Ask the Author: Anthony R. Wildman
Answered Questions (4)
Anthony R. Wildman
The fact that you can write anywhere. My partner and I have been travelling in Europe for the last two and a half years, and yet I've been able to write and publish one book and complete the first draft of a second. It's not an ideal way to do it, I must admit, there are a lot of distractions, but what other activity lets you do both?
Anthony R. Wildman
My current project is a novel about Niccolo Machiavelli. Everyone knows of him as the author of the Prince, a rather infamous handbook for politicians, and of course his very name has come to be synonymous with deviousness. But I am interested in the period of his life before he became a political philosopher, when he was an active diplomat employed by the Republic of Florence in its long duel with Cesare Borgia. I hope that, by the time readers have finished it, they might have a different and perhaps more nuanced view of this fascinating character (think Hilary Mantel and the Wolf Hall trilogy).
Anthony R. Wildman
Everything for me starts with history. Since I was ten years old (probably younger, actually) I've had my nose in either a history book or a historical novel. So when the time came for me to start seriously writing, it was natural that I should turn to history for my inspiration. There are so many great stories and characters in the past, and many of them just beg for a good fictional treatment - I love the process of bringing long-dead characters to life.
Anthony R. Wildman
The original inspiration for What News on the Rialto came one morning when I was holidaying in Verona. I had climbed up the hill above the old Roman Theatre, and was looking out across the city at dawn, when the idea came to me that maybe William Shakespeare had sat in the same spot, thinking about Romeo and Juliet. That idea lodged somewhere in the inner recesses of my mind, and when, ready to be retrieved some years later when my corporate career came to its natural end, and I was casting around for something to do. I had always wanted to write a novel, and the idea that Shakespeare might have travelled in Italy, and got his inspiration there, seemed like a fun subject to tackle!
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