Author Iris Anthony Interview and Gift Card Contest LIVE Here!

BBB: What is the strangest thing you ever did to research something for a story?

IA: For this story, since it’s about miracles, I needed to track down people who had experienced miraculous healing to ask them what it felt like and how they knew they’d been healed. It’s not strange in terms of being dangerous or bizarre, but that’s not one of my standard research questions!

BBB: What character was the toughest for you to get onto the page, and why? How did you finally crack it?

IA:  In The Miracle Thief, it was probably my knight. I think it was mostly because in the Dark Ages, there really weren’t knights in shining armor as we think of them today. Chivalry hadn’t developed yet because everyone was so busy simply trying to survive. I suppose you might say he was more of a ‘knight in the rough’.

BBB: Have you ever had second thoughts or regrets after killing off a main character?

IA:  Second thoughts? No. The few characters I’ve killed off have been created to die. Which doesn’t mean they were all bad. “All”! That sounds like I’m some sort of serial-writer/killer. I killed off the hero in one book (not telling which one). I knew from the beginning that he would have to die, but I still cry whenever I think of that ending. I had a suicide in one book of a secondary character. There was an unsolved murder of the villain in another book.( I’m pretty sure his mother did it, but she was pretty loony by that point and she never really told me for sure…). Let’s see…there was a mother who died in one book, but she was an obstacle in my Romeo/Juliet scenario, so I didn’t feel too badly about that. She made her own decisions. There was a brother of a main character who died in a prison. That was sad. And in The Ruins of Lace, both the villains die in creatively violent ways. Gosh. I sound really creepy, don’t I?

BBB: How do you keep track of your world building?

IA:  Whenever possible, I like to use maps. If I can find them digitized, on-line, that’s the format I prefer to use. But I ordered a turn-of-century map for my 1912 St. Louis book. It originally came from a guide book for the World’s Fair so it’s quite tiny, but it had all the relevant street-car and railway lines on it as well as the era’s street names. I could track the movement of my characters quite easily.

For my two Iris Anthony books I used a huge map of France that I have hanging in my basement. It’s been really handy for my French-set novels (there have been 4 of them). Finding floor plans for period castles and houses has been problematic. Sometimes I find historic monuments or museums that have ‘tour maps’ I can use. I browse Google Books quite a lot. And when all else fails, I’ve been known to draw my own floor plans and maps. For The Miracle Thief, I was lucky to stumble onto a website that has a ‘map your own Roman era road-trip’ using Roman roads. Since those were the roads in use during the Dark Ages, it saved me a ton of time trying to figure out itineraries.

BBB: Please tell us more about The Miracle Thief and the storyline that drives it.

IA:  The Miracle Thief is about three women united in a reverence for a relic of Saint Catherine of Alexandria and in search of worth. That search leads them to the chapel where the relic is housed, but it also leads a band of Danes (Vikings) to the same location. I was interested in whether divine power would be able to stand against a Viking assault.

BBB: Is The Miracle Thief a stand alone or a series? If it is a series, how many more books will there be?

IA: It’s a stand alone. I would love to write a series, but my stories keep coming to me one at a time.

BBB: What sets The Miracle Thief apart from other books in the same genre?

IA: The Miracle Thief is historical fiction, but it’s set in the Dark Ages and there aren’t really many historicals right now with that setting. My novel also speaks of miracles, not in a ‘magical-realism’ sense but as a distinct, everyday possibility.

BBB: What types of characters can readers expect in your world?

IA:  Women (and men) who are scorned, for different reasons, by the world around them. They’re trying to determine whether they have any worth. Trying to find their value. And as their world crumbles about them, they’re driven to take desperate measures in order to find what they seek.

BBB: Did you do any kind of research to determine the details of your characters lives / lifestyles?

IA:  I read all the books I could find, but there’s not much of a historical record for the year 911/912 or those surrounding it. It’s a momentous time period, but everyone was so busy trying to live or survive it that no one had the time to chronicle the age as it was actually happening. I had to ‘back-door’ my characters’ lifestyles by reading about people in the previous century (preferred) or about the lifestyle around the year 1000. I also had to make some choices early on about characters and events. They were ‘flip-a-coin’ sort of choices that really could have gone either way. The more I wrote, however, and the more resources I uncovered, the more my ‘whatever’ choices came together and seemed like the right ones. The best material I found I had to translate from French. It took a while, but it was worth it The French love their history and they usually go into greater detail about it than we do about ours.

BBB: Are you a plotser or a pantser? or a Planster (a combo of both)

IA:  I used to be a pantser when I first started writing, but I always had so much work to do during the editing stage (and often doing the same sort of revisions for each book) that I decided I had to get smarter about the way I was doing writing. Now, I create scene cards before I start writing. When I spread them out on the floor, I understand where the gaps in my plot are. Once I fill those in, I rubber-band the cards together, drop them into a drawer, and never look at them again. It’s helpful for pre-writing, but even so I do tend to deviate. Hmmm. After re-reading that, I’m starting to think I’m just a plantser wannabe…

BBB: What’s the best thing that anyone said to you when you were in a writing low spot?

IA:  That would be a tie between my agent and my husband. My agent reminds me that I was put here on this earth to say something. My husband asks if I want a piece of chocolate (or some ice cream) and reminds me that I can always quit doing this if I want to. The first appeals to my sense of mission, the second is classic reverse psychology. They both work. At least for me.

BBB: Do you set a daily word count goal, time limit goal, or just go with the flow?

IA:  During my first draft, my goal is 3,000 words/day, four days a week. In my second and third drafts (smoothing everything out, filling in my story gaps, and researching the details I was too lazy to research in the first place), I try to get through at least 10 pages/day. During my fourth draft, I’m trying for at least 20 pages.

BBB: What’s coming up for you for the rest of 2014?

IA:  At the moment, I’m editing my 2015 Siri Mitchell book, Like a Flower in Bloom. It’s a comedy of manners set in 1850s Victorian England. I’m also supposed to be research reading for my 2016 Siri book which will be set at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Right now I’m thinking it will also be set in the 1850s, but that could always change…!

BBB: What was the BEST book you read in 2013?

IA:  Quiet – The Power of Introverts in a World That Won’t Stop Talking. It taught me a lot about myself.

10 Quick Things About Iris

Favorite Food? Vanilla anything. Extra points if it’s served with caramel.

Favorite Color? Purple

Favorite Movie or TV Show of all Time? While You Were Sleeping

Favorite Drink? Coffee

Favorite Book? Killer Angels. Perfect mix of history, honor, courage, and horror.

Favorite Season? Fall

Favorite Online Hangout? Pinterest. It’s just so easy to click from one great idea to another.

Favorite Animal? Dog

Favorite Band or Musician? Shannon Labrie. If you haven’t heard of her yet, do yourself a favor and visit her website!

Mode of Travel? (Trains, Planes or Automobiles) Planes. They can take you to more exotic places.

Favorite Vacation Destination? France

Read a 5 star review of The Miracle Thief by clicking here.
Buy a print copy of The Miracle Thief from Amazon by clicking here.
Buy a Kindle copy of The Miracle Thief  from Amazon by clicking here.

About Iris Anthony

Author Bio:

Iris Anthony is a pseudonym. The writer behind the name, Siri Mitchell, is an award-winning author of fourteen novels. She is fluent in French and loves to travel, having lived on three continents and traveled to five. But she still likes home the best where she lives with her family and Larry the Cuddle Pug.

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