Ask the Author: D.M. Denton
Answered Questions (8)
D.M. Denton
Slow down. Take the time to experiment, develop, and be open to the unexpected. Find your own way and savor the journey—even, especially, its detours. Don’t jeopardize the quality of your work by being in a hurry to see your efforts in print. What you write is your child—you want to see it grow up to be the best it can be, but that means it has to go through the stages to maturity. Engage the senses as much if not more than the intellect. I love this quote by Ray Bradbury: “Your intuition knows what to write, so get out of the way.” Write what and because you have to write. Allow for the uniqueness of your voice and avoid the temptation of trends and popular appeal that risk you trying to be a writer other than the one you are meant to be. Or as Allen Ginsberg wrote, “To gain your own voice, you have to forget about having it heard.”
D.M. Denton
I do still work a day job, so the four to six months I spend on research before I begin writing is a weekend activity. As I’m the sole caretaker of my elderly mother, travel is not viable for me and I’m very grateful for the internet that takes me where I need to go and supplies much of what I need to know—or be refreshed on, if the setting is somewhere I have been, as with my last novel. I search out books, letters, essays, images, videos, music, every significant and insignificant thing; reading, watching, listening, assimilating, believing, belonging, and imagining. Of course, the research process continues even once I begin to write. I particularly like letters or personal diaries as they often reveal the secrets and nuances of a person or an event. I try to uncover as many viewpoints as I can and then choose which I think is the most viable, interesting, or even blend them. For instance, I’m presently writing about Anne Brontë and various biographies differ on whether or not she had a romantic attachment with her father’s curate William Weightman. There is a comment by Charlotte Brontë in one of her letters that gives an indication of an attraction between them, and a from-the-heart poem Anne wrote some time after his death expressing love and possibility lost to her, but there is no way to know for certain. My imagination relishes these uncertain areas and I especially enjoy weaving them into the facts of the matter.
D.M. Denton
In hindsight, my journey towards writing historical fiction began in my early teens when I developed an insatiable appetite for classic literature, period films and plays, and Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, and traditional music. I’ve long had a fascination with the clothes, customs, social and political issues of the past, and I’m attracted to the lives of writers, artists, musicians, intellectuals, and innovators, but, also, ‘ordinary’ folk like gardeners and domestics. All in all, it’s more comfortable for me to write within a historical context; I feel I can reveal myself and still remain hidden. I can indulge my old-fashioned sensibilities yet still oblige my progressive tendencies, because history isn’t static, somewhere dead in time, but a life force for the present and future.
D.M. Denton
The most important thing to do is listen—constantly listen, using music specific to a period and/composer as a soundtrack to the conceptualizing, researching, and writing of the novels until I'm living with and even haunted by it like an invisible presence. Of course, I also refer to academic sources, and the notes on CD sleeves are a great help. I use some musical terminology as it offers imagery the poet in me finds too lovely to resist!
I have played the piano, guitar and Celtic harp, and sung a little. The pleasure I find in trying to translate music into words might come from my regret at not having pursued a musical career. I suppose writing about music is another way of participating in it. I find it very satisfying. I never set out to try to imitate, explain or even describe music, but somehow convey its elusive existence in the heart and spirit.
This question makes me think of the 1991 French movie about the 17th century composers Marin Marais and Sainte-Colombe, Tous les Matin du Monde that asks: “What is music?” Sainte-Colombe insists words cannot describe it—that it is the sound of the wind, a painter’s brush, wine pouring into a cup, or just the tear on a cheek. I agree that it is impossible to express the essence or the effect of music in words, but I hope my readers experience something of its beauty and power through what I have written, especially as it is inexpressible.
I have played the piano, guitar and Celtic harp, and sung a little. The pleasure I find in trying to translate music into words might come from my regret at not having pursued a musical career. I suppose writing about music is another way of participating in it. I find it very satisfying. I never set out to try to imitate, explain or even describe music, but somehow convey its elusive existence in the heart and spirit.
This question makes me think of the 1991 French movie about the 17th century composers Marin Marais and Sainte-Colombe, Tous les Matin du Monde that asks: “What is music?” Sainte-Colombe insists words cannot describe it—that it is the sound of the wind, a painter’s brush, wine pouring into a cup, or just the tear on a cheek. I agree that it is impossible to express the essence or the effect of music in words, but I hope my readers experience something of its beauty and power through what I have written, especially as it is inexpressible.
