Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

Avoiding the Issue

Avoiding the Issue

I have let all this thinking about reviewing, and class assignments and contests distract me from my central focus….Don Tomas de Torquemada.

Often when I get to a point in a novel where I must do something distasteful I find myself caught up in “More important Matters.”

Don Torquemada was a historical character who ran the Inquisition in Spain for Ferdinand and Isabella…It is said he was Isabella’s confessor….He was a Franciscan priest and must have been a holy terror because he nothing much good has been written about his persecution of Jews, moors and heretics….Actually all his persecutions where confined to Conversos…my research shows….those who converted to “The One Faith” and then reneged. Those were the ones that he went after…I mentioned in an earlier Blog that the word “Torque...” which refers to twisting motion was probably some pundits reference to the screw machines used in the torture that took place…I am only guessing but its fascinating to me that a common engineering term might have its source in this sort of gallows reference.

In my story Don Torquemada starts out a pretty normal sort of person so I needed an event that would distort his character in a big sort of way turning him into the holy terror he’s referred to in the historical record….The Murder of Teresa the woman he loves will be that event. She is a very warm and loving young woman….maybe not the brightest star in the sky but a really sweet girl.

Then things are really going to get ugly and the reader is going to be led into the storm. So I guess I will have to put on some wet weather gear and start getting wet.