Q&A With Davis Bunn: The appeal and challenges of writing about a historical figure

Q: Much of your writing has been based upon fictional characters. What is the appeal of writing about a historical figure? What was one special challenge you faced in doing so?

Davis Bunn: First and foremost, Helena is a saint in the eyes of the Catholic church. Helena was the mother of Emperor Constantine, the first Roman leader to convert to Christianity. His death marked the moment when Christians were freed from persecution. Constantine was led to faith by his mother. The Pilgrim is her story.

While I am a fervent evangelical Protestant, my wife is Catholic. My mother is a Catholic convert. As is my sister, who has raised her two daughters as Catholic. So part of what I wanted to do here was to grow closer to the heritage that these dear people treasure. Their faith has had such an impact on my own life. It was important that I use this story and this opportunity to create something that would honor their perspective on faith. I also wanted to share with readers the enormous life lessons we can learn from the lives of the saints.

So many, many different issues came up as a result of this quest. It proved to be a beautiful and intense growing experience. Although this book is not particularly long, the actual writing took as long as some of my much bigger books. Part of this was honing the story so their faith, and their history, was honored, but done from a foundation that reflected my own personal walk in faith.

My hope, my fervent prayer, is that the story will resonate with readers from both faith communities.

Question for my readers:

If you could write a story to honor the most important people in your life, what would the story be about?

Davis Bunn, on the challenges of writing fiction about historical figures
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