Guest Author Thursday: Joyce DiPastena

I’m happy to announce that today’s guest author is Joyce DiPastena, author of three medieval romances: Loyalty’s Web, Illuminations of the Heart, and her newest release Dangerous Favor, available now at AMAZON.

I’ve had the pleasure of meeting up with Joyce a number of times over the last few years. She is a sweet, intelligent lady who loves what she does. I have thoroughly enjoyed each of her novels. Not only are they well-written, clean and romantic, but they are well-researched and intriguing, too.

Help us welcome Joyce and leave a comment below!

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From Joyce:

Researching a historical novel can be challenging and time consuming, but it can also be a delightful adventure. It’s not just about getting the clothing right and the buildings right and the furniture right and the meals right. Those are all necessary details to give the reader a vivid picture of where and when your characters live, of course. But the best part of researching isn’t delving into the “required” elements of historical fiction. It’s the little unexpected discoveries you make along the way. They usually occur when you know you’re looking for something, but you’re not quite sure what it is.

Such was the case in my medieval romance, Illuminations of the Heart. My heroine was a medieval illuminator, which means she painted pictures in books with brightly colored paints which “illuminated” or brought light to the pages. Of course, before she could paint, she needed to draw or sketch out the picture. So one day I went hunting for something for her to draw during a scene in my book. Bestiaries were popular during the Middle Ages, so on went my research hat. I discovered that in the Middle Ages, people had a completely different concept of bees than we know to be true today. They thought that bees were led by a king, rather than a queen, and the king was a very benevolent ruler at that. If one of his “subject bees” misbehaved, rather than punish him, the king had only to demonstrate to the truant the error of his ways, and the truant would turn his own sting upon himself in shame. This was intended to be an example to human kings and their subjects, though of course most humans chose to ignore the noble bee-example. I found this a charming little bit of medieval trivia, though, and incorporated it into my story.

In my newly released medieval romance, Dangerous Favor, I needed some plot device that would disrupt the romance between two of my secondary characters, Therri and Violette. Again, I knew I needed something, but I didn’t yet know what. So off on the hunt I went once more. While flipping through the pages of a book in my research library, I came across a section on medieval games. One popular game I discovered was called “hoodman blind”. In this game, the players took a hood and turned it backwards to cover eyes of the person we would call “It” today. The other players stood in a circle while the person in the hood tried to catch and identify one of them. Of course, the goal of the players in the circle was to frustrate the hoodman or hoodwoman from guessing correctly. Suppose the hoodman was Therri and his goal was to find Violette, the woman he loves. And of course, the stakes have been placed appropriately high for his success or failure. Ah, yes, a game of hoodman blind was just what I needed for my story, and furthermore, turned out to be a great deal of fun to write!

In my current WIP (untitled, but based on the character of Acelet from Illuminations
of the Heart), I discovered a delightful medieval argument about which is the more “perfect” number—3 or 4? 3 would seem to have the advantage, given the three members of the Holy Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Ghost) and the three theological virtues (faith, hope, and charity). But there was an argument to be made for 4, as well, with the four points of the cross and the four evangelists (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). And argue about it my characters do. I can’t even remember what my original research hunt was for when I stumbled across this one, but it was too good to resist sneaking it into the book.

Research is only a drudgery if you limit yourself to the “necessities” of your story. If you keep your mind open to the unexpected along the way, research can be a delight!

Joyce DiPastena moved from Utah to Arizona at the age of two, and grew up to be a dyed-in-the-fur desert rat. She first fell in love with the Middle Ages when she read Thomas B. Costane’s The Conquering Family in high school. She attended the University of Arizona, where she graduated with a degree specializing in medieval history.

Joyce loves to play the piano and sing for her own amusement, and sings in her church choir. Other interests include reading, spending time with her sister, trying out new restaurants, and, unfortunately, buying new clothes. The highlight of her year is attending the Arizona Renaissance Festival, which she has not missed once in its twenty-four years of existence.

Joyce enjoys hearing from her readers and may be contacted at jdipastena@yahoo.com. You can also visit her on her website at www.joyce-dipastena.com, keep up with her latest news on her JDP NEWS blog (http://jdp-news.blogspot.com), or follow along as she researches her novels at Medieval Research with Joyce (http://medievalresearch.blogspot.com).