An Interview with Donna Fletcher Crow
I’m delighted to welcome reknowned mystery author, Donna Fletcher Crow as my guest all the way from Idaho in the United States. Donna has just returned from a research trip to Britain, and here tells us about writing her historical mystery GLASTONBURY.
Donna, thank you for joining me…
Writing GLASTONBURY, A Novel of the Holy Grail
An Interview with Donna Fletcher Crow
Hi Claire, what fun to be here in England today on your blog while you’re 7000 miles away in Idaho as a guest on my blog (http://ning.it/dhRSDI) and neither one of us had to leave home. Isn’t the magic of the internet amazing!
Since I’ve been answering lots of interviews to prepare for my blog tour to promote the ebook release of GLASTONBURY I thought I would share some of the questions I felt did the best job exploring why and how I wrote it.
1. First of all, please tell us a special something about what makes you “tick.” When you aren’t writing, what are you doing? (Aside from being a mom)
Well, yes, being a wife, mom and grandmother is a huge part of the picture, but I suppose my passion for England has always been a major driving force of my life. My love for English history, literature and landscape certainly played a major part in my writing GLASTONBURY.
2. Describe your book in five words or less.
The subtitle says it: Novel of the Holy Grail
3. You chose a specific genre, a place and time to write about, what made you choose it?
I can’t really say I chose to write an epic, that more just happened. I first envisioned a six-book series, then I read Edward Rutherfurd’s SARUM and saw how my story would work perfectly in that format.
As to place, so many things came together to make me focus on Glastonbury: my lifelong love of the Arthurian legends, my fascination with William Blake’s poem Jerusalem which I first heard as a hymn in the movie “Chariots of Fire”, and then the research trip I took with my editor on another project. We visited Glastonbury and she picked up a pamphlet telling the legend of Joseph of Arimathea bringing Christ to Glastonbury as a child and I was hooked.
4. How much research did you do before and during writing?
In a sense GLASTONBURY is the product of a lifetime of research and reading because I literally grew up on the tales of King Arthur. Before the actual writing I took an extensive research trip to all the places I write about, especially Glastonbury, Tintagel, Dozmary Pool, Hadrian’s Wall, Canterbury, Caerleon. . .
The writing itself took three years and I was continuing my research for each section: Celtic, Roman, Arthurian, Anglo-Saxon, Norman and Tudor through all that time.
5. Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?
I don’t see it as a message, but one of the things I learned in writing my way through 1500 years of history is that it has so often been much darker than it is today. It’s easy to look at the troubles of our time and despair, but so often throughout history the flame of faith has flickered very low— but it has always rekindled.
6. Which of your characters is most like you?
Well, since GLASTONBURY covers 1500 years of English history, there’s quite a range to choose from. Perhaps I could claim some small kinship with Marie de France since she chose to write about England and wrote about some of the same subjects I cover in GLASTONBURY, such as Arthurian legends and Saint Patrick.
7. If you could cast your book for a movie, who would you choose?
Derek Jacobi would be wonderful as Austin Ringwode, whom history tells us was the last monk of Glastonbury. It is his searching for the Holy Grail that gives my story its structure.
Hmmm— Kenneth Branaugh or Jude Law for King Arthur? Definitely Kieran Knightly for Guenivere. If this were to be filmed it would truly be “a cast of thousands.”
8. I realize this is an 820-page book, but can you summarize it for us?
Glastonbury saw it all:
Joseph of Arimathea and his little band of pilgrims, seeking refuge from Roman persecution, flee to this tiny, sheltered island on the west coast of Britannia, bringing with them their most sacred possession- the Holy Grail;
The holy Isle of Avalon provides refuge for renewal of courage as King Arthur and his knights fight off the invading barbarian hoard, then it becomes his final resting place;
A devastating fire threatens to destroy the work and worship of centuries, but Arthur’s bones provide the impetus for yet more magnificent building, a greater flowering of the faith;
Until the last abbot is drug to his death atop the Tor and the splendid arches are left to crumble.
But still the faithful seek the greatest prize of all- The Holy Grail.
Through all the ages history and legend intertwine around these broken arches, standing a beacon of hope and light for the future.
Donna Fletcher Crow is the author of 40 books, mostly novels dealing with British history. Besides the award-winning Glastonbury, Donna is also the author of The Monastery Murders: A Very Private Grave and A Darkly Hidden Truth, as well as the Lord Danvers series of Victorian true-crime novels and the romantic suspense series The Elizabeth & Richard Mysteries.
Donna and her husband live in Boise, Idaho. They have 4 adult children and 11 grandchildren. She is an enthusiastic gardener. To read more about all of Donna’s books and see pictures from her garden and research trips go to: www.DonnaFletcherCrow.com.
