Research left on the cutting room floor

Thanks to all of you for having me here today. I kicked off this blog tour for my May release, HIS BORDER BRIDE by “Chatting with Anna Katherine.” The post was called “You had to research what?” and it had such a good response, I thought I would share something similar with this group.
Because yes, I AM seduced by history and I know you are, too!
If you want to see Part I, go to http://annakathrynlanier.blogspot.com/ and scroll down to April 26. Sorry! Contest is over, but I'll give a copy of HIS BORDER BRIDE to a commenter to today's post.
As any writer knows, you must research far more than dates, the names of kings, and political and military history. In fact, those are usually the easiest things to find. But I use real people and events in my books, so I need a level of detail an ordinary history text doesn’t offer. So for this post, I’m focusing on the research I did around real characters and events. And this time, I’ll give you a peek at what I had to leave out because it didn’t contribute to my story.
The childhood of Lord Douglas. The Scottish border lord, William Douglas, later the first earl of Douglas (though not during my story!) was one of the most powerful men of his time. He was a secondary character I envisioned as rough and ready, and slightly uncouth, so I crafted a couple of scenes under that assumption. He did, after all, murder his uncle to assume leadership of the family. That didn’t seem the most civilized behavior.
Then, I discovered he had been fostered in France as a child. In fact, he was quite the Francophile, even fighting for the French at Poitiers when they were defeated, resoundingly, by the English. This called for a major rewrite of scenes and dialog and shifted his motivations and the conflict he represented for my heroine, who was also a Francophile.
What didn’t get in the book. The story goes that Douglas was responsible for the French defeat at Poitiers because he was the one who told them to fight on foot, a strategy that doomed them. Dozens of French nobles were killed or captured. Douglas was not. The chronicler writes that “when he perceived that the French were hopelessly defeated he made off as fast as he could; for so much did he dread being taken by the English…"
Edward III’s military campaigns. There’s no battle in my book, but my hero was conceived during Edward’s early Scottish campaign, accompanied Edward on the French campaign, and the book begins during the second Scottish campaign. The latter was so destructive that the Scots labeled it “Burnt Candlemas.” I needed to know what my hero had been through, where he was when the story opened, how long it would take him to get to the heroine’s lands, how the fighting continued for her father and the others on the Scots side…all that stuff. I discovered, for example, that Edward III brought falcons with him when he invaded France in 1356, a fact that tied in with the use of falconry as a key element in my story.
What didn’t get into the book. Edward III was very nearly captured during the Burnt Candlemas. William Douglas, yes, same as above, had planned an ambush, but at the last minute, the king took a small retinue for an unplanned meeting with Henry of Lancaster.
Where John of Eltham was buried and what his tomb looked like. 20 years after his death. This real life character was father to my fictional hero. There’s a pivotal scene in the book in which he stands before his father’s tomb. It’s key to his emotional climax and I wanted to see what he saw. Fortunately, out of print, out of copyright books and images exist, so I was even able to describe the sculpture of his father’s face. (That's a picture on the right. But if you go to Westminster Abbey today, it won't look like that. The canopy has since been destroyed.)
What didn’t get into the book. The tomb has a full effigy of John of Eltham, the last son of a king of England to die an earl, and he is wearing the earliest known example of a ducal coronet.
So, what about you? As writers, have you ever chased an obscure fact? And as readers, what details seem to really pull you into the world? I’ll give a copy of HIS BORDER BRIDE to one lucky commenter.
Thanks again for having me here. You can read an excerpt from HIS BORDER BRIDE, and more about the story, on my website, http://www.blythegifford.com/. I also love to have visitors at www.facebook.com/BlytheGifford.

Cover Art used by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises Limited. All rights reserved. ®and TM are trademarks of Harlequin Enterprises Limited and/or its affiliated companies, used under license. Copyright 2010

Words & Music

I am passionate about music.
This doesn’t mean I would ever attempt to create music. Or lyrics.
It does mean that I have music playing nearly every hour of the day – from the time I awake until I sleep, especially when I write.
I used to insist on the correct music before I would even read. I remember wearing out the soundtracks for EXODUS and GONE WITH The WIND in the course of reading the books.
Now days, I am more concerned with music when I write than when I read. When I say I am concerned, it is more accurate to use the term “obsessed.” I use music as a crutch, creating a soundtrack for each book. This helps me, like Pavlov’s dog, to respond appropriately to stimuli. When I put on the music, it is time to write. If you do this morning after morning, resistance becomes futile. Cue music; hands on keyboard. (To write, not to play!)
For writers who are tempted to kick and scream before coming to the page, this is very helpful. It also helps when, months after you released the manuscript to the editor, it comes back and you need to revisit the story for certain, uh, enhancements. Put on your “soundtrack,” you are back in the story.
I try to be faithful to the time period and choose music that my characters might have actually heard, but since I write in the fourteenth century, this creates certain challenges. The truth is, our approximation of what people in that era heard is only that: an approximation. Sometimes, I settle for music with the “feel” of the story or the period I’m writing.
But for my current release, IN The MASTER’S BED, music was of particular importance. The book is the story of a heroine who runs away from home, disguised as a man, to study at the university, where women are forbidden. She meets the hero, who, thinking she is a he, takes the “lad” under his wing. The hero plays a “gittern,” a sort of medieval guitar. In the course of the story, his music, from drinking songs for the young scholars to a love song for the heroine, plays an important role. While I knew I couldn’t convey the music to my readers with words, I at least wanted to hear some myself so I would know what it was like.
How could I write what I had never heard?
Luckily, I found the answer, a CD titled “Songs from the Taverne: Ballads and drinking song from the time of Chaucer.” The time period was perfect. My students spent lots of time in taverns. And Chaucer even mentions “gyternes,” so there were several played on the disc.
Was the final result worth the search? Can you hear the music on the page that I wrote? Well, I can only hope that some of it came through. I’ll give a copy of IN The MASTER’S BED to one lucky commenter and you’ll be able to decide for yourself.
What about you? Do you use music, either as a reader or as a writer, to get into the mood? Or do you prefer to read or write in silence?

Cover Art used by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises Limited. All rights reserved®and TM are trademarks of Harlequin Enterprises Limited and/or its affiliated companies, used under license.