Welcome to my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, scriptwriters, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with author Kathryn Bashaar.
Armen: Hello, Kathy. Please tell us something about yourself, and how you came to be an author.
KATHY: I am a very rooted person. Married to the same man and living in the same house since 1983, lived my whole life in Pittsburgh, and all of my family are still here as well. My husband and I have two married children, one grandchild and one very cranky cat. I love travel, hiking, yoga, and dancing. And I have always loved to read and write. I stopped writing for a while, during the years when I was raising children and pursuing a career in Information Management. As my children got older and I had a little spare time, I started to write again, first as a hobby and then for publication.
Armen: Why did you begin writing and what inspired you to write your first book?
KATHY: I had been writing short stories and essays for a few years, and had some success at being published. One evening at our local library, I was browsing and came across a short biography of Saint Augustine. In that book, I learned that, before he was a Father of the Church, he had a long-time mistress and that they had a son together. This fascinated me, and I tried to find out more about the mistress, but her story was completely lost to history, other than Augustine’s brief mention of her in his Confessions. I was so obsessed with her that I decided to write her story myself!
Armen: When did you first consider yourself a writer?
KATHY: The minute I could put pencil to paper and form letters.
Armen: Have you had any rejections? If so, how do you deal with them?
KATHY: Hahahahahahahaha. What an amusing question. I have experienced many, many rejections. I feel terrible for about 24 hours. Then I grit my teeth and get back to work.
Armen: Which authors do you like to read? How did they impact you as a writer?
KATHY: My favorite books when I was a young woman were Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and Katherine by Anya Seton. Both of these books feature a strong woman who errs and repents and who faces severe challenges and overcomes them. Although neither book is Christian fiction, they also feature Christian elements. My own book, The Saint’s Mistress, features a woman very much like those two heroines and my story line resembles my two favorite novels. I love strong women who face down challenges. And I still love historical fiction.
Armen: Lets dive right into your book The Saint’s Mistress, which takes place during the tumultuous fifth century. The Roman Empire is being torn apart, the old nobility, barbarian tribes, and Christianity, are competing to establish a new order. What drew you to this time period?
KATHY: I have always been fascinated by that time period, because it was a time of great change and upheaval. Those are always the most interesting times. But, honestly, it wasn’t the time period that sparked The Saint’s Mistress. It was Leona. I couldn’t get her out of my head.
Armen: I read quite a few historical fiction novels and the one thing that I always find amazing is how much research it takes to write a good one. On the one hand the author must follow the facts and on the other deliver a compelling tale. It’s like combining the hardest aspects of non-fiction and fiction writing together. Without giving away any secrets, can you tell us how you approached such a daunting task?
KATHY: Oh, I love this question so much! I did do a ton of research, but the character of Leona was so strong in my head that I had to start getting her onto the page before I completed my research. So, I did my writing and research on parallel paths. I wrote for an hour first thing every morning, and then did a couple of hours of research most evenings. That meant that the early chapters of my book were written before I had a good understanding of the time period, and I had to go back and do a lot of rewriting. I did research on the internet and I also read several biographies of Augustine, as well as reading his Confessions twice, and read several books that gave the history of the late Roman Empire and early Christianity.
Armen: While the real history gives you a great support structure for your story, it also leaves a lot of gaps for your tale. How do you go about filling them? Do you plot your stories in detail or are you more of an inspirational writer who gets an idea and runs with it?
KATHY: I start as an inspirational writer. I write until I get stuck. Then I take a step back and re-read what I’ve written, and decide where I want it to go. That’s when I do my first rough outline. I repeat that process several times before I get to the end of a book, refining the outline as it goes along. I knew pretty early on where I wanted The Saint’s Mistress. to begin and how I wanted it to end. The middle part was tricky.
Armen: Do you have any tips for anyone thinking about writing a historical fiction novel?
KATHY: My advice is to start with something that fascinates you and that you want to know more about.
Armen: I noticed that The Saint’s Mistress. is available in a wide variety of formats. Do you have a preference between eBooks, paper, hardcover, or audio?
KATHY: I’ve slowly come around to reading on my tablet or my phone, but I still prefer a paperback. I like physical books, and a paperback is light enough to carry around. I never go anywhere without reading material.
Armen: How involved were you in publishing process? Did you choose the titles / covers of your books? How important do you think they are?
KATHY: I definitely chose the title. And, within limits, I had freedom to select the cover art. I definitely think the title and the cover are important. I can usually tell by the cover art whether a book is fluff (which I do not generally read) or fairly serious. The title and the cover must align with the content of the book, so that you catch the attention of readers who will enjoy your book.
Armen: Do you have a favorite character in the story? Can you tell us what it is about that character that speaks to you?
