Recently, I read and reviewed three books of the series Son of Kings written by
Millie Thom. I gave them all a 5 star on 5 rating, because I liked them so much.
That's why I wanted to know more about this lovely author and lady! I asked
if she wanted to do a small interview for the author page of this blog. Luckily
she said yes! I hope you'll enjoy the interview! The link of this blogpost will
be posted on the author page of Mycrazylifefullwithbooks blog with the
links of Millie Thom's social media & Amazon.
The Interview
First of all, I
would like to say a big Thank You to Katheen for inviting me
to do this
interview. I really appreciate it and it’s good to be here.
Why did you want to write a series?
Even before I started writing my novels about Alfred
the Great, I knew it would
take more than a single book to tell the story of his
entire life.
It wasn’t that I particularly wanted to write a series as much as
the fact that
necessity called for it. At first, I hoped that two books would
be enough,
but then I added my second protagonist, Eadwulf, and the story
massively
expanded. I ended up with a four-book series which tells the stories
of two
members of Anglo-Saxon royal families but from different kingdoms:
Alfred of Wessex and Eadwulf of Mercia.
How do you create the different
characters in your books?
When writing historical
fiction many of the characters’ names are already
there, and there is no way an
author can change those names, even if they
are difficult for readers to
pronounce, as with the Anglo-Saxon names.
When naming my fictional characters,
I have to make sure they are also
Anglo-Saxon or Danish (Viking) names that
were in use during the time
period of my series. For example, it would be
idiotic to name an Anglo-Saxon
male as Charlie, Alex or Callum because they
weren’t in use then.
There are several online sites which have lists of names
from a number of
cultures and time periods, so are useful for all authors
There are a lot of
characters in my books because of the different stories
of the two protagonists
that run concurrently. I try to create characters of
different appearances,
temperaments, abilities and ambitions to add variety
to the story. I have also
tried to ensure my books are not male dominated,
as many Viking themed books
tend to be. I wanted to give a look at the period
from the POV of both men and
women.
How was your passion for (royal) history and writing
started?
I have loved history since I was a child, and in the
UK at that time most
history in secondary schools tended to focus on events
involving royalty.
I learned a lot about many famous British kings and queens
like Henry VIII,
Elizabeth I and Queen Victoria. Only in relatively recent
years has history
broadened its approach to include more about the everyday
people of those
times in both British and other cultures.
As for writing, I have been a keen story writer most
of my life.
I was fortunate enough to have teachers who encouraged creativity
in writing
and steered me in the right direction. However, with six children to
bring up
and a teaching career, I didn’t start writing novels until I’d
retired.
Do you have any other interests?
I have always loved creating things, from making
clothes
(dressmaking/sewing) to embroidery, knitting and baking. Having had six
children
to feed and clothe, these are all things I’ve done a lot of over the
years. Besides
writing novels, I also love writing flash fiction pieces, which
are very short stories
ranging from six to a thousand words. I have one book of
such stories on Amazon,
titled A Dash of Flash.
Which other authors or things inspire you?
I mostly read historical novels, so authors like
Wilbur Smith, Bernard Cornwell
and Susannah Gregory, as well as several others,
have inspired me to write my
own books. My interest in history has also meant
that I have loved many of the
Classics, written by so many well-known authors,
from Charles Dickens, the
Bronte sisters, Jane Austen and Lucy Maud Montgomery
to Daniel Defoe and
Harper Lee and Mark Twain. The list could go on for ever,
so I’ll stop here.
Visiting historic sites can also be inspirational. We
visited many sites in
England and Wales, as well as Denmark, France and
Andalucia before and while
I was writing the Sons of Kings series. It
helps a great deal when describing events
set in those places. Such places can
also give ideas for books not yet written.
You work together with BookTasters. Are reviews
important to you?
Reviews are immensely important to all authors, and
it’s a shame
that so many readers don’t think of leaving them. Reviews help
authors
to know what readers like about their books as well as pointing out
what
they didn’t like, or what didn’t work for them. In other words, reviews
can help authors in the development of their
writing. A review can be as
little as a sentence, which wouldn’t take long to
write and would mean
so much to the author concerned.
BookTasters is an excellent site and offers free books
to readers in
exchange for honest reviews. As such, it does not break Amazon’s
rule
regarding authors paying for reviews. Authors simply pay for the
service
provided by BookTasters, which helps to get books ‘seen’
by potential
reviewers.
Do you have other writing plans?
I am currently writing an historical fiction novel (a
one-off this time)
set in the early 17th century. It is set in
another village we once lived in,
so is another story I’ve known about for some
time – and is quite different
to my King Alfred and the Vikings novels. Once
I’ve finished that,
I would like to try my hand at writing a ‘whodunnit’ or
murder mystery.
Of course, it would have to have an historical setting. There
are several
time periods I’m interested in, but I would not choose anything
later than
the 1950s or further back than the Roman period. I will probably
also put
together another book of flash fiction pieces at some stage.
I already
have almost fifty pieces written but I’m aiming
for eighty-five in order to
match A Dash of Flash.
Thank you very much for this interview Millie Thom!!!
Millie Thom's Social Media links:
Amazon Com: link
Goodreads: link
Blog/Website: link
Twitter: link
Instagram: link
My Bookreviews:
Here are my bookreviews of Millie Thom's books:
Shadow Of The Raven on this link
Pit of Vipers on this link
Wyvern of Wessex on this link
