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
Lord Farrington discusses the situation with Dr. Samuel Speers, in 
My stories are often set around the dramatic coast and countryside of North Yorkshire, where I grew up. It is an area of outstanding natural beauty and fascinating social history, especially around the early nineteenth century when England was at war with France and many things were changing at home.
The Yorkshire cobles with their flat bottoms were ideal for beaching loads of contraband. Goods such as tea, cards, ankers of brandy, geneva, pepper, ‘sack’ or sherry, sugar loaves, silk and cards, to name a few were taxed heavily, which meant that common folk felt justified by buying them cheaply from the free-traders. The irony was that the coin, which made its way back to France, helped to fund the enemy that British soldiers were fighting.
The rugged headlands, flat sweeping fine sandy bays, natural woodland and the beautiful expanse of the North Yorkshire Moors inland add both a great variety of scenery and beauty. The settings for my stories are as dramatic as the plots. I have created my own villages and characters and will introduce you to some of them as I look more closely at the actual history of this fascinating region.
valerie holmes, author 