Historical fiction review: 'River Aria' by Joan Schweighardt

From the pen of talented historical novelist Joan Schweighardt comes another well-crafted, meticulously researched story about family, community, immigration, oppression, the environment, and having to face the consequences of one’s actions.

It’s 1928 and the Great Depression is looming around the corner when two impoverish but talented mixed-raced—Amerindian and European—Brazilian immigrant cousins travel to NYC to find a better life and fulfill their dreams. Estela, a singer of arias and a product of the Teatro Amazonas during the time of the rubber boom, has a beautiful voice and dreams of becoming a famous opera singer; Jojo is a fisherman and a gifted artist. As a start, Estela is offered a seamstress position at the Metropolitan Opera House while Jojo is offered a scholarship at an art school. Will they achieve their dreams against all obstacles? If yes, at what price?

River Aria is the third installment in this author’s series and is focused on the next generation of the family featured in the first book. There is so much I enjoyed about this novel! The worlds of art and music in 1920s NYC come together engrossingly. The multifaceted, original characters—you don’t often read stories about indigenous people from Brazil—and their struggles to find purpose and meaning in a complex, ruthless city that is a character all on its own, kept me riveted. Parentage and identity are big themes with both Estela and Jojo as they struggle with their origins and how it affects their lives. Having read other books by Schweighardt, I’ve become familiar with her literary prose. She always strives for depth, and she pays great attention to detail.

The author visited the rainforest, as well as Manaus, the Amazon, and Rio Negro as part of her research, and considering the authentic feel of the plot and characters, I’m not surprised. In spite of this, however, the writing doesn’t get too heavy-handed, which is sometimes a problem in this type of book. I particularly recommend River Aria to historical fiction fans who have a special interest in the rubber boom that took place in Brazil in the early 1900s and how it affected the fishing villages and the indigenous people living there.

Find out more at www.joanschweighardt.com

First Chapter Reveal: 'River Aria' by Joan Schweighardt

Genre: Historical fiction

Author: Joan Schweighardt

Website: www.joanschweighardt.com

Publisher: Five Directions Press

Purchase on Amazon

About the Book:

River Aria is narrated by Estela Hopper, who, as a ten-year-old girl living in the impoverished fishing village of Manaus, Brazil in the early 20th century, is offered a twist-of-fate opportunity to study opera with an esteemed voice instructor. During her years of instruction, Estela, who is talented, passionate and dramatic by nature, dreams of leaving Brazil to perform in New York. But as her beloved instructor is not able to convince the managers of the great Metropolitan Opera that they should bring on a mixed-race immigrant who grew up on the banks of the Amazon River to become an elite performer, Estela accepts what they do offer, a position in the sewing room, and leaves Brazil on a ship with her cousin JoJo in the year 1928.

The challenges that befall Estela and JoJo in New York are plentiful. Estela’s father, an Irish American who came to her village nearly twenty years earlier (at which time she was conceived), has a plan for what her life should look like once she is settled. Her relationship with JoJo changes drastically when he learns he was lied to about his own parentage, and again when he takes a dangerous job working for the owner of a speakeasy. And of course her personal challenges of finding some modicum of success in a place like New York are not only enormous but crushing to her once robust sense of self.

RIVER ARIA 

1

December 1928

When Tia Adriana’s tearful outbursts first began, JoJo thought it was because she would miss him so much. And surely that was part of it. But the bigger part was that she had lied to him, long ago when he was a little boy. And as there didn’t seem to be any harm in her deception at that time, as it made JoJo happy in fact to hear her build on it, Tia Adriana had done just that. She’d embellished her lie; like clay, she kneaded it and stretched it, working it until it was as high and as stalwart as the tall ships that sometimes came out of the night to rest in our harbor, until it was as vast and mysterious as the river itself. She even made it official, hauling it up the hill to The Superior Tribunal of Justice building to be recorded and made public for anyone who cared to see.

Many times in the weeks before JoJo and I left for New York, Tia Adriana tried to tell him the truth. But every time she opened her mouth, her effort turned to sobbing. Dropping her head into her hands, she would cry with abandon. And when JoJo crossed the room to lay his callused palm upon her heaving back, she would only cry harder.

