Gwyn Cready | What Inspires My Time Travel Love?
March 29, 2010
Hi, everyone. Thanks for having me here to blog today. I've also been getting a
lot of questions about what inspires me about time travel as well as the painter
aspects of my new release, Flirting with Forever, so I
thought I take some time to address both those things, and if you hang on until
the end, I'll have some news about a pretty nice contest. One hint ladies: shoes. First, time travel. My friend theorizes I am a time traveler, that I leave this
world when I sleep to visit another time, which is why certain times (late
17th/early 18th centuries) appeal to me more than others. Could be true. My mind
is open to such possibilities, but personally I think Jamie Fraser made such an
impression on me I couldn't let go : ) All I can tell you is I've always been
fascinated with the interesting possibilities and conflict that time travel sets
up in a story. Back to the Future is sort of like the basic textbook on that for
me. I guess I watched it at an impressionable age, but there you have it. In
fact, I was just at a lecture this week given by Audrey Niffenegger,
author of the Time
Traveler's Wife, who was asked, "How does one study time travel?", in reply
to which I whispered to the friend sitting next to me, "One watches Back to the
Future." Niffenegger's
answer was far more scientific. As as far as the story in Flirting with Forever is
concerned, I've always loved painters and painting and museums, so I knew that
someday I'd write a book with a painter hero in it. Two things inspired this
particular story, though. Years ago, I was reading Tracy Chevalier's phenomenal
The Girl with a Pearl
Earring in which Chevalier weaves a
fictionalized account of the making of Vermeer's painting of the same name
around what little we actually do know about Vermeer's life. The book was
fantastic, but because the love story in it was made up I just kept imaging
Vermeer up in heaven, stretched out in his bathtub, flipping through the book
and doing a spit take with his wine. So I filed that picture away in long-term
storage, and when I was doing some research on real-life Restoration painter
Peter Lely, who, like Vermeer, left few details of his personal life to history,
I ran across an ancient article entitled, "Lely's Love Story," from a British
periodical called Burlington Magazine. Turns out Lely has some dark secrets, and
men like that make the best sort of heroes. So it was a natural to throw
ambitious biographer Cam Stratford in his path, infuriating him enough with her
prying and poking to make him return from the afterlife to stop her from writing
about him. But why Peter Lely, you ask? Well if the painting shown here doesn't answer
that, then I'm not sure what would. What sort of man can elicit such a pose? I
had to know the answer. I wrote the book in late 2008 and revised it in the spring of 2009. I'm pretty
familiar with Lely's time period (the middle and late 1600s)--in fact I was
named after one of the characters in the book, Nell Gwynn (yes, my first name is
Nelle)--so I'd say the amount of research was a fun level, not an onerous one.
One interesting thing was investigating how painters of that era painted. I
picked up a great book called, How to Paint Your Own Vermeer by Jonathan Janson.
That really helped with some realistic detail in the book. The key, though, was
that article on Lely. Thank goodness I have this wonderful university librarian
friend who gets me anything I need. The story is very romantic, the most romantic I've ever written, and I think the
cover captures the magic and daring of the book perfectly. Doesn't Pocket
Books do a marvelous job? Those zebra-striped shoes are to die for. I'm
actually running a Flirting
with Forever launch contest where you can win a pair of Michael Kors
zebra-striped pumps worth $165 (or $165 Zappos gift certificate for those of you
with non-zebra-striped shoe tastes). Go to my website to find out more.
If you have any questions or comments, I'm here to answer them. And if there are
any painting fans out there, I'd love to know what painters or paintings have
inspired you and why. Gwyn Cready, dying to
see Hot Tub Time Machine even if they don't go back to the late 17th/early 18th
centuries.
www.cready.com
Comments
11 comments posted.
Re: Gwyn Cready | What Inspires My Time Travel Love?
Thanks for letting readers in on choosing your covers. I never knew how much work went into picking the match for the writing. The last ones were all gorgeous and the shoes to die for. (Alyson Widen 1:09pm March 29, 2010)
I have to admit, I was as surprised as anyone. Pocket Books does a fantastic job on the covers. (Gwyn Cready 1:26pm March 29, 2010)
Gwyn, I love your books. They are such fun to read. I can't wait to read 'Flirting with Forever'. Where do you get your ideas for the shoes?? I loved the ones in 'Tumbling Through Time'...so sexy. (Robin McKay 1:45pm March 29, 2010)
The idea for the Tumbling Through Time shoes came from Nine West, just where Seph tries them on in the book. I was walking by the Nine West store in the Pittsburgh airport, just like Seph, and the most beautiful pair of heels caught my eye, and I thought to myself why can't tall shoes be comfortable? So I decided to make my heroine's shoes magical, towering and as pillow-like as possible : ) (Gwyn Cready 4:09pm March 29, 2010)
I love time travel stories. The possibilities are fraught with expectation. (Mary Preston 4:52pm March 29, 2010)
Time Travel opens up so many possibilities. I love the concept. The past seems so romantic but adding a modern heroine to the mix makes it irrestible. I can hardly wait to read 'Tumbling Through Time'. (Rosemary Krejsa 8:22pm March 29, 2010)
I love time travel books. I have gotten very behind in my reading. SEDUCING MR DARCY is still on my TBR pile as are all of Diana Gabaldon's books. FLIRTING WITH FOREVER and TUMBLING THROUGH TIME are on my To Buy List. They all sound like fun in addition to being good stories. (Patricia Barraclough 8:32pm March 29, 2010)
I LOVE Time Travel books!! I've never read your books I would like to though. (Brenda Rupp 10:02pm March 29, 2010)
I love time travel books and this one sounds like it's got a very nice twist. I had already put it on my wishlist but failed to notice the SHOES earlier when I saw the cover. Love them! (Lisa Richards 11:03pm March 29, 2010)
The Scream has always intrigued me - what made him scream? And I love O Starry Night. (Kelli Jo Calvert 1:10pm March 30, 2010)
I just added your new novel to my wishlist. Sounds wonderful!!!! (Mitzi Hinkey 12:07pm March 31, 2010)
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