Ask the Author: Patricia Bracewell
Answered Questions (22)
Patricia Bracewell
Thank you, Terry! Your comment means a lot! There may be more novels. I'm in research mode right now!
Patricia Bracewell
Hi Samantha. YES! Emma's third book is still happening! I am working on revisions, so it is still "in process". But I should have it on my agent's desk very soon. (Revising is a lot easier than writing a first draft!) So please, stay tuned!
Patricia Bracewell
Hello Tabatha. I'm sorry for the delayed response to your question. I've been on planes the past couple of days, and attending the Historical Novel Society Conference in D.C. which has kept me away from my desk. I absolutely do not mind answering repeated questions about when the third book will be out; what bothers me is that I don't have a good answer and I really hate keeping my readers waiting.
I'm afraid that I do not have a rough estimate of when PERILOUS TIDES will be available. There are conditions at the publisher outside of my control, and I'm guessing it will be late next year or sometime in 2021. I wish it could be out tomorrow, but it's out of my hands! I'm glad that you're enjoying THE PRICE OF BLOOD. I am the author and prejudiced, of course, but I honestly think that this 3rd book is the best of the three. It took me a long time to write it; I'm very proud of it, and it frustrates me terribly that it's not yet in print. Thank you for your question. I hope to have better news soon.
I'm afraid that I do not have a rough estimate of when PERILOUS TIDES will be available. There are conditions at the publisher outside of my control, and I'm guessing it will be late next year or sometime in 2021. I wish it could be out tomorrow, but it's out of my hands! I'm glad that you're enjoying THE PRICE OF BLOOD. I am the author and prejudiced, of course, but I honestly think that this 3rd book is the best of the three. It took me a long time to write it; I'm very proud of it, and it frustrates me terribly that it's not yet in print. Thank you for your question. I hope to have better news soon.
Patricia Bracewell
Hi Shilpa. I'm so glad that you enjoyed The Price of Blood! Unfortunately, I don't have a release date yet for book 3. All I am able to say at this point is that we're working on it. I'm hoping it will appear in 2020, although I can't say what month. (I could sure use a crystal ball!!!) Thank you for your question. Apologies for the late reply. I've been in Massachusetts at a Literary Festival, and far, far from my desk! Cheers!
Patricia Bracewell
Dear Lisa,
Thank you for your question. I can give you something of an update, but you won't find it very satisfying, I'm afraid. I have made great progress on the book, and I will absolutely complete the manuscript this year. After that, the process toward publication is in the hands of my publisher. So, what have I been doing as I write this book? So far---
Number of significant characters killed: 6
Total # of characters created, including their invented or updated detailed descriptions and backgrounds: 68
Settings researched and imagined: 25 towns in 3 countries; churches, great halls, royal chambers, ships, manors, abbeys, tents, army camps.
Research: the confusing, convoluted history of England in the years 1012-1017 and imagining the role that Emma might have played in all of it. If you've been reading everything you can find on Emma, you have an idea of how complicated it all is! I wish I could think, imagine, write faster. I cannot, but I'm doing my best. I know that Emma's fans are waiting. Cheers!
Thank you for your question. I can give you something of an update, but you won't find it very satisfying, I'm afraid. I have made great progress on the book, and I will absolutely complete the manuscript this year. After that, the process toward publication is in the hands of my publisher. So, what have I been doing as I write this book? So far---
Number of significant characters killed: 6
Total # of characters created, including their invented or updated detailed descriptions and backgrounds: 68
Settings researched and imagined: 25 towns in 3 countries; churches, great halls, royal chambers, ships, manors, abbeys, tents, army camps.
Research: the confusing, convoluted history of England in the years 1012-1017 and imagining the role that Emma might have played in all of it. If you've been reading everything you can find on Emma, you have an idea of how complicated it all is! I wish I could think, imagine, write faster. I cannot, but I'm doing my best. I know that Emma's fans are waiting. Cheers!