She wept so much that not two weeks before our departure JoJo said he wouldn’t be coming with me after all, that he would rather stay in Manaus and live the life he had than break his mother’s heart. He made a joke of it; he said if his mother kept crying, the flooding that year would be twice as bad and everyone in the city would drown, and it would be on him, and he would be forever cursed and become a corpo-Seco when his days were up, a dry corpse, because the devil would return his soul and Earth would reject his flesh. He was joking, yes, but he was also toying with the idea of changing his mind.

It was then that the other two got involved, my mother, whose name was Bruna, and Tia Louisa, who were sisters—in heart if not in blood—to Tia Adriana, and to each other as well. “Is that what you want for your son?” Tia Louisa scolded when JoJo was not around. “You want your only child should grow up here, fishing for a living in a ghost town? Dwelling in a shack up on stilts and likely to flood anyway? Every day a sunrise and a sunset and barely anything worth noticing in between?” My mother would chirp in then, adding in her quiet way, her coarse fingers extending to cover Tia Adriana’s trembling wet hands, “Adriana, wasn’t it because you wanted more for him that you lied in the first place?”

The three of them would become philosophers once my mother and Tia Louisa had calmed Tia Adriana sufficiently that she could think past her grief. They weighed JoJo’s future, how it would unfold if he stayed in Manaus, and how it might unfold if he left. Would and might: they might as well have been weighing mud and air. Could he be happy, they asked themselves, eking out a living on the docks for the rest of his life? Blood and fish guts up to his elbows? Endless squabbles up on the hill trying to get the best price for his labors? Drawing his pictures on driftwood—because between us all we couldn’t keep him in good paper—or on the shells of eggs, or even our shabby furniture? 

Was that what was best for our beloved JoJo? Or was it the alternative that promised more? America! America! O my America! My new-found-land! In America he would be attending an art school—the grandest art school in the grandest city in that country—not because he, our JoJo, who had grown up ragged and shoeless, had ever even considered that he might travel to New York, but because a man by the name of Felix Black, the protégé of a famous American artist and a former teacher of art himself, had come to Manaus to study our decaying architecture some months ago. And as The Fates would have it, he wandered into Tia Louisa’s restaurant and saw JoJo sitting in the back booth with some paints he had paid for with money he’d made scrubbing decks on one of the locals’ boats, painting the young woman sitting across from him (me, as it happens) on a canvas so scruffy it could only have come from someone’s rubbish pile. Senhor Black watched for a long while and then bent over JoJo and whispered in his ear—startling our dearest JoJo because, except for his eye and his breath and the fingers holding his brush, he was barely there in his own body when he painted—to say that he was a benefactor at an art school far away in New York, and if JoJo were to come, he would help him to realize his full potential—a message I quickly translated as JoJo did not speak much English at that time. 

Mud or air? Foot-sucking muck from the bottom of the river or the breath of the heavens, sweet and suffused with bird song? Stinking dead fish or full potential?

We knew what was best for JoJo all right; and we knew that JoJo, who was fearless—though he could barely read or write—would never get an opportunity like this again. And as I would be traveling to New York too, what could be better than sending us off together, one to watch over the other? But the fact remained that Tia Adriana could not bring herself to tell him about her deception, and he could not be permitted to arrive in New York without knowing about it.

I didn’t know the lie was a lie myself until the week before our scheduled departure. Being more than a year younger than JoJo (and loose-lipped, if my mother and as tias could be believed), no one had been foolish enough to trust me to keep a secret of such consequence. I had even participated in the lie—albeit unwittingly—which was nearly as exciting to me as it was to JoJo. 

And so it was that when my aunts and Mamãe first began to look for ways to throw light on the truth, they didn’t include me in their conversations. But when they failed to find even a single solution, they called me into Tia Adriana’s shack and sat me down at the table and told me the whole long story from beginning to end. 

