Today I'm delighted to welcome fellow Crooked Cat author Nancy Jardine to my blog, as part of her mini-blog tour in the UK, to go under my 'interview spotlight' and tell us about her new book....
Tell us a bit about
your writing – How long have you been writing? How many books have you written
and in what genres? I’m an ex –primary teacher. I voluntarily wrote two
non- fiction historical related books for educational purposes (1999- a
teaching resource pack, and 2005- a full length history of my Aberdeenshire village
school) but I didn’t really think of that as ‘proper’ writing since they
weren’t novels. It was only after some fabulous writing on Celts and Romans, by
my 11-12 year-old pupils in 2004/5, that I had a go at writing a time -travel
novel for older children. That’s still not published, but the very first drafts
of Book 1 of my Celtic Fervour Series
of Historical Romantic Adventures–The Beltane Choice- were also written before
2008. However, I was only scribbling away on novels during school summer
holidays till I cut back on teaching days in late 2008. While I was seeking a publisher for The
Beltane Choice around 2010, The Wild Rose Press published two fun, sensual,
contemporary mystery romances- Monogamy
Twist (Aug 2011), and Take Me Now
(July 2012). Crooked Cat then published a re-worked version of The Beltane Choice (Aug 2012), followed
by Topaz Eyes my ancestral/dynasty
based mystery thriller (Dec 2012). Book
2 of my Celtic Fervour Series came next – After
Whorl: Bran Reborn (Dec 2013) and Book 3 –After Whorl: Donning Double Cloaks was published 2 days ago on the
25th March 2013.
Where is your
favourite spot in which to write? I write at my desk which is set near the
window in my dining room. This is a great place to write as it overlooks my
front garden. The good and bad of that is that I can see what I need to still
do outside to maintain a pretty garden, though I sometimes need to shut the
curtains when the sun streams in onto my screen and keyboard! It’s a fairly big
desk which is always a bit cluttered and houses my laptop, monitor and keyboard
and printer/ copier. Behind the monitor, I have an ancient old ghetto blaster
that I sometimes use to play favourite CDs and a lamp. There not much room left
for my phone, kindle and tablet and the ubiquitous pencil/pen tubs. I like to
use a monitor since the screen is bigger and I prefer a mouse- I hate using the
touchpad on my laptop.
How long does it take
you to write the first rough draft of one of your books? Variable times and
so difficult to quantify. The historical ones have taken much longer, but Monogamy Twist only took a couple of
months to write - though at that time I was still teaching around 3 to 4 days a
week. It’s a take-off of a Dickensian Old House Bequest plot that was inspired
by me watching the current BBC Dickens serial and from me doing ancestry
research. Take Me Now took around 2
months as well. I took longer to write Topaz
Eyes since that took a lot of planning and plotting which was very
different since I’m mostly a ‘pantser’ when it comes to writing. I started
Topaz Eyes in September 2011 and wrote for about a month but had to abandon it
till the following February since I had to ‘market’ my other books that were
published around that time. I spent maybe another 6 weeks on it before sending
it off to Crooked Cat but by then I was not teaching and was writing full time.
My historicals took much longer. The Beltane Choice was over many years and
many drafts but Books 2 & 3 of the series combined took about 7 months
during 2013 (after at least a month of research) – though by then I was
officially grandchild minding two, and sometimes three full days every week.
Do you plan a plot
out in great detail before writing or start with the basics and let the book
evolve that way? My two Wild Rose Press contemporary romances evolved after
I made a very rough outline that looked like a short list of events- though
that meant a lot of stops along the way to plan out the next bits. The
‘problem’ with that strategy is that I had to keep going back to check that the
‘mystery’ was working, was logical and was do-able. Topaz
Eyes is a very complex mystery that’s centred on a family tree structure
that I needed to invent to fourth generation level. It took a lot of pre-planning
and some reworking during the writing of Topaz Eyes till all the dates and
dastardly deeds and events were properly in place. The Beltane Choice was started
so long ago and most of the Celtic research had been done for teaching
purposes. That meant my first drafts
were very ‘pantser’ driven. The next two books of the Celtic Fervour Series
have a lot more information about the Roman armies in northern England and Scotland , so I did a lot of
research for that before even starting the novels. They were originally one
story but along the way I realised it was far too big (140,000+) for an ebook
and was really 2 stories. After a bit of rewriting they became 2 novels which I
hope can ‘stand- alone’ though will be better read as a follow-on series. I
have a memory like a sieve, though, and constantly fact check and re-read what
I’ve written to ensure it matches new writing!