Patricia Bracewell
Dear Cintia,
Discouragement is something that all writers, published or not, have to face every day - whether it's because of the market, or because ideas evaporate, or because the words you need to convey what you see in your head as you write elude you. Your biggest difficulty, I think, looking at your question, is fear of failure; that your chances of selling a book are so small, why even try? I believe, truly believe, that the answer to that is to simply not think about it. Write to please yourself; write because you love to write; write because you have something to say, a story to tell, or a character who inspires you. Commercial success in this business is as much luck and persistence as it is talent, so if striving for that success is blocking you, re-define success. Make it about writing the best book you possibly can, and worry about what happens to your manuscript later.
The other difficulty that you're dealing with - "I haven't had an idea for years" - well, that's a tough one. I see from your website that you are a Christian. In the research I did for my novels I learned that the Anglo-Saxons, fervent Christians, believed that all inspiration came from God. You might find the answer to your difficulty in contemplation and prayer. We are bombarded with noise in this century. As a writer, you have to block it out, and listen to the silence.
I wish that I had more meaningful answers to give you, but I'm merely a struggling writer, just like you. I wish you all the best.
Discouragement is something that all writers, published or not, have to face every day - whether it's because of the market, or because ideas evaporate, or because the words you need to convey what you see in your head as you write elude you. Your biggest difficulty, I think, looking at your question, is fear of failure; that your chances of selling a book are so small, why even try? I believe, truly believe, that the answer to that is to simply not think about it. Write to please yourself; write because you love to write; write because you have something to say, a story to tell, or a character who inspires you. Commercial success in this business is as much luck and persistence as it is talent, so if striving for that success is blocking you, re-define success. Make it about writing the best book you possibly can, and worry about what happens to your manuscript later.
The other difficulty that you're dealing with - "I haven't had an idea for years" - well, that's a tough one. I see from your website that you are a Christian. In the research I did for my novels I learned that the Anglo-Saxons, fervent Christians, believed that all inspiration came from God. You might find the answer to your difficulty in contemplation and prayer. We are bombarded with noise in this century. As a writer, you have to block it out, and listen to the silence.
I wish that I had more meaningful answers to give you, but I'm merely a struggling writer, just like you. I wish you all the best.
Patricia Bracewell
Hi Kathleen. Bernard Cornwell is, in my mind, the very best novelist for this period. No one has topped Uhtred. Robert Low, too, is a wonderful writer, and his OATHSWORN Series is about Vikings. If you've watched and liked the Vikings tv show, you might like his books. Very gritty. Justin Hill's SHIELDWALL is set in Aethelred's England. Conn Iggulden has a new book out, DUNSTAN, a well-written (highly, highly fictionalized!) account of the life of the sainted archbishop who baptized Aethelred. But the world he creates is illuminating. V.M.Whitworth has written two 10th c mysteries: THE BONE THIEF, which I enjoyed, and THE TRAITOR'S PIT which I have not yet read. Dorothy Dunnett writes about Macbeth in KING HEREAFTER (warning: it's a tough read but worth the effort, although I DO NOT like her depiction of Emma.) Valerie Anand wrote GILDENFORD - about the Godwins - in 1977. I found her take on that family interesting, and far different from mine. There are other novelists writing in this period whose books I have not yet explored: Helen Hollick, of course, wrote about Emma in THE FOREVER QUEEN; James Aitcheson writes about post-1066 England. And Annie Whitehead's TO BE A QUEEN is about Aethelflaed. There! That's the best I can do. And now I have to get back to writing Emma's Book 3. Cheers!
Patricia Bracewell
Hello! I am pretty far into the writing of Book Three, 'Perilous Tides'. This morning my water engineer husband read a crucial battle scene involving a river and told me that my plan for getting my characters across would work. Yay! So yes! Emma's story will continue into Book 3. Thank you for asking!
