Christy English

One Answer Out of Many: By Fire, By Water

Friday, December 3rd, 2010 | Mitchell James Kaplan, The Writing Life, Writing Process | No Comments

A month or so ago, I asked the question, “Why do writers write?” on my Facebook page, and I got a lot of different answers. I also came up with one of my own. I write for the same reason I read, to enter other worlds. When I’m composing a novel, especially during the first draft, I am entering a world that no one else has come into before. My characters introduce me to their lives, and show me what it is like to live in their world.�

Some worlds are a lot harsher than others. In the fabulous novel, BY FIRE, BY WATER Mitchell James Kaplan brought me into the world of late fifteenth century Spain. He allowed me to watch his characters as the world they lived in unraveled. Though the men and women of his novel were largely people from history, it had to cut him to the quick as a writer to watch them suffer as their world dissolved, as the Moors were�pushed out of Spain at sword point, and as communities of Spanish Jews were driven out of the homes they had known for centuries. BY FIRE, BY WATER is an incredible view into the past…a window worth peering through.

By Fire, By Water by Mitchell James Kaplan

Friday, October 1st, 2010 | Mitchell James Kaplan, The Writing Life | 4 Comments

BY FIRE, BY WATER has been sitting in my TBR pile for over two months now. Finally, I have picked it up and am ready to begin. A story of the Inquisition, this novel is going to take me to southern Spain, one of the many places I have always wanted to travel. No doubt in the midst of the darkness of the Inquisition there will be beauty as well. I am looking forward to journeying with MJK into the past…