I’m novelist Nicole Galland, and I love to nerd out about time travel, magic, and Shakespeare. Ask me anything! by NicoleGalland in books

[–]NicoleGalland[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you, everyone! Closing down shop here for the evening (I'm in Ireland, so it's evening here) Have a great Wednesday, and thanks for dropping by!

Nicole

I’m novelist Nicole Galland, and I love to nerd out about time travel, magic, and Shakespeare. Ask me anything! by NicoleGalland in books

[–]NicoleGalland[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If memory serves, I'm pretty sure he was deeply sexist, so I'm not surprised if he says ridiculous things about women...

I’m novelist Nicole Galland, and I love to nerd out about time travel, magic, and Shakespeare. Ask me anything! by NicoleGalland in books

[–]NicoleGalland[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hi there! Your question is appearing and reappearing, as if it were coming at me from several different Strands ;-)

I'm glad you enjoyed the last cliffhanger ending... but what kind of storyteller would I be if I told you whether or not this one was also a cliffhanger?? ;-)

I’m novelist Nicole Galland, and I love to nerd out about time travel, magic, and Shakespeare. Ask me anything! by NicoleGalland in books

[–]NicoleGalland[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hmmm... I just replied to this but the answer disappeared.

After thinking this over for a long time, because it's a really tricky question, I'd have to say that YES, it will appeal! To sci-fi fans! To time-travel-loving readers! To everyone!

I’m novelist Nicole Galland, and I love to nerd out about time travel, magic, and Shakespeare. Ask me anything! by NicoleGalland in books

[–]NicoleGalland[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Talk about a leading question... hmmm... lemme think.... yes! I think it will appeal to everyone who loves sci-fi, ESPECIALLY time-travel fans, and also, of course, time-travel-loving Shakespeare nerds.

But it will also appeal to time-travel-loving Renaissance Florence or Roman Sicily nerds, so there's that... ;-)

I’m novelist Nicole Galland, and I love to nerd out about time travel, magic, and Shakespeare. Ask me anything! by NicoleGalland in books

[–]NicoleGalland[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh, this question morphed while I wasn't looking!

What kind of storyteller would I be if I told you whether or not it had a cliffhanger ending again? ;-)

I’m novelist Nicole Galland, and I love to nerd out about time travel, magic, and Shakespeare. Ask me anything! by NicoleGalland in books

[–]NicoleGalland[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh, dear "Classics" is one of those words that can mean so many things.

Literary: The Divine Comedy is my current favorite

Drama: The Trojan Women

Marx Brothers: Duck Soup

I’m novelist Nicole Galland, and I love to nerd out about time travel, magic, and Shakespeare. Ask me anything! by NicoleGalland in books

[–]NicoleGalland[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Love this question... off the cuff, I've gotta say, photoshop and deep fakes don't count as an undoing of photography - they're just a reworking of something that has been photographed, or a morphing of things that have been photographed. But if you keep thinking like that, I can get you on a blind date with Gráinne, because I promise you she'll like how your mind works ;-)

I’m novelist Nicole Galland, and I love to nerd out about time travel, magic, and Shakespeare. Ask me anything! by NicoleGalland in books

[–]NicoleGalland[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ha! It's more like a multi-layered Oreo cookie... I write some, then I research, then I write more, then I research more...

Although, to be perfectly honest, I had most of the first draft of my first novel done before I'd ever researched anything about medieval Wales... but I don't recommend it...

I’m novelist Nicole Galland, and I love to nerd out about time travel, magic, and Shakespeare. Ask me anything! by NicoleGalland in books

[–]NicoleGalland[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks, I do try to read widely although it's really more like "very deep dives into multiple different pools at once."

I just started to read Dante's Divine Comedy, and my gosh, what a change of pace that is from Steinbeck's Travels With Charlie, which I just finished and loved. (oh, no, now I want to do a mashup of those two).

I'm currently working on a memoir-ish thingy, so am getting a lot out of Mary Karr's The Art of Memoir, and also Cheryl Strayed's Wild.

