30 June 2007

Historicals: What Got You Started?

It's a given that everyone who reads historicals has at least a passing interest in history, whether they were given a Regency by a friend or relative and told "read this it's good," or they picked up a novel in the grocery store because it had a bright cover featuring a guy in a kilt or a Viking, or whatever. So my question is what got you the writer started and what is it about your favorite era that made you want to write a book set in that time?
For me it was a book on Medieval history in the 6th grade. I took it home the first day of school and read the whole thing. I graduated to my mother's Georgette Heyer novels and from there my dad being stationed to Crete sparked the interest in ancient history. I got interested in genealogy and the further back I went the more I wanted to recreate what it must have been like to live during ancient times, hence my ebook Caesar's Love.
So, how did you all get hooked on your favorite eras?
Oh yeah, and do you have any favorite historical figures that you'd love to base a character on but haven't yet? Rather partial to Catherine the Great myself.