While they spoke, interrupting one another with details as was their way, I slouched in my chair and leaned back, until I was looking up at the ceiling. Our images were up there: Me and Tia Adriana and my dearest Mamãe, and Tia Louisa and Tia-Avó Nilza, who was Tia Adriana’s mother (and JoJo’s grandmother). Three years earlier, JoJo had painted all of us on a large rectangular ipe wood table top that Tia Louisa was throwing out from the restaurant because rain from the roof had leaked on it a time too many and it had begun to blister and crack. When JoJo claimed the piece of wood for himself, Tia Louisa scolded that his mother’s house was far too small to hang a thing that size. But then an out-of-towner who’d been listening to their conversation over a bowl of fish stew told JoJo about The Sistine Chapel, which JoJo had never heard of. And so impressed was JoJo with the stranger’s story of how the famous artist (Michelangelo, whom JoJo hadn’t heard of either) had come to paint on the ceiling of the Pope’s chapel, that JoJo decided he would nail his painting up on his mother’s ceiling, where no one could say it was in the way. And there it remained. But instead of scenes from the Bible depicting man’s fall from grace, JoJo had painted us floating through our labors, all smiling as if we were saints already—me and Tia Louisa at the restaurant, serving rowdy wage earners, and my mother and the others sitting shoulder to shoulder all in a row on the wooden bench outside Tia Adriana’s shack, repairing fishing nets and singing their favorite fados with strong voices and extravagant gestures.

Usually when I looked at the painting it was to marvel at how young I was back then, how much I’d changed. But now I was thinking that with the exception of myself, JoJo had unintentionally painted the very women who knew about the lie from the beginning, who had most probably helped to shape it, knowing them. I felt my face grow hot, with anger first and then with embarrassment and then with despair. And then Tia Louisa, who was just hoisting the story into the present, changed her tone and snapped, “Estela, are you listening to what we’re saying?”

I straightened at once.

“This is important, young lady, so please pay attention,” she said in Portuguese. She knew a little English, but we always spoke in our native tongue when we were all together. “Once you’re safe on the ship on your way to America, you need to tell JoJo about the lie—”

“And the truth it was meant to hide,” Tia Adriana broke in, nodding excitedly.

“And the truth it was meant to hide, yes.” Tia Louisa closed her eyes and sat in silence for a moment, perhaps in prayer. Then she went on. “You’ll be almost four weeks traveling, the two of you sharing a cabin. He’ll have nowhere to escape to! When you arrive in New York, we’ll want your full report, your letter saying he knows and has accepted…”

“And that he loves me…us…in spite of…,” Tia Adriana cried, her eyes filling with fresh tears.

I looked at their faces. Only my mother was leaning forward, waiting anxiously for me to respond. The other two trusted me better, especially Tia Louisa, who was sitting back now with her arms folded under her ample breasts.

I let them wait. I looked beyond them, at the cast iron skillets hanging from hooks over the wood stove, the clay dishes out on shelves, the cot in the corner where Tia Adriana slept, the old tin washtub in the opposite corner, the curtain—worn to gauze from years of handling—that separated the kitchen from the back room where Tia-Avó Nilza and Avô Davi (who was Nilza’s husband and JoJo’s grandfather) and JoJo slept. 

“Yes, of course,” I mumbled. 

They chuckled, all of them, with relief, and in that moment it occurred to me that I would have to lie to them, mamãe and as tias, in the event that JoJo was unforgiving. 

About the Author:

Joan Schweighardt is the author of River Aria, which is both a standalone novel and the third book in a trilogy, as well as other novels, nonfiction titles, and children’s books. She is also a freelance writer and ghostwriter.

Find out more about Joan!

www.joanschweighardt.com

www.facebook.com/joanschweighardtwriter/?ref=bookmarks

twitter.com/joanschwei

instagram.com/joanschweighardt/

A Conversation with Historical Fiction Author Joan Schweighardt

Joan Schweighardt is the author of several novels. In addition to her own projects, she writes, ghostwrites and edits for private and corporate clients. Her latest novel is The Last Wife of Attila the Hun. 

Links:

www.joanschweighardt.com

www.facebook.com/joanschweighardtwriter

twitter@joanschwei

What’s inside the mind of a historical fiction author?

I liken researching for historical fiction to spelunking. You enter a cave and begin to search for those exquisite details that will really bring your story to historical life. Most caves are not simply linear chambers that lead you from an entrance to an exit. There are sub-chambers, and sub-sub chambers and so on. You never know where you’re going to wind up or what you’re going to find. You can get lost. And most fun of all, in many cases the chambers you discover will not only enrich your story but they will actually impact the plot in ways you didn’t imagine. I count on the process to direct me to plot points I might not have thought of on my own.

