1. When did it dawn on you that you wanted to be an historical fiction writer? It never occurred to me. I started out just trying to write a short story about demonic possession; the thing grew and grew until it had taken on a life of its own. Characters started popping up like weeds. By the time I was anywhere near finished, it was novel length. But intentions? There were none. 2. As a librarian, you surely have read a lot of books. Do you still remember the first historical novel you’ve ever read? Very clearly. I was in middle school, and this baby was a TOME. I’m talking several hundred pages. It was named “The Casket and the Sword,” but as far as the author is concerned, I have no idea. The book is long out of print now; it’s been forty years since I looked for it again and it was out of print then. But it was absolutely delightful and I couldn’t put it down. I remember my mother saying, “I never thought I would hear myself say this, but could you please put your book down and eat your dinner?” 3. Can you share how being a librarian has made you a better writer? Actually, I was a bookseller before I was a librarian. And learning what people liked and wanted to read was very helpful. Then, later, I was able to take that knowledge and go find these books that everyone was reading, and see for myself what the attraction was. I discovered I was a big mystery fan: Ellery Queen, The Saint, James Bond, analyzing a problem and finding the answer, regardless of how bizarre the actual truth was. But no one held a candle to Sherlock Holmes. I was so enamored of the genre that I actually formed a Scion Society of the Baker Street Irregulars!
5. Do you have a particular approach to research and writing? It’s pretty much a matter of figuring out what the question is, and going to find the answer for it. For example, in the big battle scene, I needed cannon. And if I was going to have cannon, I needed gunpowder. So I had to prove to myself that gunpowder did actually exist in the 1100’s. Sure enough, with very little time to spare! China first created it, and it spread across Europe and into Scandinavia right around the beginning of the twelfth century. 6. Are you currently writing a prequel or sequel to The Naked Queen? Well, that’s an interesting question. What I’m writing at the moment is a companion piece to The Naked Queen. The events of the new book are not a part of the first book, but they do take place during the same time period, and to the same characters. It’s more of an explanation of what happens in TNQ than it is a prequel or sequel to it. The terms just don’t fit. 7. You’ve worked as a bookseller for some time. What do you think are the key selling points of The Naked Queen? What do you think will attract readers to your book? Selling points: well, it is a good adventure story. Above all else, this is the basic theme. But even though this is a book written of the time many other authors have also chosen to write in, this book could never have been written before 2018. There is far too much going on that challenges the time of the novel. It’s not that an author like, say, Arthur Conan Doyle couldn’t have written this book. It’s that ACD could not have conceived of this book. So in that regard, it is a very fresh approach. 8. What’s been the hardest scene to write in The Naked Queen? The exorcism. I knew how it was going to start and I knew how it was going to end. But connecting the two ends was far more difficult than I had imagined. It took many more rewrites than any other part of the book, and it was only one chapter. Shucks, it was only one scene! But I finally figured out that I was missing a character. So Michael was born, simply so he could do exactly what he did in the exorcism. Problem solved!
4. How do you cope with writing the dialogue of times gone by? Frankly, I prefer the structure and color of the older language to today’s AmeriKing’sLish. It’s more fun. It’s subtler. If you thought that diagramming sentences when you were learning your middle school English was bad, try dismantling a sentence that might mean something entirely different from what you intended, simply because your coloring is off!
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ALAN R. HALL, Author | DIGITAL EDITION
