Romance – Page 2 – valerie holmes, author

I am delighted to welcome author and poet Maggie Freeman as my February guest.

Published on February 11, 2024February 23, 2024 by valerieholmesauthorLeave a comment

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Welcome, Maggie,

Let’s begin with your beautiful new novel, ‘The Wives of King Canute’. When did the inspiration for this amazing project strike?

‘The Wives of King Canute’ is a project that’s been a long time growing. My fascination with Vikings began when I was eleven, when in winter my mother would drive my sister and me to the Isle of Sheppey, and I’d walk along the sea-wall, looking out at the grey sea, and imagine, appearing over the horizon, the bright-sailed boats of the Vikings we were learning about at school. When I was married we’d stay every summer with my mother-in-law in the Isle of Man, with its many relics of its long-ago Viking rulers, from overgrown ship burials surrounded by wild flowers to castles poised on the rim of the sea.

In 2014 I went to the amazing exhibition about Vikings at the British Museum, which rekindled my enthusiasm for them – very romantic figures in my imagination – and I began to read more about them. When I came across the story of King Canute’s two wives I thought that would be a good basis for a novel, with plenty of conflict.

Would you describe it as a labour of love?

Absolutely. First because of the subject matter, and secondly because I love writing.

How much of a personal challenge has it been from first completed draft to publication?

I’d nearly completed the first draft when we moved house, and then I had problems with my own and family illness – in other words, life took over from writing! Also I wasn’t sure what to do with it – I’d had five agents, none of whom had ever sold any of my work, so I didn’t want to go that route again. I hadn’t earned much from the digital publishers who’d published my three previous novels. So I spent a very long time dithering and doing nothing, tinkering with it now and again to make it as strong as I could. In the end I’ve decided to try self-publishing and see how that works.

It’s quite likely I’d never have got round to publishing it if it hadn’t been for the enormous support, and pushing, I had from friends. I’m very grateful for that.

Your previous novels have been set in different periods of history. If it was possible to travel back in time, is there a specific period you would like to visit?

If so, why?

Yes – the late Tudor period – provided I was fairly well off, of course! I’ve lived in Kent and Essex and have always loved visiting old houses, imagining what it was like to live there.

And that period seems so alive, full of excitement and new ideas, from explorers discovering unknown lands to amazing writers, such as Shakespeare and Donne.

The girl in the great house kindle

I love the idea of hibernating like the hazel dormouse as described on your website. Have you always had a love of nature and a poetic soul?

Yes, I’ve always had a love of nature. Till I was ten I lived in Trinidad and Tobago where my father managed a small coconut estate and my mother raised ducks and turkeys, so just about all I knew was the natural world. That’s where I feel most at home, and happiest, now.

I’m not quite sure what a poetic soul is – I certainly used to daydream a lot, and I do love writing poetry, most especially that set in the natural world.

Would it be an accurate statement to say that your protagonists are strong women who face and overcome many and varied harsh life challenges?

Yes. I find they’re very interesting to write about. And as a writer and a reader I’d never have much sympathy with a person whose life was very comfortable.

Daughter of the Sea kindle

How long do you spend researching a novel?

It depends on the demands of the novel. ‘The Wives of King Canute’ needed a lot of research because I didn’t know much about the period at all – only my romantic visions of Vikings! In it I used the historical timeline as the main structure of the plot. My novel ‘The Clock-mender’ didn’t need much research, because I knew its Swedish setting very well, and I had the seven-page account of what happened written by the man on whom the novel is based – the rest is mainly imagination. I don’t do all the research at the beginning. I like, for example, to go to relevant places to top up my experience – for example, one cold Christmas I went to Hampton Court Palace and watched Tudor dancers, which helped me write a scene in ‘‘The Girl in the Great House’. I hadn’t known when I started the novel that it was going to have that scene in it.

Is it the character, era, conflict or a random fact that triggers your imagination?

All four of them trigger my imagination. In ‘The Wives of King Canute’ it was the conflict between two women from very different backgrounds, but married to the same man, that intrigued me and got me thinking. At the same time I wanted to try writing a novel set in the Viking period.

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Your own childhood in Trinidad and then Tobago must have been in stark contrast to life in the UK. Do you think that this experience influenced your work?

I was ten when I came to live in the UK. My childhood was for the most part very happy, but quite isolated, and life in the UK did feel very strange at first – just coping with socialisation in a large school, for example. This has influenced my work in that most of my protagonists are outsiders in some way.

How did you branch into writing for children?

I actually began by writing for children, writing stories for my two sons. When the younger one came home from primary school, I knew I was on the right lines if he wanted to read what I’d written that day before he attacked the biscuit tin. I went on to write primary literacy books, and was always concerned to make them as interesting as possible to children.

Do you think the market has changed drastically in your lifetime, or do you think that technology aside, children still just love a good story?

Children still love a good story. Just think of the success of the Harry Potter novels.

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What advice would you give your younger self regarding becoming an author?

Always finish what you start writing. I never did at first – just had dozens of beginnings. That’s how come I’ve finally published “The Wives of King Canute” nine years after first starting it! I hope you’ll read it and enjoy it.

I am really looking forward to reading The Wives of Canute which will be free on Kindle 23rd February to 25th.

Thank you for taking time out to discuss your fascinating career and latest work.

If you have enjoyed reading this interview or have any questions, please feel free to like and comment below.

Love the Adventure

Published on February 2, 2024February 3, 2024 by valerieholmesauthorLeave a comment

Fifty novellas ago, I began writing love stories each wrapped around an adventure, set against the rugged beauty of the North Riding of Yorkshire. These found their home in the Commonwealth library market and from this base a further six novels have evolved.

