To Defy a King (61 page)

I have also made extensive use of conventional research. For anyone wanting to read further on the period, I have enclosed a select bibliography.

A full list of my reference works can be found at my website.

Atkin, Susan A. J.,
The Bigod Family: An investigation into Their Lands and
Activities 1066-1306
(University of Reading, published on demand by the British Library Thesis Service)

Brown, Morag,
Framlingham Castle
(English Heritage, ISBN 1 85074 853

5)

Brown, R. Allen,
Castles, Conquests and Charters: Collected Papers
(Boydell, 1989, ISBN 085115 524 3)

Brown, R. Allen, 'Framlingham Castle and Bigod 1154-1216' (
Proceedings
of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology
, XXV, 1951) Carpenter, D. A.,
The Minority of Henry III
(Methuen, 1990, ISBN 0 413

62360 2)

History of William Marshal
, Vol. II, ed. by A. J. Holden with English translation by S. Gregory and historical notes by D. Crouch (Anglo-Norman Text Society Occasional Publications series 5, 2004, ISBN 0 9054745 7) Holt, J. C.,
The Northerners
(Clarendon Press at Oxford, 2002, ISBN 0 19

820309 8)

Karras, Ruth Mazo,
Sexuality in Medieval Europe: Doing unto Others
(Routledge, 2005, ISBN 0 415 28963 7)

King, Alison, Akashic Record Consultant

Morris, Marc,
The Bigod Earls of Norfolk in the Thirteenth Century
(Boydell, 2005, ISBN 1843831643)

Norgate, Kate,
John Lackland
(Kessinger, 2007, ISBN 0548730954) Painter, Sidney,
The Reign of King John
(The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1949)

Warren, W. L.,
King John
(Eyre Methuen,1978, ISBN 0 413 455203) I welcome comments and I can be contacted through my website at www.elizabethchadwick.com or by email to [email protected].

I post regular updates about my writing and historical research at my blog at http://livingthehistoryelizabethchadwick.blogspot.com. You can also find me on Facebook and Twitter @chadwickauthor and you are most welcome to join in!

Acknowledgements

I would like to say a big thank you to the people who have helped behind the scenes while I have been writing
To Defy a King
. My husband Roger keeps the house ticking over around me while I disappear all day and sometimes most of the night to my study. My wonderful agent Carole Blake and the members of the Blake Friedmann Agency keep me in work and through their efforts my books are now available in 18 different languages - a feat I would never have managed by myself! At my publishers, I would like to thank my editors Barbara Daniel, Joanne Dickinson and Rebecca Saunders for their hands-on, but hands-off approach. They leave me to do it my way, but are there if I need help. I would also like to thank Richenda Todd for casting an eye over the finished manuscript and keeping me up to scratch where ages, dates and names are concerned! Any remaining errors are purely mine!

My thanks go also to Alison King, my friend and fellow traveller, and I would like to apologise again profusely about Hugh's bath!

Online, I would like to thank the members of Historical Fiction Online and Penmanreview for book discussions and like-minded conversation.

Author Interview

You have been called 'The best writer of medieval fiction currently
around' by the Historical Novel Society. How and when did you first
become interested in writing about the Middle Ages?

It's simple really. I had been telling myself stories since first memory, but I didn't write anything down until my teens when I fell madly in love with a tall, dark handsome Frenchman in a children's historical TV programme called
Desert Crusader
. You can read the story of my love affair at my blog: http://livingthehistoryelizabethchadwick.blogspot.com/2008/04/tall-dark-and

-handsome. html

It was set in the twelfth-century Kingdom of Jerusalem and starred Thibaud, a knight in flowing white robes who galloped around the desert having adventures. Back then there were no DVDs or video recorders, so if I wanted more of this beautiful man, I had to imagine him. Filled with inspiration, I began writing a historical adventure romance novel and had an epiphany as I realised that I wanted to write historical fiction for a living. From that moment, my career path was set. Of course it was more easily said than done; it took me another fifteen years to achieve that goal - but I was determined. Since I wanted my stories to feel as real as possible, I embarked on a steep learning curve of detailed research. I think my teachers wished that I was as keen about my homework as I was about my external study!

