Synchronicity and the Writer

We’ve all experienced the odd synchronicity that goes with being a writer. We choose a name for a character only to have it show up next time we watch movie credits roll. We use some obscure mannerism in our books and it’s mentioned in the magazine we pick up at the dentist’s office. We create a disaster for our characters and a similar disaster flashes on the news. How these things happens no one knows, but they do, again and again. Understanding this, I should not have been so surprised at what took place after I was asked to write a medieval trilogy.

Genealogy is a hobby I’ve pursued in a casual way since I was a teenager, asking for birth and death dates from parents, grandparents and great aunts, begging for copies of family trees compiled by distant cousins. When genealogy software came out, I entered all the information I’d gathered over the years, but could never find time in my writing schedule to search for more. Then my computer crashed last year, not long after I’d agreed to change from writing Victorian-era New Orleans novels to the medieval time period. I lost the genealogy software I’d been using, so had to buy an updated version and then reload my saved data. Part of the upgrade was several months of free access to the improved online database for Ancestry.com.

Oh. Wow. Because I had such detailed records already in place, I was able to tap into literally thousands of family trees. My ancestors connected at once to English and Norman-French lines going back more than 50 generations, to King Alfred the Great, to William the Conqueror and, through him, to Charlemagne and even a Roman emperor. Here was an ancestor who was born in a castle; there was one who had died in a priory, in battle or on crusade. I clicked and clicked, mesmerized by the small trembling leaves on Ancestry.com’s world version. Good grief, a tie to Wales with a Tudor in the female line! And just look at the famous names from English history, the Spencers, de Montforts, Montagues, Nevilles, de Clares and, especially, the Plantagenets. Was I really descended from Henry Beauclerc, from Henry the II, John Lackland Plantagenet, Henry III and Edward I? Was I truly the 24th great granddaughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine? I mean, these were people I’d been researching for months, the direct ancestors of both the York and Lancaster lines in my new trilogy. How could this be? Why had it appeared now of all times? Was it real or too good to be true?

Some 9000+ ancestors later I’m still not sure of the answer, and don’t want to look too closely. If it’s all a mistake, let me keep the illusion until I’ve finished the last book of my medieval trilogy set at the time of Henry VII. It tickles me to think that some form of atavistic memory may be at work as I write, that there’s a reason why I see so clearly in my mind the roads of 15th century England and the great halls of ancient castles.

Writers are like that, you know. We do appreciate and make use of our fantasies.

The Jennifer Blake Newsletter-April 2010

Greetings:

At last! I completed the rough draft for Book 2 of my medieval trilogy, BY GRACE POSSESSED, the third week in March. It's behind schedule, which means I won't have much time off before starting author revision. Meanwhile, however, I'm filling out the Art Fact Sheet for Book 1 in the series, BY HIS MAJESTY'S GRACE. This is a list of questions concerning the book's general atmosphere plus a summary of the story, descriptions of the characters and suggestions for possible scenes that might lend themselves to cover art paintings. The purpose is to allow the author some input into the cover process, which is always a good thing. I'll fill out sheets for the other two books soon, since my publisher's art department will be working on all three at the end of this month. That's because the official publication dates for the trilogy have been set for August, September and October of 2011.

On April 6th, I'll have a reissue on the stands. This will be THE QUILTING CIRCLE, a novella collection (with short novels by Jo Anne Cassity, Linda Shertzer and Christina Cordaire in addition to my lead story) that was first published in 1996. The book has a new cover and will be presented this time around in over-sized paperback known as a trade edition. (Regular paperbacks are called mass market editions.) To take a look at it: http://www.amazon.com/Quilting-Circle-Jennifer-Blake

Also out this month is a French version of another older title, GARDEN OF SCANDAL. The cover for this one has a muted and mottled yellow background with pink flowers and a girl on a swing. For French readers, it's known as UNE LIAISON SCANDALEUSE, which I translate as A SCANDALOUS AFFAIR. Well, what did we expect? :-)

This past week, I spent a couple of days filling out yet another interview questionnaire. This one is for a Yahoo group owned by writer Carrie Lofty that's dedicated to unusual historical novels. The Q&A will be posted to the group on Easter Sunday, and I'll be answering comments and queries later next week. Carrie also posts an excerpt from selected historical novels each Thursday, plus interesting historical notes. To check out this group or to join see: unusual_historicals@yahoogroups.com

I don't often recommend books, but I picked up a new mystery series this month that was actually recommended to me by a friend, Sunny Meriwether. It's the Ariana Franklin medieval series about a female medical examiner trained in Sicily then brought to England by Henry II to help deal with suspicious murders in his realm. The titles are THE MISTRESS OF THE ART OF DEATH, THE SERPENT’S TALE, and GRAVE GOODS. Well written and researched, they are something different on the mystery scene.

In token of the new NBC genealogy program WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?, I'll tell you about recent progress with my family history. I'd always thought of myself as a Louisianan and a Southerner—though I've collected information on my family for decades, I'd never gone much beyond colonial Virginia. During the past few months, however, I’ve taken various lines back to England, Wales, Norman France and beyond. I've now learned that I'm actually descended from the ancient kings of Britain, also from William the conqueror and the Plantagenets who figure in my new medieval stories. How strange that this should happen just as I began looking to England for book settings! Yet, this is the kind of serendipity that often occurs in the lives of writers.

With warmest wishes, and the hope that interesting things come your way in this glorious spring,

Jennifer