I write all year long, but I especially love to write in the winter. My schedule is to write for four hours in the morning and then take my dog on an hour to hour-and-a-half cross-country ski. I usually cross-country ski four or five days a week and downhill ski on weekends.
I have found the repetitive motion and solitary experience of cross-country skiing is one of the best ways to find inspiration. There are places over the hill where I have come up with flashes of clarity, seen a new plot point, or figured out the motives of a character.
4. What’s your favorite part of being a writer? What’s the most difficult part?
My favorite part of being a writer is the actual writing. I love the “deep zone” when the story takes off, when I hear the characters’ voices, and especially when the language is flowing.
The most difficult part of writing? Ah, that is easy...nearly three decades without being published!
5. What was your favorite scene or character to write? Did you have any difficulty with a particular scene or character? If so, what made it difficult, and how did you overcome it?
The most difficult scene in the book to write was the chapter where Marketa cuts Don Julius’s ropes. I had to show how she was truly falling in love with this madman, and convince the reader (and myself) that she really thought she knew what she was doing. Marketa cut his ropes because Don Julius had found a way into her heart. Yes, it was foolish, but haven’t we all done crazy things in our lives?
I particularly like writing scenes with magic and folklore. And, curiously, I loved writing the historical scenes with Matthias. Great fun!
6. What sort of research did you do for The Bloodletter’s Daughter?
I spent a great deal of time researching the Hapsburg reign of Rudolf II, the history of Don Julius, and Marketa Pichlerova. I traveled back to Cesky Krumlov and walked the streets for days in the middle of February. I was accompanied by my Krumlov guide, Jiri Vaclavicek, who had done a great deal of research himself and could point out landmarks—the market, Annabella’s house, Marketa’s house, Barber’s Bridge, the cemetery, the old Jesuit monastery. He also told me the sordid name—Musle—that was Marketa’s curse in the novel.
Jiri dared me to use the epithet in my book, saying, “You Americans are too prudish. Don’t make this the Disneyland version!”
I also worked with Zuzana Petraskova, a guide and at the time a graduate student in Prague. She had access to the University of Prague’s library and brought me lots of historical records to help me with my research. (Both guides also translated for me.) I contacted Prague’s television station for a copy of a special on Don Julius. A Czech friend in Aspen helped me translate the contents. (By the way, the one portrait of Don Julius shown on the show made him look very handsome.)
7. What sort of advice would you give to aspiring authors?
Enjoy the process of writing. Thrive on it, rejoice! No one can take this joy away from you. That passion is what we live on as writers, what feeds us. (Otherwise I would never have lasted twenty-seven years as an unpublished writer.)
8. What are you working on now?
I am working on a story of Virginia Tacci, the fourteen-year-old girl who rode the Palio horse race in Siena in 1581—bareback! She is Siena’s heroine to this day.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
In The Bloodletter’s Daughter, which character did you find most compelling? Most loathsome? Most sympathetic?
Marketa has two very strong, very different friendships: one with Katarina and one with Annabella. Which character would you gravitate toward as a best friend, and why?
Was Annabella right to take Jakub to her bed, knowing her friend loved him? How is Marketa able to trust her, especially when Annabella and Jakub hold Marketa’s life in their hands in the attempt to liberate her from Don Julius?
Don Julius was brought up in the castles of his father, Rudolf II, while Marketa was born into a Bohemian bathhouse. Who would you say had a more difficult childhood, and why?
Would you have freed Don Julius from his ropes?
In the historical record, Lucie Pichlerova actually did accompany her daughter Marketa to the gates of Rozmberk Castle, in order to exchange her daughter for her husband. How do you think a mother could reconcile such an act? As a reader, do you feel any sympathy for her?
Rudolf and his brother Matthias engage in an epic battle for the throne. Who would you have wanted as king and emperor, given their individual strengths and faults?
Is there anything that has ever fascinated you or enraptured you like the Coded Book of Wonder did Don Julius?
Czech folklore plays a role in the story. What did you think about Krumlov legends, such as the White Lady, being included?
What did you think about the ending, both in the final showdown with Don Julius and the epilogue? Were you surprised?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photograph by Nora Feller / norafeller.com
The daughter of a naval commander, Linda Lafferty attended fourteen different schools growing up, ultimately graduating from the University of Colorado with a master’s degree and a PhD in education. Her peripatetic childhood nourished a lifelong love of travel, and she studied abroad in England, France, Mexico, and Spain. Her uncle introduced her to the sport of polo when she was just ten years old, and she enjoys playing to this day. She also competed on the Lancaster University Riding Team in England in stadium jumping, cross country, and dressage. A veteran school educator, she juggled teaching and horse training while writing this book. She lives in Colorado.
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