A lesson learned

A lesson learned

Picture me at a writers’ conference, a good two years before I published INCEPTIO, the first of the Roma Nova thrillers, in 2013. Full of enthusiasm, going to every class, talk, workshop and seminar followed by long nights in the bar discussing structure, characters, pitfalls, agents, heroes, failures and successes, I was exhausted by Sunday morning. I shuffled up to the coffee machine, chose two slugs of espresso in one mug, dolloped a load of fruit in a bowl in hope of regaining lost vitamins and made my way to a table with a single figure. She was a multi-published author, somebody I respected, no revered. When she invited me to sit, I felt honoured. But no way was I up to sparkling conversation.

As I munched on my fruit, the Experienced Author kindly asked me how things were going. Before I could answer, my rather more abstemious and thus more energetic friend plonked herself down at the table. She said we’d enjoyed the workshop on character, but was rather disturbed by the speaker saying it was easy to forget who was who in earlier books she’d written. That woke me up.

‘Surely, you wouldn’t forget one of your beautiful creations,’ I said, my fruit swallowed.

‘Well, it does happen,’ replied Experienced Author. We two newbies stared at her, our mouths not open, but silent. ‘After fifteen books, in three different genres, I can’t remember each character. They fall in love, struggle with tragedy, rebuild their fortunes, find happiness, and then you send them off to be published and as in life, you turn to new ones.’

Appalled at such cynicism, my friend and I exchanged what Georgette Heyer would have called ‘a speaking look’. Both of us were rock solid in the confident knowledge that this would never happen to either of us. Our profound knowledge and deep love of all our characters, principal and secondary, ensured they were graven on our souls. We politely finished our breakfast and took no notice of the little smile on the Experienced Author’s lips.

I slaved over my first book, going through manuscript assessments, beta readers, mentor and professional editors, and generally whipping it into shape for publication. Two years on from that breakfast chat with the Experienced Author I was even more involved with my characters, especially the two leads, Carina and Conrad. I could not only see them, I dreamed about them. I spoke about them at the launch of INCEPTIO and even infected my friends with them. Well, they queued up to buy the book in droves that night.

The following October, the second book, PERFIDITAS launched and if possible, my knowledge increased. I could do Mastermind on Carina and Conrad and probably the same on the elder stateswoman Aurelia who was then a secondary character. By the third book, SUCCESSIO, a year later, I was spreading the dramatis personae to include the next generation, so had to check the odd thing here and there.

With AURELIA, I took the main secondary character of the first three books back to her young womanhood in the late 1960s. Soon I was immersed in the pre-internet, rather sexist world. Carina and Conrad of the 21^st century were fading as I plunged into one of the darkest periods of Roma Nova’s history with a tale of crime and derring-do.

Then a reader asked me a question about a character in PERFIDITAS and I said ‘Who?’ She reminded me in a cold voice about who they were and added that the character was her favourite. Oh, crap! I bluffed through it, but that breakfast meeting in 2011 came immediately to mind. Five years on, I bow to that Experienced Author in true humility.

The remedy

I’m now rereading the first three Roma Nova thrillers. It’s the least I can do. Actually, I’m really enjoying reconnecting with Carina, Conrad and all the other characters. Did I really write these thrillers?

The lesson learnt

I have my fifth book out this April at the London Book Fair and am a third of the way through drafting the sixth. I have spreadsheets for the characters, especially their ages, their relationships, events and pivotal decisions. I have a time line grid (index) for each book so I have an easy reference for each book. But now, despite author amnesia, I have a little more humility.

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Raised by a feminist mother and an ex-military father, it never occurred to Alison Morton that women couldn’t serve their country in the armed forces. After six years, she left as a captain, having done all sorts of interesting and exciting things she can’t talk about, even now…

Fascinated by the complex, power and value-driven Roman civilisation since childhood, she wondered what a modern Roman society would be like if run by strong women…

Now, she lives in France and writes award-winning Roman-themed alternate history thrillers with tough Praetorian heroines – INCEPTIO, PERFIDITAS, SUCCESSIO and now AURELIA.

Connect with Alison on her Roma Nova blog: http://alison-morton.com/blog/

Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/AlisonMortonAuthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/alison_morton

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5783095.Alison_Morton

YouTube: https://youtu.be/K5_hXzg0JWA

You can buy AURELIA here: http://alison-morton.com/books-2/aurelia/where-to-buy-aurelia/

AURELIA book trailer: https://youtu.be/K5_hXzg0JWA

 

 

Category: Contemporary Women Writers, How To and Tips