D.M. Denton
You aren't alone in being unfamiliar with the 17th century Italian composer, Alessandro Stradella. Many academic studies barely mention him, despite the fact that his output was versatile and copious, included operas, oratorios, serenatas, madrigals, and incidental music, and encompassed both sacred and secular music. In his time, for the best and worst reasons, he was quite a celebrity. After his death, the emphasis of his renown was based more on the messes he had made than the masterpieces. Born of minor nobility in 1639 in Nepi near Rome, Stradella was cultivated but also something of a vagabond. He had excellent opportunities in Rome, Venice, Turin and Genoa, but his impetuous nature entangled him in scandals. Still, he was forgiven his trespasses again and again, and continued to be engaged by royals and other nobility for both grand and domestic occasions. Unusual in his time, he wasn’t tied to any one patron but was more of a freelance composer. His work was no less significant than that of his contemporaries. If anything, it was more passionate and pioneering.
How I heard about Stradella was fortuitous, and why I wrote about him quite personal. I first became aware of him thanks to a CBC Radio 2 (Canadian) program called In the Shadows. The announcer played examples of Stradella’s music and related his story. Stradella’s paradoxical genius, charisma, and libertine attitude were very seductive—all the more so because he reminded me of someone I knew. It was a few years later that I decided to write a novel with Stradella as the focus.
How I heard about Stradella was fortuitous, and why I wrote about him quite personal. I first became aware of him thanks to a CBC Radio 2 (Canadian) program called In the Shadows. The announcer played examples of Stradella’s music and related his story. Stradella’s paradoxical genius, charisma, and libertine attitude were very seductive—all the more so because he reminded me of someone I knew. It was a few years later that I decided to write a novel with Stradella as the focus.
D.M. Denton
It's is an integration of instinct, emotion, experience, and curiosity. And I must feel a strong connection to what I'm writing about, such as I do to nature, music, art, history, and certain spiritual beliefs. To begin with, I feel the essence of a story rather than have a detailed plan for it. Its spirit, the unveiling and evolving of its actual and fictional characters, and the flow and sensory qualities of the writing are as, if not more, important than its historical or personal basis. Whether I’m writing about hundreds of years or a moment ago, I have to be wholly present to its possibilities. Too much planning can cause me to be pondering, over-protective, even fearful, and limited. Spontaneity causes vulnerability but, also, creates a vitality that heightens sensitivity and awareness, and allows for a chance of magic.
D.M. Denton
Updated 4/26/19 My current novel-in-progress is a portrait of the Victorian poetess Christina Rossetti, sister to the painter and poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti, one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. It is tentatively -and very possibly permanently - titled 'The Dove Upon Her Branch'. The idea to write about Christina came years ago when I was drawn to writing about lesser known women writers. It was originally going to be a compilation of at least three novellas, but has turned into a succession of novels, 'The Dove Upon Her Branch' being the second. The first, 'Without the Veil Between, Anne Bronte: A Fine and Subtle Spirit' was published in 2017, has been glowingly received and is about to have a presence on the shelves of the Bronte Parsonage Shop in Haworth, West Yorkshire, England. Uncovering the inner beauty and contradictions, heart and soul of these remarkably creative, tenacious women has been one of the most enlightening and transforming journeys of my life.
D.M. Denton
Updated 9/5/2023.
I am just beginning to write a novel about the late Victorian, early 20th century English (Shropshire) novelist and poet Mary Webb. It will be the third in a series of novels about lesser-known women writers, the first, "Without the Veil Between, Anne Brontë: A Fine and Subtle Spirit" (2017) and the second - just released - "The Dove Upon Her Branch, A Novel Portrait of Christina Rossetti" (July 2023), both published, as were my first two novels, by All Things That Matter Press. I am also slowly working on an illustrated poetry/prose book about cats.
I am just beginning to write a novel about the late Victorian, early 20th century English (Shropshire) novelist and poet Mary Webb. It will be the third in a series of novels about lesser-known women writers, the first, "Without the Veil Between, Anne Brontë: A Fine and Subtle Spirit" (2017) and the second - just released - "The Dove Upon Her Branch, A Novel Portrait of Christina Rossetti" (July 2023), both published, as were my first two novels, by All Things That Matter Press. I am also slowly working on an illustrated poetry/prose book about cats.
About Goodreads Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
See Featured Authors Answering Questions
Learn more