Author of
Published today
7 May 2015
 |
| Macmillan Publishers 7 May 2015 |
Joanna ~ A big welcome to Jaffareadstoo and thanks for taking the time to answer our questions.
How long have you been writing
and what got you started?
I’ve been writing pretty much all
my life – at least since I developed the coordination to hold a pen. I was an
avid reader as a child and used to make up stories for my siblings on long car
journeys to our grandparents in Scotland. By the age of 10 I was writing
boarding school novels, of the Enid Blyton ilk, and I’ve never really stopped
since.
I started actually having fiction
published when I stopped work to have my first child thirteen years ago. I
wrote short stories then as I could fit them into the minimal gaps between
caring for her and I was first published by The People’s Friend and then,
gradually, by all the other women’s magazines.
Once my daughter and son were
safely at school and I had more time I moved on to serials but all the time I
had also been writing novels. I must have completed at least ten adult books
before The Chosen Queen was accepted
for publication and the number of times I’ve announced my intention to ‘give up
all this writing nonsense’ must be countless. It all feels worth it now though.
What can you tell us about The
Chosen Queen that won’t give too much away?
Given that it’s about the wife of
King Harold who infamously died with an arrow in his eye at the Battle of
Hastings (or not – you’ll have to read it for my take on that), the final
outcome of the novel is never really in any doubt. For readers, therefore, I’m
hoping that what will keep them interested is less ‘what’s going to happen,’
than ‘how is it going to happen’.
That said, this is a novel about
Edyth, whose life is barely documented at all, so hopefully there are some
surprises. Her emotional motivations and struggles are also pretty much all my
own interpretation and I’ve written this novel in the firm belief that what
makes us human hasn’t changed much in the last 1000 years, so some of her
dilemmas are hopefully relevant to everyone.
What I’ll say, therefore, is -
consider what you’d feel like if you were told that the fate of your country
depended on you marrying your best friend’s boyfriend…
The Queens of Conquest
trilogy will focus on a Saxon, a Viking and a Norman Queen. Which, if any, of
the women did you identify with and why?
I think it’s a truth that other
writers will attest to that you tend to become very involved with whoever is
your current heroine. At first I was very intertwined with Edyth of Mercia, but
for the last six months I’ve been deep in the head of Elizaveta of Kiev, and
now I am slowly climbing into that of Matilda of Flanders. I think it’s a bit
like having children – I love them all equally but in different ways.
It’s probably true that Edyth is
the most like me – quick to get herself into bother but not one to let things
get her down. This is perhaps because I wrote her first, so it was like
dropping myself back a century (and up a class or two, to boot!). I’ve loved
writing Elizaveta too, though, because she is the sort of fiery, defiant person
that I would secretly rather like to be and I admire her so much for that.
Matilda I am yet to unveil. She has made a guest appearance in my ebook novella
- coming out next Christmas - and from writing that I’m liking her already.
She’s classically been stuck on the baddies’ side of the Conquest so it’s going
to be fascinating exploring the story from her (and William’s) point of view.
In your research for the books
did you come across anything that surprised you?
I don't think there’s been much
that’s surprised me, but I do love the way that historical research can throw
up connections that really get you thinking about the shape of your novel. When
I first started researching Edyth, for example, I didn’t know that she’d been
married to the King of Wales and, what’s more, the only man ever to have been
the King of all Wales.
It was clear already that Edyth was
chosen as Harold’s queen because she was sister to the Earls of the North and
would bring him their desperately needed allegiance as the country faced
invaders. Finding out more about her rule in Wales, however, helped me to work
out how her experiences there also made her the best woman, personally, to help Harold hold England.
For me one of the thrills of
writing historical fiction is taking the known facts (which are often few in
this period) and imagining the personal motivations that might help to link
them up. I hope that is what will make this trilogy accessible and entertaining
for the modern reader.
What would you like readers to
take away from your books?
I hope that my trilogy will give
readers a sense of a period that is less well known than, say, the Tudors, but
it’s the characters that I really hope will stick with them. My primary aim as
a novelist is to tell a good story and for me that comes from creating people
that readers can really get to know and to feel for.
I hope, therefore, that they will come
away from my books with a sense of the three queens as individuals with stories
all of their own, not just as figures woven into the fabric of history. 1066
was obviously a vital year for England and I love the tension of ‘what if’ that
the events bring to the book but it’s not my aim to teach readers, just to tell
a tale of three women trying to live their own lives as best they could in exciting
and often difficult circumstances.
What is your perfect writing
day?
Any day, whatever else might have
happened, is usually made perfect by writing a section – be it chapter,
paragraph or just sentence – that I’m really pleased with. That said, my ideal
day would probably start with a nice sunny walk with the dog to clear the
cobwebs and think about where I’m going to take my characters, then plenty of
time in my lovely office to get it all down on paper. I write freehand when I’m
drafting so I usually do that curled up on the sofa by my window, ideally with
plenty of coffee and more than likely a square or two of chocolate to keep up
the creative energy!
At the moment my son is still at
primary school so, dearly though I love him, the best gift I could have for a
really great writing day would be not to have to break off to pick him up at
3.15. I’d love to find the time to go away somewhere quiet for a few days to
write. If I ever manage that, I’d probably keep going til 5ish stop for an hour
or two – enough time for another walk, maybe a bath and something to eat - and
then write again in the evening, perhaps with a small glass of wine at my side
this time.
Do you reward yourself when you
finished writing your book?
It’s quite hard to say exactly when
a book is ‘finished’ – is it the end of the first draft, submission to the
publisher, the final edit, or when it comes out on the shelves? They’re all
milestones and yes, I do try to mark them in some way – usually with a bottle
of bubbly!
Writing is a tough, lonely,
frustrating, infuriating, depressing business a lot of the time and I do think
it’s really important to recognise when you’ve achieved something. In a
conventional office job there are often opportunities for recognition and a
sense of achievement and we writers owe to ourselves to foster that sort of
positive spirit whenever we can.
You can find more about Joanna here
and follow her on Twitter @joannacourtney1
My review of The Chosen Queen featured on Anne Cater's excellent blog,
Random Things Through My Letterbox, in March 2015.
Huge thanks to Joanna for being a lovely guest on the blog today
and to Katie James at Macmillan for her help with this interview.
~***~
