C. W. Gortner, half-Spanish by birth, holds an M.F.A. in writing, with an emphasis on historical studies, from the New College of California and has taught university courses on women of power in the Renaissance. He was raised in Málaga, Spain, and now lives in California.

Acclaimed for his insight into his characters, he travels extensively to research his books. He has slept in a medieval Spanish castle, danced in a Tudor great hall, and explored library archives all over Europe.

His debut historical novel The Last Queen gained international praise and has been translated into eight languages to date.

His new novel, The Confessions of Catherine de Medici, will be published on May 25, 2010. He is currently at work on The Princess Isabella, his third historical novel, and The Secret Lion, the first book in his Tudor thriller series,The Spymaster Chronicles. You can visit C. W. Gortner’s website at http://cwgortner.com/.

Q: What compelled you to write your first book?

I’ve always written, even as a child. My mom told me I used to make up stories, illustrate them and design covers for them, using spiral-bound notebooks. She still has one. I actually wrote my first book in my adolescent years—a modern story of terrible angst and betrayal; pretty much what you’d expect from a teenager! I then wrote two fantasy novels in my early twenties, which I never even thought of publishing.

Historical fiction was always one of my favorite genres and I grew up reading Jean Plaidy; in fact, I was obsessed with Jean Plaidy and collected all our books. But I didn’t consider writing my own historical novel until my late twenties. I was compelled to write it after I took a trip back to Spain, where I was raised. I went to Granada to visit the Alhambra and the royal chapel where the Catholic monarchs are entombed; and as I gazed upon Juana of Castile’s effigy, I remembered how utterly fascinated I had been by her story as a child. That is how my first published novel, The Last Queen, began.

Q: Have you always wanted to be a writer?

Yes. I mean, I’ve always written, for as long as I can remember. But I did not think of becoming an actual writer, as in seeking publication and maybe earning a living doing it, until my late twenties. I had other aspirations: I worked in fashion marketing; I studied painting; I took dance classes. But looking back, I realize that in fact even while doing all those things, I was still writing something, whether it was a new novel or a short story. I think that for many of us, writing is not a choice. It’s just something we feel we have to do.

Q: Tell us briefly about your book.

THE CONFESSIONS OF CATHERINE DE MEDICI (Ballantine Hardcover; On Sale: May 25, 2010) is about one of history’s most powerful women. Catherine de Medici has been called brilliant and bold, but she was also known as a vengeful Italian Jezebel who resorted to murder to protect her family’s throne.  I wanted to discover who she really was under the dark and lurid legend. What I found is an astonishing, dramatic story of a young girl used a papal pawn, who had the gift of second sight; a teenage bride wed to a prince who was in love with another woman; and a widowed queen who fought courageously to save France and had a secret passion for a man she was fated to destroy.

Q: Do you have a favourite character? Why is s/he your favourite?

My favorite character is usually the one I have just written about; at the moment, that is Catherine. I am in awe of her strength and her resolve. This was a no-nonsense woman who had to fight all her life to protect the people and places she loved; in many ways she is every woman, with children and friends and daily troubles, only she was in charge of an entire kingdom.

Q: How did you feel the day you held the copy of your first book in your hands?

It’s hard to describe the emotion. For me, it took thirteen years to finally be published by a major New York house, so when my first hardcover edition of The Last Queen arrived I almost couldn’t believe it was real. It was just one – more came, later— with a note from my editor, announcing the print run and congratulating me.

I had seen the cover art many times, but at the last minute they changed the black border for this stunning red color and that was unexpected. I still treasure that one book; I always will. It represents the culmination of countless hours of time spent alone before the computer, sacrificing time with friends and family, to tell the story of a long-dead and almost forgotten woman. It basically shows me, all the effort was worth it.

Q: What type of music, if any, do you listen to while you write? Do you need the noise or the silence?

Silence. I love music, especially classical, but I’ve tried several times to “set a mood” when I write by playing music from the era and it always feels strange. I feel as though I can’t hear my characters, if that makes any sense.

Q: How do you balance out the writer’s life and the rest of life? Do you get up early? Stay up late? Ignore friends and family for certain periods of time?

It’s a balancing act and never entirely easy. Because I still hold a day job (I work 32 hours a week) my goal is to write at least 2 pages every day, except on Sunday, which is for rest and family. They don’t have to be great pages but I do make myself write them, no matter what. I can’t wait for Madame Muse these days; I’m under contract, so I have to sit in the chair and write, regardless of my mood. It takes discipline, especially when the sun is shining outside, but, like exercising, I just incorporate my writing into my daily routine.

Q: The main characters of your stories – do you find that you put a little of yourself into each of them or do you create them to be completely different from you?

