Tell us about your latest book
My latest book is Seer of Apollo, book three of The Armillary Sphere, story of Lady Jane Rochford. Jane was the wife of George Boleyn, and sister-in-law of Anne and Mary Boleyn. She was sent to court at a young age to serve Queen Katherine, and afterwards served Anne, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves and Katherine Howard. Jane has long been suspected, on the basis of very flimsy evidence, of being one of the people who betrayed Anne Boleyn and George, leading to their downfall. I have many doubts about this, and believe that even if she did add to evidence against them anything she said may have been manipulated, transforming quite innocent comments into incriminating evidence, like much of the ‘evidence’ brought up against Queen Anne and her supposed lovers. Jane did, however, manage to return to court and quite possibly worked as a court spy for Thomas Cromwell. This, I would argue, is not necessarily evidence of guilt, but that she found a way to survive after the downfall of the powerful family into which she married. Jane went on to serve many queens, but ended up on the block herself when she was accused of aiding Queen Katherine Howard to meet in secret with a young man. Jane seems to have suffered a mental collapse when she was arrested, which some believed was false, but King Henry VIII altered the law of the times which said a person of unbalanced mind could not be executed, to allow Jane to die for her “crimes”. Jane died with the last Queen she served, in the same manner as her own husband and sister-in-law had years before.
I always felt sorry for Jane, and decided to write her version of the events of her life. She is a shadowy character, often maligned, and I thought she deserved a more balanced version of the events of her life and that of her family.
What is your preferred writing routine?
Writing is my job, so I come to my computer at 9am, and I work. I take breaks, but usually I work from 9-4 or 5, when I take a walk. I don’t wait for inspiration, that comes when I start typing, or often when I’m out walking!
What advice do you have for aspiring writers?
Read, and write! You cannot be a writer unless you read a lot, and you also can’t be a writer unless you write. Don’t put off writing, worrying that you aren’t going to get the perfect idea in your head out in the way you want, write it. A great deal of writing is re-writing, editing, tinkering, and you can only do that once you have a draft in front of you. The first draft is always poor, but you can make it shine the more you work on it. Read everything you can, and in genres you wouldn’t usually go for, and the words will come easier. So read, and write, if you want to be a writer!
What have you found to be the best way to raise awareness of your books?
I do most of my promotion on twitter, but reviews are also an excellent way to be seen. I have had the good fortune of having other authors such as Terry Tyler review my books, of getting to know some great review groups, such as Rosie’s Book Review Team, and of having many readers willing to leave reviews too, which help my books to be seen amongst the millions of titles on Amazon and Goodreads. I include an email address at the end of my books so people can contact me, and whilst we chat about Tudor conspiracy theories and facts, I also ask if they can leave a review. There’s always no pressure. I don’t want to try to force people, but I always ask if they are willing to, it would be most appreciated, and many, being kind people willing to give their time, do.
Tell us something unexpected that you discovered during your research
I come across all kinds of odd facts in my research. I love old recipes and their methods, such as “take a goodly pinch of saffron”. I love looking at the old ingredients and things used that we might well cringe at today. Medicine is also fascinating to me, all the old treatments some of which worked and some which probably the patient was lucky to survive. And I like bizarre stories, such as when the Welsh archers who all but won Agincourt for Henry V marched to battle, they did so apparently with no trousers on! They were suffering from terrible dysentery at the time, so I read, and decided it was simpler to just march there without breeches on. So, if this is true, they were sick, had marched a long way, and bare-bottomed no less, and still won the battle!
What was the hardest scene you remember writing?
Most of the last book in my series on Anne Boleyn, Judge the Best, was hard. Anne was my first historical heroine, and so writing about her fall was tough. I didn’t expect it to touch me as much as it did, but the last few chapters were the worst. It felt as though I was the one sending her to her death, and killing a heroine of your childhood, indeed life, isn’t an easy thing. I had to work hard too, in order to hopefully make the end touching without it becoming corny. I wanted to do justice to Anne. I hope I succeeded.
What are you planning to write next?
I have another book on Jane Boleyn coming, Captive of the King, dealing with the time of Anne Boleyn’s downfall, as well as the fourth book in my series The Heirs of Anarchy, called Sons of Violence, which deals with the end of the English civil war known as the Anarchy, where Empress Matilda fought her cousin King Stephen for possession of the English throne. There will be more books in this series next year, although Eleanor of Aquitaine is due to take up the story from this point, carrying on into the reigns of Henry II, and his sons. I also have a ghost story I am working on, on the side as it were, something that has been rattling about in my head for years and is now demanding to be written.
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