Historical (and Blaze) author Joanne Rock offers a special gift package including a signed copy of her latest. see http://www.joannerock.com/ for details. Remember everyone who enters automatically goes in for the grand prize of a kindle 3 g.
Showing posts with label Joanne Rock. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Joanne Rock. Show all posts
Friday, December 10, 2010
Monday, March 03, 2008
March HH Release: A Knight Most Wicked by Joanne Rock
Baseborn Sir Tristan Carlisle had fought his way to a knighthood. On the threshold of gaining land and power, he would not be distracted from his ultimate goal.Until, deep in the Bohemian forest, he encountered a woman with unforgettable green eyes. He never expected to see her again—but then the gypsy arrived at court as a lady-in-waiting. Convinced that she was an ambitious impostor, Tristan set out to seduce the truth from Arabella—assuming he could resist the power of her charms….
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A Knight Most Wicked
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Roots of An Idea
People often ask writers where they get their ideas. I try to simplify the answer wherever possible because, honestly, it’s a complicated business. Take for instance my upcoming release, A KNIGHT MOST WICKED. I started out with a couple of very general concepts that I wanted to weave into a backdrop of a story. I didn’t have a couple in mind. No conflict in mind. I had a setting. An ambiance. A mood. I wanted to write a book set in Bohemia.
I made decisions very quickly from there. If you’ve ever picked up Malcolm Gladwell’s BLINK, you’ve heard about his ideas of “thin slicing” and the rapid cognition processes our brains go through when we’re making judgments or—in my case—brainstorming. I think I came up with Bohemia for a setting because I wanted to write a bohemian character. I believe this because, honestly, I had no idea when or exactly where Bohemia existed. But I quickly oriented myself and discovered Bohemia was a historical country located in what is current Czechoslovakia. The historical country existed from the eleventh century to World War I.
Futhermore, in thinking I wanted a bohemian character, I actually didn’t do a bad job in searching for the physical region of Bohemia. According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, bohemian means “’a gypsy of society,’ 1848, from Fr. bohemién (1559), from the country name, from M.Fr. Boheme "Bohemia." Aha! And as luck would have it, my bohemian heroine would have secret gypsy roots, so I’d come to the right place.
I believe I knew all of this in the back of my mind. The knowledge wasn’t certain or accessible, but I’d no doubt been exposed to it at some point and it surfaced when I needed it. I think some of my creative processes support some of Gladwell’s BLINK ideas. Once I had my gypsy heroine and my Bohemia setting, the rest of the story came together in a flash. I searched for an intriguing time in history and came up with 1380, when Princess Anne of Bohemia gathered a huge retinue to accompany her to England to wed Richard II. The retinue had to be impressive since her dowry was not. And that’s how I worked my heroine with an unusual background into the glittering royal company.
*** I’ll be giving away copies of A KNIGHT MOST WICKED at my website starting this weekend. Please do drop by for a chance to win!
I made decisions very quickly from there. If you’ve ever picked up Malcolm Gladwell’s BLINK, you’ve heard about his ideas of “thin slicing” and the rapid cognition processes our brains go through when we’re making judgments or—in my case—brainstorming. I think I came up with Bohemia for a setting because I wanted to write a bohemian character. I believe this because, honestly, I had no idea when or exactly where Bohemia existed. But I quickly oriented myself and discovered Bohemia was a historical country located in what is current Czechoslovakia. The historical country existed from the eleventh century to World War I.
Futhermore, in thinking I wanted a bohemian character, I actually didn’t do a bad job in searching for the physical region of Bohemia. According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, bohemian means “’a gypsy of society,’ 1848, from Fr. bohemién (1559), from the country name, from M.Fr. Boheme "Bohemia." Aha! And as luck would have it, my bohemian heroine would have secret gypsy roots, so I’d come to the right place.
I believe I knew all of this in the back of my mind. The knowledge wasn’t certain or accessible, but I’d no doubt been exposed to it at some point and it surfaced when I needed it. I think some of my creative processes support some of Gladwell’s BLINK ideas. Once I had my gypsy heroine and my Bohemia setting, the rest of the story came together in a flash. I searched for an intriguing time in history and came up with 1380, when Princess Anne of Bohemia gathered a huge retinue to accompany her to England to wed Richard II. The retinue had to be impressive since her dowry was not. And that’s how I worked my heroine with an unusual background into the glittering royal company.
*** I’ll be giving away copies of A KNIGHT MOST WICKED at my website starting this weekend. Please do drop by for a chance to win!
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Joanne Rock: Medieval christmas
The medieval celebration of Christmas was a lengthier affair than we recognize today. The twelve days of Christmas began the day after Christmas and ran until the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6th. The season was sometimes celebrated all the way to February 2nd when pagans celebrated Candlemas and Christians recognized the Presentation of the Infant Jesus in the Temple. Medieval Christmas traditions include an extended period of socializing and rejoicing in Christ’s gifts to humanity.
Speaking of gifts, this act of exchanging presents was not part of the medieval celebration although gifts were often exchanged at the New Year. Christmas Day was more apt to be marked by feasting, games and music. Later in the medieval period, the performance of mystery plays became popular at this time of year.
Medieval Christmas decorations incorporated holly, mistletoe and ivy or any other greenery available during the early days of winter. The burning of a Yule log is also an ancient tradition. A medieval lord might bring home a huge piece of wood to keep the tradition in the hope the same log would burn all through the day and night. This aspect of the Christmas season has roots in pagan recognition of the winter solstice and the celebration of the return of sun.
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