Excerpt from Wrote a Book Author Spotlight

What is your book about and what inspired you to write this book?

My book is about the Roman Emperor Caracalla. In my story, he meets a woman who is very different from the women he’s known before, and eventually he falls in love, as much as a tyrannical emperor can.

I was a huge fan of the first Gladiator movie, and when I learned they were filming a sequel featuring the emperors Caracalla and Geta, I did some research into who they were and was fascinated by their story. I wanted to write about those figures but from a female perspective.

Much of the literature around Imperial Rome (and the Gladiator movies) focuses on male power. I wanted to explore what it would look like if Caracalla walked into a world where women held power.

Which character was the most fun—or most challenging—to write, and why?

It was hard to write Caracalla at first, but then it got easier. I needed to find his voice and the why behind some of the terrible things he does. At the end of the day, you have to empathize with a villain as much as a hero, because it makes your character far more interesting to write and hopefully read.

Caracalla was as boxed in by rigid expectations as much as women were at the time, perhaps even more so. Exploring that was interesting but also challenging. Roman Emperors were not great guys, and Caracalla was known as being particularly violent. It’s difficult to write about these acts but still find the humanity in him.

Were there any real-life experiences that influenced your story or characters?

Caracalla was a real person, and I tried to weave in some stories from his historical record. Some of these had a strong anti-Caracalla agenda, so you have to read between the lines and parse out what might have been a politically motivated narrative vs. what actually happened. Did he really suffer remorse for some of his acts? Was he haunted by ghosts? It was fun to play with these ideas but a challenge to make his motivations realistic.

What’s next for you as a writer?

I’m turning my attention to Caracalla’s brother Geta in my next book.