Ask the Author: Margaret Rodenberg
Answered Questions (6)
Margaret Rodenberg
Hi, Kristi,
I'm not sending out paperbacks for reviews right now, but good news! The ebook version is at a special price of $3.99 from now to December 23. Would you like to try that? I appreciate your interest.
All the best, Margaret
I'm not sending out paperbacks for reviews right now, but good news! The ebook version is at a special price of $3.99 from now to December 23. Would you like to try that? I appreciate your interest.
All the best, Margaret
Margaret Rodenberg
It is the most intellectually demanding and satisfying pursuit I've ever followed. You can do anywhere, at any age, with as much or as little time and investment as you chose.
Second, if you want, you can do it alone or you can engage with a wonderful community of other writers and readers.
Second, if you want, you can do it alone or you can engage with a wonderful community of other writers and readers.
Margaret Rodenberg
Do it, do it, do it, but keep your day job. Love the writing as a reward in itself, because it's only the rare few who make a living from it.
Margaret Rodenberg
Many years ago, I learned that Napoleon Bonaparte had tried to write a novel. Best of all, his scribbled incomplete manuscript still existed. Immediately, I decided to finish it for him. I'd lived in France as a young teen and never lost my fascination for the country, its history, and, in particular, Napoleon. Plus, like many avid readers (perhaps like you), I’d always planned to write a novel. What could be more perfect?
Thus began a long journey. Along the way, I researched hundreds of sources about Napoleon and traveled tens of thousands of miles. I visited Napoleon’s childhood home in Corsica and his school in Brienne and, of course, took research trips to Paris. My greatest adventure was my trip to the site of Napoleon's final exile--St. Helena Island, which remains one of the most remote spots in the world. The island didn’t have an airport when I went there, so I took the only option: a five-day voyage out of Cape Town, South Africa, on the HMS St. Helena, one of Britain’s last mail ships. I stayed on the island for nine days, until embarking on a return voyage of five days on rough seas.
On St. Helena, the French lovingly maintain the places where Napoleon stayed and his grave site (before his body was returned to France). I don’t believe in ghosts, but the day I stood alone in the room where the Emperor died, I was moved by the presence of a huge, tragic soul. I’d found the driving force for my novel.
Thus began a long journey. Along the way, I researched hundreds of sources about Napoleon and traveled tens of thousands of miles. I visited Napoleon’s childhood home in Corsica and his school in Brienne and, of course, took research trips to Paris. My greatest adventure was my trip to the site of Napoleon's final exile--St. Helena Island, which remains one of the most remote spots in the world. The island didn’t have an airport when I went there, so I took the only option: a five-day voyage out of Cape Town, South Africa, on the HMS St. Helena, one of Britain’s last mail ships. I stayed on the island for nine days, until embarking on a return voyage of five days on rough seas.
On St. Helena, the French lovingly maintain the places where Napoleon stayed and his grave site (before his body was returned to France). I don’t believe in ghosts, but the day I stood alone in the room where the Emperor died, I was moved by the presence of a huge, tragic soul. I’d found the driving force for my novel.
Margaret Rodenberg
My current project is also historical fiction. It takes place during the French Revolution. There will be cameo appearances of characters from FINDING NAPOLEON, but the main character is a young woman in love with the wrong man during the height of the Terror.
Margaret Rodenberg
When I run into "writer's block," it's invariably because I don't know WHAT to say rather than HOW to say something. Usually, I stop trying to write perfect (or even good) prose, and brainstorm story ideas. Once I know where a story or a character or even an essay or blog post is going, then the writing flows. Sometimes I have to work on different project or a different aspect of the work-in-progress before the logjam breaks.
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