That’s Not Me: Jennifer C. Wilson

Today, it’s my pleasure to introduce my third victim guest author in the series That’s Not Me!

It’s Jennifer C. Wilson, fellow member of Ocelot Press and author of several historical novels. Will she deny the obvious?

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Being in Leicester that weekend in March 2015 was an incredible experience; how many writers can say they’ve attended part of the funeral service for their leading man? Not that many surely, and even fewer amongst writers of historical fiction! Sitting in the hotel bar after Compline, I was scribbling intently in my notebook, desperate to capture every second of the day.

I’ve always been fascinated by history, and having devoured the fiction and non-fiction titles around the Tudors in Hexham library, decided that since I had no interest in going ‘forward’ in time, I’d try going ‘backward’ – that’s when I discovered Richard III. I think, like so many people, I’ve always been drawn to the underdog (another thing we learn early on about Kate!), and with Macbeth being another of my favourite monarchs, I felt an immediate sympathy to another king who had been lost in many ways to a fictional version of himself (written by the same man as Macbeth, nonetheless: Shakespeare has a lot to answer for!).

Years later, when I was trying to actually finish a new project for the first time in years, the idea of a timeslip novel came to mind. When I thought about who I would most like to go back in time and meet, the first answer which came to mind was, of course, Richard III. Given that I never thought I’d publish the story, I didn’t even try and hide myself particularly well in Kate’s character! After all, as the introduction to this blog series says, “write what you know” is the most common advice given to writers; since it was mostly done as a challenge to myself, that seemed the most obvious approach.

Now, obviously (sadly), I haven’t personally travelled back to 1485 (or at least, not that I remember…), but what I have done is visit many, many castles and other historical venues, and developed a healthy (honest) obsession with a certain King Richard. Based on those facts, the character of Kate wasn’t hard to conjure up, nor was working out how she (OK, how I) would react in particular situations, such as suddenly finding herself in the middle of a late-medieval kitchen, then face-to-face with her historical hero. So yes, there’s an element of wish-fulfilment in there, but then, another often-repeated piece of writing advice is that “if you don’t enjoy what you’re writing, how will your readers?” I certainly enjoyed writing The Last Plantagenet?, and there’s no offence taken whatsoever when somebody points out the similarities between me and Kate. I just hope others have as much fun when reading it!

Blurb

Nottingham, 2011

All Kate had wanted was a fun, relaxing day out, watching the knights jousting at Nottingham Castle. What she got was something quite different.

Nottingham, 1485

Storm clouds are gathering around the court of Richard III.

Transported from one to the other in a heartbeat, how will Kate handle life at the Ricardian court? And more than that, how will she cope when she catches the eye of the king himself?

Find out in this highly recommended story, set just prior to the decisive Battle of Bosworth.

Buy Link

The Last Plantagenet?

About Jennifer C. Wilson

Jennifer has been stalking dead monarchs since she was a child. It started with Mary, Queen of Scots, and now also includes Richard III. At least now it results in a story!

She won North Tyneside Libraries’ Story Tyne short story competition in 2014 (no dead monarchs, but still not a cheerful read), and has been filling notebooks and hard-drives ever since. Her Kindred Spirits series, following the ‘lives’ of some very interesting ghostly communities, is published by Darkstroke, and her historical romances by Ocelot Press.

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