I get my ideas from studying art history and my need to know where lost art is, and a personal frustration to discover its secrets, now lost, that inspired the artist to write a story with paint.
Veronica Knox – 28 September 2014
The Back Flap
The ‘Mona Lisa’ has stepped outside her painting to avenge a five-hundred year old mistake.
“If your name were to be irretrievably lost, cut apart from your time and permanently
erased from the world, overshadowed by the lies of silence…
… were you ever truly here?”~ Lisabetta
About the book
What is the book about?
Second Lisa is about Leonardo da Vinci and his connection to his youngest sister, Lisabetta. It documents the invisibility of a fifteenth-century woman who ironically (I premise) is the most recognizably famous face in history while disappearing almost entirely from the historic record, and her counterpart ‘sister’ in modern times. Both women struggle with anonymity in a world where they feel overpowered by circumstances.
The element of creative autism is explored (Leonardo’s erratic genius) and a fictional child savant (Jupiter Lyons) who lives in the present day with his single-parent mother.
Lisabetta (the ‘Mona Lisa’) is trapped in her portrait in the Louvre with a ticking time bomb of escape until she’s liberated by a child who can see and hear her. Themes of reincarnation are involved.
Plug here, if I may, for my just released love story:
Adoration– loving Botticelli is an old tale of lost love between May/December lovers, retold when a retired art history professor in 2014 is enveloped by a Botticelli painting (‘The Adoration of the Magi’) in the Uffizi Gallery. The painting acts as both time portal and fountain of youth in a journey inspired by Dante’s journey through hell to contact his beloved Beatrice, and the love story The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough).
NOTE* I’ve written six books. All of them have themes of art history, lost paintings or lost provenance or lost details of artist’s (and scientists in the case of my middle-grade book, ‘Twinter’) lives and loves.
When did you start writing the book?
I wrote Second Lisa in my head during my university studies for a Fine Arts Degree. I put pen to paper in 2008.
How long did it take you to write it?
Second Lisa, a fanciful biography of Leonardo da Vinci’s kid sister took three years. Adoration-loving Botticelli took a year. My middle-grade time-slip adventure Twinter took nine months, as did my homage to the Canadian icon, artist Emily Carr (written as a ghost story) title, Woo Woo – the posthumous love story of Miss Emily Carr. *Woo is the name of Emily’s pet monkey (a shaman animal totem in this story)
Where did you get the idea from?
I get my ideas from studying art history and my need to know where lost art is, and a personal frustration to discover its secrets, now lost, that inspired the artist to write a story with paint.
Were there any parts of the book where you struggled?
The rewrite of Second Lisa was difficult. I had to separate one volume into three due to the amount of information necessary in telling parallel stories of two women separated by five-hundred years yet connected with biology and their personal life’s purpose. Both characters moved the goalposts a few times. I was only the writer, so I had to adjust.
What came easily?
The ideas came easy, as did the beginnings and the ends.
Are your characters entirely fictitious or have you borrowed from real world people you know?
They are historical people with characteristics of some of the people I know, including myself. Where one begins and the other ends is a deliberate blur.
We all know how important it is for writers to read. Are there any particular authors that have influenced how you write and, if so, how have they influenced you?
I love Michael Ondaatje (The English Patient) and Janet Fitch (White Oleander) It’s their language. It’s all about the language. Both have poetic flow. I also loved the Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood (Rebecca Wells) and Empire Falls (Richard Russo) for their ability to write real characters, flawlessly, and with humor. I always love reading anything by Bill Bryson. He is a natural entertainer. His way with words is inspiring. If you haven’t had the pleasure of a Bryson book, read one and give yourself a treat.
As for books about writing, I re-read (often) Hooked by Les Edgerton, and any books on screenwriting that I can find.
Do you have a target reader?
I write women’s fiction/historical fantasy for savvy women with a poetic soul. For the middle-grade book, I write for young readers with an advanced vocabulary and a vivid imagination.
About Writing
Do you have a writing process? If so can you please describe it?
I believe in jotting notes and special words that suddenly leap out to be heard and saved, so I keep a notepad handy at all times, especially in the car. Driving usually unlocks a ‘bit of business’ that is on my mind. I think of a situation, confrontation, new character or a conversation without knowing where it may fit and write pages of scenes out of sequence. Then I return to the manuscript and write from where I left off. When my eyes are falling out, I listen to a movie for the dialogue beats, then, I read a great book for inspiration. Sometimes I remember to eat and drink water.
Do you outline? If so, do you do so extensively or just chapter headings and a couple of sentences?
I start out with an idea, then I form lists of the character ‘s arcs and back stories and their individual timelines (I always include the element of time travel as in lucid dreaming and the elements of supernatural interaction with the past), and the main chapter headings. Then it turns into charts like the ones a TV detective uses with pictures, snippets on index cards, and string leading from one card to another. Then, out comes the color coordinated sticky notes and highlighters. I write as the thought (chapter) moves me. It’s very multilevel, and eventually, truly confusing. I do not recommend this.
Do you edit as you go or wait until you’ve finished?
I edit as I go and then major rewrites several times. I always start a day’s writing by reading my chapter one to remind me where I intended to go.
Did you hire a professional editor?
Absolutely. I hired a mean one who raked my books (and me) over the coals. It was debilitating but ultimately necessary to have a super-critical eye tell you their truth. As an indie publisher, I was free to ignore some suggestions and rewrite others. It added several months to publishing each book, and there’s always one or two typos in the final manuscript. That’s life in the literary world.
Do you listen to music while you write? If yes, what gets the fingers tapping?
None with lyrics. I can paint blasting my ears with music but writing requires something orchestral or a silent room, for me. My fingers tap from listening to my imagination. The words ‘what if’ are great motivators. Sometimes I sleep.
About Publishing
Did you submit your work to Agents?
I did. I was signed up, and I let them go after two years due to ‘little-to-none’ personal rapport and absolutely no interest with my subsequent books. If an agent won’t even take the time to read one’s second, third, and fourth books (which just might be the winning ticket) then what’s the point? I still believe having an agent who resonates in real ways is an asset. I’m looking again for such a wild gem.
What made you decide to go Indie, whether self-publishing or with an indie publisher? Was it a particular event or a gradual process?
Time made me do it. I’m young in spirit, but the world says I’m getting long in tooth (they’re so wrong). Posthumous success would be great for my heirs but not very fulfilling for me.
Did you get your book cover professionally done or did you do it yourself?
I am a professional graphic designer (from the dark ages of the seventies) and illustrator, so I design my own covers and hire a format engineer to make them viable in the digital context.
Do you have a marketing plan for the book or are you just winging it?
Winging with attitude. Creating a digital presence is a steep learning curve from where I stand, sit, or fall over from exhaustion. Sometimes I pace myself.
Any advice that you would like to give to other newbies considering becoming Indie authors?
Hire a professional editor. Read great books and let them sink in, and… hire a professional editor.
About You
Where did you grow up?
I was born in England and emigrated to Canada with my parents when I was five, so I grew up (?) in western Canada. I returned to England to attend art school and worked in Cambridge for a few years before returning to Canada. Growing up is a relative term for a writer.
Where do you live now?
Vancouver Island, Canada
What would you like readers to know about you?
I write books!
What are you working on now?
A sci-fi for women (yes, I think there is a missing link for a strong female lead in sci-fi) based on retrieving lost paintings from the fifteenth-century with many twists of fate, anthropology and evolution, and time-slips of historic interest.
End of Interview:
For more from Veronica, visit her website.
Get your copy of Second Lisa from Amazon US (paper or ebook), Amazon UK (paper or ebook), Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, or directly from Veronica.