When To Love Honour and Obey published by Sapere Books, was reviewed by a fellow author, he described it as ‘Where Poldark meets Heathcliff’ – I was delighted.

I have always loved reading both fiction and non-fiction exploring the Regency period. I enjoy the romance whether written from the perspective of the rigid society of London’s ‘Ton’, so beautifully portrayed by Georgette Heyer and more recently Julia Quinn, or the melodrama of the darker more menacing shadows of Daphne du Maurier’s Jamaica Inn.

Basically, my tastes cross genres within the period, from Jane Austen’s and the Bronte’s classics to E.V. Thompson’s Cornish sagas, or Bernard Cornwell’s action and adventure series about the rifleman who rose from the ranks, Richard Sharpe.

I have worked as a creative writing tutor for years and one piece of advice commonly given to authors starting out, is to write about what you know. That does not mean that you must know everything first – no one can, especially where murder and mayhem is involved. Without a time-travel machine, a writer today cannot depict a bygone age with total accuracy capturing the language, attitude, beliefs, habits, understanding of people centuries ago when travel and knowledge were limited.

Research is the key! Whatever the genre; romance, crime, thriller, horror, fantasy or any other preferred, the author must accrue enough knowledge beforehand to write their story and make it credible and believable to today’s readership. Jane Austen was of course writing in her own time; about the world she knew.

Research can be all encompassing when it is focussed on a topic you are enthusiastic about. In first drafts ‘info-dumps’ can creep into a manuscript, slowing the pace of the story. Which is where an editor’s skills are needed to take out the non-essential information, as the author will always know more that the reader needs to about their created ‘world’.

When I began writing I thought about the ‘write about what you know’ advice and started exploring my home area. The North Yorkshire Moors and the bay towns from Whitby to Saltburn provided a dramatic backdrop for many of my stories.

Saltburn-by-the-Sea had its own infamous ‘King of Smugglers’ John Andrew, who in 1780 was landlord of the unique Ship Inn, which nestles to this day under the shadow of the 110m high Huntcliff. My fictitious Ebton is based on Saltburn, my Coble Inn nestles in the shadow of Stangcliffe, the headland based on Huntcliff.

“We’re on Stangcliffe, the headland!” Joshua exclaimed, as realisation hit him harder than the force of the wind. He was inches away from a sheer drop to the sea below where sharp-edged rocks hid under each of the crashing waves…

To Love, Honour and Obey Sapere Books

This Jurassic coastline encompasses rugged high cliffs and sweeping flat sandy bays. The wild moor inland would have been crossed by locals along small tracks for centuries by the Regency period. The dales, areas of fertile farmland and woodland, dropped down from the moors, with ancient abbeys and small villages of stone-built cottages nestled within – but cottage industries were being replaced as manufacturing developed in the growing towns causing population shifts, consequently impacting livelihoods, Secrets, due to the Industrial Revolution, a theme resonated in To Have and To Hold, Sapere Books.

Unrest was growing nationally, the Luddite movement triggered fear in Parliament that revolution would happen in England as it had in France. In Phoebe’s Challenge, brother and sister are hunted as machine-breakers – punishment was anything from a fine, to hanging or transportation to Australia.

My books are not dark, but touch on the darker side of human-nature and society, Betrayal, ultimately showing that love and justice will win the day. In real life things may not always work out that way, but in fiction – which is a form of escape from reality – in my stories at least, things do.

The world of Valerie Holmes has the tagline ‘Love the adventure’ – a sentiment that I hope my readers will share.

Beyond the book cover, plot and protagonist, which has a greater influence on your choice as a reader: the physical setting or the period in which it is set?

Please share your thoughts and preferences.

If you are interested in writing, and want to create your own fiction, but need some professional guidance or support, please contact me via my manuscript appraisal page.

I am delighted to announce that Discovering Ellie is now available in Large Print Paperback for those who cannot manage an eReader – just click here

A Woman’s Options in Regency England.

Published on January 19, 2024January 18, 2024 by valerieholmesauthor2 Comments

1811-1820

“It is always incomprehensible to a man that a woman should ever refuse an offer of marriage.”

Jane Austen, Emma

When George III was declared unfit to function as monarch his son, the Prince of Wales, became the Prince Regent. George the younger had little interest in politics, leaving the wars with France to the politicians, whilst he indulged his friends and himself with a lavish lifestyle of elegance and fashion. The Ton – from the French phrase ‘le bon ton’ meaning ‘elegant style’ represent the fashionable society of London – an elite group. The divide between the extremes of the rich of Mayfair, London, and the poor of St Giles, living in the city slums, could not have been more dramatic.

In Parliament seats in the House of Lords were inherited and in the House of Commons could be corruptly bought, so the working and fighting man and the women who relied upon them, who made up most of the population, had little representation to improve their lot. My stories are set in the north of England away from the Ton and Parliament, but life was influenced by their wars, laws, and taxes.

In the above quote Jane Austen expressed a commonly held view, because women of the time had few legal rights as their lives were basically controlled by men.

Upper- and middle-class single females, under the age of twenty-one in England and Wales, were usually dependent upon their father or nearest male relative. If their male relatives were honest, caring, and loving family members then amicable matches secured the future of both parties, in hopefully wedded bliss, once the dowry, pin money, inheritance and jointure, in the event of death of the husband, had been legally agreed.

Book 2 http://getbook.at/ForRicher — Book 2

However, fiction requires drama and conflict to spark a good plot, driven by engaging characters. It also reflects the unpalatable truth of the past.

