Girolamo Savonarola - A Novel In The Making

I've always wanted to write a book and when I was younger I would often write little stories. Looking back, they were kind of rubbish but even back then I was telling myself that one day I would write a book that people would read. More recently I've found myself getting smacked in the face over and over again with ideas for novels some of which I've dismissed right off the bat and others which have been written down in my little note book in the hope I'll come back to it later. But then, a couple of weeks ago I was hit with an idea that just wouldn't go away.

And I knew I had to write it.

And so, the idea for my first ever novel was born. Some of you may have seen on my twitter that I've been spending a lot of time talking about Girolamo Savonarola, quoting some of his sermons and tweeting facts about his life (and, rather morbidly, his death) and the reason for this is that I've been spending rather a lot of time researching the mans life. Why? Because Savonarola and his life are the subject of the book I have started to write.

It's my aim to be as accurate as I possibly can when telling his story, but of course there will be parts of it that are fictional. It's a historical fiction work after all. But at the same time I'll be telling Savonarola's story, having him doing what we was doing, predicting the death of various tyrants, his arguments with Pope Alexander VI, his hatred of the vices that plagued Florence, his bonfire of the Vanities, his arrest, his torture and his death. Let's face it, his life is so interesting and I wouldn't really want to make up anything extra because he did so much exciting stuff. His story is exciting enough without adding a ton of embellishments. 

I'm not all that far into his story yet, but I am working away on it and writing whenever I can. It's thoroughly enjoyable and the words are just spilling out onto the page right now - I don't think I've ever been able to write anything with such enthusiasm and it's amazing. Not only is the writing exciting me, but the research too so much so that I am planning a trip to Florence so I can see the places where he lived, worked and died. All in the name of research of course.

I'll be updating here with my progress and I'll be adding a link onto my sidebar about it over the next few weeks or so. Please do keep your eyes peeled, and wish me luck!