What is so great about being an author?

If you love to write, being an author is great, just the way that it’s great if you love horses and get to ride all the time.

When do you hate it?

I complain a lot about how hard it is in these times to draw attention to books that are not published by one of the five big publishing houses that are able to throw money and clout behind their titles. I’d love to have a wider audience for my work. Not having the audience I want sometimes makes me question why I bother. But then I think about all the reasons I bother and go back to writing again

What is a regular writing day like for you?

I am at my desk every weekday by 8:00 a.m. But I don’t work on my own projects until I’ve finished client work. Sometimes I have no client work for a few consecutive days and can really focus on my own projects.

Do you think authors have big egos? Do you?

When I’m actually in the process of writing, I kind of feel ego-less, because I am concentrating on the thing I am doing and not on myself. I assume other writers feel the same.

How do you handle negative reviews?

Nowadays most of the reviews a body gets are from the public at large, as opposed to professional reviewers. Some people are used to reading very uncomplicated books with unrealistically happy endings. So, if they accidentally purchase something a little darker or more challenging, they may say bad things about it. That can be hurtful to an author. 

Everyone loves to get a positive review. But in these times I think some people are more interested in the number of reviews they get than in whether they are negative, positive or somewhere in between. If you have 600 reviews on your Amazon page, readers will think they’re missing out on something and to jump on the bandwagon. That’s why lots of people “buy” reviews. I still can’t get my head around the idea of ever “buying” a review, but I understand where the people who do buy them are coming from. We all want to sell books.

What is the usual response when you tell a new acquaintance that you’re an author?

People are more interested to know I am a ghostwriter for clients than to know I write my own books too. They always want to know how the ghostwriting process works, how I get the information from my clients and whether I include my name on their books. (I don’t.)

What do you do on those days you don’t feel like writing? Do you force it or take a break?

Since I write for a living as well as for my own pleasure, I am pretty much always writing. I take a break on weekends. Sometimes if I have having trouble with a project, whether for a client or myself, I tell myself that if I want I can get a book and go lie down on the sofa and read until I fall asleep. That’s my escape valve. Knowing I can do that if I want to keeps me from ever actually doing it (mostly).

Any writing quirks?

I’m sure I have plenty but I don’t know what they are. When I’m writing fiction, I do the dialogue between characters out loud, often saying the words with the intonation they would. That doesn’t feel quirky to me, but if my husband is home and happens to overhear me, he’ll raise an eyebrow and give me “the look.”

What would you do if people around you didn’t take your writing seriously or see it as a hobby?

I’m happy to say the people who mean the most to me take my writing seriously, probably because they are mostly writers—or painters or photographers or musicians, etc.

Some authors seem to have a love-hate relationship to writing. Can you relate? 

I’m shrugging. I never “hate” writing. I do dislike many things about the publishing process, such as the need to market your work on social media and the fact that there are so few professional reviewers these days, and the ones that exist are inundated with review requests. But as for the writing process, I have no complaints. I love the process.

Do you think success as an author must be linked to money?

We all need money to pay the bills. While you can derive immense pleasure from doing the thing you love—whether it is writing or knitting or making flower arrangements—if you can sell your book or sweater or bouquet to someone who appreciates the love you put into it, so much the better.

What has writing taught you?

Writing taught me to think at another level. I don’t know if it’s a deeper level or just another level. I do a lot of lucid dreaming, where I am asleep and awake (or at least aware) at the same time. I think that comes from writing all my life, from trying to grasp the thoughts behind thoughts before they slip away.

Leave us with some words of wisdom.

My best advice for first time writers and writers who just want to write better is read, read, and read. And don’t just read books in your genre of preference. Read everything, all the time. 

