INTERVIEW: Nancy Bilyeau. author of 'The Crown'
Last year I was browsing through the bookstore looking for a book to take overseas with me. I was travelling to the UK and Germany, and wanted a book that would keep me utterly absorbed as I negotiated endless airports and hotels and transit lounges. I picked up 'The Crown' by Nancy Bilyeau.
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It was a risk. I've never hear of the book or the author before. But I loved the cover, and I loved the blurb, and so I bought it.
I am so glad I did.
'The Crown' begins with a heart-wrenching scene of a woman being burnt to death, and her young relative - a young nun - risking her life to offer her comfort. The story is set during the turbulent days of of the Tudor king, Henry VIII, when abbeys were being torn down and monasteries dissolved, and the protagonist of the story - Sister Joanna - will have more than her faith tested over the course of the novel. 'The Crown' is an intelligent historical thriller, with nail-biting action, religious conspiracy theories, and a nice dash of romance thrown in.
I loved it!
So, in my usual fashion with any book I love, I had to know more.
The author Nancy Bilyeau has had her life turned upside-down by the success of her first novel. She has given up her hot-shot career as a magazine editor and screenwriter to write the sequel, 'The Chalice'(I can't wait!) and has very kindly agreed to answer a few of my questions:
[image error]
Are you a daydreamer too?
Yes, my whole life. I'm a real Water Mitty. Just last week, I missed my stop on the subway in New York City because of my daydreaming. Growing up, I would bounce a large ball on the patio in our suburban backyard, spinning story lines by the hour. They were vaguely Agatha Christie-ish. I remember in one, an heiress showed up from Argentina to collect the money willed to her but then it turned out she was an imposter. Why Argentina? No idea!
Have you always wanted to be a writer?
When I was eight years old, the class went on a field trip. The teacher asked us to write a report on what we'd seen after we got back to the classroom. She loved my report so much, the teacher made a sign that said, "Have you heard of Nancy Bilyeau, the Famous Writer?" and tacked it to the wall. Ever since that day, I felt that perhaps this was something I could do.
(I love this story - see what teachers can do!)
Tell me a little about yourself – where were you born, where do you live, what do you like to do?
I was born in Chicago, Illinois. My mother was from an Irish-American family in Illinois, the O'Neills. My father was a watercolor artist from Michigan. We moved to Michigan later, and I grew up there. I'm very much a Midwesterner; people say I still have the accent. After I graduated from the University of Michigan, I eventually made my way to the big city of New York, and started a career as a magazine editor. I worked for Rolling Stone, Good Housekeeping, InStyle. In the middle of all this, I married a Canadian man after a long-distance relationship and moved to Toronto for a couple of years. I love going to the movies, hiking, eating Italian food, gathering shells on the beach, touring historic homes. I lured my husband down to New York and that is where we live now with our two children.
How did you get the first flash of inspiration for this book?
I joined a fiction workshop because someone dropped out and they needed a fourth for the minimum number. I came in wanting to write about the 16th century, my favorite. I didn't know what I wanted it to be until I decided to make the protagonist a novice in a Catholic order.
How extensively do you plan your novels?
Not that extensively. I know where I want the characters to go but I don't outline in great detail because it makes me self-conscious and diminishes the creative possibilities, at least for me. In The Crown, the whole sequence at Howard House, the masqued party and meeting with Princess Mary, I came up with it suddenly while almost finished with the book.
Do you ever use dreams as a source of inspiration?
I believe in dreams but I didn't get specific ideas for the books that I am aware of. I think things seep out of the unconscious. though. The Crown is a product of a fever. I had a bad flu with a fever, and while semi-hallucinating with 103 degrees, I thought, I have to get back to that novel (It was about one-fourth written) and finish it.
Did you make any astonishing serendipitous discoveries while writing this book?
Researching Athelstan, an obscure Dark Ages king, yielded some amazing discoveries.There were things I learned while researching that connected to Richard the Lionheart and Edward the Black Prince that gave me shivers. I can't say what--spoilers!
[image error]
Athelstan, often called the first king of England
Where do you write, and when?
The first book I wrote at the kitchen table and at Starbucks, early in the morning, on weekends and on "stay cations." The second book I took a break from the magazine business and I wrote it every day in the library.
What is your favourite part of writing?
The first burst of inspiration that seems to shoot out of my fingers as I type, and then the revised passage delivering that scene. It's the in-between part that can get you!
What do you do when you get blocked?
I write something anyway, even if it's wretched. I then redo it. And redo it.
How do you keep your well of inspiration full?
Long walks, particularly in the snow. Seeing movies. Reading books that are far from what I am doing. Going to art museums.
Do you have any rituals that help you to write?
Earl Gray tea, some jolting classical music, like Beethoven.
Who are ten of your favourite writers?
Daphne du Maurier, A.S. Byatt, Mary Renault, Jane Austen, F.Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Tolstoy, Edith Wharton, Norah Lofts and Alison Weir.
[image error]
I love Alison Weir's books too!
What do you consider to be good writing?
The conveying of an idea that is new and yet familiar.
What is your advice for someone dreaming of being a writer too?
You must workshop to find out if what you're writing in your head is coming across on the page.
What are you working on now?