If their male relative were greedy (For Richer, For Poorer), an irresponsible gambler (The Baronet’s Prize) or an overbearing parent (Hannah of Harpham Hall) then the young woman would have few options, left to her own devices unless they had the help of a hero, or a woman of independent means.

When Ellie (Discovering Ellie) is faced with a marriage match, she tries to diplomatically decline her aunt’s intentions without causing further conflict…

“I am not worldly, Aunt. I cannot think how I could make such a man happy…”

Mrs Hemming laughed. “Well, we agree on one point at least, you cannot think!”

Ellie ignored the insult and continued in her conciliatory tone. “I fear I would only annoy him. Therefore, I wish to politely decline this marriage proposal, discreetly of course, before it is made public. I do not want to cause further embarrassment to anyone. Then he would be able to find a more suitable companion, equal to the task.”

Ellie is completely dependent upon her aunt’s charity until she turns twenty-one. This dependency drives the plot, as Ellie must discover who she is, why she has a recurring nightmare, and how she can avoid a match that is being arranged ‘for her own good’ before it is publicly announced. This latter point is especially important because once it was made public, to break such a legal proclamation would be considered scandalous. Ellie is naïve and knows little of the law, or of the greater world, as many young women of the time.

In a situation where an engagement is made between two people if broken, then it could result in a legal action of ‘breach of promise’. At the very least a reputation could be tarnished or destroyed as happened with Lucas Huntley – In Sickness and in Health.

In England, the Marriage Act of 1753 declared both parties had to have their parents’ consent if under 21. However, in Scotland this was not the case, hence the rush for elopements to the nearest place to wed north of the border, such as the famous, Gretna Green, which provided a reason for a mad dash in For Richer, For Poorer.

betrayal front (2) — Friends & Foes Book 1

It is often claimed that fact is often stranger than fiction, but with historical facts the trigger for dramatic fiction is constantly there. Although women were ruled by the law, deemed unable to run their own lives, own their own wealth or children when married, deny their husband sex, or have rights to defend themselves when employed, there would have been plenty who questioned why this was so, such as:

“I do not wish them [women] to have power over men; but over themselves.”
Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.

Lydia Fletcher in Betrayal was so influenced. Heroines need to have obstacles to overcome, situations that are a mystery, and the realisation that not all men look upon them in the same light.

Being single by choice was not really an option for a woman, no matter how much she desired to be the arbiter of her own fate. Unless her social status and personal income had been legally entailed and could support her, like the independent Miss Parkes of Penny Manor who befriends Ellie, she would be dependent upon others.

If young women were sufficiently educated, they could try to earn a living as a companion or a governess/teacher, but these were lonely situations with no long-term security. Uneducated or poorer women had less desirable options such as going into service, leaving the cottage to work within the factory or working the land to feed their families. In, To Love, Honour and Obey, Beth is an orphan who has no family or male relative to protect her from the system that was supposed to protect her.

Prostitution was an option for the truly desperate. Few climbed the social ladder to a happy and long life even as a rich man’s mistress. Although some beauties and actresses managed to acquire rich patrons, such as the exceptional Harriett Mellon, born a pauper in Cork, Ireland but who ended up married to Thomas Coutts of the banking family, who successfully inherited and managed a fortune..

Servants were supposed to be chaste and could be dismissed without reference or notice if they fell pregnant. They were also open to abuse from their employers, as happens to the kindly Georgina in Betrayal. Again, as I write love stories that are aimed to provide adventure and uplift rather than depress, Georgina’s future is much brighter than many a maid who found themselves pregnant and thrown out on the streets without a reference, through no fault of their own.

Thank you for taking time out to read my blog and visit my website. Please like or leave any comments or questions below or contact me directly via the form on my Manuscript Appraisal page. If any of the above themes appeal just click the title or cover to be directed to the Amazon page.

Good News!

Published on January 16, 2024 by valerieholmesauthorLeave a comment

Now in Large Print in Commonwealth Libraries or direct from FA Thorpe Publishing

Good news! I do like to share good news… In Sickness and In Health, published in eBook and print by SapereBooks is now available as a traditional large print paperback from @Ulvercroft. Copies can be ordered via Commonwealth libraries. Our libraries have had a hard few years, but there are people who find it difficult to manage an eReader so it is lovely to see this market niche is still catered for.

Welcoming in 2024 with Margaret James!

Published on January 16, 2024January 9, 2024 by valerieholmesauthorLeave a comment

Thank you, Margaret, for taking time out of your busy schedule as a novelist, journalist and teacher of creative writing to chat to me and share some of your New Year news!

It must have been exciting to end 2023 as a ‘hot new pick’ with your Charton Minster Trilogy, published by Joffe Books. What was the inspiration behind this wartime trilogy?

Thank you for inviting me to be your guest, Valerie. I’m very happy to be here!

The inspiration for the first novel in the Charton Minster Trilogy was the famous Red Cross recruiting poster for nursing volunteers to serve alongside the professional nurses working in the various theatres of operation during World War One. This image has reproduced thousands of times, so I’m sure it must have inspired plenty of other novelists, too.

First World War VAD Recruitment poster | British Red Cross

Are there plans to release more of the series in 2024?

Joffe has acquired the rights to all my novels originally published by Choc Lit, so there are four more books in the pipeline, to be released either individually or as sets.

Creative Writing Matters seems to go from strength to strength. What events and competitions do you have lined up for this year?

At the moment, the Creative Writing Matters team is reading its way through nearly 400 entries for the latest Exeter Novel Prize, which will be awarded in April this year.

