Ask the Author: Deborah L. Davitt
Answered Questions (3)
Deborah L. Davitt
Er, I don't actually have a favorite. I like the wit and humanity of Benedict and Beatrice in Much Ado about nothing, and it's hard not to like the fact that Eliza and Darcy are both equally wrong in Pride and Prejudice (it's. . . right there in the title), and both have to grow, equally, to reach understanding.
Quite a lot of more modern examples have one or the other half of the couple not growing, or always being right, or always acting like the center of the universe (and the plot and other characters allow it), and that tends to irritate me.
Quite a lot of more modern examples have one or the other half of the couple not growing, or always being right, or always acting like the center of the universe (and the plot and other characters allow it), and that tends to irritate me.
Deborah L. Davitt
Hi there! Nice to meet you, and I'm delighted that you enjoyed the book!
I honestly can't estimate how many hours I put into research, because I did a bit every day. It took me roughly . . . 5 months, I think? . . . to do the rough drafts of the trilogy, so maybe 1-2 hours a day would be spent tracking down some bit of information, depending on the day in question.
I'm doing *more* research this time; I was writing Book IV, when I got distracted by doing the prequels. I didn't think I had the educational background to handle it, but I have a reader who's currently doing his Master's in Classics at a UK university, and he's been quite helpful as a guide. While I continue to do my own research, it's handy to have *two* people who can chase down an answer. . . and he has a slew of professors he can ask when we're utterly stumped by something that the internet presents conflicting information on (or plain inaccurate, as I've found a couple of times).
Thanks for the question, and I hope you'll stick around for the rest of the books!
I honestly can't estimate how many hours I put into research, because I did a bit every day. It took me roughly . . . 5 months, I think? . . . to do the rough drafts of the trilogy, so maybe 1-2 hours a day would be spent tracking down some bit of information, depending on the day in question.
I'm doing *more* research this time; I was writing Book IV, when I got distracted by doing the prequels. I didn't think I had the educational background to handle it, but I have a reader who's currently doing his Master's in Classics at a UK university, and he's been quite helpful as a guide. While I continue to do my own research, it's handy to have *two* people who can chase down an answer. . . and he has a slew of professors he can ask when we're utterly stumped by something that the internet presents conflicting information on (or plain inaccurate, as I've found a couple of times).
Thanks for the question, and I hope you'll stick around for the rest of the books!
Deborah L. Davitt
Honestly, I've been fascinated by Rome and other ancient cultures for years, and people around me have always liked to throw out the truism that "oh, we'd be on Mars by now if Rome hadn't fallen." With that at the back of my mind, I've always wondered what the world would have looked like if Rome hadn't fallen. . . and then, in the course of researching something else, I ran into a description of the Morning Star ritual as it was once enacted here in North America. Something went *ping* in my head, and I thought Hmm, Rome probably wouldn't have liked that much.
I started fleshing out the setting and the story, and a friend asked me if I thought they'd have magic. I'd never actually considered that. But once I did, technomancy and god-born all entered the world, and that gave us Edda.
I started fleshing out the setting and the story, and a friend asked me if I thought they'd have magic. I'd never actually considered that. But once I did, technomancy and god-born all entered the world, and that gave us Edda.
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