Let's get started with my questions...
1. What did you want to be when I grew up?
I had various careers in mind. I loved reading and art and at one time wanted to design book jackets. I also enjoyed History and wanted to become a History Teacher. I did become the second. I have always loved writing stories and at school was selected to read out stories when inspectors visited. I also contributed to the school magazine. I am fortunate to realise these dreams.
2. Coffee, tea or hot chocolate?
I love them all but tea wins every time. I like afternoon tea especially accompanied by cake, preferably chocolate cake to keep the creative juices flowing after a 4 o'clock sugar dip.
3. What genre do you typically read? Why?
I read widely but probably do lean towards well written Historical Fiction.
4. Share a favourite childhood memory...
I have recently been to Donegal for the Brian Friel Festival. This brought me back to where I spent my child-hood holidays. I have wonderful memories of those month long vacations. We had a caravan in the dunes at a place called Portnoo and the same families met up year after year. Did we have fun? Absolutely. One of my best memories was a visit to an island called Aranmore. We boarded a very rickety rowing boat. Say no more. You felt danger as waves rose and fell and you thought you might be tipped overboard. We lived The Island of Adventure by Enid Blyton on that particular holiday. Islands were simply exceptionally mysterious. They contained dark adventures and secret places. We even imagined we saw signalling at night up in the mountains above us. Those holidays were very special times . I think mine was a fabulously happy and stimulating childhood.
5. Do you have any shameless addictions?
I have a book addiction. I love beautiful books too with exceptional illustrations. Even though I have a kindle, alas I spend a lot of time and money on books. The Tiger Comes to Tea and The Butterfly Ball, two beautifully illustrated books from the 1970s still grace my shelves. Who can forget Masquerade and it's search for treasure? I still own that too.
6. What do you think is the biggest challenge of writing a new book?
Writing a new book is thrilling. The idea descends and I'm off, but I do think the biggest challenge concerns point of view. I think you need to decide early on whose story is it? We need a hero or heroine or both who has a journey worth following. POV sets the tone. I also think it helps to have an ending in mind even if that changes as I write.
7. Do you aim for a certain amount of words/pages each day?
I absolutely do not aim for word lengths each day. I think for me that would be confining. I don't write every day. Life interrupts. If I get 500 to 1000 words done in a session that is a good day's work.
8. What are your thoughts on writing a series?
I very much enjoyed writing The Daughters of Hastings series in which there currently three novels. I am writing a Trilogy about three medieval She-Wolf queens. I won't write these one after the other as I now have a sequel in mind for The Woman in the Shadows, a novel about Thomas Cromwell's wife. I also do intend to write Ulf's Story to complete the Hastings series. That beckons. I think the advantage as regards series is you become steeped in that world with those personalities. I also do think readers enjoy a well-written series. However, if a series feels as if it has run its course then the writer must let go and write something else. I am very much looking forward to returning to the 11thC landscape with Ulf Godwinson and it will be fresh for me as a writer because there have been other novels and eras that I have written and published in between.
BIO:
Carol
McGrath
Following a
first degree in English and History, Carol McGrath completed an MA in Creative
Writing from The Seamus Heaney Centre, Queens University Belfast, followed by an
MPhil in English from University of London. The
Handfasted Wife, first in a trilogy about the royal women of 1066 was
shortlisted for the RoNAS in 2014. The
Swan-Daughter and The Betrothed
Sister complete this acclaimed, best-selling trilogy. The Woman in the Shadows, a best-selling historical novel about
Elizabeth Cromwell, wife of Henry VIII’s statesman Thomas Cromwell, was published
by Accent Press in 2017. Carol is currently working on The Silken Rose set in the High Middle Ages and featuring Ailenor
of Provence. She frequently speaks at events and conferences and was the
co-ordinator of the Historical Novels’ Society Conference, Oxford in September
2016. She regularly reviews for the HNS. Find Carol on her website:
LINKS:
Follow me on
Twitter @carolmcgrath
Woman in the Shadows
http://tinyurl.com/y83gdkbo
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