February 27, 2005

Asked what he considers the heart of story-telling, Christopher Willis (C.W.) Gortner answers with a single word:

"Passion."

Gortner, our February speaker, is the author of The Secret Lion, a novel set during the reign of Edward VI. It is the first of a series placed in Tudor times.

"If you believe it, your reader will believe it," he continues. "The axiom of so many writing books and programs are: Write what you know. I'd take it one step further and say: Write what you feel."

For Gortner, who was born in the United States and raised in Spain, his passion is delving beyond historical facts. "For me," he says, "historical fiction helps recreate the past in a sensory way."

The Secret Lion, Gortner's first published book, was the result of three intensive years of and research. Several trips to England, as well asaccess to a wealth of contemporary documents, assisted him to re-createmysterious final days of Edward VI's reign and what he calls "my first interweaving of the imaginary with the factual."

He first began writing historical fiction while in college, where he eventually earned a master's in history with an emphasis on Renaissance Studies. As a teacher, he has led seminars about the 16th century at various educational institutions, including the New College of California. As a writer, he continued his studies to earn an MFA in Writing and begin his Tudor-based series.

"Historical accuracy is crucial to depicting an era," he notes. "Good story is what keeps readers reading. Certainly, for historical fiction such as Lion, where fictional characters interact with historical ones, and a fictional plotline interweaves with actual events, story can take precedence. But never at the expense of completely dismissing known facts. If a writer must alter things to accommodate the story, it should be done carefully, within "reasonable doubt." For Lion, I did take liberties, but I also took great care to depict the era as authentically as possible."

We can all look forward to more of Gortner's insights into the art and process of bringing the pages of history to life. In the meantime, you might want to visit him at www.leonibus.com.