The Subconscious Is a Scary Thing

As a writer, I've learned to trust my subconscious. If I'm having trouble with a plot, I'll go off and do other things for a few hours (or a few days) and let my subconscious work on the problem (sort of like an alcoholic turning things over to his higher power). The answer always seems to pop into my head eventually in some mysterious but helpful fashion, and while I'm always grateful, I've never questioned the alchemy involved too closely.

Yet even after all these years, the process can still sometimes take me by surprise. Remember the cross-dressing Frenchman, La Chapelle/Serena Fox, in WHY KINGS CONFESS? At the time I wrote that book, I could not have told you where he came from. All I knew was that he was a great character, particularly for a murder with a mysterious female shoe print left at the scene of the crime.

But then the other day when I was doing some research on French spies in London, I ran across a reference to the Chevalier d'Eon and went, "Oh, yeah!" You see, I now remember reading about d'Eon some thirty years ago (Jeez; was it that long ago? Yikes.) when I was doing historical research in Paris. But I had totally, totally forgotten about him.

So who was he? Born into an impoverished noble family, he joined the army, fought in the Seven Years' War, was a noted fencer,  and dressed as a woman to serve as a spy for Louis XV in Russia and England. In fact, for the last 30 years of his life he dressed as a woman. There is no doubt in my mind that he inspired the character I created, but it all took place in my subconscious.

And that's scary.

P.S. I've also been criticized by people who found Sebastian's easy acceptance of Serena in that book an anachronism. Yet a betting pool was actually started in London about d'Eon's true sex, with the Chevalier himself being good-naturely invited to take part. He was even allowed to attend court dressed as a woman when he returned to Paris. He claimed to have been born female, but after his death he was discovered to be anatomically male.