KATHY: I love, love, love Leona, but I came to love Augustine, too, as I wrote him. I feel like I got into his head as a somewhat insecure but very serious young man who wanted to seek truth and become a great man. When I wrote the young Augustine, I had in mind the crowd of super-smart kids I ran with in high school. We were arrogant, innocent and full of enthusiasm and curiosity all at the same time.
Armen: I can totally picture you in a “gang” of genius types in high school. So, have you got any current projects in the works? Perhaps an intriguing renaissance romance or maybe a peek inside a harem’s intrigue?
KATHY: Hmmm, you just gave me a couple of ideas… But my current project is Jane Grey Swisshelm, a female abolitionist and newspaper owner in nineteenth-century Pittsburgh.
Armen: Do you do much marketing for your work? Do you think of yourself as a brand? If so, how would you describe your brand?
KATHY: I certainly do marketing. We must if we want readers. Pre-pandemic, I did a lot of author talks at local libraries. I am currently working on a video trailer for a Facebook ad for The Saint’s Mistress.. My blog and social media posts focus on history and historical fiction. I try to make that my public face because I believe that people want to know what to expect from you. But I hate the current trend where people see themselves as a brand. It’s so reductive.
Armen: I agree with you about personal brands. Besides the entire self-hyping associated with the term, it’s definitely a bit dehumanizing to summarize a person as a brand statement – and I have an MBA in marketing/operations. What’s your favorite / least favorite aspect of your writing life? Has anything surprised you?
KATHY: What surprises me the most is how I’m always reliving my own life through my writing, without necessarily intending to. For example, both Leona and Jane have difficult mothers-in-law. My mother-in-law and I had differences, but I never intended to write even ONE book featuring a difficult mother-in-law, much less two in a row. It just came out on the page.
Armen: Hmm, I suspect that’s a common thing for writers. People tell me that a few of my characters sound irritatingly similar to certain people. Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?
KATHY: I don’t have a great imagination. I think that’s why I chose historical fiction based on real people. It gives me something to start with.
Armen: Writers are often described as a different breed of cat. Do you have any interesting writing quirks?
KATHY: Just that I am extremely rigid and self-disciplined. If I commit to myself that I’m going to write for three hours a day, my ass is in that chair for three hours even if every word I write is garbage.
Armen: I think few non-writers realize how important discipline is to the creative process. Do you have a favorite quote or catchphrase from one of your characters or from someone else?
KATHY: The tagline for my life is something I wrote in my personal journal a few years ago: “Almost all the good that has ever been done in the world was done by people who asked questions. Almost all the evil has come from people who were certain that they had the answers.”
Armen: Very nice! What do you do when you’re not writing? Any hobbies or eccentric habits?
KATHY: I love dancing. I am up on the dance floor at every wedding reception, I have taken hip-hop, Zumba and belly-dancing classes, and, pre-pandemic, my husband and I did Irish dancing at an Irish pub here in Pittsburgh every Tuesday night. Not that I’m necessarily a good dancer. I’m more the embodiment of “dance like nobody’s watching.”
Armen: I think you’re probably being a bit harsh on yourself. I think I would phrase it as you dance like you love what you’re doing. Where can we find out about you and your writing?
KATHY: I’m on Faceboook and the url for my blog is http://www.kathrynbashaar.com
Armen: Kathy, thank you so much for sharing your time. Is there anything else you’d like to mention?
KATHY: Thanks for asking such great questions!
Armen: I hope you’ve all enjoyed this interview with Kathryn Bashaar as much as I have. Here’s a brief synopsis of The Saint’s Mistress. followed by an excerpt from the tale.
Synopsis:
Told against the fourth-century backdrop of the fall of the Roman Empire and the rise of Christianity, The Saint’s Mistress breathes life into the previously untold story of Saint Augustine and his beloved mistress. A North African peasant, Leona, falls in love with the aristocratic Aurelius Augustinus and comes into conflict with his mother, his powerful patron and the Empire itself in her fight to keep her family together and win legitimacy for their son. When Leona and Bishop Augustine meet again after a separation of many years, old passions are re-ignited, old feuds smolder, and the fate of the Roman Empire in North Africa hangs in the balance.
Excerpt:
When Aurelius found his way to my chamber after dark, while the crickets whistled and the fountain outside trickled under a silver moon I was not surprised and not afraid. The terrors and alarms of the day had awakened my blood, and the heavy food and wine left me feeling languid and not myself. My determination not to be a rich man’s whore seemed like words spoken by someone else, many years ago.
I was a virgin and had never even been kissed, except in play by village boys when I was a little flat-chested girl. Aurelius’ eyes were hard and demanding, but his mouth was soft and tender. He leaned over and kissed me gently at first, questioningly, and when I responded he gathered me up and kissed me harder. I was barely awake and determined to stay that way. If I could convince myself that I was dreaming, I couldn’t be blamed for not resisting. And so it was in complete silence that we first became lovers.