Elena asked Kate Quinn:

I've just finished re-reading your story from "A Day of Fire" for the 5th time and simply wanted to thank you for creating someone like Marcus, who is one of the most endearing characters I've ever read about, and for Diana, who rocks :) I would totally love to read more about them, but, alas, I've already read your Rome series! Also, if you have time, can you tell how these two came to life as your characters?

Kate Quinn Thanks! I love Marcus and Diana, who surprised me considerably by telling me that they had an entirely unknown relationship that was going to begin in Pompeii--I certainly didn't know that when I wrote Mistress of Rome or Daughters of Rome. Marcus as a character began as a bit of homage to Derek Jacoby's Claudius in "I, Claudius" which was one of my favorites ever--I wanted to write an intellectual bloke who got a better ending in his home life than Claudius did. Diana came together out of two passions of mine: horses (I was every bit the horse-crazy teenager that she was) and sports (I am a huge Red Sox fan, and wanted to explore the craziness that was sports fan-dom in ancient Rome--of course Diana has to root for the Reds!) So that's how they came to be, but they ran away with me a bit. I think I'll probably write more stories about the two of them if I ever get the time!

flag