The Forbidden Queen

Q&A ON WRITING

What do you love the most about being a writer?

I think it is the control factor. Manipulating and directing characters to allow them—or sometimes to force them—to tell the story so that distant historical events come alive through conversation and the interaction of characters, proving that in some ways we are not too different today from our ancestors. We are driven by the same ambitions and motivations. I love seeing the scenes develop as the characters speak.

Where do you go for inspiration?

In general, my garden. Weeding a flower bed or picking raspberries frees the mind to allow ideas to flow. But ideas come in the most unlikely places. I once plotted the whole of an historical whodunnit on a motorway in a traffic jam. If I need a specific atmosphere I might visit a place associated with the character. When researching Anne Neville I visited Tewkesbury Abbey and the adjacent battle field—Tewkesbury is quite close to where I live. I know Middleham Castle well from my days of living in Yorkshire. Eleanor of Aquitaine presented me with some difficulties, but a visit to Goodrich Castle gave me the atmosphere of a small border fortress in the early twelfth century. I have also visited the magnificent Angevin tombs at Fontrevault, as well as the castle at Chinon and the remarkable ruins of Old Sarum, both fortresses where Henry kept Eleanor imprisoned.

For atmosphere for both Alice Perrers and Katherine de Valois, it has given me an excellent excuse to revisit some of the royal palaces in London. It is a great pity that many of the manors and palaces—such as Havering-atte-Bower—associated with Alice and Edward no longer exist.

Leeds Castle is a true gem, and very redolent with Katherine’s love affair with Owen Tudor.

Now I have the lovely anticipation of visiting the palaces of John of Gaunt next year, particularly Kenilworth. What a terrible shame that the great palace of The Savoy on the banks of the Thames was destroyed in 1381 in the Peasants’ Revolt.

Music helps for atmosphere and inspiration too. I have just discovered the Mediaeval Baebes. Their take on medieval music is stunning.

This year I have discovered another source of inspiration after visiting a re-enactment of the Battle of Mortimer’s Cross. The re-enactment community was something completely new for me. I don’t think I had realised their commitment to all things authentic. I loved it.

What one piece of advice would you give to a writer wanting to start a career?

To sit down and write. It is so easy, as I know, to make excuses of lack of time, lack of ideas, lack of somewhere to sit and write. I made these excuses for years. Whether it’s longhand or by PC, it will not happen unless you accept that it’s a time-consuming, often inconvenient and lonely exercise. On the other side of the coin, it can become an all-embracing way of life, bringing amazing enjoyment and fulfilment.

But you have to make a start—and persist by working out a routine and sticking to it, even if it’s a somewhat haphazard routine.

Which book do you wish you had written?

I think it has to be Dorothy Dunnett’s The Game of Kings—see my top ten books—and the other five to complete the Lymond series. I was seriously hooked when I read the first of them. I don’t think I will ever find a better advocate of historical fiction. In 2012 I felt it a great honour to be invited to speak at the Dorothy Dunnett Literary Lunch in Manchester in July.

How did you feel when your first book was signed?

Astonished, I think. The timescale from starting writing, through agents and publishers, and the inevitable rejections, is so vast and success seems to be an impossibility. It is difficult to remain confident and patient. The acceptance of my first book was wonderful—and definitely worthy of a bottle of champagne with my husband. It is still a great delight to see my books on the shelves…

How do you begin writing characters based on real historical figures and do they ever surprise you as you write?

Reading to begin with—any biography of the historical character. Once I have a plan of their life—main dates and events—with overlapping plans to indicate where they interact with the other characters in the story, then I make a list of the scenes which will obviously bring some element of tension or excitement or emotion into the story. This is most important, I find. I also make a list of areas which can be omitted or given a mere passing reference, with the pace of the story in mind or its relevance to the overall novel. Sometimes events just don’t fit and it’s as important to recognise these as it is the explosively important ones. Although sometimes it surprises me—that scenes I’ve jettisoned demand to be included when I begin writing.

Characters certainly surprise me. Sometimes they resist the direction I wish them to take. Sometimes they carry conversations into directions I had no idea of. Characters develop as I write, so I have to take this into consideration and allow them to be headstrong if that is what they wish. I know I must not force a character into an action that is not in keeping with the character I have given them. If a particular action is vital to the story, then it may be that I have to tweak the character.

Do you have a favourite character in The Forbidden Queen and what is it you like about that character?

It has to be Katherine herself. I have to admire her inherent strength of character that allowed her to grow and mature throughout the novel. At the same time, I think I fell a little in love with Owen Tudor. Who wouldn’t…?

What kind of research goes into your writing process?

General: I immerse myself in the period so that I know how people lived and to some extent thought. I need a sense of place and time for my characters. I have a good selection of reference books—I live near Hay on Wye, a magnificent place for browsing for books—on food and fashion, architecture and gardens, health, sex and witchcraft, so that I can put my characters into a scene. This research tends to be ongoing throughout the time I am writing the novel.

Specific: focusing on the lives of the characters at the centre of the novel as I first envisage it. For the most part these are secondary rather than primary sources, although the opinions of contemporaries are invaluable.

Physical: I visit places associated with the characters, or similar venues to give me an idea of atmosphere. Sometimes I use contemporary music to set a mood. Poetry and literature can help me to visualise the ideas that influenced my characters. When developing my knowledge of Alice Perrers, I resorted to Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and the Wife of Bath, who is thought to have been modelled on Alice. She might well have been. I loved her red stockings and large hat and gap-toothed smile—but Alice, unlike the Wife of Bath, did not have five husbands…For Katherine de Valois I read Shakespeare’s Henry V of course:

Henry:

O fair Katherine, if you will love me soundly with your French heart, I will be glad to hear you confess it brokenly with your English tongue. Do you like me, Kate?

Katherine:

Pardonnez-moi

. I cannot tell what is ‘like me.’

Henry:

An angel is like you, Kate, and you are like an angel.

(Kisses her)

You have witchcraft in your lips, Kate: there is more eloquence in a sugar touch of them than in the tongues of the French council…

Truly romantic…