I'm plotting out Book Three! It's going to be even scarier, plus Joanna will have encounters with Henry VIII himself. OK, that could be considered scary and of itself, right? But frightening things aside from the King.
[image error]
It was a risk. I've never hear of the book or the author before. But I loved the cover, and I loved the blurb, and so I bought it.
I am so glad I did.
'The Crown' begins with a heart-wrenching scene of a woman being burnt to death, and her young relative - a young nun - risking her life to offer her comfort. The story is set during the turbulent days of of the Tudor king, Henry VIII, when abbeys were being torn down and monasteries dissolved, and the protagonist of the story - Sister Joanna - will have more than her faith tested over the course of the novel. 'The Crown' is an intelligent historical thriller, with nail-biting action, religious conspiracy theories, and a nice dash of romance thrown in.
I loved it!
So, in my usual fashion with any book I love, I had to know more.
The author Nancy Bilyeau has had her life turned upside-down by the success of her first novel. She has given up her hot-shot career as a magazine editor and screenwriter to write the sequel, 'The Chalice'(I can't wait!) and has very kindly agreed to answer a few of my questions:
[image error]
Are you a daydreamer too?
Yes, my whole life. I'm a real Water Mitty. Just last week, I missed my stop on the subway in New York City because of my daydreaming. Growing up, I would bounce a large ball on the patio in our suburban backyard, spinning story lines by the hour. They were vaguely Agatha Christie-ish. I remember in one, an heiress showed up from Argentina to collect the money willed to her but then it turned out she was an imposter. Why Argentina? No idea!
Have you always wanted to be a writer?
When I was eight years old, the class went on a field trip. The teacher asked us to write a report on what we'd seen after we got back to the classroom. She loved my report so much, the teacher made a sign that said, "Have you heard of Nancy Bilyeau, the Famous Writer?" and tacked it to the wall. Ever since that day, I felt that perhaps this was something I could do.
(I love this story - see what teachers can do!)
Tell me a little about yourself – where were you born, where do you live, what do you like to do?
I was born in Chicago, Illinois. My mother was from an Irish-American family in Illinois, the O'Neills. My father was a watercolor artist from Michigan. We moved to Michigan later, and I grew up there. I'm very much a Midwesterner; people say I still have the accent. After I graduated from the University of Michigan, I eventually made my way to the big city of New York, and started a career as a magazine editor. I worked for Rolling Stone, Good Housekeeping, InStyle. In the middle of all this, I married a Canadian man after a long-distance relationship and moved to Toronto for a couple of years. I love going to the movies, hiking, eating Italian food, gathering shells on the beach, touring historic homes. I lured my husband down to New York and that is where we live now with our two children.
How did you get the first flash of inspiration for this book?
I joined a fiction workshop because someone dropped out and they needed a fourth for the minimum number. I came in wanting to write about the 16th century, my favorite. I didn't know what I wanted it to be until I decided to make the protagonist a novice in a Catholic order.
How extensively do you plan your novels?
Not that extensively. I know where I want the characters to go but I don't outline in great detail because it makes me self-conscious and diminishes the creative possibilities, at least for me. In The Crown, the whole sequence at Howard House, the masqued party and meeting with Princess Mary, I came up with it suddenly while almost finished with the book.
Do you ever use dreams as a source of inspiration?
I believe in dreams but I didn't get specific ideas for the books that I am aware of. I think things seep out of the unconscious. though. The Crown is a product of a fever. I had a bad flu with a fever, and while semi-hallucinating with 103 degrees, I thought, I have to get back to that novel (It was about one-fourth written) and finish it.
Did you make any astonishing serendipitous discoveries while writing this book?
Researching Athelstan, an obscure Dark Ages king, yielded some amazing discoveries.There were things I learned while researching that connected to Richard the Lionheart and Edward the Black Prince that gave me shivers. I can't say what--spoilers!
[image error]
Athelstan, often called the first king of England
Where do you write, and when?
The first book I wrote at the kitchen table and at Starbucks, early in the morning, on weekends and on "stay cations." The second book I took a break from the magazine business and I wrote it every day in the library.
What is your favourite part of writing?
The first burst of inspiration that seems to shoot out of my fingers as I type, and then the revised passage delivering that scene. It's the in-between part that can get you!
What do you do when you get blocked?
I write something anyway, even if it's wretched. I then redo it. And redo it.
How do you keep your well of inspiration full?
Long walks, particularly in the snow. Seeing movies. Reading books that are far from what I am doing. Going to art museums.
Do you have any rituals that help you to write?
Earl Gray tea, some jolting classical music, like Beethoven.
Who are ten of your favourite writers?
Daphne du Maurier, A.S. Byatt, Mary Renault, Jane Austen, F.Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Tolstoy, Edith Wharton, Norah Lofts and Alison Weir.
[image error]
I love Alison Weir's books too!
What do you consider to be good writing?
The conveying of an idea that is new and yet familiar.
What is your advice for someone dreaming of being a writer too?
You must workshop to find out if what you're writing in your head is coming across on the page.
What are you working on now?
I'm plotting out Book Three! It's going to be even scarier, plus Joanna will have encounters with Henry VIII himself. OK, that could be considered scary and of itself, right? But frightening things aside from the King.
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