Original History: Novels about little-known people or events surrounding popular history.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do you write novels?
I write because I have to. It’s a need, like nutrients or exercise. The thoughts must go somewhere. Rewrites, short stories, and poetry help, but nothing beats a novel. My brain is wired for them. It’s always thinking about characters, making up what ifs, devising impassioned speeches, and noticing odd details. I tend to obsess about everything to do with a particular topic for a year or two (long enough to research and write a novel) before naturally moving onto the next one. I’m compulsive when it comes to punctuation. I stalk the imaginary people in my head for months on end. Ever since I was little, staring up at my mother’s old typewriter, I’ve wanted to be able to hold up a book and say, “This is mine.”
Writing is the best job in the world. It’s different everyday, I’m constantly learning and growing, and it gives a great sense of purpose to know that one else can tell the stories I tell the way that I tell them. Every writer is irreplaceable.
How do you write a book?
Every author is different, and every manuscript is different. I’ve written stories based on ideas from other books, from poems, movies, TV shows, songs, paintings, artefacts, dreams. To see the inspirations for specific books, check them out in the Bonus Material section. For me it’s usually about a strong urge to explore a certain world, and it usually involves two or three of those urgent curiosities combining one day in a way that makes me think, “I can write a whole book about that.”
I typically start researching about a year ahead of time, while writing another novel. My notes are divided into at least two documents - fiction and non-fiction - and tucked into my notebook. The non-fiction notes include historical facts about setting, clothing, customs, and so on. The fiction notes are about things like character, possible phrases to include, bits of dialogue (my favourite parts to write), and events. When I start to write, I have the major plot points in mind, as well as the denouement, but it demotivates me to know the climax. I usually find climaxes the most tedious part to write, because at that point I’ve come to know everything that’s going to happen. With an overall sense of how things will go (which doesn’t always happen the way I think it will at the beginning), events from the list are written in as appropriate, depending on the feel of the story, and how it develops organically.
Writing the actual book takes about a year - on average. To the best of my recollection, a rough draft has taken me as little as four months to as much as two and a half years. I write most of my work longhand in coil notebooks. When later typing up a manuscript, I use the opportunity to rework things, so that the first typed version is the second draft. Some rough manuscripts have been a combination of writing and typing. A couple of times I've tried to do a rough draft only on computer, but the work ends up stalling. Writing by hand feels more accessible, and I enjoy the sensory experience: the sound of the pen, the feel of the paper.
After finishing a book, I typically take a year to clear my head before starting to edit. Editing usually lasts two or three years. The book goes through multiple drafts until I feel like it’s perfect. Then I do one last edit, and even more red marks end up on that supposedly perfect manuscript.
It’s time then to write a book proposal, which goes through several drafts, and research a list of suitable publishers.
As for advice on how to write, BIC pens pretty much say it all: Butt In Chair. Write constantly, and read books that you think will make you a better writer (this doesn’t refer to self-help books). If you’re cut out to write, you’ll learn and improve.
Why do you write about history?
I first became interested in history while researching Robin Hood for a grade eight project. Another project on the English monarchy, a passion for reading encyclopedias and history books, and a desire to write about medieval England led to taking a BA in Ancient and Medieval Studies: a multi-disciplinary degree that allowed me to take courses on publishing and creative writing, while focusing on the history in which I wanted to set my fiction. As a Medieval Studies grad student at the University of Nottingham, I had the opportunity to study Middle English language and literature, as well as archaeology and history, with the goal of writing a well-rounded dissertation on the social history behind an early to mid-thirteenth century Robin Hood figure.
History interests me because it is about people, and how they lived. It shows us where we come from, and how we can better live our own lives. I am proud of my cultural heritage, most especially my English heritage, and believe that everyone can feel more secure in who they are by having pride in where they’ve come from; every culture has wonderful things in its history. I also believe that respecting the people in our own cultural past is the first step toward respecting people from every culture. That empathy and understanding, that respect for others regardless of their differences, is what I am hoping to instill by writing about people from past cultures.
When were the Middle Ages?
This is a controversial question, with a multitude of answers. As an English medievalist, my usual answer is from about 410 to 1540. This is a huge span of time - from the withdrawal of the Romans to the full-blown Dissolution of the Monasteries - during which there were many changes in politics, culture, language, and everyday life. A person in 410 would have had vastly different experiences from someone in 1210, or even 610. By the same token, life in 1550 wasn’t drastically different from life in 1530, just because we choose to say that the medieval period came to a close in-between. Eking out time periods is an artificial construct, but one that we humans seem to feel is necessary. Assigning labels to these periods is even more artificial (golden, classical, middle, rebirth, etc.). But the short answer is around 410 to 1540.
What do you read - who are your favourite authors?
I read everything. It’s a sometimes frustrating, sometimes awesome part of being a writer. I read good stuff to learn how to improve, bad stuff to learn what doesn't work and why, even material from genres I don’t enjoy to see if it changes my mind.
My favourites to read are fiction from long-nineteenth century authors. Especially never-before-reprinted works by famous authors. Especially when they’re short horror stories. It’s a great way to better get to know great writers, rather than reading only the books that everyone else is reading.
My favourite authors include Alexandre Dumas (he can write a scene about incomprehensible accounting and have you on the edge of your seat), Mark Twain (especially The American Claimant), Ambrose Bierce, Lewis Carroll, Alexander Pope, and Joseph Conrad (absolutely gorgeous writing, and English was his third language).
What is your favourite place to travel?
When it comes to travel, England is my country, and Paris is my city.
I’ve loved everywhere I’ve travelled, and am chomping at the bit to visit more places. At the top of my wish list right now is Portsmouth, where the Mary Rose warship is housed, with its Tudor archery equipment.
Why do you misspell the word "you"?
The t-shirts, phone cases, notebooks, etc. in the Books and Store section that read “I *heart* YEW” reference yew trees, which would have been the type of wood used to make Robin Hood’s bow. As a natural composite, yew’s sapwood resists tension, while its heartwood is the most resistant to compression of all known timbers. In the medieval period, all the best bows were made from yew.