January 26th, 2015 → 5:53 am @ // No Comments

“That’s an ill phrase, a vile phrase, [‘ok’] is a vile phrase.” – Hamlet

I am happy to report that the reviews coming in of The Other Shakespeare are mostly positive!  It’s really been heart-warming, in fact, to see all the nice things readers have written about the book, and it’s even given me incentive to think about a next novel…  The few criticisms I’ve gotten have generally been about the dialogue in the book.  That it messes up and sometimes sounds too modern.  First, let me say that I agree I should have never used the word “ok” in the book.  My bad.  But let me add that criticism of dialogue in historical novels is rife, and often quite unsubstantiated.  My favorite response on this came from Philippa Gregory, who said that, let’s be honest, no one knows how people actually spoke hundreds of years ago.  There were no recordings!  And obviously people don’t talk in casual conversation like they write in formal documents, so formal writing from that time period tells us nothing.  So anyone who claims definitively that a historical novel’s dialogue is wrong, is basing that opinion on, frankly, personal opinion.  Like most historical novels I had to wing the dialogue, and I may have messed up in a few places, but I’ve learned.  Watch out – my next novel is going to be even better!!


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