Occasionally people ask me writing-related questions. Here's a recent Q&A exchange between me and author Susan Gregory. Do you have an opinion you'd like to share on this?
Susan: Latayne, I need your help…
My WIP, The Virgin's Midwife, is giving me conniption fits (Not a pretty sight.), on so many levels that I'm second guessing everything – even writing it.
I am especially confused with the “inn” research. I read about the kataluma and the kesnia and the pandocheion. I've also heard travelers stayed with family so perhaps M&J were turned away from a family home or sent to a cave.
Would you please steer me in the right direction?
Thank you,
Susan
Latayne: I understand, dear sister, how unnerving that is.
Your WIP is fiction, right? Here is what I have decided about archaeological and cultural details that go beyond the text in an attempt to provide understanding. Because many things like the inn issue we may never completely know (on this earth), and because people have strong feelings about their conflicting points of view, my counsel is that you exercise your right as the author of fiction to supply details for which you have some backup (because of the credentials of whomever is writing about the kataluma, for instance), choosing the view that seems right to you and that you can craft your story around.
I had to take such a stance in writing A Conspiracy of Breath, and the way I did that was in the Notes section, when I explained my rationale for writing about Priscilla as the likely author of Hebrews.
You see in your situation, not all those conflicting points of view can be right at the same time, and you can give your reasons for your choice in the notes section. That is your right as an author of biblical fiction.
Hope this helps –And it was very clarifying for me.