My first published novel,
The Wild Hunt
, won a Betty Trask award and is still in print. I say my first published novel - I have eight unpublished works in my drawer at home. I can say with a wry smile that it takes many years to become an overnight success.

You are renowned for being able to bring the past to life. Will you tell
us a little bit about your research techniques?

I believe you need more than just reference works to write good historical fiction. In order to make the story leap off the page, the author has to bring the research into the world of 3D. I have a five-strand approach to my research and these five strands are woven together into a detailed and (I hope!) seamless braid.

1. Primary sources.

I read original charters, documents and chronicles to gain a feel for the period.

2. Secondary sources.

I read numerous books on all sorts of subjects concerned with the period, generally from academic and university presses or specialist publications. I also use online study, but I am careful about the websites I use, as there is a lot of poor information out there as well as the useful material, especially on genealogy sites.

3. Location Research.

I visit locations mentioned in the novels where possible. So for example with
To Defy a King
, I travelled extensively in Norfolk, Yorkshire, the Welsh borders, South Wales and Wiltshire. I didn't get to France this time around, but I have been there in previous years for research purposes. I like to get a feel for the places where my characters would have walked, even if the ground is sometimes very different now. I take numerous photographs and make detailed notes.

4. Re-enactment.

This is part of the 3D element. I re-enact with early medieval Living History society Regia Anglorum. The society does its best to be authentic for the period and conducts living history experiments on a regular basis. I own numerous exact replica artefacts, courtesy of craftsmen who work for museums and the re-enactment community. I know what it feels like to walk up and down castle stairs in flat shoes and a long dress. I have looked through the eye slits of a jousting helm. I have worn a mail shirt. I have used medieval cooking pots (better than stainless steel pans I can tell you!) and woven wool on a drop spindle. I can call upon the expertise of the members, many of whom are historians or archaeologists. There is nothing quite like experiencing it for yourself.

5. The Akashic Records.

This is a form of psychic research based on the belief that everything leaves its imprint in time and that if you have the ability, you can access this resource and look at the lives of the people who have gone before: their thoughts, their feelings and emotions; what they looked like and what they experienced. I don't have the ability, but I have a consultant who does, and I employ her skills. You can find more on this particular subject at my website under this heading. The result is a bit like conducting an in-depth interview with the historical person involved, or perhaps like seeing a documentary of their life in sensory detail.

http://www.elizabethchadwick.com/akashic_record.html

What first drew you to writing about the Marshal and Bigod families?

You can't write about the Middle Ages and not come across the great William Marshal. He was one of the most powerful magnates in early thirteenth-century Europe, but he started his life as an ordinary household knight and worked his way up through the ranks with a combinations of military prowess, charm, political astuteness and good fortune. He was a jousting champion par excellence and in his later years became regent of England. We know about him because shortly after his death, his son commissioned someone to write an epic poem to celebrate his father's life.

The
Histoire de Guillaume le Mareschal
is a very important document, because not only is it the first secular biography of an Englishman, but it gives a fabulous overview of the life and times of the thirteenth century.

There are all sorts of need to know details such as what the aristocracy used for toilet paper, how much a soldier's horse cost, and the pleasure of drinking sparkling wine! Having decided to bring William into the limelight, I came across Roger Bigod whilst engaged in my research. Roger's career had many similarities to William's. They were both educated in the ways of power at the Angevin court and they both had to work their way up the ladder of royal favour. Where William's career was military, Roger's was judicial, but they were men who could do business together, and do it they did, when William married his eldest daughter Mahelt, to Roger's heir, Hugh. Unfortunately there is no epic poem about the Bigod family, but there were various theses, charters and documents that came to my rescue and helped me piece together the story from their side of the fence. Again, it's one of power games and fighting to survive in a turbulent political climate.