Patricia Bracewell
Hi Ally. It is certainly possible, and I am definitely aiming to finish writing in 2017. Here's the bad news: once the book is written, the editing/copy-editing/cover-decisions/publication-promotion-plan/e-book/audio-book-pipeline takes another 18 months before a book is ready for release. It's a complicated, time consuming process, this book writing/production. In Emma's time, of course, it took much, much longer, and you would have had to skin a lot of sheep! So if you look at it that way, we're pretty lucky.
Patricia Bracewell
Claire and Jamie Fraser, from the OUTLANDER series immediately spring to mind. Their love story is a timeless romance that spans two centuries and takes them from youth to well into middle age. Over the course of eight books (and counting) author Diana Gabaldon explores all facets of love, marriage and passion. Theirs is a relationship that I find always fascinating, alluring, sexy, funny, down-to-earth and endlessly entertaining.
Patricia Bracewell
Hi Loretta. Thank you for dropping by. I am still writing Emma's Book 3 and so cannot even begin to hazard a guess as to when it will be released. The years 1013-1017 were VERY COMPLICATED in England, and I have written scenes set in Normandy and Denmark as well. Hang in there with me until I finish writing the book. When I type THE END, I'll be shouting about it.
Patricia Bracewell
Dear Winter,
Thank you for your excellent question, and I do not mind answering it at all. My interest in Emma was piqued originally by the fact that the Encomium Emmae Reginae, the book that she commissioned late in her life, makes no mention of the 15 years of her marriage to Aethelred. I wanted to write into that silence, to imagine what those years would have been like for her, and so those 15 years became the focus of my trilogy. But for me, the most intriguing mystery about Emma was how, at the end of Aethelred's reign, her marriage to Cnut came about. What went on there? How much choice did she have? What was the emotional impact? Was she the instigator, or was it Cnut, or was it someone else? History does not give us any answers, so as a novelist I get to make the call. How much fun is that? When you look closely at the years 1012-1017, there is plenty of drama (family drama, political drama, emotional drama) to fill this final book of the trilogy. Just keeping all the balls in the air is proving a real challenge! I'm so pleased that you are enjoying my books. I'm trying to make the last one the best.
Thank you for your excellent question, and I do not mind answering it at all. My interest in Emma was piqued originally by the fact that the Encomium Emmae Reginae, the book that she commissioned late in her life, makes no mention of the 15 years of her marriage to Aethelred. I wanted to write into that silence, to imagine what those years would have been like for her, and so those 15 years became the focus of my trilogy. But for me, the most intriguing mystery about Emma was how, at the end of Aethelred's reign, her marriage to Cnut came about. What went on there? How much choice did she have? What was the emotional impact? Was she the instigator, or was it Cnut, or was it someone else? History does not give us any answers, so as a novelist I get to make the call. How much fun is that? When you look closely at the years 1012-1017, there is plenty of drama (family drama, political drama, emotional drama) to fill this final book of the trilogy. Just keeping all the balls in the air is proving a real challenge! I'm so pleased that you are enjoying my books. I'm trying to make the last one the best.
Patricia Bracewell
Hi Susan. Oh, where to start? First, let me point you to my first post about The Vikings tv show, in which I discuss Ragnar and the moniker Hairy Breeks. I had fun with that post. (And yes, this is our Ragnar. Supposedly.) http://www.patriciabracewell.com/2013...
Second, Yes. I have read THE LONG SHIPS. It's a rollicking tale in which Sveyne Forkbeard, Harald Bluetooth and even King Aethelred make an appearance. Not to be taken too seriously - more of a modern-day saga.
Second, Yes. I have read THE LONG SHIPS. It's a rollicking tale in which Sveyne Forkbeard, Harald Bluetooth and even King Aethelred make an appearance. Not to be taken too seriously - more of a modern-day saga.
