I’m not retelling familiar stories just to make my life easy. If you are going to take on a familiar story, you have to be certain that you are going to be bringing something utterly new and fresh and unknown to the party. Why reveal the known, the oft-told, or the mundane? There would be no purpose in writing about the very same things that everyone else has already written about, not to mention, no publisher would want that.

When all of that is done, I travel to all of the locations I intend to use so that I can do more hands-on research and take in the atmosphere.Īre you getting the picture, students? This is not a vocation for anyone not madly in love with this particular process!Ģ) Through your novels you seem to display historical themes that portray renowned figures such as Leonardo, Kleopatra, and Athena what inspires you to unveil the shocking, unfiltered, and unexpected aspects of their lives? After that, I study the culture-what did they read, how were they educated, what did they see at the theater, how did they dress, what did they eat, what did they believe in terms of religion, what were the gender dynamics and customs, and on and on, until I feel that I can plausibly construct a psychology and a daily life for these characters. Letters, court documents, diaries, all these things are what truly reveal the subtleties of an era. I also read as many original or contemporary sources as possible, and this is invaluable because it tells us how the people of the era saw themselves. I study the history of the period by talking to scholars and making sure that I cover all the relevant scholarship on the era-the most highly regarded histories and biographies. Once I “discover” or “uncover” or structure the narrative arc, I begin the academic research in earnest. My process is to do enough preliminary research to know that I can in fact deliver a book. I research until there is nothing left to know, or at least nothing further to discover for the purposes of the book. How much research did you do for the writing of the novel? Leonardo’s Swans was used as a text in a humanities class at University of North Carolina on “Lives of Artists.” The following is an email interview with Karen from questions posed by the students:ġ) The novel is full of specific details.

Leonardo's Swans by Karen Essex