Gang of Three

The CWM team: Sophie Duffy, Cathy Hartigan and Margaret

Can you give some tips on what makes a competition entry stand out?

Try to open the entry at a point which will get readers asking questions – for example, whose story is this, what does the central character want, how might the central character go about getting what he/she wants?

Let this central character face some kind of challenge.

Be wary of starting a story with a description of the scenery or an account of the central character’s life to date.

If the competition asks for a synopsis of a novel, novelette or even a short story, make sure the synopsis covers the entire story and explains how it ends. Anything else won’t tell the organisers/readers if the entrant can construct a satisfying story. It’s (comparatively) easy to start a story. It’s much harder to develop it and to offer readers a great ending that will live on in these readers’ memories – and also encourage to read the authors’ next stories or books.

What would you say is your perfect writing/teaching balance in life now along with other pursuits?

I shall never achieve a perfect balance in life! Right now, as I explained above, my energies are focused on reading competition entries, some of which are going to need reports. I’ll catch up with my magazine work later this year. As for other pursuits – if you mean hobbies, I’m determined to get my garden into shape this spring. But I say this every year, and it hasn’t happened yet.

The publishing industry has changed vastly over the span of your career to date. Are you optimistic about the dramatic and dynamic current trends?

I suspect AI is going to become a really mixed blessing for writers of fiction. But digital publishing has made it easier for new writers to get in on the action, and commercial publishers are no longer the only gatekeepers, which is good for those who prefer to self-publish.

Thank you for chatting to me, and all best wishes for your continued writing success in 2024!

The New Year often provides opportunities and challenges – if you are an author what are your writing goals this year?

If you have always wanted to write a novel/novella/short story, but feel daunted or lost as to where to start, then check out CWM or my manuscript appraisal page where you can submit a query.

All best wishes for a happy and healthy 2024 to all!

Smuggling, treason and espionage.

Published on December 26, 2023January 12, 2024 by valerieholmesauthorLeave a comment

Smuggling in Regency times was rife in the rugged and isolated ‘bay towns’ of what was the North Riding of Yorkshire. Although the skill and daring of those involved in the trade can be admired, there was a dark and far-reaching side to their activities.

In my books there is a recurring element of smuggling showing how it could have affected the lives of those within the region and, inadvertently, helped Napoleon in his war against our own nation.

Being an island, smuggling had been prevalent for many years within the coastal communities nationwide. With a much smaller population than today, most of the inhabitants of these places would be either involved, or at least aware, of contraband being stored or moved through their communities.

This extract from Rudyard Kipling’s’ poem A Smuggler’s Song captured it beautifully:

If you wake at midnight, and hear a horse’s feet,
Don’t go drawing back the blind, or looking in the street,
Them that ask no questions isn’t told a lie.
Watch the wall my darling while the Gentlemen go by.

The reasons the trade existed were complex but huge import taxes applied to certain consumables made brandy, tobacco, tea, silk and many other desired goods far too expensive for most people, instantly creating opportunity to fill a demand illegally.

Napoleon Bonaparte had no wish to lose the income France received from this illicit trade. So, he ordered the French Channel ports be kept open for business. This also created wealth for the organiser of the smuggling gangs’ pockets, some of which were part of the British landed gentry. Their subordinates lower down the chain of command were often unaware of the identity of the ‘top man’ who could only be known by a select few.

This trade was open to being used for further nefarious purposes, as free traders earned even more money by selling government secrets. This shared intelligence could cover troop deployments/movements/logistics, coastal patrols and the names and responsibilities of important people. This information had its value in coin, which Napoleon desperately needed to fuel his war effort. It was aiding treason.

Government agents tried to uncover such traitors. In Phoebe’s Challenge Rev. Matthew Fenton provides information to uncover the local gangs. In The Friends and Foes series, Lord Farrington is a semi-retired Intelligence Officer who has been given the task of unearthing a traitor in Betrayal, but his role is concerned with insurgence and threats to the government at home too. This is a time of hardship and much perceived threats, externally from France and her allies and internally from those deeply affected by the loss of livelihood and the industrialisation, which was bringing huge wealth to a new ‘middle-class’ and displaced communities from the countryside to town and mills.

Revolution on our shores was a fear.

Lord Farrington discusses the situation with Dr. Samuel Speers, in Betrayal…

“I already know they are involved in the business of financing the trade in contraband. But what else? Lord Bagby has influential friends who he meets in his clubs – does he pass on information to our enemies as well as coin? Is he a traitor through and through? These facts I must seek out.”

Samuel looked up, quite shocked. “You think they are traitors. Many people locally dabble in smuggling to eke out their meagre livings…”

Farrington leaned forward. “Stop my friend if you wish to remain so. Smugglers give coin to Napoleon’s war effort – they help our enemy and our men die. I do not debate the taxes set, but the way they fund our enemies for selfish gain. Do not be so naïve. I shall bring down the Bagby’s and this man Jed Webb who eludes our Riding Officers.”

Villagers could earn some coin to supplement their meagre incomes by hiding contraband in amazingly inventive places or help to convey goods on arrival from larger vessels at sea in their own fishing boats to hide them on land. Tubmen were men paid to convey the goods from delivery to their next destination. They needed to be strong, often landsmen, who knew the area and walked the trods and snickets that linked the bay towns and crossed the open moors.