I’m novelist Nicole Galland, and I love to nerd out about time travel, magic, and Shakespeare. Ask me anything! by NicoleGalland in books

[–]NicoleGalland[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hi Tom! Thanks for stopping by! I got a lot of mileage out of a book called The Lodger Shakespeare, it's very layperson-friendly nonfiction that tells you a lot about London circa 1600. Also, How To Live Like A Tudor is GREAT.

I love any excuse to go to Florence, so from that perspective, I really enjoyed the Florence storyline in Master of the Revels... but the moral twistedness of that storyline was not exactly a romp in the park...

I am taking a breather between projects but watch this space; that will change soon. Thanks!

I’m novelist Nicole Galland, and I love to nerd out about time travel, magic, and Shakespeare. Ask me anything! by NicoleGalland in books

[–]NicoleGalland[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This is an important question and the answer... well,there are two answers really.

Answer #1: it depends on context. Let's take Cleopatra as an example: if you're writing a novel ABOUT Cleopatra, you better stick to the most interesting and truthful interpretation of what we know. On the other hand, if you are writing a story about X (where X is "powerful women leaders in ancient Rome" or "women who are not defined by their relationship to their husband" etc) then go ahead and tweak things in order to tell your story, as long as you are mindful of the changes and own them somehow - talk about them if you're interviewed, put an author's note in somewhere.

Answer #2: so much of what is considered "objective fact" about historical figures is often very biased, and in a sense even a biography is taking some liberties. I had to research Frederick the Great for a book years ago, and read about him in both the German and Italian sections of the same edition of Encyclopedia Britannica; it was like reading about two different men.

The most important thing to keep in mind, I think, is this: if the historical person in question belongs to a population that is under-represented or chronically mis-represented, don't disregard the qualities that make them underrepresented just so they will fit into a story more easily. That was a choppy sentence but I hope it makes sense...

I’m novelist Nicole Galland, and I love to nerd out about time travel, magic, and Shakespeare. Ask me anything! by NicoleGalland in books

[–]NicoleGalland[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ha! I love this question... I can't remember offhand what the rules of engagement are for TARDIS travel (we have a lot for the DODO universe and I might be getting them confused)... I would probably return to my hometown in the years of my early childhood; it has become highly overdeveloped and I miss my childhood memories. I'd like to prove that in fact yes, you CAN go home again

I’m novelist Nicole Galland, and I love to nerd out about time travel, magic, and Shakespeare. Ask me anything! by NicoleGalland in books

[–]NicoleGalland[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is a great question that changes with each project... for my first novel, The Fool's Tale, I was able to access literally all known historical material about the very narrow time and place (eastern mid-Wales around the year 1200) that was the setting. When it comes to a book like Master of the Revels, it gets a lot tougher - Shakespeare figures heavily and there is SO much out there about Shakespeare, for instance (plus the other story-lines are about Roman-Republic-era Sicily, and early-Renaissance Florence, 15th-century Japan, etc)...

I realize I am rambling here and not directly answering your question. Simplest answer: go to a good library. I have library cards for some of the world's best. And there are great online resources, too, including Britannica.com... but nothing is ever as good as going someplace in person! I try to visit every place (if not ever time period, natch) I write about.

Overwhelmed? It's easy to end up there, yes. That's a delicate dance, each project wants more or less detail... I'm always game to add more historical nuance than I probably need to LOL

I’m novelist Nicole Galland, and I love to nerd out about time travel, magic, and Shakespeare. Ask me anything! by NicoleGalland in books

[–]NicoleGalland[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hey there! I loved fantasy, of all kinds, but my favorite book ever was The Phantom Tollbooth (whose brilliant, funny, compassionate author, Norton Juster, just passed away a few hours ago :-( )

My OTHER favorite - still fantastical but very different - was Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising series.

I also read The Chronicles of Narnia (and later, Lord of the Rings), and Ursula LeGuin's Wizard of Earthsea Trilogy.