Kristian Mercer

Signings in Seattle: Kate Mosse


Earlier this week I had the pleasure of attending a booksigning for British novelist Kate Mosse. Her novel, Labyrinth, unravels the parallel lives of two women - Alais, a medieval healer, and Alice, her modern counterpart. Interwoven with their story is the history of medieval Languedoc, particularly the thirteenth-century Crusade undertaken against the Cathars, and the legend of the Holy Grail.

According to her website, Mosse first visited Carcassonne - one of the principal cities in her novel - fifteen years ago. She admitted during her reading that's she had the book in her head for at least that long. She went on to say that one of her favorite questions from readers is that old standby: how did you come to write this book?

"When does a book begin?" she asked the audience. The first time you fall in love with an idea, with a place - a scent, a scene, a song? When you begin your research? Or when you sit down to write?

So that started me thinking. The essence of my WIP originated during a long holiday drive to Medford, OR. Mr. Mercer was driving; the tape player was broken - so no music - and the sun had set - so no reading. To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure how the conversation started - but by the time we arrived in Medford, I had laid the foundation for my novel.

I plotted and outlined and developed character studies for a long time (far, far longer than I'll ever admit). But the story itself didn't begin to take shape until I decided to add a paranormal element. At first I was strongly opposed to the idea. I wanted to write a straight historical romance - and I did, in fact, draft several chapters of just such a novel. But my characters kept niggling at me, demanding that I tell their story properly. At last I sat down with printouts from Sur La Lune and The Endicott Studio, and I re-discovered the allure of faery tales. I ended up creating an alternate Regency England, where a few chosen families have been blessed by the magick of the Faery Queen.

By this time I had the basic elements of my story - the plot, the characters, the conflict and resolution. What I wasn't yet able to do was see where my story was taking place. I needed a setting, a particular atmosphere - and when I found the beautiful, slightly surreal images of fog-shrouded, wintry England (as photographed for The English Home), everything finally clicked.

So how did The Changeling Bride begin? Slowly, in fits and starts. There certainly wasn't a single "aha!" moment. But perhaps, by allowing these different layers of inspiration to influence me, I'll succeed in bringing this "book of my heart" to life.