I think that every character a writer creates, no matter how different he or she may appear on the page, carries something of the writer inside them. Each character is, to some extent, a part of us, our subconscious finding connections with our imagination, in order to conjure a living person in words. That is not to say I necessarily agree with or approve of everything my characters do, but to live in their skins, so to speak, for as long as I do, I must understand why they behave and feel as they do.

For example, in my new novel Catherine de Medici is forced to make some very difficult decisions, one of which in particular backfires on her and creates a horrific situation. I don’t agree with how she came to her decision and think she could have found a better way to go about achieving her ends; but here’s the catch: I have the fortune as the writer to possess hindsight. I know in advance where her decision will lead. She did not. She reacted in the moment. Therefore, while I personally can’t condone her behavior, I understand it. Otherwise, how could I convincingly portray her to my reader?

Q: Is there anyone who has inspired, motivated, encouraged or supported your writing?

My father. He encouraged me to seek publication after he read several chapters of a novel I was working on. I hadn’t even considered it before; I was writing to entertain myself. I didn’t know the first thing about how publishing worked but his encouragement gave me the confidence to embark on what became a long, challenging and ultimately rewarding journey. My father was an accomplished architect; he left monuments. He passed away before my first book was published but I know he would be very proud of me.

Q: Is there anything you’d go back and do differently now that you have been published, in regards to your writing career?

I want to say yes, because some of the stuff I went through was so tough. But the truth is, all those kooky agents, the endless rejection, the plunge into self-publishing— it all taught me something. I think the fact that publication by a large respected house came much later than I thought it would, and the fact that I even stopped writing at one point because I couldn’t bear it anymore, only to discover I was more miserable not writing than being unpublished, gave me a determination every writer must cultivate in today’s incredibly challenging and competitive market. Writing is heart-affirming; trying to get published can be heart-breaking.

If we don’t persevere in the belief that what we write matters and is worth reading, there’d be little point. Some people write because they love it and never think about publication; they never even try for it. I admire that quality immensely, because the purity of the act of writing is something a writer is most likely to lose along the way and is the one thing we must always remember to treasure and protect. In the end, we write because we must. Writing is a passion. Publication is a business.

Q: Have you ever had a character take over a story and move it in a different direction than you had originally intended? How did you handle it?

All the time! In The Confessions of Catherine de Medici, Catherine has an enigmatic political alliance with a Protestant leader. Historically, we know they were in agreement for a long time before their alliance deteriorated. But, we have few details about their personal relationship. While I was writing about this vital and mostly unexplored part of Catherine’s life, she decided to express feelings I’d not even considered she might have.

I resisted at first; it flew in the face of everything that transpires later, where her actions belie the emotions she was demonstrating in my book. But, resistance in these cases is indeed futile. No matter how I tried to wrest her back into my initial vision, she kept pulling in the opposite direction. The writing became laborious; the pages were bad; everything went sour. In the end I gave in and as soon as I did it all began to work again. It was as though she was saying: this is also part of who I am, even if you, silly writer, don’t see it. And of course, she was right.

Q: Do you have any book signings, tours or special events planned to promote your book that readers might be interested in attending? If so, when and where?

I will be touring the web with PumpUpYourBook promotion at various blogs in June and I love to interact with visitors at my various stops. I’ll also be doing signings in person. People who are interested in my schedule can check my website under News on the front page or visit my blog for upcoming events.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A lot! I’m writing The Princess Isabella, about the early years of Isabel of Castile, her dramatic and little-known struggle to win her throne; her forbidden marriage to Fernando of Aragon; and their controversial crusade to unite Spain. This will be the first new biographical novel on Isabella in over twenty years and relies on original research and conclusions to form a balanced approach to Isabella within the context of her time—presenting a flesh-and-blood woman of conflict and doubt, as well as resolution, rather than the stereotypical fanatic or saint. The Princess Isabella will be published in 2012 by Ballantine Books.

For St Martin’s Press, I’m editing the first book in a new series: The Elizabeth I Spymaster Chronicles. The Tudor Secret will be released in 2011 and takes place during the final days of the reign of Edward VI, when a young squire named Brendan Prescott arrives at court to serve Robert Dudley and stumbles upon a conspiracy that threatens Princess Elizabeth. As he races against an unknown foe to save her, he begins to unravel the secret of his own mysterious past—a deadly secret that changes everything he believes in and casts an inescapable shadow over him, Elizabeth, and the future of England itself. While this new series is set in the ever-popular Tudor era, it explores the unfamiliar underworld of espionage and the bond of forbidden friendship between a spy and a queen.

Now, use this space to tell us more about who you. Anything you want your readers to know. Include information on where to find your books, any blogs you may have, or how a reader can learn more about you and writing.

Thank you for inviting me! I always enjoy meeting bloggers and readers. If you want to find out more about me and my work, or invite me to chat in person, via Skype, or speaker phone with your reader group, please visit my website at: http://www.cwgortner.com. You can also visit my blog at: http://historicalboys.blogspot.com/

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