Guest post: "Novelists Who Look Behind Them" by Historical Novelist Joan Schweighardt

I am noticing that a lot of my favorite writers are looking back in time to find fodder for their stories. In The Museum of Extraordinary Things, Alice Hoffman brings to life New York City in the early twentieth century, with a particular emphasis on Coney Island. I knew a lot about the NYC sweatshops and street life from that time, but I didn’t know much about Coney Island, and I was as fascinated by her rendering of it as I was with the story she set therein. Another favorite writer, Emma Donogue, brings nineteenth century San Francisco to life in her novel Frog Music. Her story (based on a true unsolved crime) unfolds against the background of one particular summer’s historic heat wave and smallpox epidemic. Again, it was fascinating to have a wonderful capable writer bring this moment in history to vivid life. Then there’s The Orphan Train by Christine Baker Kline, which illuminates depression era orphans in NYC who were shipped out to work at jobs in the Midwest. The list goes on.

I never much cared for dry historical texts, so having a chance to regard historical events as perfectly restructured backdrops for good fiction is a great pleasure for me. But I notice the publishers for the three novels mentioned above go out of their way not to label these titles “historical novels.” I agree that first and foremost they are literary novels, but “literary” doesn’t reveal very much information, and I might have been inclined, had I published them, to call them “literary historicals.”

I see their point though. Historical fiction as a genre seems to have shot itself in the foot in the 70s and 80s when it took historical romance under its wing as a sub genre. There were so many historical romances for a couple of decades that the terms historical romance and historical fiction seemed to have merged. The former brought the latter down a notch, because while many historical romances are extremely good, some of them merely provide historical settings for formulaic relationships among the characters. “Historical” became a bad word in literary circles as a result. In more recent years historical fiction seems to be gathering back the strength it once had, but it’s happening slowly.

My novel, The Last Wife of Attila the Hun, has two strikes against it. It’s historical in part, and it’s also got a legendary component. Since most legendary materials can be labeled romantic, it’s easy to call it a historical romance. But that’s not what it is. It’s definitely a hybrid, and I’m still trying to figure out how to refer it myself. But that’s okay. I like research, and the avenues I’ve been following to try to discover how to talk about my novel are leading me into some unexpected corners.

Title: The Last Wife of Attila the Hun

Genre: Literary/Historical Fiction with a Legendary Component

Author: Joan Schweighardt

Website: www.joanschwweighardt.com

Publisher: Booktrope Editions

Purchase on Amazon

About the Book:

Two threads are woven together in The Last Wife of Attila the Hun. In one, Gudrun, a Burgundian noblewoman, dares to enter the City of Attila to give its ruler what she hopes is a cursed sword; the second reveals the unimaginable events that have driven her to this mission. Based in part on the true history of the times and in part on the same Nordic legends that inspired Wagner’s Ring Cycle and other great works of art, The Last Wife of Attila the Hun offers readers a thrilling story of love, betrayal, passion and revenge, all set against an ancient backdrop itself gushing with intrigue. Lovers of history and fantasy alike will find realism and legend at work in this tale.

About the Author:

Joan Schweighardt is the author of several novels. In addition to her own projects, she writes, ghostwrites and edits for private and corporate clients.

Website: www.joanschweighardt.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/joanschweighardtwriter

Twitter: @joanschwei

The Writing Life with Donald Joiner, Author of 'The Antioch Testament'

Donald Joiner, a Georgia native, is a veteran who served during  the Korean War era. He is a retired public school superintendent who a lifetime student of history having once been a history teacher. He is a father and grandfather and has been married for fifty-two years. He has also authored two previous books about antebellum churches in Georgia.

His latest book is, The Antioch Testament. 

Thank you for being a guest on As the Page Turns, Donald, and congratulations on the release of your latest book. Tell us, what’s inside the mind of a historical fiction author?

DJ: You better get it right. There are many historical fiction readers out there who pride themselves on knowing much about the various historical eras. The author may be writing historical fiction, but he can count on his readers knowledge about the historical times surrounding the characters in the novel. If he gets dates wrong or mishandles historical characters or events, the reader will be sure to share this information with others and cross him off the ‘must read’ list.

What is so great about being an author?

DJ: The sense of accomplishment when you have completed the story. It makes all the long months’ and years’ efforts seem finally worthwhile. Your characters have been developed and have completed their performances and the author’s times of frustration and ‘writer’s block’ are at an end.

When do you hate it?

