R: Do you use pictures as inspiration at the start of a book?
MJ: The one element I find most helpful at the start of a book is to find a map, or devise a map because my characters are often on the move. It’s also more difficult to find pictures for my Saxon characters because there are no contemporary images (or rather, very few). When I write my 20th century mysteries, I do like to check out the PATHE recordings.
R: What is your favourite period drama?
MJ: The David Suchet Poirot series. I’ve just been rewatching them all now they don’t have ads, and I adore them. I also can remember a great deal of the episodes, although not always who the murderer was! I do much prefer the earlier, more light-hearted episodes featuring Miss Lemon and Captain Hastings.
R: I love the Poirot series too - I'm also partial to the feature length Peter Ustinov films too! Can I ask, are the titles of your books important to you?
MJ: Yes, but also no. I often
devise a title and then my editor changes it slightly. I do like to have a
title for a work in progress, even if it gets changed. For one of my recent
projects, I had a title and it didn’t feel quite ‘right’ so I changed it to
better fit the story and it was the right thing to do because it helped me
finish the book.
R: If you’re struggling with a scene or difficult
character, what methods help you through it?
MJ: Routine and consistency.
Often the most difficult scenes are the best ones, and even if they’re not, a
reader won’t know how hard it was. I just push through because the scene needs
to be written. Or, I discover that it doesn’t and I get rid of it altogether.
R: Are you an early bird or a night owl?
MJ: I used to be a night owl but
I am now an early bird. Often, when I’m nearing the end of a project, I will
wake up really early to get it finished.
R: Who’s your favourite author? Why?
MJ: I have three favourite
authors – Terry Pratchett and his Discworld series, Anne McCaffrey and her PERN
novels and Katharine Kerr and her Deverry Series. All three of them offer the
promise of familiarity with characters in long running series while creating
deeply imagined worlds which it feels only natural to inhabit. I love the
humour of Discworld. I love the dragons of PERN. And I love the way time and
events are played with in Deverry.
R: Do you have a pet peeve?
MJ: In action and adventure
historical fiction, I particularly don’t like the use of the word ‘transfixed,’
when describing someone being skewered by a weapon. (You did ask for a pet
peeve).
R: What? No, that doesn't fit at all! Haha! Can you tell me a little about your next project?
MJ: I am currently working on a
new Saxon historical fiction series set in the eighth century. It’s an
intriguing period because there is very, very little in the way of documentary
sources so much of it has to be reimagined based on what we know came before
and what we know came after. I am also offering readers a main character who is
a little different to my usual ones. He might not be quite as honourable as
others I’ve created. I’m currently working on structural edits for this title,
which will be 757, and as ever, I am wondering how I managed to miss some of
the more obvious mistakes.
My next release will be the
ninth book in the Eagle of Mercia Chronicles, Storm of Mercia, or as I ‘might’
be referring to it ‘the one that takes place on a ship.’
Thanks so much for stopping by today, MJ! Wishing you lots of sales and success for the future :)
Here's the blurb & link for MJ latest release!
Wessex, AD836
The Viking raiders' devastation has been halted once more by the shields of Mercia as opposed to Wessex. But their whereabouts are unknown.
King Wiglaf of Mercia is keen to ensure the Viking raiders are swept from his shared border with Wessex but these Viking ships are quick and difficult to track and Icel is once more deployed with Ealdorman Ælfstan warriors to do his King's bidding. However, Icel’s quest is beset with many more obstacles and it's not all about the seax and shield.
Worrying news from home overshadows Icel’s every deadly encounter. Will the storms of war keep him away or has he time to make one more desperate journey back to Tamworth?
With raging seas driving him ever further from Mercia’s shores, and the threat of a new conspiracy against the Mercian kingship will Icel overpower the sands of time, or will he be defeated by his deadliest nemesis yet?
https://books2read.com/Storm-
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