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Today, Norm Goldman, Publisher & Editor of Bookpleasures.com is excited to have as our guest, Heather Terrell, lawyer and author of The Map Thief and The Chrysalis.

Good day Heather and thanks for participating in our interview. 

Norm: 

Does your work as a lawyer ever conflict with that of a writer? 

Heather:

I do not believe so.  If anything, I think my work as a lawyer provided some interesting issues for my characters to grapple with in my first book, The Chrysalis, and my second book, The Map Thief.  And I did draw on my years as a lawyer to create -- hopefully -- a realistic world for the primary character of both books to inhabit, although I have never been confronted with some of the ethical dilemmas that she is called upon to resolve.   

Norm:  

I found your recent novel, The Map Thief to be quite an intriguing yarn. What motivated you to write this novel?  

Heather: 

Not long ago, my brother Coley asked me if I’d ever heard of the fifteenth century Chinese Admiral Zheng He.  When I answered no, he was surprised.  After all, he and I have each spent considerable time in China where the admiral is becoming legendary.  Coley explained that, in the early 1400s, Zheng He had assembled a naval fleet so vast and so technologically superior that the Europeans’ ships of the same time period seemed like bath toys in comparison.   

The presumed prowess of this armada has inspired theories that Zheng He had discovered the world decades before the famed European explorers.  I was intrigued.  So, as I began researching my second book, I pored over early world maps from this time period, and I learned something curious, a historical mystery of sorts.  Several of the very earliest European world maps – dating from the mid-1400s and beyond – showed lands and bodies of water that had not been officially “discovered” by the Europeans for decades.   My imagination soared.  I wondered whether a scrap of evidence of Zheng He’s voyages might have survived and whether that documentation might have reached the hands of the Europeans – perhaps a map.  Thus, The Map Thief was born. 

Norm:   

Where did you get your information and ideas for the book and how much is based on actual facts?

Heather:   

Although The Map Thief is certainly a work of fiction, I wanted to base its historical framework and details on as many actual facts as possible.  Therefore, given that the book delves into Ming Dynasty China (including the Imperial and eunuch courts), the European Age of Discovery, the history of mapmaking, fifteenth century oceanic expeditions, and the modern-day world of map thievery and stolen art legislation, writing The Map Thief involved detailed historical and legal research into all of those areas. 

I tried to consult original sources whenever possible, such as the journals of Ma Huan, the historian on board one of Zheng He’s journeys, as well as accounts from those on Vasco da Gama’s voyages.  In fact, I ordered so many rare, obscure historical texts from my library that the librarians thought I was writing my Ph.D. thesis on eunuchs in Ming Dynasty China, and asked me to lecture about that topic – before they learned I was writing a novel.   

Norm: 

What do you want your work to do? Amuse people? Provoke thinking? 

Heather: 

I hope that my books take readers on a journey throughout time and expose them to some of the areas of art, history, archeology and the law that I find most intriguing.  But, most of all, I hope readers enjoy the journey! 

Norm: 

How did you go about creating your three characters in The Map Thief, Mara Coyne, Ma Zhi and Antonio Coehlo? Are they based on real characters? 

Heather: 

The Map Thief tells the story of the very first world map and its journey – and impact -- throughout time.  Thus, it seemed fitting that I trace the map’s voyage as it passed from the hands of Ma Zhi, the early fifteenth century Chinese mapmaker who created the map; Antonio Coehlo, the late fifteenth century Portuguese cartographer and navigator who used it; and Mara Coyne, the present day heroine who struggled to locate the map and discern its rightful owners.  While all the characters are fictional, I certainly drew from analogous real-life historical figures as I modeled them.    

Norm:

Is your work improvisational or do you have a set plan? For example, how did you approach the problem of interweaving your three stories? As a follow up, how did you know when your book was finished? 

Heather:

 I work with a set plan, an outline of the modern and historical storylines, settings, and characters.  However, I try to keep that outline flexible should research – or travel – influence the outcome of the story.  For example, I knew the general path that my historical Portuguese narrative needed to take to further The Map Thief’s story, but when I visited Tomar in Portugal, a more interesting plotline revealed itself.  So, I modified my outline accordingly, as well as the interweaving of the three stories.   

Norm: 

We often hear that writers should write what they know. Were there any elements of the book that forced you to step out of your comfort zone, and if so, how did you approach this part of the writing? 

Heather: 

Writing the historical storylines does require that I delve deep into the past.  I approach this aspect of writing my books by researching and reading about the time period extensively, in particular first hand accounts by those who lived during the era if at all possible.    

Norm: 

Do you believe that if you want to write a good story or novel you need to create struggles of powerful descriptive individuals and not just issues; and through their accomplishments and travail, we very much comprehend the issues? How does this apply to The Map Thief?

Heather:   

I do think that it helps readers to have strong characters with whom they can identify and experience the story and its issues.  I hope that The Map Thief and The Chrysalis provide readers with such characters. 

Norm:   

Has a review or profile ever changed your perspective on your work?”

Heather:   

I do read most reviews and profiles, and often appreciate the reviewer’s feedback.  That said, I cannot say that a review or profile has “changed my perspective on [my] work” or the areas I am interested in pursuing through my books.

Norm:   

How can readers find out more about you and your endeavors?

Heather:  

I would love readers to visit my new website: www.heatherterrell.com.  It contains all sorts of information about my books and related areas of historical and artistic interest – ranging from video and print interviews, podcasts, articles, and even a video game based on the iconography of the sixteenth century Dutch paintings like the one at the heart of my first book, The Chrysalis.  

Norm:

What is next for Heather Terrell and is there anything else you wish to add that we have not covered. 

Heather: 

As I wrote The Map Thief, I became intrigued by the notion that an object – be it a piece of artwork or an artifact – can tell a story, one that answers a historical mystery, as well as divulges something personal and secret about the creator of the object.  So, as I cast about through time seeking another object that could tell a multi-layered tale for my third book, I learned about the lost Book of Kildare, an early medieval Irish illuminated manuscript so beautiful it was described as “made by angels.”  As I delved into the research, it seemed that this Book might reveal much about the why the Virgin Mary’s portrait first appears in remote, early medieval Ireland and how her image and persona – indeed women’s roles -- were shaped by society over time.  This formed the impetus for my third book, tentatively titled The Book of Kildare.   

Thanks once again and good luck with all of your future endeavors.

To Read Norm's Review Of The Map Thief CLICK HERE