I\u2019m a medievalist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I think I have been since I was\nsix years old, when my sister and I rummaged through our parents\u2019 library to\nstudy and read the illustrated books gracing most of the bookshelves. You see,\nmy mother and father were ballet dancers and choreographers. For inspiration,\nthey not only based their works on classical music, but they also based\ncostumes, ballet poses, and story inspirations on the classics\u2014Greek myths,\nShakespeare\u2019s works, medieval manuscript illustrations. One award-winning\nballet, choreographed by my father, was Orfeo<\/em>,\nbased on the Greek myth of Orpheus, where my mother danced as Eurydice,\nOrpheus\u2019 wife. My mother choreographed another award-winning ballet, based on\nShakespeare, but with medieval costumes and some poses. My Masters\u2019 thesis is\non 12th<\/sup> century French romances and the interconnectivity between\ntheir plot and the law, the latter which was burgeoning as universities were being\nestablished throughout all of Europe during the mid-to-high middle ages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, how could I resist not making\nmy main character, Gabriela Martinez, into an artist, an illustrator to be\nexact, whose main goal had always been to reproduce the illustrations of\nmedieval manuscripts?<\/p>\n\n\n\n I couldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In my first suspense novel, The Coin<\/em>, my other main character,\nRichard Harrison, learns Gabriela is a painter\/illustrator. Intrigued, not only\nabout her skills, but also about the woman he is now falling for, Richard\nspends some time with Gabriela in her studio office, watching how she works. In\nmy original draft, I had a scene where she spoke to Richard about several\nillustrations she had on her desk that had to do with the topic of the\nfollow-up novel, The Book of Hours<\/em>.\nBut, after a couple of edits, I had to take the scene out because it did not\nadvance the plot\/suspense. I did keep, however, the suspense point where\nGabriela gets into trouble because of her love of manuscripts, as well as her\ndesire to reproduce them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And that appears in chapter\nseventeen of The Coin<\/em>, where the\nreader really understands what her goals are for the future:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Excerpt:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Albert smiled and guided her\nthrough the rose garden. \u201cGlad to hear it, especially after the news I received\nthis morning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat news?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere are two properties near Dublin\nwhich I\u2019m interested in acquiring\u2014for investment purposes, of course\u2014and I\u2019ll\nbe traveling there at the end of month.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gabriela\u2019s forehead crinkled in\nconfusion. Why on earth was he bringing this up? Unless this was his way of\ntelling her he\u2019d no longer be able to promote her works. \u201cHey, don\u2019t apologize\non my account. You have a profitable business to run, and I\u2019ve already usurped\nenough of your precious time. And with the quantity of work I have now, I\u2019ll be\nbusy for the next year and a half.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Albert shook his head. \u201cAs I was\nsaying, I\u2019ll be leaving for Dublin at month\u2019s end, and I was planning for you\nto accompany me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gabriela stopped. With hands on\nhips, she turned to stare at Albert. \u201cWhat do you mean, you want me to\naccompany you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Albert ignored her suspicious\nquery. \u201cThrough a titled friend of Saint-Jore, I have been able to get an\nintroduction to the curator of the library at Trinity College. We have been\ncorresponding back and forth now for about three months. A week ago, I sent him\na fax and advised him of my plans to visit the area. I also requested a small\nfavor. He gave his answer today, and it was affirmative.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gabriela was mystified, her mind\ntrying to put the pieces together. Trinity College Library? What on earth did\nthat have to do with her? \u201cYou\u2019re not going to give me any more hints?\u201d she\nasked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat does that library have that\ninterests you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her eyes widened in shocked\nincredulity. \u201cThe Book of Kells?\u201d she breathed softly, afraid the rising hope\nand excitement in her would evaporate in the air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Albert smiled in triumph. \u201cI knew\nyou\u2019d come up with the answer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut, Albert, the Book of Kells? Are\nyou sure they\u2019ll let me see it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNot only see it, but study it. Of\ncourse, you\u2019ll have to be accompanied at all times, wear protective gloves and\nI don\u2019t know what else, but that shouldn\u2019t pose any problems for you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gabriela closed her eyes,\nwondering what she had done to deserve such a magnificent friend. The Book of\nKells was the most beautiful manuscript ever created and to study it personally\nwas a chance in a lifetime, especially since she wanted to create one of her\nown, using all the ancient techniques. It was a personal dream come true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt will require that you leave\nfor several days, of course. That\u2019s why I was worried you\u2019d allow Roberto to\nget in the way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe wouldn\u2019t dare, not after what\nI\u2019m sacrificing for his damn contract.\u201d\n\nAlbert eyed her with\ncuriosity. Her tone had been almost vicious. \u201cWhat sacrifices?\u201d\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I\u2019m a medievalist. I think I have been since I was six years old, when my sister and I rummaged through our parents\u2019 library to study and read the illustrated books gracing most of the bookshelves. You see, my mother and father were ballet dancers and choreographers. For inspiration, they not only based their works … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1373,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mariaelenawrites.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mariaelenawrites.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mariaelenawrites.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mariaelenawrites.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mariaelenawrites.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1367"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mariaelenawrites.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1367\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2361,"href":"https:\/\/mariaelenawrites.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1367\/revisions\/2361"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mariaelenawrites.com\/blog\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mariaelenawrites.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mariaelenawrites.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mariaelenawrites.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}