite characters from this book come from both groups, Isolde (traditional) and Galen (invented).
In an historical novel you must vividly re-create a place and people in a bygone era. How did you bring the place and people you are writing about to life?
NE: A lot of research, visiting the locations as they are today, a lot of meditation and imagination. The research gave me a framework for what the people and places were probably like and visiting in person gives you a sense of the vibe of a place, which while it changes over time, can still be a powerful force of inspiration. And yes, I did meditate on these places, especially Avalon. It’s my spiritual happy place, so I described it in the book as I see it in my mind. The characters were somewhat based in their traditional personalities (i.e. Elaine is unstable, Gawain is a ladies’ man, Kay is a jokester, Morgan has an evil streak), but they also took on a life of their own as I wrote and they evolved.
There often seems to be more scope in historical novels for male characters rather than female characters. Do you prefer to write one sex or the other. And, if so, why?
NE: I definitely prefer writing the female characters. In fact, my mission statement as a historical fiction writer is “To rescue little-known women from being lost in the pages of history. While other writers may choose to write about the famous, I tell the stories of those who are in danger of being forgotten so that their memories may live on for at least another generation. I also tell the female point of view when it is the male who has gotten more attention in history (i.e. Guinevere to King Arthur). I feel like men have had their time; now it’s time to tell the often-neglected female story. And beyond that, being a woman, I simply relate to those characters better than to the men.
Thanks for your very thorough and interesting answers, Nicole.
Readers can learn more by visiting Nicole’s website/blog as well as Pinterest, Facebook, Goodreads, Instagram and Tumblr. She can also be found on Twitter
About Nicole Evelina: She is a St. Louis-born historical fiction and romantic comedy writer. Her first four books are coming out in 2016:
She hopes to have the final book in Guinevere’s Tale available in late 2016 or early 2017.
Nicole is a member of and book reviewer for the Historical Novel Society, and Sirens, a group supporting female fantasy authors, as well as a member of the Romance Writers of America, Women Fiction Writers Association, the St. Louis Writer’s Guild, Women Writing the West and the Alliance of Independent Authors.
She is one of only six authors who completed the first week-long writing intensive taught by #1 New York Times bestselling author Deborah Harkness in 2014. Nicole has traveled to England twice to research the Guinevere trilogy, where she consulted with internationally acclaimed author and historian Geoffrey Ashe, as well as Arthurian/Glastonbury expert Jaime George, the man who helped Marion Zimmer Bradley research The Mists of Avalon.
Eva Flynn is here today to tell us about her new historical novel, The Renegade Queen.
Welcome, Eva. Let’s get started.
Tell us about your novel.
Presidential Election of 1844. James Polk 1795-1849 and George Dallas 1792-1864 ran as the Democratic candidates. .; Shutterstock ID 245959642
EF: The Renegade Queen explores the life of Victoria Woodhull; the first woman presidential candidate; the first woman to testify to Congress; the first female stockbroker; and the first American to publish The Communist Manifesto. Victoria sacrificed everything for female equality but her rivalry with moderate Susan B. Anthony and her fights with religious leader Henry Ward Beecher nearly destroyed her.
An unconventional love story between Victoria and her second husband, Civil War hero James Blood is also woven throughout the story.
What prompted you to write about this historical event?
EF:I was initially intrigued because I could not find Victoria Woodhull in the history books despite all that she accomplished; first woman presidential candidate; first woman to testify to Congress; first female stockbroker; and first American to publish The Communist Manifesto.
I am an only child and I was always pestering my parents to entertain me. One day they bought me a set of World Book Encyclopedias. You may not remember hardbound encyclopedias, but these were divided up alphabetically, so the “M” for example would have two big books. The subjects that begin with WXYZ were all in one slim volume. My parents told me to entertain myself by perusing these books. I picked up the “WXYZ” volume and I turned to the two paragraphs about Victoria Woodhull. I was amazed as I had never heard of her, and this is as a child of a political science professor (father) and a staunch feminist (mother). I took these paragraphs to both of my parents and they had never heard of her either. From that point on I have been fascinated not only with Victoria Woodhull but about those who the history books leave out.
And then I majored in political science myself and became fascinated by the political process and those who are live on the fringes of the political process. I admire anyone who has the courage to stand up for their beliefs (whether I agree with them or not), and my admiration for Victoria only grew as I realized how difficult life for women was during Reconstruction.
