Tracy:  Welcome to Roundtable Reviews.  It is such a pleasure to have you join us.  THE KNAVE AND THE MAIDEN (originally titled THE PILGRIM AND THE PALMER) was a finalist in the RWA’s Golden Heart Awards.  Can you share your path to publication with readers?

Blythe:  My first book took six years to write – and re-write, often trying to twist it into what I thought would sell.  Although it garnered some good contest credentials, it was rejected by an impressive collection of editors and agents.  I began to wonder whether I should try again, but I did.  This time, I committed myself to writing everyday and to putting down the story I felt moved to tell.  Still, getting the Golden Heart call in 2000 was such a Cinderella moment!  I had no expectations I would final.  It took another couple of years before I finally got The Call from my wonderful editor at Harlequin, Melissa Endlich and the book will be on the stands in January 2004.  This is a business of delayed gratification. 

Tracy:  You tackled a less frequently used period for your story.  How did you handle the research for that time?  Furthermore, you had a perfect balance of the history without bogging the reader down.  Did you find yourself at times adding too much history and having to revise or did you have a clear path from the start?

Blythe:  I’m glad you felt the balance was right.  I love history, so I want my readers to experience the times instead of reading a history lesson.  That usually means I put in everything and then have to take it all out unless it means something personal to my characters.

When I’m working on a project, I first try to get a big picture, not only of historic events, but of the worldview.  I need to understand the mindset my characters take for granted.  Then I’ll dig down to more specialized books, in this case, on pilgrimages and on shrines in England.  And I love anything with pictures!  The web can be a fabulous resource.  For one scene, my hero and heroine were in Exeter’s Cathedral.  A quick search led me to an entire website with a floor plan, dates of what was built when, and close up pictures of carvings they might have seen.

I love finding the details that make the story real.  For example, pilgrims brought home souvenir “badges.”  That was the inspiration for the lead feather for the shrine in my book.  I was in the Cluny Museum after the book was written and saw a display case of pilgrims’ badges.  Darned if I didn’t stare at them for five minutes looking for a lead feather from the Shrine of the Blessed Larina before I remembered I made it up!

Tracy:  Some romances overlook the grim details of the medieval times.  You did not go that route and added the air of murder and jealousy, as well as messy battle injuries that was very common.  I know you are planning to return to that time period again.  Can you tell the readers more about it?

Blythe:  For me, the Fourteenth Century is the height of the Middle Ages.  I first became interested in the period when I read Katherine, by Anya Seton, in Junior High, so I have been intrigued with that era for a long time.  It’s chock full of fascinating events.  The Hundred Years War.  The Plague.  The intrigues of the English royal family and a King who ruled for 50 years.  But the important question is how those events shape the characters. 

Tracy:  Besides your romance writing, you have a few articles coming out soon with Writer’s Digest.  Do you enjoy the aspects of the more technical writing equally to fictional writing?

Blythe:  They are totally different exercises.  The article writing is much easier, but I’ve chosen to put most of my writing energy into fiction.  The non-fiction allows my inner critic to analyze the writing process, so I can let the inner child play with the fiction.

Tracy:  Instead of asking an author to pick their favorite authors, which I agree is often an impossible task, I like to ask what you have in your current reading pile.

Blythe:  I’ve just read the work of another debut author, Pat White, who’s GOT A HOLD ON YOU, is set in the world of professional wrestling.  She’s a writing buddy of mine and we’re total opposites.  I write angsty historicals, she writes hilarious contemporaries.  I’m also finally catching up on Susan Elizabeth Phillips’ BREATHING ROOM.  My TBR pile overfloweth!  I’m looking forward to fellow Harlequin author Margaret Moore’s IN THE KING’S SERVICE and I want to get to Madeline Hunter’s new series soon.

Tracy:  When you are not writing do you have other hobbies that you enjoy?

Blythe: I read history for fun!  But I love art museums, music, walking the beach, travel, good meals, and being with friends.

Tracy:  Now that you have your debut book under your belt, are there other romance sub-genres that you would like to try your hand at in the future?

Blythe:  No one can predict where the muse might go, but I see myself staying in the historical realm for the present.  I do have some other time periods I’d love to explore, though.

Tracy:  Thanks so much for spending a little time with Roundtable Reviews.  If there is anything I did not touch on that you wanted to mention, please feel free!  Readers can find out more about this talented author at www.blythegifford.com

 Blythe:  I’d love to invite readers to visit my site.   Fellow Golden Heart finalist and debut Harlequin Historicals author, and sizzling Blaze and Temptation author,  Joanne Rock, will publish her first historical, THE WEDDING KNIGHT, the month after mine.  To celebrate, we are running a joint contest to remind readers to start the New Year with a KNAVE and a KNIGHT!  The prize is a CD of beautiful medieval love music to inspire your own happy ending.

 Blythe Gifford

The Knave and The Maiden

Harlequin Historicals January 2004