The Historical Novel Society UK 2024 conference

Rebekah Simmers has been interviewing writers who are presenting at the HNS 2024 UK Conference

RS: We are so thrilled that you will be joining us for the HNS 2024 UK Conference! What are you looking forward to about the conference? Can you share a teaser for your presentation? 

HW: I’m most excited to be presenting with such esteemed colleagues, but I’m also thrilled to be attending at all! I’ve attended every in-person conference in the U.S. since 2011, but I’ve never made the trip to the UK, so I’m quite looking forward to meeting lots of new people.

As for presentations, I’ll be joining the wonderful Hazel Gaynor and Gill Paul for “Screen Queens” to talk about writing about the lives of Hollywood starlets from multiple angles. I’m also going to be joining the highly talented Gothic writer, Kris Waldherr and debut author, Finola Austin to discuss the ins and outs of using popular novel classics, and classics of the stage and screen, as a springboard for our own works. This session is called “Authors as Adaptors.”   

HNS has launched the First Chapters Competition with the conference. What is a novel you’ve read over your life that unexpectedly grabbed you from the opening lines and whose words stayed with you? 

This is an impossible question! So many have managed to do this for me as a reader, but as a writer I’d say, Sena Jeter Naslund’s Ahab’s Wife, VE Schwab’s, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, and honestly, a million others! 

Looking back on your own writing career, what would you say was the most influential writing advice you received from another author? How have you made that work for you? 

I haven’t had a single piece of advice, rather a series of important suggestions that came at the right time during the various stages of my career. As a beginner: Finish the first draft. Don’t look back and rewrite and edit early pages or you’ll never get to the end. You can always refine it later. Somewhere around my third published novel: the best way to market yourself as an author is to publish another book.  And now, ten novels in: your promotional efforts should revolve around the aspects you most enjoy because frankly, it’s hard to tell what moves the needle and most of it doesn’t. Conserve your energy and put it toward those author life things that are fun for you. 

Of the wide cast of characters in your novels, who has been your most surprisingly challenging character to write? Why? What strategies did you / do you use for these types of characters? 

I struggled most with Christine Daae of The Phantom’s Apprentice,  a retelling of The Phantom of the Opera from her perspective. As originally written, she was such an innocent, one-dimensional character without flaws. Very flat and kind of simpering as well. I had to work hard to balance beloved canon with my own version of a much more fleshed-out, nuanced, stronger Christine Daae. It was very challenging and I wrestled with it for ages!

What do you think it takes to have longevity across a writing career? Sanity? Fun? What’s an unexpected joy that came into your life from such a successful career?  

I think the two most important keys to longevity are 1.) being flexible about your vision of who you are as a writer and the direction in which you will go in terms of style, genre, etc. This also applies to a specific book you’re working on. If you can’t be flexible and make changes when the story isn’t cooperating with the ideas you originally have for a story, or when receiving feedback from beta readers, you’re going nowhere fast. You have to allow the story to guide you and be open to new ideas. And 2.) challenging yourself as a writer so that you may keep stretching and growing, which will allow you to write books of which you are proud. This is not only pertinent, but it’s so fulfilling as a creative. Stagnation is the death of creativity. 

Where do you typically begin your research? Do you have a go-to resource? Has there been anything that you’ve researched for your writing over the years that made a huge impact on you or a novel or series that you were writing? That changed how you write or what you write? 

The research doesn’t impact my writing on a craft level, but I’d say it certainly changes the direction of my stories at times, or helps bolster character details. My favorite go-to resource is traveling to the location in which the story takes place, regardless of what that place is. Other resources, no matter how helpful, can’t capture the essence or the heartbeat of a place and I think that adds something special to the immersive nature of my world-building. At least, that is my aim. 

As a historical writer, if you could stand witness to a historical event or walk through a specific time / scene / building or have a frank discussion with one historical figure, which would you choose and why?  

Another impossible question! I’d love to have a discussion about art over cocktails with Monet, Renoir, Rodin, and Camille Claudel. I’d like to interview Josephine Bonaparte at the Tuileries palace before it burned. I’d love to attend a Frank Sinatra concert, front-row, and follow him to dinner for a nice Italian meal, have a good long chat. In terms of historical events to witness, that’s kind of dicey because honestly, as a woman and during the volatile times in which many of my books are set, I wouldn’t want to be there!  

What can you share about what you are writing now? Or an upcoming release? 

In October and November, I have my fourth collaboration with Hazel Gaynor, called Christmas with the Queen, set during the early reign of Elizabeth II. A royal chef and a correspondent to the BBC meet again after a shared past over five Christmases in the halls of Sandringham where the royals celebrate the festive season.

What was the last great book that you read?

Wrong Place, Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister for suspense, and for historical fiction, The Secret Book of Flora Lee by Patti Callahan Henry.

---

Online tickets for the conference are available:

https://historicalnovelsocietyuk.regfox.com/online

Rebekah Simmers is a member of the HNS UK 2024 conference organisation team. Find out about her novel, The King’s Sword, on her website.