Do you ever get part
way through writing a book and find the characters are leading the story off in
a different direction to how you had envisaged? Yes. I decided that Book 2-
After Whorl: Bran Reborn wasn’t going to be a traditional romance whereas Book
1 -The Beltane Choice could be classified as that. The HEA wasn’t going to happen in After
Whorl: Bran Reborn because I found I was much more focused on the plot being
centred on the historical aspects of the story. I was ready, as a writer, to
progress from the typical romantic HEA endings and move onto other writing
strategies. That’s why my series was renamed to become Historical Romantic
Adventures. There are strong romantic elements in all of the books, to
different degrees, but the adventure and authentic historical aspects are super
important and, of course, since HEA isn’t always present they cannot be
classified as simple Historical Romances.
Who is your favourite
character from all the books you have written and why? Tough question,
Zanna. It’s probably Brennus of Garrigill who appears in both Book2 and Book 3
of my Celtic Fervour Series. I felt really bad after finishing The Beltane
Choice. He was such a nice guy and I’d ostensibly bumped him off at the Battle
of Whorl! I was at 2nd edit stages for The Beltane Choice when a
reader asked me if I was writing a sequel to Monogamy Twist. That made me think for the first time about
follow- on novels. I couldn’t at the time see any character in Monogamy Twist
that I could use as a main character in a new book but…I saw that I could make
it seem that Brennus was dead…but he wasn’t! The title of Book 2 After Whorl: Bran Reborn
is quite significant. When I finished Book 3, I was much happier with my
treatment of the lovely Brennus of Garrigill. *wink, wink*
Is
there such a thing as an average writing day for you and if so what is it? No.
Every day depends on my family and their needs. My daughter, her husband and
child number 1 currently share our house till they get a new one, which means
my 2 ½ year old granddaughter is running around all day. My daughter’s due date
for giving birth to number 2 is 12th March which means that by the
time this post is aired I expect there to be a new baby in the house as well. I
write when I can, in snatches, but sadly I’m not great at burning the seriously
midnight oil when I need to get up the next morning and be cheery!
How do you create the
characters in your books? I tend to start with an image (for main
characters only) that I buy from my favourite image site. Buying the use is
minimal cost but I make sure to buy for use on my blog/ facebook /and the net
in general. I print out the image and
pin it to the pin board behind my monitor- that way I have a record of facial
features/ hair colour etc to keep that consistent if needed. After I finish the
book, I use the image in my book trailer videos and in marketing posts on my
blog/ FB etc. Character traits tend to
be vaguely planned next and then it’s a matter of fleshing and rounding them
out as I write.
Advice to aspiring
novelists? Be prepared to work even harder than your day job; be easy on
yourself when it comes to being successful with marketing your books; find
those marketing strategies that seem to work best for you. What someone else
does may not be for you. Think positively but don’t be deluded that great
riches will appear – although you just might be the one that will break the
trend! Back up your files! Computer breakdowns do happen…
Thank you so much for inviting me today, Zanna! It’s lovely
to visit you during my mini blog tour.
Nancy Jardine’s
novels can be found in paperback and ebook formats from:
Plus, Crooked Cat Bookstore;
Waterstones; Barnes & Noble; Smashwords; W. H. Smith and other book
retailers.
About The Author:
Nancy Jardine lives in Aberdeenshire ,
Scotland
She is currently writing a family saga based mainly in Scotland ,
and Book 4 of her Celtic Fervour
series. Topaz Eyes (Crooked Cat Publishing) an
ancestral-based mystery, is a finalist for THE PEOPLE’S BOOK PRIZE Fiction
2014. After Whorl: Bran Reborn -
Book 2 of her Celtic Fervour Series (Crooked Cat Publishing) has been
accepted for THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL FICTION 2014.
After Whorl: Bran Reborn
Pursued
by Rome.
AD73
Northern Britannia
After
King Venutius’ defeat, Brennus of Garrigill – known as Bran – maintains a spy
network monitoring Roman activity in Brigantia. Relative peace reigns till AD
78 when Roman Governor Agricola marches his legions to the far north. Brennus
is always one step ahead of the Roman Army as he seeks the Caledon Celt who
will lead all tribes in battle against Rome .
Ineda
of Marske treks northwards with her master, Tribune Valerius, who is
responsible for supplying Agricola’s northern campaigns. At Inchtuthil Roman
Fort Ineda flees seeking fellow Brigantes congregating on the foothills of Beinn
na Ciche.
Will
the battle against the Romans bring Ineda and Brennus together again?
Thank you for putting me on the author 'spot' today, Zanna. It's great to visit you. :-)
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