The northeast coast leant itself perfectly to this. Many of these coastal villages have long, flat beaches of fine sand, where the local ‘cobles’, the shallow draught fishing boats could be easily drawn up and the villagers knew how to avoid the scars, the vicious fingers of rocks that extended from the shore. Fishing was the main source of employment on the coast. Whitby and Robin Hood’s Bay are well known for their smuggling links but the coast between Saltburn and Redcar was almost as notorious towards the end of the eighteenth century. The bay towns in my books of Ebton and Allunby are fictitious villages based on the sweeping bay of Saltburn to Coatham, where I grew up and hold a strong affection for.

Three organisations were created to try and stop this trade. The Revenue Cruisers, the Riding Officers and the Preventive Water Guard.

Revenue Cruisers patrolled offshore in ships that with full sail could often overtake smaller vessels once located. The problem they faced was locating ships amongst the many who sailed along the German Ocean, and also the honesty of the crews who were on occasion known to work with some of the smugglers in exchange for a cut of the goods, made discerning their whereabouts even harder.

Riding Officers were based around the coast, living near the suspected communities and riding the coast to try and prevent the collusion between land and sea. A nearly impossible task.

The Preventive Waterguard was established in 1809. They had houses around the coast – Watch Houses, and smaller boat crews which would patrol their stretch of coastland.

Between all three branches the tide was slowly turning in the governments favour. In 1822 they were incorporated into one force, The Coast Guard, charged with stopping the import of these highly taxed goods. They employed ex sailors, strong, tough and knowledgeable who needed employment after the end of the Napoleonic Wars.

This led to a gradual decline of demand and consequently causing the amount of smuggling that was committed throughout the first half of the nineteenth century to dwindle.

Before this happened though the battles fought to catch the smugglers and traitors lay the seed of many a good tale, some yet to be told.

Thank you for taking the time to visit my page. If you like the article please hit the like button and share where you are visiting from in the comments below.

Best wishes

Valerie

The Yorkshire Saga standalone series published by Sapere Books

Meet, Aneeta, winner of The Trisha Ashley Award 2022!

Published on January 2, 2023January 2, 2023 by valerieholmesauthorLeave a comment

AneetaSundararaj

I wanted to start my New Year interviews off with a celebration! So, when I learned that Aneeta Sundararaj, one of my London School of Journalism students, had won The Trisha Ashley Award, I asked her to share the inspiration behind her winning story.

Welcome, Aneeta,

First, thank you for inviting me to your website, Valerie. It’s much appreciated. I must also thank the organisers for running this competition, choosing my story to be forwarded to Trisha, and to Trisha for choosing it as the winning one.

You are welcome, Aneeta, and I passed on your thanks to both.

Margaret James of Creative Writing Matters who runs the competition was delighted and explained,

When we first set up the Exeter Story Prize, Trisha asked if we would like her to sponsor an award for a quirky or humorous story, and we said lovely, please do. So, when Cathie, Sophie and I have read all the entries, we choose a few that we hope Trisha might like, and she picks the winner, who gets £200. Also, anyone can enter the ESP, so Aneeta was up against some very well-published authors, and she did very well to win.

The Weathermen – A Love Letter was based on a conversation I had with my friend, Swagata. I was sharing some of the challenges that I (and many girls I’ve spoken to over the years) faced. When the phone call ended, I decided to write it all out. More than inspiration, writing this story was a form of therapy.

Trisha had this to say,

I loved the quirky and original voice of the narrator in this unusual story. It was, for me, the knock-out winner and I hope will lead to much more writing success in future.

So, huge congratulations, Aneeta!

When did you discover a need to branch into creative writing after a successful career as a lawyer?

I left legal practice a long time ago. I didn’t plan on a full-time career as a writer. I knew it would take me at least three months to find another job. So, I wrote the first draft for The Banana Leaf Men I found that I liked ‘this writing thing’ and decided to try it for a while longer. I’ve never stopped.

The Banana Leaf Men (Reprint)

You are an experienced writer/journalist – what appealed to you about the challenge of writing for the RomCom genre?

This is a very good question, Valerie. I think that it wasn’t so much a challenge, but more applying all I’d learnt thus far. It starts with my need for variety. For instance, for years, I was a contributing writer for the Lifestyle section of the Sunday papers. This meant learning the art of writing feature pieces. When this sojourn ended, I focused on writing/fine-tuning the novel, which came with its own set of elements to follow. Then, I did something completely different and that was to pursue a PhD which meant returning to writing for academia. Once that was complete, I went back to fiction. This time, I focused on the short story form and creative non-fiction, like a piece called ‘Lord of the Ocean’. This story was about an invasion near my hometown that happened close to 1000 years ago. So, The Weathermen – A Love Letter was part reportage, part academic writing with a huge dose of all the elements of writing fiction.

What challenges did you find or did the story flow naturally as the idea occurred.

The main challenge was to strike that balance between having the courage to tell the story, still respect the practices of the East and make it all plausible for a Western reader. Nothing is worse than reading stories about a Malaysian or Malaysians that I don’t recognise. It’s painful! The best example from The Weathermen – A Love Letter is when a spiritual master asked Anjali if she was ‘clean’ to make sure that she wasn’t on her period. I understand the religious strictures at play. However, ask any Indian girl how she feels when she’s asked this question in the presence of men and I guarantee her honest (operative word, here) answer will be a negative one. If she’s ‘dirty’, she cannot step into a spiritual centre or temple and is only good for sweeping up rubbish. We girls are taught to hide our shame, but I often wonder how a man would like it if I asked him, “Are you clean?” My challenge was to write this without causing maximum offence.