Patricia Bracewell
Hi Karen. 'The Price of Blood' is a continuation of the story of Emma of Normandy begun in 'Shadow on the Crown' and it begins in 1006, one year after the conclusion of 'Shadow'. The same characters appear in both books of course. The story is woven around the historical events that occurred during the years 1006-1012.
Patricia Bracewell
Hi Hannah. I'm afraid that I haven't looked that far ahead yet. I am deep into the writing of the third book of my trilogy about Emma of Normandy, and so I'm devoting all my attention to that.
Patricia Bracewell
Hi Alice. I wish I could give you a definitive answer about the publication of Book Three, but as I'm still writing it there is no date set for its release. All I can tell you is that I will get it out into the world just as soon as I can. I have to warn you, though, that once a manuscript is completed, it still takes another 18 months to turn it into a book. So I suppose that one answer to your question is: not 2016. I'm so glad you're enjoying the books!
Patricia Bracewell
Hello Meri,
Thank you for your interest in my novels and in Emma of Normandy. My inspiration for writing about this period of history was Emma herself. I stumbled across her name on the internet, way back in the 1990's. I had never heard of her, despite having taken a course in English history at university, and I was intrigued to learn that there had been a woman who had been wed to 2 different kings of England. My preliminary research led me to Aethelred's reign, the Anglo-Saxons, the Vikings, and Emma's own family history. I really wanted to explore what Emma's first marriage might have been like - for her - and how she might have dealt with the people and the events of Aethelred's reign, as well as how she handled the turmoil that would eventually lead to her second marriage. As for Book 3, I am working on it, but we have no publication date yet.
Thank you for your interest in my novels and in Emma of Normandy. My inspiration for writing about this period of history was Emma herself. I stumbled across her name on the internet, way back in the 1990's. I had never heard of her, despite having taken a course in English history at university, and I was intrigued to learn that there had been a woman who had been wed to 2 different kings of England. My preliminary research led me to Aethelred's reign, the Anglo-Saxons, the Vikings, and Emma's own family history. I really wanted to explore what Emma's first marriage might have been like - for her - and how she might have dealt with the people and the events of Aethelred's reign, as well as how she handled the turmoil that would eventually lead to her second marriage. As for Book 3, I am working on it, but we have no publication date yet.
Patricia Bracewell
Hi Maya. I tend to gravitate toward series mysteries when I'm reading for pleasure. Louise Penny, Anne Perry and Laurie R. King are a few of my mystery favorites. That said, I will drop everything to read a new Bernard Cornwell. I also admire Colm Toibin, Sebastian Barry, and Emma Donoghue who are all brilliant writers. (I hope some of the brilliance sinks in!)
Patricia Bracewell
After giving this some thought, Erika, - because it's difficult to define our own writing process, isn't it? - I'd have to say that it's a matter of putting myself into the scene. I think in scenes and therefor I write in scenes, or maybe it's the other way round, but in any case, the scene is the thing for me. I am right there with my characters, whether it's in a bedchamber or a church or a path beside a river. Frequently I make a drawing of the space so that I'm very clear about what each character can see and where they are in relationship to each other and to whatever things are present in that space. My characters' 'present' becomes my 'present', so I don't even think of it as 'the past'. Now I'm going over to your page to ask you the same question!
Patricia Bracewell
Hi Susan. Apologies for not responding sooner. I didn't see your question until just now. This is not the same time period as Ragnar Lothbrok and King Ecbert. (Aethelred II named all his sons after earlier kings, so that's why the names are the same.) The King Ecbert in the Vikings t.v. show ruled as king of Wessex from 802-839. He was the grandfather of King Alfred the Great. My novels don't begin until 1002. As for the Uhtred who we all know and love from Bernard Cornwell's books, he was an ancestor of the Uhtred who appears in my books, and of course he is contemporary with Alfred the Great who ruled from 871-899. So, lots of generations in between Cornwell's Uhtred and mine. I hope this information helps.
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