When was your first book published?
My first two books were unpublished anthologies of poems and short stories for use when I was teaching in a high school. We didn't have any suitable collections for teaching literature to non-native speakers and so I had to compile my own. My first commercially published book "Communicating in English" came out in 1991 and I made enough money from its sales to have a six-week holiday in Australia.
What made you write historical novels?
Despite having had the world's most boring history teacher in high school, I have always loved history. This love of history was reinforced after I read "The Daughter of Time" by Josephine Tey - a detective-style historical novel which tries to discover if Richard III was really responsible for killing the Princes in the Tower in c.1483. I believe Henry VII was responsible for their deaths, but whoever was, and this I think we will never really know, Tey's novel pointed me in the direction for writing historical novels.
How long does it take you to write your novels?
Normally I can write two novels a year. And when I say write, I mean write, as I write the first draft out by hand.The shortest time I have taken to write a novel was one month. This was a Young Adult's historical novel about Henry V called "Arrows Over Agincourt."
I had just finished writing a long academic project called "King Henry V & Sergeant Shakespeare" (160 pp.) and so I had all the information needed at hand.
How do you do your research?
First of all, I have a very good library at home. I also buy many books about the story I wish to write about and also use the Internet. If possible I try to visit the place(s) where the story took place. Therefore, when I was writing about the Battle of Agincourt and the Gallipoli Campaign, I went to check out these sites. I also visited Verona, Padua and Mantua in Northern Italy for my Shakespeare novel and I also went to see the house in the English Midlands where the Gunpowder Plotters were captured by the local militia. These visits certainly help me add colour and authenticity to my writing and they help me imagine the various scenes I am describing as they happened many, even hundreds of years ago.
While I do insist on using my imagination and encouraging readers to use theirs, I am a great believer in historical facts being accurate. If you write something like Elizabeth I started her reign in 1560 (and not in 1558) you will quickly lose your reader's belief in you and your novel.
What are your plans for the future?
I have also started to map out a detective style historical novel in which Shakespeare plans the untimely demise of his greatest rival, Christopher Marlowe. After all, is it merely a co-incidence that Marlowe is killed in 1593, just when Shakespeare is beginning to become the darling of the Elizabethan stage in London and Marlowe is the only dramatist who can possibly out-do him? I have also started writing a novel about King John and Magna Carta.
I would also be very happy if one (or more!) of my books were to be used as a basis for a historical film. I think that "Tolpuddle" would be very suitable for this. It begins with the green countryside of Olde England and continues through the dark and dingy prison hulks; the long sea voyage to Australia, the open nature of the wild Australian Outback and then the triumphal return to Victorian London. I also think that my book "Of Guns & Mules" could also be made into a good period piece First World War movie. It could include scenes from Ottoman Palestine, Egypt, Gallipoli, England, Italy, Jerusalem and the area around the Dead Sea.
My first two books were unpublished anthologies of poems and short stories for use when I was teaching in a high school. We didn't have any suitable collections for teaching literature to non-native speakers and so I had to compile my own. My first commercially published book "Communicating in English" came out in 1991 and I made enough money from its sales to have a six-week holiday in Australia.
What made you write historical novels?
Despite having had the world's most boring history teacher in high school, I have always loved history. This love of history was reinforced after I read "The Daughter of Time" by Josephine Tey - a detective-style historical novel which tries to discover if Richard III was really responsible for killing the Princes in the Tower in c.1483. I believe Henry VII was responsible for their deaths, but whoever was, and this I think we will never really know, Tey's novel pointed me in the direction for writing historical novels.
How long does it take you to write your novels?
Normally I can write two novels a year. And when I say write, I mean write, as I write the first draft out by hand.The shortest time I have taken to write a novel was one month. This was a Young Adult's historical novel about Henry V called "Arrows Over Agincourt."
I had just finished writing a long academic project called "King Henry V & Sergeant Shakespeare" (160 pp.) and so I had all the information needed at hand.
How do you do your research?
First of all, I have a very good library at home. I also buy many books about the story I wish to write about and also use the Internet. If possible I try to visit the place(s) where the story took place. Therefore, when I was writing about the Battle of Agincourt and the Gallipoli Campaign, I went to check out these sites. I also visited Verona, Padua and Mantua in Northern Italy for my Shakespeare novel and I also went to see the house in the English Midlands where the Gunpowder Plotters were captured by the local militia. These visits certainly help me add colour and authenticity to my writing and they help me imagine the various scenes I am describing as they happened many, even hundreds of years ago.
While I do insist on using my imagination and encouraging readers to use theirs, I am a great believer in historical facts being accurate. If you write something like Elizabeth I started her reign in 1560 (and not in 1558) you will quickly lose your reader's belief in you and your novel.
What are your plans for the future?
I have also started to map out a detective style historical novel in which Shakespeare plans the untimely demise of his greatest rival, Christopher Marlowe. After all, is it merely a co-incidence that Marlowe is killed in 1593, just when Shakespeare is beginning to become the darling of the Elizabethan stage in London and Marlowe is the only dramatist who can possibly out-do him? I have also started writing a novel about King John and Magna Carta.
I would also be very happy if one (or more!) of my books were to be used as a basis for a historical film. I think that "Tolpuddle" would be very suitable for this. It begins with the green countryside of Olde England and continues through the dark and dingy prison hulks; the long sea voyage to Australia, the open nature of the wild Australian Outback and then the triumphal return to Victorian London. I also think that my book "Of Guns & Mules" could also be made into a good period piece First World War movie. It could include scenes from Ottoman Palestine, Egypt, Gallipoli, England, Italy, Jerusalem and the area around the Dead Sea.