Whenever I’ve faced such challenges, I think of two things. One is that there must be readers like me elsewhere who are open-minded enough to appreciate the practices of others. I mean, if I can accept reading stories about stigmata and what people put themselves through during Easter, why can’t others understand what my people will put themselves through in the names of faith and religion. Second, I go back to the British television series, Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister. The topics discussed were always so serious, but the writing was entertaining and everlasting.

The Age of Smiling Secrets is an intriguing title – but the topic covered is very serious and highlights the problem of having religious law running alongside that of the country’s High Court, where the two can give conflicting outcomes. This is obviously a subject that is close to your heart. Why did you decide to write a fictional tale to illustrate the issue?

Thank you for saying that the title of The Age of Smiling Secrets is intriguing.

I started to think about this story as early as 2005. As you’ve said, Malaysia is in the unique position where both the laws of Syariah and the Civil Law are practised concurrently. It was only a matter of time before conflicts about which jurisdiction should apply would arise. For ease of reference, my fictional story is based on the legal position when such conflicts arise. It’s about a family torn apart when a man converts to Islam and, without the consent or knowledge of his wife, converts their child as well.

As a lawyer, I understood the position of every person involved in this drama from the lawyers pursuing and defending the case, and the judges who had to hear the arguments from both sides, to the plaintiff, defendant and the children.

No one I know has ever looked at the all the emotions at play such as love, loss, betrayal, sacrifice and so much more. What happens when everyone returns home after a day in court? What does a parent say to the child at bedtime? “You’re my baby, but the court said you’re not.” How does the wife reconcile with the fact that the man she married is no longer her husband, or vice versa? And that’s simply because a court that has no jurisdiction over her says so? Why is the second wife accepted as a legal wife in one court and the husband is committing bigamy in another? Why is the child of the second wife considered legitimate in one court and the child of the first wife is considered illegitimate in another? Worse, how on earth does a parent explain all this to a child?

I cannot imagine what it must be like for a mother when the laws of the land allow her child to be taken away from her. So, these are the emotions I wanted to explore.

I must add that I remain surprised at how successful the publication of The Age of Smiling Secrets has been. I didn’t make much effort submitting the manuscript to agents/publishers after one of them asked me to fundamentally change the story so that a British reader would ‘get it’. It implied that the average British reader was too dumb to understand the conflicts that would arise and use of local lingo. I knew that this wasn’t the case. And after ten years of the story ‘percolating and marinating’ in my psyche, I wanted it published. So, I didn’t bother with the British publishing industry, stuck to the story I wanted to tell and worked with the wonderful team at MPH Publishers in Malaysia. I am not at all active on social media and I didn’t take part in the kind of publicity that I’ve seen so many authors do. I was, therefore, pleasantly surprised and delighted when the novel was short listed for the 2020 Book Award organised by the National Library of Malaysia. Furthermore, since it’s publication, edited versions of various chapters of this novel have been periodically included in various anthologies published internationally. Many readers have written to say that they cried at the end of reading the novel. Like all my books, once the first print run was over, I didn’t bother with another one. I’ve just placed them all on Amazon.com.

What is next for Aneeta?

I spent 2022 learning about submitting my short stories for many online competitions and literary journals. I figured out what it was like from the inside and, now, I’d like the chance to give back to others. So, together with a few friends, I’m using my website to host a short story competition. It’s called ‘Great Story Competition’ and we will open for submissions shortly.

Thank you, Valerie, for this chance to share my stories with you.

You are very welcome. I wish you every continued success with your projects and a happy and healthy 2023!

My thanks to Trisha Ashley Ashley gardn forgotten wishes author Margaret James 1A and to Margaret Jamesfor their kind comments and the team at Creative Writing Matters.

Please like if you found this interview interesting or inspiring and leave any comments or questions below.

Check out my manuscript appraisal page, or please contact me, if you have a project you would like professional help with.

Happy writing!

Regency Christmas celebrations

Published on December 13, 2022December 10, 2023 by valerieholmesauthorLeave a comment

Christmastide in Regency times was a prolonged period of celebration, compared to our modern holiday, for those who could enjoy it. Public holidays did not exist so for the working class it was not a given that the day would be given

It began on December 6th, Saint Nicholas’ Day. This was marked by exchanging small gifts.

Christmastide ended on January 6^th, otherwise known as ‘Twelfth Night’, marking Epiphany.

For those who could celebrate Saint Nicholas’s Day, it was a period for parties, suppers, and balls to be held. But for all who had them it was a time for family and friends.

This period did carry the feeling of ‘goodwill’ so it was expected that charity would be given to the poor, particularly on December 21^st, Saint Thomas’s Day when the widows of soldiers who had died in the Napoleonic wars would go ‘Thomasing’, calling at the kitchen doors seeking alms or food parcels.

On Christmas Eve holly and evergreens would be gathered and brought into the house to decorate and bring in the fresh small of nature. Garlands and wreaths would be woven with rosemary, bay, and laurel, and then embellished with apples, oranges, ribbons, and holly berries.

Mistletoe brought its own added spice to the festivities as kissing balls or boughs were made from it, a tradition that still lingers today. With each exchanged kiss a berry was plucked, once all the berries were gone then the kissing had to stop.

A candle was lit on Christmas Eve and the Yule log was brought in wrapped in hazel twigs and custom stated that it should be lit with a remnant of last year’s log. The fire would then be kept burning as long as possible and be at the heart of family gatherings; a small piece being saved for the next year.

On Christmas Day people attended church and then the gentry had a celebratory dinner of turkey, venison, or goose for the gentry, followed by plum pudding. Much of the seasonal food could be prepared ahead of time with a favourite being cold, brawn pies.