Do you have a writing routine?

I work seven days a week and probably fifty-two weeks a year. The laptop always comes with me on holiday and I have been known to sneak away to the PC even on Christmas day! I am more of an owl than a lark. I am actually writing this interview well after midnight and will probably finish my working day about 1a.m. I tend to answer e-mails in the morning and do routine work, and then gear up during the afternoon and evening to do the new writing. I write about 1,000 to 1,500 new words every day, except when I'm editing. I write about six drafts of the novel. Apart from the first draft, which is straight to PC screen, I like to edit the paper page, because I think it accesses a different part of the brain to screen editing and so adds in an extra layer. I also read the manuscript aloud to my long suffering husband (twice!) because the spoken word is different again and helps to pick up on things such as pace and repetition. I use music for inspiration, but I listen to it away from the PC. It would be too distracting to have it on in the background. But I do gain tremendous insight from listening to tracks whilst doing the washing up or preparing food. Each novel has a soundtrack that equates to the storyline. So, for example, the inspiration for the main love scene between Mahelt and Hugh in
To Defy a King
was Kiki Dee's 'Amoreuse'.

The feelings of Mahelt's brother Will when being taken hostage and fighting against King John, were encapsulated by Bruce Springsteen's 'Murder Incorporated'. People are often surprised by this approach and seem to think I should listen to medieval music - which I do enjoy, but I also think that people's emotions don't change. Mindsets might, but not the feelings, so I'm quite happy to use this century's music to bring people gone for eight hundred years back to life.

You are active on the Internet, on historical forums and networking
sites such as Facebook and Twitter. How important do you think these
are?

As an author I think they are very important for letting the readers know you are there and for being accessible, but at the same time, readers very quickly become irritated with authors who want to talk about themselves and nothing else. It's a little bit about giving something back, socialising and enjoying the interaction. I like meeting readers and talking to them, and not just about me. I'm a reader too, and I enjoy discussing novels with others, or indulging in historical chat. I see myself as an ordinary person who just happens to be a writer for a day job.

You have just said you like to discuss novels on forums, which begs the
question, Do you have any favourite authors?

I read voraciously across all genres. Historically speaking my favourite authors in no order are Sharon Kay Penman, Dorothy Dunnett, C. J. Sansom, Diana Gabaldon and Lindsey Davis. I recently read Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel and loved it. In other genres I am especially fond of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series. These are great to fit in between heavier reads to clear the air. I also enjoy the work of Katie Fforde and Jill Mansell, and I adore the earlier Terry Pratchett books, a particular favourite being
Witches Abroad
. Anyone who doesn't fall for the personality of Grebo is a lost cause!

This is a new cover style for you. Do you have a say in the design of the
covers?

I have a consultation say but my publishers have the last word. For the cover of
To Defy a King
, we all sat around the table with coffee and cake (I brought in a large tin of brownies!) and we discussed the various directions we could take the new look. Headless women in nice dresses have been great for the historical fiction market, but they are now something of a cliche

and we wanted something different and fresh that still said 'historical'

fiction and had a sumptuous feel to it at the same time. We talked over some ideas and then I left it to the design team. I think this is my best cover ever. I love it, and I'm not just saying it as a slice of marketing buzz or because I want to keep my job. They have honestly done me proud.

Are you writing anything at the moment?

I am never
not
writing anything. If I stopped I'd have to do housework -

perish the thought! I am currently at work on a novel about the Empress Matilda - no fixed title as yet. I feel that no one has ever got right up close to her to find out what she was really like. In the same novel I am also writing about Henry I's second queen, Adeliza, who has been very much ignored by history. I felt she really needed to be given a voice too. After that, who knows? Perhaps Eleanor of Aquitaine - again up close and personal. What did she
really
think and feel about various aspects of her life. If not Eleanor, whom I want to cover eventually whatever, then I have a couple of other projects up my sleeve that are very much in mind. Certainly I don't think I'll ever run out of material!