And in the intervening years between hardbound encyclopedias and now, a wealth of resources from the 1870s have been placed on the Internet which makes research so much easier and less time consuming then it used to be. For example, one can find several issues of her newspaper online. Additionally, the Library of Congress has digitized thousands of newspapers from the era. Not everything I’d want is online, but enough of it that I don’t feel the need to travel to remote archives.
How closely did you stick to the historical facts? If you used them loosely, how did you decide whether to deviate from them?
EF: Not all of Victoria’s biographers agree on what the facts are because there are periods of her life where we have little more than her reminisces and she sometimes contradicted herself in the various retellings of her story. But I did devote a lot of time to research and nearly everything in the book is either accurate or represents one particular memory of Victoria that she may have contradicted later. I deviated in how Victoria met James for dramatic effect and how long they lived together. To go through years of cohabitation before the events would have slowed the dramatic pace too much. There are differing opinions on the true nature of Victoria’s relationship with Commodore Vanderbilt. I used research from the testimony in the fight over his will as the basis for the story, but some scholars believe that his children lied in court.
And then there are people that I left out because I believe that a novel can have too many characters. Victoria’s siblings, for example, caused her problems throughout her life but I did not discuss them. And Victoria had a newspaper editor (Stephen Pearl Andrews) that she was close to and I did not put him in the novel.
Also, there were a few men who claimed they had affairs with Victoria but Victoria and those close to her denied these claims. These men were also paid for their story. I did not add these men to her life, I think it would have even complicated the story more and I’m not sure the men were in her life.
What research did you do for this book?
EF: In addition to the excellent biographies of Victoria Woodhull, Commodore Vanderbilt, Karl Marx, Susan B. Anthony, Benjamin Butler, and Henry Ward Beecher that I read, I also read primary sources; newspapers from the time period, Victoria’s speeches, Victoria’s newspaper articles that she wrote, and Tennessee’s speeches. I also consulted court transcripts of various proceedings that involved Victoria. In addition, I read interviews with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and other contemporaries of Victoria.
Do you use a mixture of historic figures and invented characters in the novel. Which is more difficult to write? Which to you prefer to write and why?
EF: I actually only invented three-four minor characters, the rest of them are historical figures. If one has done enough research then it is easier to write historical figures, but I also like the freedom of invented characters. I enjoy writing both equally.
In an historical novel you must vividly re-create a place and people in a bygone era. How did you bring the place and people you are writing about to life?
EF: I conducted research on what life was like in the major cities during Victoria’s lifetime, not only in terms of the attitudes towards women, but also the voting patterns, the ethnic makeup, and the prominent occupations. In addition, I research the landmarks in the city. For example, the bar in the “tenderloin” district was a real bar then and the sign did really say, “Ale, Raw Onions, and No Ladies.” The bar is still there today. I also read a traveler’s guide to New York brothels which was hysterical.
Probably the best thing that I did to get across that time period was excerpting real newspapers and historical documents throughout. These are all presented in italics and they give the reader a sense for the times and the language.
I also frequently consulted an etymological dictionary to ensure that I was not using a word that was not used back then. For example, the word “sex” was not used then to refer to intercourse.
There often seems to be more scope in historical novels for male characters than female characters. Do you prefer to write one sex or the other. And, if so, why?
EF: I prefer to write about strong women because we all need more positive female role models. The main characters in The Renegade Queen, Susan B. Anthony and Victoria Woodhull are multi-dimensional and complex and I also think it is important to show that women, just like men, have mixed motivations.
Thank you for such comprehensive answers to my questions, Eva. I’m also a great fan of strong women, real and fictional, so I’m happy to wish you success with The Renegade Queen.
Readers can learn more about Eva by visiting her website, Goodreads page and Twitter.
About Eva Flynn: Eva was raised on bedtime stories of feminists (the tooth fairy even brought Susan B. Anthony dollars) and daytime lessons on American politics. On one fateful day years ago when knowledge was found on bound paper, she discovered two paragraphs about Victoria Woodhull in the WXYZ volume of the World Book Encyclopedia. When she realized that neither of her brilliant parents (a conservative political science professor and a liberal feminist) had never heard of her, it was the beginning of a lifelong fascination not only with Victoria Woodhull but in discovering the stories that the history books do not tell. Brave battles fought, new worlds sought, loves lost all in the name of some future glory have led her to spend years researching the period of Reconstruction. Her first book, The Renegade Queen, explores the forgotten trailblazer Victoria Woodhull and her rivalry with Susan B. Anthony.
Eva was born and raised in Tennessee, earned her B.A. in Political Science from DePauw in Greencastle, Indiana and still lives in Indiana. Eva enjoys reading, classic movies, and travelling.
dianneascroft.com 