DJ: When you go for extended periods without inspiration and your mind is blank. When you have no idea how to continue with the story and are tempted to abandon some or all of what you have written. And then there’s the marketing process which requires you to fulfill some functions you are uncomfortable with.

What is a regular writing day like for you?

DJ: Reviewing the section of the work recently completed to climb back in to the story, perhaps doing some editing of yesterday’s work. Reviewing the notes you made for the next section, then finding the right words to begin. Sometimes I already know how that section will end so I begin at the end, then work backwards toward the beginning.

Do you think authors have big egos? Do you?

DJ: Perhaps ultra-successful authors have big egos. If so, they’ve earned them. It helps to have some measure of ego in order to face the frustrations and impotent periods that are so frequently present in writing and in weighing and responding to criticism and editorial advice. 

I don’t think I have a big ego, but then I’m not (yet) an ultra-successful author.

How do you handle reviews?

DJ: Take comfort in the good reviews even when they’re not completely accurate. Try to honestly analyze bad reviews for they represent how some readers actually perceive your work. If you can be objective, you can then decide whether the reviews are valid. 

What do you do on those days you don’t feel like writing? Do you force it or take a break?

DJ: I’ve learned that you can’t force inspiration. Sometimes it’s helpful to work on other sections of the book, either rewriting or editing. I’ve found that often inspiration returns while you work on other sections. At other times it’s better to go do something else completely divorced from your writing.

Any writing quirks?

DJ: I prefer it to be completely quiet when I write. No TV, radio or people talking to me. A phone call can be completely distracting, causing me to lose my train of thought which might not return for a long period. 

Do you think success as an author must be linked to money?

DJ: No. I think you write because you believe you have something to say. There’s a satisfaction in completing your work that is unrelated to money. Of course, it’s always nice to have your satisfaction with your work endorsed and sealed with an infusion of cash, but your work is your baby and its completion is a reward in and of itself.

What had writing taught you?

DJ: I have a much greater appreciation for those who write than I did before becoming an author. It’s hard work! You’re either up in the heaven of inspiration or down in the pit of frustration because inspiration has deserted you. But nothing equals the feeling of satisfaction you have when you complete your work for you had something important to say and you said it!

Leave us with some words of wisdom.

DJ: Be prepared for rejection. What you write is important to you, but it might not appear so to the casual observer. Never submit a manuscript to a potential agent or publisher unless it has been professionally edited. Write, write and re-write! You’ve got to convince others (potential agents or publishers) that what you’ve written deserves their attention. If you elect to self-publish, be on your guard.  Evaluate self-publishing companies rigorously. Some will say or do anything to get your money. There are ratings and reviews of these companies on the Internet for your convenience. 

Talking Craft with Florence Byham Weinberg, Author of 'Dolet'

Florence Byham Weinberg, born in Alamogordo, New Mexico, lived on a ranch, on a farm, and traveled with her military family. After earning a PhD, she taught for 36 years in three universities. She published four scholarly books. Since retiring, she has written seven historical novels and one philosophical fantasy/thriller. She lives in San Antonio, loves cats, dogs and horses, and great-souled friends with good conversation. Visit her website and connect with her on Facebook.

Q: Congratulations on the release of your latest book, Dolet. To begin with, can you gives us a brief summary of what the story is about and what compelled you to write it?

A: Etienne Dolet, 1509-1546, son of a cloth merchant, studied under the eminent humanist and Ciceronian Latinist, Nicolas Bérault, and later with Simon Villanovanus. He then studied Law at the University of Toulouse. In two public Latin orations, he denounced the city authorities for persecuting his fraternity and for burning a favorite professor at the stake. Imprisoned and then expelled from the city, he fled to Lyon. After apprenticing with the noted printer, Sebastien Gryphius, he became an independent printer, licensed by King François I. He married a printer’s daughter, Louise Giraud, and had a son, Claude. In a duel provoked by Henri Guillot, Dolet killed his opponent by lucky chance. Imprisoned for murder, he escaped and procured the king’s pardon. In the struggle of the workers in printing establishments for fair wages, Dolet took their part and won the enmity of many printers. They framed him by sending boxes of “heretical” books to Paris under his name. He was captured, tried for heresy, and burned at the stake on his 37th birthday.