The next day, Saint Stephen’s Day, was a day for charity. Richer people gave servants and tenants their ‘Christmas boxes’, usually gifts of money, hence it becomes known as ‘Boxing Day’.

Finally, on the twelfth night there might be a party held with much dancing and singing. Hot spiced, mulled, wine was offered, and a special cake made to share amongst all the members of the household.

Games such as ‘bobbing for apples,’ and ‘snapdragon’ – a game where raisins were soaked in a brandy in a large shallow bowl, were enjoyed. A more challenging one involved candles being blown out and the brandy lit, people then had to try and grab a raisin and eat it without burning themselves – health and safety was yet to be implemented!

Men’s names were put into a hat so that ladies could then pick a name out to be her partner for the night.

A C17 yew wood wassail bowl.

A wassail bowl was often carried from house to house, filled with warmed ale, mulled wine, or punch, sometimes accompanied by the singing of carols.

The feeling of goodwill to all humankind was the message of the season. It depended on where you were on the social scale from impoverished to rich as to how much you could be a part of the tradition, but the feeling and love shared at this time was priceless then, just as it is today.

Merry Christmas and season’s greetings to all my readers!

Ellie encounters a handsome stranger, when escaping the claustrophobic presence of her widowed aunt, Mrs Hemming in The Old Hall. She is initially distressed and annoyed, until he introduces himself as Mr. Montgomery Cookson causing Ellie’s dark clouds to instantly lift, for she knows they will formally meet again.
Mrs Hemming homed the deserted Ellie, whilst bringing up her two cousins, Dorcas and Sybil, despite the ruinous reputation of her mother for deserting her husband and child.
Ellie had been shocked and scared, when infirmed she was expected to marry Mrs. Hemming’s own cousin, Mr. MONTGOMERY COOKSON.
But has Ellie met her match in Mr. Cookson?
Will her future be as grim as she envisaged?
When Fate has cast a shadow over her life for so long, can destiny shine a light into Ellie’s world?
Will Ellie finally discover who she really is?

Available on: iBook Kindle Kobo Smashwords

Catching up with M.A. Nichols!

Published on October 10, 2022October 10, 2022 by valerieholmesauthorLeave a comment

Welcome back, Melanie!

Headshot (Official) - Cropped

Since your Sept 2020 interview, when the UK thought Covid was on its way out – we have had two further lockdowns – how did you fare in the States?

I live in a sparsely populated state, so my experience is certainly different from a lot of others. My city had a couple of lockdowns, but at this point, it feels like a lifetime ago.

Did you make it back to the UK for your research trip?

I did! I recently made the transition to full-time author and said goodbye to my day job. A few weeks after that, I flew out to the UK and spent two months traipsing around the country. I’ve visited a couple of times before, but I really wanted to spend a lot of time there, immersing myself in the history. There are so many amazing estates to tour and museums to see, all of which have information and experiences I can’t get from studying books.

Congratulations on making this the full-time day job. What lovely historic sites did you visit?

I spent one month based in London, but then hopped the train out for day trips to Bath, Bristol, York, Plymouth, and a handful of other places. Then, I spent the second month moving all over the place, spending time in the West Country, the Midlands, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland.

What in particular inspired you?

If I were to share all the things that inspired me, I’d end up writing an essay. This was my second major research trip to the UK, and every time I find so many details and historical titbits that spark ideas. If I had to list some of the most inspiring things I did, I would say the Plymouth Historic Dockyards, the Royal Opera House Tour (and going to see a couple of performances there), the Theatre Royal at Drury Lane Tour, the London Canal Museum (and tunnel boat tour), the National Railway Museum, and…if I don’t stop now, I’ll end up listing every museum I visited.

And all the amazing ruins… *sigh*

Of course, the historic estates, houses, townhouses, and the like are super important for my research. I took over 11,000 photos and hundreds of pages of notes, most of which are all the little details I find when I’m wandering those historic properties. The sights, sounds, smells, and all the other possible descriptions that can later be used. I’m not a very visual person when I’m imagining my stories and don’t generally see clear, vivid pictures in my head, so I use those photos to help me design and describe my books’ locations.

Oh, and in a very real way, that trip inspired a scene in my latest book, “To Have and to Hold.” I needed a picnic scene, and I had visited quite a few ruins on this trip. I ended up creating a fake one (since the area in which my book is set didn’t have any readily available ruins that suited my needs), which was an amalgamation of two ruins I’d visited.

I love the new cover designs – what was their inspiration?

Honestly, part of the inspiration was that I wanted a style that would be easy to manipulate. Swapping out the model’s head or hands or some other feature can look weird if not done right, so adding the watercolour style over the top makes it easier to Frankenstein an image together from different bits and make it look uniform. Not to mention, finding male historical stock photos can be difficult, and even when you do, I think they often look slovenly or not period accurate. With this style I can use historic paintings for their bodies. For example, on “The Shameless Flirt,” the male torso is actually from a painting and the head is from a stock photo.

8 JAT

But also, I just really love it. I spent months playing with different ideas and styles, and one day, I stumbled upon some stock photos that someone had manipulated into looking like a painting. I watched a bunch of YouTube videos on how to do it, experimented a ton, and came up with the style.

Have they proved successful?

Depends on what you define as successful. Financially, they haven’t helped my sales, and in some ways, I worry that they may have hurt them a little. While being unique seems like a good thing, a common bit of advice to cover designers is that you don’t want to do that. If a book looks too different from the rest of the genre, it may turn off readers. So, yeah. I worry about it.

