Mercedes Rochelle is an ardent lover of medieval history and has channeled this interest into fiction writing. She believes that good Historical Fiction is an excellent way to introduce the subject to curious readers. Born in St. Louis, MO, she received a BA in Literature at the Univ. of Missouri St.Louis in 1979, then moved to New York in 1982 while in her mid-20s to "see the world". The search hasn't ended! Today she lives in Sergeantsville, NJ with her husband in a log home they built themselves.
Many thanks, Helena, for giving me the opportunity to chat on your blog page. Biographical fiction is all I write, ever since my first book when I discovered the joy of research. In the middle of that first novel, I evolved from a sort of myth/legendary theme (the Witches of Macbeth) to actual historical figures, which I found much more interesting. And I’ve never looked back.
Every book presents a Point of View challenge to me. Some of my own characters seem very distant to me, while with others, I climb into their heads. And I can’t figure out why.
My second novel, Godwine Kingmaker was written in third person. To this day, Godwine is my favorite character, and he felt like a member of the family. We got close and personal; I even delved into his love life. Very little is known about his origin, and I made him my own, I guess I could say. This was the first book of a trilogy, though I hadn’t planned that initially. But by the time I got to the end, I realized the story was only halfway written. What about the sibling rivalry between his sons Harold and Tostig, contributing to the catastrophe that was the Norman Conquest? This was a story I needed to tell, and more importantly, I thought that Tostig was given a “bad rap” by historians.
Actually, I had taken a twenty year break after Godwine to pursue a career, then started writing again around 2005. I had almost forgotten that I had started the next book of the trilogy, and when I found it on my closet shelf, I was surprised to see that I had written it in first person from Harold's point of view. Where did that come from? I was really surprised. But the more I thought about it, I realized I must have been on to something. What better way to explain their conflicts than tell the events from their own points of view? Tostig needed equal time! And, frankly, the other brothers did not play an insignificant role in the mid-eleventh century. So I told books two and three as personal memoirs, each writing their story for their sister’s benefit, who would set the record straight in her Life of King Edward. The Life was a real book about Edward the Confessor, commissioned by Queen Edith, though even at the time the first half of the book became a history of her own family. So I had a bona fide opportunity to make this work.
My chapters alternated between all five sons of Godwine (excluding Swegn, who died early on). So I had to give each of them a distinct voice, which was much more difficult than I anticipated. I’ll never do that again! It also meant that book one of the trilogy was in third person and book two and three were in first person. I caught some criticism for that. But I honestly felt I couldn’t do it any other way. Again, perhaps I was able to dive into their heads because there is so little historical information available, so they were open to interpretation.
Then I jumped 300 years into the future and wrote two books about King Richard II. There was considerably more material available about him, which gave me direction but also defined the man. It's not wise to detour from established histories—unless they conflict—and a person's actions will define their personality. Interestingly enough, Richard kept himself at a distance from me. I wrote this book in third person omniscient, but even so I had a hard time getting into his head. King Richard has come down to us as a tyrant, unstable and vindictive. But he was so much more! And he really had the proverbial cards stacked against him, from taking the crown at age ten, to the peasants’ revolt at fourteen, to struggling against powerful and controlling uncles. I would say he insulated himself against almost everyone except his queen. Is this why he seemed so remote to me? Was it because he was a king that I felt unworthy to make assumptions about him, as though he was untouchable? Once again, I found myself trying to vindicate this sorely misunderstood historical character. Unfortunately, he may have been beyond exoneration, but at least I tried to explain his motives.
Then I moved on to King Henry IV, Richard’s usurper. I didn’t feel the same distance from him. Was it because he wasn’t supposed to be a king? He was just a normal guy—well, not really—who was thrust into an uncompromising situation. Henry spent most of his reign fighting one rebellion after another—mostly because of the usurpation. It destroyed his health and made him a sympathetic character. Perhaps that’s why he was approachable?
But then there was his son, the famous and reserved Henry V, hero of Agincourt. There is a tremendous amount of information about him, which makes my job both easier and harder. Once again, I found him to be an arms-length king. Was it because of his personality? He was greatly respected and feared. He was fair but ruthless. I tried to write about him in third person, but he was so distant I felt like the book was toneless. So on the second draft, I made a detour and told the Henry parts from his brother Humphrey’s point of view. This took some serious rewriting! The rest of the book is in third person; it was important to describe the chaos in France that made it so easy for the English to invade. So when Henry was in the picture I needed to start a new chapter, narrated by Humphrey. It worked, fortunately. Henry was still at arm’s length, but he was closer to his brother than to me—though Humphrey also found him inscrutable at times. That's all right; it could be Humphrey's lack of insight at work here, not my own.
So my journey into biographical fiction is a bumpy road for me. One would think, since I’m in charge here, that I would have a handle on every one of my own characters. But I suppose, since they were larger than life in real life, their personality took control. They can't easily be defined. The more documentation I find about a historical person, the less leeway I'm given. I had better stay away from the 20th Century!
Website: http://www.MercedesRochelle.com
Blog Host, Helena P. Schrader, is the author of
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