An Interview with Deanna Raybourn

An interview with Deanna Raybourn

Hello and welcome to Love Romances and More. Thank you for taking the time to talk with me and our readers. I have thoroughly enjoyed your Lady Julia Grey series and hope our readers will enjoy them as well.
Your series was highly recommended to me after I was commenting on how much I was enjoying another book. The friend enthusiastically told me if I enjoyed the book I was reading, I would love yours. She was completely on target. The Lady Julia Grey series has become one of my all time favorites. In fact, after I’ve read each book in the series I’ve turned around and read it again. Two things I’ve learned, I should NOT start them the night before I have to go to work because “one more chapter” turns into a night of delicious reading and that I am impatient for the next in the series.
One of the first things we at Love Romances and More and our readers want to know about your writing is how long have you been writing? I have been making up stories my whole life, but I sat down and wrote my first novel when I was 23. It was rejected, but nicely, and I decided if I kept at it long enough, eventually I’d be published. I didn’t expect it would take another fourteen years, but it did!

What drew you to the Victorian era? When I started the first book in the series, I conceived it as a Regency piece. About fifty pages in, I realized the setting was entirely wrong. The Regency was too light, too sparkly. I needed a dark dose of shadowy, fog-bound streets and gaslight repression. So I shifted the entire setting by seventy years and everything fell into place. Manners and social mores changed tremendously from the Regency to late-Victorian times, and I liked the upright propriety on the surface with something darker and nastier seethed below.

Did you consider writing in another genre or era? I have written other Victorian novels, a few Regencies, and one contemporary. They are all unpublished and live in boxes in my attic.

In the books, SILENT IN THE GRAVE, SILENT IN THE SANCTUARY and SILENT ON THE MOOR, you delve into areas that, at least in most parts of the United States, are common place today, i.e., Portia’s relationship with Jane and at least one other character (who I won’t say at this time so as to protect the ending of one of the books). These types of relationships, while they have existed throughout history, were hidden in the Victorian era. What prompted you to include them in the book? They weren’t quite as hidden as people like to think. In the mid-nineteenth century, a lesbian collective started a newspaper in London, and there were occasional lesbian couples who lived quiet but open lives. A domestic lesbian relationship would be extremely easy to conceal. It was quite common for women to set up housekeeping together to share expenses. Without a male provider in their lives, women were often left with no alternative but to live together to avoid the workhouse. Bachelors were less likely to enter into such arrangements, and male homosexual relationships seemed to stir a great deal more ire than lesbianism. I included homosexuality in the books because it is a part of the human experience—the same way I’ve included romantic relationships, emotional baggage, STDs, family problems, annoying relatives, money troubles. The more you read about Victorians and their real lives—not the whitewashed version that we often hear—the more you realize how like us they were. I’m always exploring what we have in common with them because I find it interesting and relatable for modern readers.

I adore the March family and all their idiosyncrasies. Are they based on anyone you know in your own life? I never base characters on people I actually know. The Marches are an amalgamation of literary families I’ve loved, with a few historical bits thrown in from people like the Mitfords and the Durrrells.

Would you have liked to have been one of their siblings? I’m an only child and happily so. I suspect they would drive me mad. But I would like to be a guest at one of their house parties!

SILENT IN THE GRAVE was your debut novel. How long did it take you from conception to submittal? Two years, largely because I had a false start with the first setting and had to do a fresh batch of research to reset the book seventy years later.

Did you pitch it as a series or did you start out with one book. I wanted SITG to be a book that would please readers but leave them desperate for a sequel. I deliberately left the door open for more books, and it must have worked because the initial offer was for that book and two sequels.

What did you enjoy most about the process? All of it. I am very lucky—I enjoy every aspect of writing. I love researching, writing, and now I am learning to love rewriting! I never rewrote anything until the second book in the series, and it’s a skill I’ve had to acquire. But it’s absolutely vital, and it’s making me a better writer.

The least? On any given day I may feel completely overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of creating something as big as a book—and mine tend to be big, over 100,000 words usually. But I never lose sight of the fact that I’m extremely privileged to be able to do what I love and have people appreciate it, so I put my tailfeathers in the chair and get to work!

You clearly did a tremendous amount of research for each book in the series. There is an amazing amount of detail that bring each story to life in a most vivid fashion. In each I felt like I was there every step of the way with Julia. Did you research and then sit down to write or did you intersperse the research with the writing? I do both. The bulk of the research comes before I sit down to start writing. Then I will go over my research notes before I polish it up to make sure I’ve included everything I wanted to weave in. I will also keep reading research materials as I’m working just in case I find something new and interesting. I also work very hard to make the prose light in those areas so it doesn’t seem as if I’m trying to give a history lesson. Persia Wooley once said that when you research a historical novel, only 30% of what you read should find its way into the book. The rest is just for the writer. I think that’s a very good formula.

Did you travel to each locale in the books? I have been to England several times and made special research trips for the first and third novels. It was extremely important to me to get the settings correct, so when it came time to write SOTM, I told my husband I needed to go and smell a moor. So we packed up and headed to Yorkshire for a week to explore Bronte country. And I’m glad I did—turns out there were some surprises on the moors that I was able to incorporate in the book!

Did you know about Brisbane’ gift from the start or did it evolve? I knew I wanted him to have some peculiarity that could serve as either a blessing or a curse. It was very early on when I decided it what it would be. I love the idea of him being very wary of an ability that many people think would be fabulous to have. There’s a dark side to knowing too much.