Artistically, I love them, and I’m so proud of the work I did on them. It was a massive effort to get them to where they are, and I have no interest in changing them again. And while some fans say they like the old ones better, most love them, too.

And they definitely fulfil the original purpose that inspired me to make the change in the first place. They’re more work, but I have a lot more artistic freedom when it comes to the base photos I use.

I think they look fresh and attractive!

I was recently at the Historical Novel Association conference in the ancient city of Durham and the question of how much time authors spend on social media came up. Do you think of social media as a friend or foe?

A bit of both. Personally, I’m not a fan of social media. I don’t use them in my personal life at all anymore because I prefer personal contact. But as an author, I use it all the time. I don’t view it as a marketing platform in which I can find new readers but as a place in which I can connect with my readers and fans. One of my favourite things to do is sharing behind the scenes info or research titbits. All those little things that are interesting to me an author but never made it onto the pages of my books.

It is a bit of a chore for me at times to come up with content, but I’ve developed a system that works for me.

How do you split your time between research/writing/ marketing?

I write every work day. Or I try to. I need an outline before I can write, and that isn’t always ready when I’m sitting down to start for the day. Generally, that takes up 3-4 hours a day. Then I spend the afternoon editing, outlining, researching, and any other prep work so that the next day I can sit down and write.

Generally, I do my marketing in the evening. A lot of it is stuff I can do while watching TV, so I’ll take my laptop down to the couch and relax while I input stats, work on my ads, or create social media content. This isn’t something I do every day. I’ve always heard that the best marketing is putting out a new book, and I ascribe to that mentality. I do a few traditional marketing things, but I try to keep it to a minimum and focus on creating new stories.

Researching is something I try to fit in wherever I can. Sometimes it happens as I’m writing or creating an outline, when I realize I need to know something. But often, I’m just always trying to watch documentaries, read books, listen to podcasts, and learn stuff I don’t know that I don’t know. You can’t learn it all, but I try to keep learning new things because I never know what’s going to spark an idea.

4 H&R

What are you currently working on?

I’m writing my first Christmas novel, “The Christmas Wish.” It’s part of my Victorian Love series, and I’m outlining my next project, which will be my first novella. I’ve wanted to try my hand at shorter stories because I have some ideas that just won’t work in a longer format, and I think now is the time to do it. I’m not entirely sure what it’s going to be because I have a lot of ideas right now, but we’ll see. I don’t always know what I’m going to write next until right before I need to start writing the 1st draft.

What is next?

Now that I’m writing full-time, I’ve put together a pretty amazing publishing schedule. I’m alternating between novels and novellas, and the plan is to publish 4 novels and 4-5 novellas in 2023. While I am focused on Regency & Victorian right now, I would like to branch into historical western romance sometime in the near future. And maybe a bit of historical paranormal romance maybe…

What can I say? I’m an eclectic reader, and I like writing in different genres. I started off in fantasy and would love to do more with it.

You are certainly inspiring. I wish you every continued success with all your projects.

Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to do the interview.

5 ASK

“Man traps, beware!”

Published on June 22, 2022June 22, 2022 by valerieholmesauthorLeave a comment

Micah, the charismatic hero of Secrets, encounters a man trap and saves a young lad from a terrible fate as the jaws snap shut.

These devices were cruel, vicious deterrents that were set in the ground and when the central plate was pressed the jaws clamped shut, maiming the unsuspecting trespassers.

“Micah swung a leg over a fallen tree trunk, but then, as the metal’s edge caught his eye, he froze. He saw the danger and the notion of his peaceful village suddenly dispersed – man traps, never before had he seen such things around Dibbledale. The woodland had always been open to all.”

Man traps have been used since the 18^th century as the amount of what had been common ground or shared woodland began to be increasingly enclosed by unscrupulous and greedy landowners.

Private landowners saw no reason to share the game that lived on the land with the ‘common folk.’ The 19^th century progressed but so did poverty – rapidly, and many families struggled. Large pieces of what had previously been common land, free for all to graze their flocks and hunt on had been enclosed into private estates.

The Napoleonic Wars with France had incurred huge costs which had been passed on through taxation and by raising the cost of basic foods. Men had left to fight so their homes, wives and children had to cope alone. These were desperate times.

Man traps were cheaper than employing additional gamekeepers and were perfectly legal. The only proviso being that signs should be posted about the traps, or anyone injured could claim compensation. However, this aspect was not widely publicised, and it was hardly affective when literacy was rare.

Hunger motivated poaching gangs, breaking the law to feed their own families, and selling excess on. This upscaling of illegal activity meant landowners were more aware of the losses than they would have been with only occasional rabbits or birds disappearing.

Man traps were an inhumane method of control, which could maimed and sometimes killed their victims. Easily disguised by putting leaves, twigs, or grass over them so that any foot, hoof or paw would spring the trap shut.

They generally had a central plate with toothed jaws that would be held back by a spring until triggered when they would come together with considerable force leading to a bloodthirsty and gruelling result.

They were made illegal in 1827. Following this ‘humane’ man traps were created. A hole was dug, and the trap placed in it. These were then covered with suitable undergrowth. They still had a central plate, but the jaws were no longer toothed. No doubt it was not without pain, but it did not maim as it would previously. These had to be unlocked by the gamekeeper who had the key, but I imagine, extraordinarily little sympathy was given to the poacher who was then caught and sentenced.

The Friends and Foes series, for lovers of romantic adventures is now available on Amazon and #KindleUnlimited. Just click here to take a peek!

Friends & Foes Book 1

Friends & Foes Book 2

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“It is always incomprehensible to a man that a woman should ever refuse an offer of marriage.”

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