That may be a bit misleading. I’ve long had an idea floating in the back of my mind that I could write a bestselling novel—but don’t we all! I was further encouraged in that notion by the fact that my cousin has been a bestselling romance author for many years—probably the reason I chose romance too!
Prior to embarking on my fiction writing career, I wrote several family histories. I am an avid genealogist. That came about unexpectedly when I was teaching a seminar on Writing Your Own Life Story years ago. One of the participants happened to casually mention that the 1891 census of England was available on line at ancestry.com. Later in the evening I thought it might be fun to search for my grandparents on that census. That was the end of free time as I previously knew it! The search for my roots became an all consuming passion. I’ve had a subscription to that excellent website ever since and have researched many families, for fun and profit!
This “hobby gone bad” has had a tremendous influence on my fiction writing. My pen name actually belonged to an ancestor. My ten novels all revolve around the same family and its offshoot branches. I have even used my genealogical software to create Family Trees for my characters. Some of my books have these in the back matter. Readers love them.
I have never been able to trace my own family as far back as the Norman Conquest, which is my ultimate (likely impossible) goal. But it was my research into the Norman families in the North of England—I’m a Lancashire Lass—that led me to read about an incident on which I based my first novel, Conquering Passion. Prior to that I was thinking I would write contemporary romance. Now I am so entrenched in the Middle Ages, it’s as if I lived then—though I am glad I didn’t!
I have thoroughly enjoyed the research that has been necessary to make my books an authentic medieval experience for my readers.
When I began Conquering Passion, a floodgate opened and ideas for the story flowed to the degree that in fairly short order I had penned over 200,000 words. I am not a believer in the supernatural, but I sometimes felt these people were telling me their stories from the past. I kept asking myself, “Where the heck did that idea come from?” I dreamt about my characters and woke up each morning with the next part of the plot!
But I realized I had too many heroes and heroines in one book, and too many love stories. So I split the story into four books! Originally I intended it to be a trilogy, but it became an obsession! This metamorphosis into separate books is what has given the series The Montbryce Legacy its continuity. I wrote all four books at the same time!
I began The Montbryce Legacy shortly after Christmas 2010, and published the first book, Conquering Passion, at the end of November 2011. The remaining three books of the series were all published by the end of February 2012. It was never my intention to publish independently, and at first I went the traditional route of query letters, etc. I joined several on line author groups and gradually became aware of the revolution going on in self-publishing.
Two things became apparent. I was too old to spend years writing query letters, hoping an editor would like my work. Medieval romance did not seem to be at the top of anyone’s priority list! What did I have to lose by publishing with Amazon and Smashwords? Let readers decide if my stories were good!
Turns out many of them love my books! I followed the first series up with a trilogy of novellas about a Welsh family involved in rebellion against the invading Normans, the Sons of Rhodri. My third series, the FitzRam Family, tells the stories of the children of a character from the first series.
That’s a total of four lengthy novels and six novellas (approximately 30,000 words each). Each novella has taken me about two months to write, but I write more than one at the same time to make sure there is continuity.
When I am in my writing zone, I can spend a whole day doing nothing else. Getting to spend a good chunk of my time at my beachfront retreat in Panama helps a lot. Besides walking on the beach I don’t do much else but write. There are fewer distractions than at home in Victoria. If you are looking for a tropical place to retire to, I heartily recommend Panama.
There’s nothing like walking along an endless, deserted, sun-drenched beach with the crashing waves of the Pacific on one side and palm trees on the other to help solve a bit of a block in a story! The only interruption is the thousands of tiny red crabs scurrying out of your way!
I write by the seat of my pants. I have a general idea of where I want the story to go, and of course writing about the members of a family gives a basic structure, but most of the twists and turns come to me as I write. Freaky!
My family has been very supportive of my writing, especially my husband who has never objected to the hours I spend at my computer. My kids are my biggest fans—and my eldest grandson cannot wait until he is old enough to have a romance book dedicated to him!
Writers of historical fiction have a distinct advantage. History provides a rich backdrop for our stories. Who could make up a character like William the Conqueror or an event like the Norman Conquest? I created a timeline spreadsheet in Excel to make sure I keep the sequence of historical events in line with my characters’ lives.
Jesse has asked me to choose a favourite among my books. I would probably pick If Love Dares Enough, because I love the hero, Hugh de Montbryce. Emotionally and physically scarred by the Battle of Hastings, he withdraws into a solitary life, determined never to inflict his problems on a woman. But he cannot stand by and do nothing when he meets the Saxon heroine, Devona Melton, and realizes she is being abused by her Norman husband. He risks everything the Montbryce family holds dear for the woman he loves. Hugh is also a virgin hero and you don’t find too many of those these days in historical romance.
Another quirk about my books is that I often have two love stories going on at the same time! While Hugh is rescuing Devona, his brother Antoine becomes involved with a widow whose husband he killed in battle!
I am always trying to improve my writing. I have found entering RWA chapter contests an invaluable experience. They have provided excellent constructive criticism and feedback. I was thrilled when Conquering Passion received top marks from the majority of judges for the Golden Heart, and finished in the top third.
I belong to the Vancouver Island chapter of RWA and fellow member Bonnie Edwards provided us with a simple yet effective tool, the Stupid Word List. I use this once the first draft is complete, to make my manuscript, as Bonnie puts it, “bright and shiny”.
I’ve gradually acquired a group of beta readers whose input has been very beneficial, and I’ve taken advantage of Amazon’s FREE promotions, which have boosted my sales a lot. I learned how to add effective back matter and I know for a fact this has increased sales because I can track the clicks.
One of the biggest thrills about this adventure has been hearing from readers, through Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads and so on, who tell me they love my books. It’s also a rush to receive royalty payments from Amazon, something I thought it would take me years to achieve!
I’ve learned a lot about social media and how to use it to build my network. One of the most supportive groups has been the IndieRomanceInk group on Yahoo—authors who go out of their way to be helpful. I probably would not have self-published as rapidly as I did had it not been for what I learned from them.
I have a blog and a website, a Facebook page, Anna Markland Novels, and I am a contributor to another blog of writers of historical fiction, History Ink.
Interestingly enough, the blogposts that have garnered the biggest audience have been about the dogs I have featured in some of my books! If Love Dares Enough has two heroic mastiffs, Boden and Brigantia; a hovawart saves the hero’s life in Carried Away, and Thor, an alaunt gentil, protects his mistress in Wild Viking Princess.
Though I am a cat lover (Passion in the Blood has a cat) I have been fascinated to learn about some of the ancient dog breeds that existed in the Middle Ages.
My books take readers to England, Wales, Scotland, Normandy, Saxony, and Denmark. They feature well known historical places such as Mont St. Michel (Passion in the Blood), Lindisfarne Abbey (Sweet Taste of Love), Westminster Abbey (Conquering Passion), and the Conqueror’s castle in Caen (If Love Dares Enough).
My characters involve themselves in all kinds of interesting activities (besides the obvious in a romance novel) such as road building, beekeeping, mead making, and brewing apple brandy. One even goes off to fight in the First Crusade! They endure horrendous battles (Hastings 1066, Alnwick 1093, Tinchebray 1106, Andernach 1114), devastating illness, betrayal, catastrophic accidents, broken bones, massacres, the dangers of childbirth, kidnappings, unjust imprisonment, cruelty, family feuds, and madness—just to name a few! But of course, love conquers all these difficulties!
Thank you to Jesse for this opportunity to share some of my writing journey. I hope you’ll join me and my characters as we continue to make our way through the pitfalls, perils and triumphs of medieval times.
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