I wrote it in part because Etienne Dolet’s character reminded me of my husband Kurt Weinberg’s. Both men told the bald truth to friend and foe alike, also to authority figures, “the rich and powerful.” Such behavior, which I admired as being straightforward, truthful and just, got them in trouble more often than not and earned them enemies who harmed them as well as friends who stuck with them through thick and thin. The book, Dolet, is in a way a tribute to my deceased husband.

Q: What do you think makes a good nonfiction, historical novel? Could you narrow it down to the three most important elements? Is it even possible to narrow it down?

A: If it is to be a good historical novel, the first important element is accuracy. In order to achieve that, one must do research, if necessary, in musty old archives. This is often just as much fun as writing, and often entails travel to foreign countries and meeting new friends. At least I have found it so. It also brings unforeseen challenges, overcoming geographical or bureaucratic obstacles. It can lead to amazing adventures that enrich one’s life.

The second element is to write it as a novel, not a textbook. The characters must be true-to-life, emotional, thoughtful, active and real. Dialogue must ring true, not be stuffy and stiff or imitation dialect or “old Englishy, forsooth.”

The third element is invention. There are many gaps in the historical record. Fill them in with what you believe must have happened in between, should have happened. That way, you can exercise your creative freedom, even though you are writing a “nonfiction novel.”

Q: How did you go about plotting your story? Or did you discover it as you worked on the book?

A: In this case, I followed the historical record and thus had a ready-made plot laid out before me. My protagonist often filled in gaps and embroidered on known facts for me.

Q: Tell us something interesting about your protagonist and how you developed him or her. Did you do any character interviews or sketches prior to the actual writing?

A: I often felt as though I were interviewing my protagonist since, according to the historical record, he was similar to my husband, psychically, though not physically. Since there are no genuine portraits of Etienne Dolet, I was free to create his physical gestalt. I saw him much as my cover illustration shows him. Whereas contemporary or near-contemporary imaginary portraits show him as  a fiftyish, long-bearded fellow, rather gloomy looking, or as a long-bearded gargoyle to show what a monster the Church thought him to be, I thought he was tall, dark haired, and clean-shaven with a long face and nose—a true Frenchman. And young. After all, he was only 37 when he was executed. He did everything with earnest intensity, was a bit arrogant because he was truly brilliant. Since King Francis I favored him in many ways, rumor had it that Etienne was his illegitimate son. The portrait I chose to represent him does somewhat resemble the king. The painting reproduced on the cover is a “portrait of an unknown young man” painted in the 16th century. Perhaps it is Dolet…. No one knows.

Q: In the same light, how did you create your antagonist or villain? What steps did you take to make him or her realistic?

A: My favorite antagonist is Matthieu Orry, who became Grand Inquisitor of France before Etienne’s death. The description I give of him in the book is: “The Inquisitor General was a short man of huge girth, which his ecclesiastical robes emphasized further. His bulging, purple neck contrasted alarmingly with his white collar, giving Etienne the impression he was choking. The puffy cheeks, also purple, seemed to have slid partway off his face to form hanging dewlaps on either side of his chin, waggling when he shook his head, or trembling when he became angry.” I think my description could have come out of Dickens, but at the same time, it is realistic and says much about the man.

Q: How did you keep your narrative exciting throughout the novel? Could you offer some practical, specific tips?

A: In the case of this novel, excitement comes from watching as doom creeps up on the protagonist. Whether or not the reader knows how the book will end, the trick in keeping pages turning is to remind the reader that another dangerous step has been taken. The protagonist does something he thinks is right by marching with the workers’ protest, but he has been seen. He blesses Christmas dinner and prepares to carve the goose when the assembled diners hear heavy blows against the front door. It is that sort of progression that, although they might be pages apart, keep the reader wondering and reading.

Q: Setting is also quite important and in many cases it becomes like a character itself. What tools of the trade did you use in your writing to bring the setting to life?

