So whatever happened to Will Scarlet anyway? I needed to know. Had I ever intended to write a grand ole' Robin Hood story? Nope. But I was off and running.

As for the heroine, Meg, I don't remember when I decided to make her blind. All I know is that once that idea came into my head, I wanted to try it. There's no greater challenge to a writer, I think, than to limit a protagonist's point of view so severely. I imagined a scene where she would be high above an angry mob, tied to the stake. I imagined looking out over that crowd, seeing the stars and the initial glow of flames as they prepared to burn her for witchcraft. And then I had to imagine it all over again, this time from the perspective of a blind woman--the smells, sounds, and feel of that scene.

In addition, I don't recall exactly when I decided to make Meg an alchemist. I remember becoming frustrated with the proliferation of paranormals, particularly when paranormal elements such as witchcraft bled over into medieval romances. Much like with Meg's blindness, I wanted to challenge myself. Could I write a fantastical story full of strange happenings, but ground those happenings entirely in science?

In the end, I found an historic basis for Meg's knowledge of chemistry. His name was Adelard of Bath, a tutor to English kings and a widely-traveled experts on Arab culture and the emerging sciences of chemistry, geometry, and astronomy. In fact, he postulated that the Earth revolves around the sun! Adelard also corresponded with a nephew in the north of England, so I made Meg's grandfather that mysterious nephew...a means of keeping Adelard's tremendous knowledge in the family.

The Research
The best resource I found for the history of chemistry is Creations of Fire by Cathy Cobb and Harold Goldwhite. Numerous online articles about the history of alchemy also helped in my understanding on science at that time--period appropriate innovations such as Greek Fire, gunpowder, acids, potash (a fertilizer), herbs, and means of falsifying gemstones and gold.

As for research on Robin Hood, I've found a number of places invaluable for their incredible, extensive resources. The first is the Robin Hood Project, maintained by the University of Rochester, a gorgeous collection of annotated ballads and plays. Next is Sacred Texts, which houses thousands of historical works, including the collected ballads of Francis James Child, who was passionate about Robin Hood.

Medieval research took me to the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism), which I value if only for their fantastic articles on period names. The website on Medieval and Renaissance Food is an amazing resource, as is the Medieval Internet Sourcebook. I'm fascinated by language, so the Middle English Compendium soaked up many a free hour, as did J. R. R. Tolkien's etymological work on the language of the middle ages.