I adore Grim! I think he’s one of my favorite characters and what a character he is. Would you like a pet raven? No—they’re too smart by half! Corvids are incredibly intelligent, spookily so. But I was lucky enough to chat with a raven from the Tower of London. In fact, that’s how Grim got his start. I never planned on having a bird in the book, but when I was visiting the Tower, I was in a quiet little corner just enjoying the peacefulness of the place early in the morning. A small voice said good morning to me and I nearly fell over when I realized it was a raven! I spent a few minutes with the raven master and learned just enough to make me certain I needed a raven for Julia.

How do you keep the diverse members of the March family separate when you write them? I.e., Bellmont is so incredibly stuffy, Val so serious about his profession, Plum so creative. It’s very important to me that the various Marches are individuals. I think it’s difficult to stand out in a large, creative family, but I wanted the Marches to be independent thinkers and loaded with eccentricity and drama to make them memorable for me and for readers. I think it helps that I never put all nine of Julia’s siblings in the same book!

I have to tell you, when Brisbane introduced Julia to his finance in SILENT IN THE SANCTUARY I was quite angry at you. How could you? I always think the best writers are not afraid to infuriate readers. When a writer makes me angry or breaks my heart, I remember it and it makes the book real for me. If I can do that for a reader, wonderful!

Of course, as I read on, late into the night and early morning, the relationship made sense, but I was quite upset by it. If Julia wasn’t going to have him, I wanted him. What was it like for you to write that scene? Gutting. For a scene like that to really work, it has to make me cry. That one did.

I’m a huge fan of gothic romance and I don’t find many authors writing it these days. In SILENT ON THE MOOR you surpass even what I think of as the greats such as Victoria Holt with the gothic drama and overtones. Did you intend to go in that direction? Ah, high praise indeed—thank you! Yes, absolutely. I read my first Victoria Holt when I was twelve, and I adored her instantly. I later moved on to Mary Stewart, then the Brontes. I still love digging up Gothics from forty years ago! To me a Gothic comprises my favorite elements in fiction—mystery, suspense, a compelling setting, vivid characters, and a bit of romance. It’s a subtle genre because of all the balancing that goes on; too far in any direction and you’ve spoiled the mix. I enjoy the challenge of writing something with that many layers, and all of my fiction bows a knee to what’s inspired me as a reader. I will often include a surname of a character from a book I loved as a wink to a reader who has probably read the same book.

Your imagery of the decaying Grimsgrave and the chill of the moor itself was so vivid. Did you do anything special to go to those places in your mind? The research trip helped immeasurably in capturing the mood of the moor. I thought it was just going to be a vast flattish sort of place with some scrubby bushes. It wasn’t at all! It was huge and somehow managed to be incredibly beautiful and rather creepy. The wind never stops speaking, and the isolation is tremendous. I can easily see how someone spending a great deal of time alone there would turn a bit savage inside, a little rougher around the edges. It’s an elemental place, absolutely timeless. I would go back tomorrow.

The ending of SILENT ON THE MOOR left me a bit concerned. You end it with your signature “tale for another time”, but it also felt that the series was ending. It’s not, is it? We’ll be seeing Brisbane and Julia far into the future in many mysteries, won’t we? I’m working on the next book right now! It’s set in India, so this is the furthest afield I’ve taken the characters, which I think will make for a very interesting experience.

In SILENT IN THE SANCTUARY Julia assists Brisbane with an autopsy. I’ve witnessed one and they are not for the faint of heart. What was it like writing that scene for you? Gruesome! I didn’t arrange to witness a modern autopsy because I know the smells would be different, the sounds and sights not the same. To me, the scene in SITS is much more akin to primitive surgery. I read up enough to know how it ought to have been done at the time and just used my rather ghoulish imagination to supply the rest.

There are so many wonderful twist, turns and nuances in each of the books. Are you a pantser or plotter when it comes to writing those delicious scenes? Both. I rough out the plot before I begin, but I don’t always know how I’m going to hit each of those points. I may have ten places I know I need to touch by the end of the book, but it’s always an adventure to see which route I’m going to choose. I usually know what the major twists are going to be, but it really isn’t uncommon for me to get partway through and figure out a way to turn the screw just a little bit harder.

If you suddenly found yourself in the books, which character would you want to be? Julia, Portia, Fleur, Jane or one of the others? People who know me well read my books and instantly recognize me in Julia. She is my Victorian alter ego!

If given the opportunity, would you embark on one of Julia’s investigations? I love the idea of an investigation, but I don’t think I’d care for the reality. I far prefer constructing puzzles for my characters to solve.

What do you like best about Brisbane? The fact that I know so little about him. He’s an enigma, even to me. I never created the details of his backstory, so giving him a past is like building a cathedral a stone at a time.

If you were offered the opportunity to make the series into movies, who would you cast in Brisbane and Julia’s roles? I love watching readers debate this one. I think a roughed up Hugh Jackman might be rather delicious, but I’m flexible on that point. I would like to see a Julia who is intelligent and imaginative rather than Hollywood pretty.

What is next on Deanna Raybourn’s horizon? Book four in the Julia Grey series! I’m researching it now, and finishing up the last details for my next book—The Dead Travel Fast. It’s a March 2010 release and outside of the series, but it’s even more Gothic than SOTM, so I’m hoping readers will enjoy it. I should probably add that the hero makes Brisbane look rather cuddly by comparison…

Do you have anything you’d like to add? Thanks so much for inviting me here! If readers have follow-up questions, they are welcome to visit my site at http://www.deannaraybourn.com/.


Thank you for some fabulous reading and your time today.