A: In the case of this novel, I bought a map of Lyon reproduced precisely from one created in the 16th century. It was composed of pages, 18” x 18”, on which every house, street, alleyway, drainage ditch and tree was portrayed. I fitted the pages together laid out on the living room rug, and it took up the entire room. I was thus able to reconstruct exactly where people lived, moved had their businesses, what boats were on the Saône River, what state the St. Jean Cathedral was in, etc. This was an unusual case, but it illustrates my point, that you have to create a realistic setting. Go there. Take pictures. Take notes. Notice what plants grow there, the light, which is very different in Arizona than in England. The hills or lack thereof. A background of Swiss Alps. In some cases, an extreme setting can determine the action in your story, such as the Amazon rain forest or the Antarctic or many places in between. Give details so people feel they are there. Note the seasons. If it’s fall, have colored leaves falling from the trees and collecting on the path the protagonist is following. Touches here and there will create a mental picture for your reader.

Q: Did you know the theme(s) of your novel from the start or is this something you discovered after completing the first draft? Is this theme(s) recurrent in your other work?

A: Yes, since the novel portrays the life of a historical person, I knew the theme of this book beforehand. However, the theme of the just man or woman being unjustly treated by his or her fellow humans or by blind chance is a recurrent theme in my books.

Q: Where does craft end and art begin? Do you think editing can destroy the initial creative thrust of an author?

A: I think the distinction between craft and art is artificial. If a book is well written, it is well crafted; beautifully and poetically written, it is artful. Editing well done enhances any writing. The self-editing that I do every morning when I begin my day’s work on a book acts not only to catch typos and syntactical infelicities but provides a springboard for further creation. It is the opposite of “destroying the initial creative thrust.” However, heavy-handed cutting by an editor at a press can damage the author’s creation. I once had such an editor delete my entire last chapter. (This was NOT my present publisher!) That mutilation changed the entire message of the book. To answer the second question, it depends on the editor.

Q: What three things, in your opinion, make a successful novelist?

A: Persistence in the face of all obstacles. A fertile imagination and the ability to translate mental images into word pictures. The ability to take criticism and turn it to one’s advantage.

Q: A famous writer once wrote that being an author is like having to do homework for the rest of your life. What do you think about that?

A: I think that poor author’s Muse had deserted him or her. To persist in writing when it is an unending agony would be a foretaste of Hell. I write because it gives me joy every day I am actively writing. I prepare myself before beginning my book so I can have relevant research already done (for example, how does one dance the reel?), and I can add the action, color, surroundings, emotions and interactions. The latter is what makes writing fun, addictive, and a joy to read.

Q: Are there any resources, books, workshops or sites about craft that you’ve found helpful during your writing career?

A: Read good literature in the field you have chosen to write in. Reading good books will broaden your vocabulary and show you how masters of the art create their characters, build tension, describe the surroundings. How-to books have rarely helped me, except for books telling me how to use the internet—technical stuff like that. Join a critique group if you have one in your neighborhood or start one if you don’t have one. Attend conferences in your field (mystery, romance, Women Writing the West). Network and hear what other writers are doing. I learn valuable stuff every time I’m with other authors.

Q:  Is there anything else you’d like to share with my readers about the craft of writing?

A: I’ve said it before. Set up a schedule and keep to it. Write every day. Have a special place set aside for you and you alone to write in and not be disturbed. Tell everyone in the family that your place is sacred. DO NO DISTURB! Make it stick and you’ll produce fine books.

About the Book

Title: Dolet

Genre: Nonfiction Novel; Historical Fiction

Author: Florence Byham Weinberg

Website: www.florenceweinberg.com

Publisher: Twilight Times Books

Read Chapter One

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About the Book:

Dolet depicts the life and times of Etienne Dolet. Etienne, who told the bald truth to friend and foe alike, angered the city authorities in sixteenth-century Toulouse, fled to Lyon, and became a publisher of innovative works on language, history, and theology. His foes framed him; he was persecuted, imprisoned, and ultimately executed by the Inquisition for daring to publish the Bible in French translation. 

What readers are saying:

"[Dolet]  ...I read it all with pleasure, and delighted to see names that I have known for some time coming alive as “characters,” albeit fictitious ones. I especially liked the way in which you brought out the sense of community, of being a band of brothers that so many of those amazing people shared.”
 ~ Kenneth Lloyd-Jones, Professor, Trinity College, Hartford, CT