New interview with historical fiction author Grace Elliot

I'm happy to welcome Grace Elliot back to Reviews and Interviews. We first met her in May when she stopped by to talk about her debut historical romance novel. Now with a new novel out, titled Eulogy's Secret, she's here to tell us some more.

Bio:
Grace Elliot leads a double life as a veterinarian by day and author of historical romance by night. Grace works in a companion animal practice near London and is housekeeping staff to five moggies, two teenage sons, and a guinea pig. She turned to writing as an antidote to the stress of modern life and believes intelligent people have the greatest need to read romance!

Welcome back to Reviews and Interviews, Grace. Please tell us about your newest release.
Set in regency London, Eulogy’s Secret is a story of greed, prejudice and a stolen identity.

In the four weeks since her guardians’ death, Eulogy Foster has lost everything. Penniless and alone she seeks the help of her estranged brother, Lord Lucien Devlin. But Devlin throws Eulogy onto the streets and the mercy of a passing stranger, Jack Huntley. As Eulogy seeks the truth behind her birth, she is drawn into the world of art and artists, where her morals are challenged and all is deception.

Jack Huntley: bitter, cynical and betrayed in love. He believes women are devious, scheming, untrustworthy creatures - and when he rescues a naïve Miss from being raped, his life is about to change forever. As his attraction to Eulogy grows, caught in a deadlock with both denying their true feelings, events take a sinister turn as someone seeks to silence Eulogy….forever.

What inspired you to write this book?
I’m a writing addict and always looking for inspiration for the next story. Eulogy’s Secret came about after seeing a poster on the London Underground for a memorial concert at the Royal Albert Hall. One word on that poster stuck in my mind - “Eulogy” - and it struck me what an enigmatic name Eulogy would make for a character. I wondered what would lead a parent to call their child ‘Eulogy’ - perhaps the death of the mother in childbirth, or another and even more tragic circumstance….But to answer ‘why’ and find out what Eulogy’s secret is….you’ll have to read the book!

One of the themes explored in this book is that people are not always what they appear, and personal prejudice can blind you to the truth - be it good or bad. Although set in Georgian London with its strict social hierarchy, prejudice is alive and well in the 21st century and therefore a theme still pertinent today.

What’s the next writing project?
I’m hard at work at book two in The Huntley Trilogy (working title Hope’s Betrayal.) Each book features one of the three Huntley brothers and the hero in Hope’s Betrayal is the dashing naval captain, George Huntley. I know when the writing is going well when I dream about the characters - and even if I say so myself, Captain George Huntley is a humdinger of a man, whom I’m totally in love with. I can’t wait to finish writing this book so that I can unleash Captain Huntley on the world and spread the infatuation!

Hope’s Betrayal is going to be an action packed historical romance with smuggling skullduggery, treachery and of course….a love that brings Captain Huntley to his knees.

What is your biggest challenge when writing a new book? (or the biggest challenge with this book)
The biggest challenge to me is easily - time! Finding time to write in amongst going to work, being a taxi driver to my two sons, cleaning, cooking, ironing, and the million other things that a woman has to do, can be challenging in the extreme! That said, lack of time does focus the mind wonderfully and can be a great motivator. I’ve noticed that I can be at my least productive when I have all day - something to do, I suspect, with procrastination being a default setting.

If your novels require research – please talk about the process. Do you do the research first and then write, while you’re writing, after the novel is complete and you need to fill in the gaps?
Research is an organic process that involves constant growth. I always have a non-fiction (history) book on the go, alongside whatever novel I’m currently reading - this helps give me a broad sweep of knowledge for background, manners, etc.

The first draught of a novel involves writing at full pelt and underlining any passages that need checking for historical accuracy. I also have a special file for noting areas where research is needed, so as the second draught takes shape I know where the work has to be done. That said, I love research, and each novel has its own A4 notebook where I draw costumes and annotate them, sketch street plans for Georgian London and other such details that make the piece truly alive on the page.

What’s your writing space like? Do you have a particular spot to write where the muse is more active? Please tell us about it.
I write in a converted garage that is now our dining room. It’s a light and bright space with a window that takes up the width of the room. Beneath that window is an old leopard-print sofa which doubles as ‘my writing space.’

I work best here because it’s away from the distraction of TV and there’s plenty of room for Widget, one of my five cats, to snuggle against my leg. Widget helps my writing productivity no end because when I get up for a comfort break she will pinch the warm spot - so unless I want to risk one of her long suffering looks by moving her when I get back, it’s best to stay put for as long as possible.

What authors do you enjoy reading within or outside of your genre?
I read anything and everything, but my first love will always be historical romance. That said, having an ereader has broadened out my reading tastes because the price makes trying new authors less of a risk. I recently read The Hunger Games (because I’d heard good things…and they were cheap!) and loved them. I’m currently rediscovering some books I loved in the 80’s - the Poldark series by Winston Graham (anybody remember the TV series?) and I love discovering new and independent authors such as Rose Gordon (Regency romances) and Elizabeth Marshall (historical fantasy, reminiscent of Diane Gabaldon.)

Anything additional you want to share with the readers today?
Any of your readers who have visited my blog will recognize my fascination for historical trivia. This minor obsession has triggered a non-fiction book to be launched in December 2011.

Cat Pies is a compilation of light-hearted but interested articles about feline-related historical trivia - such as did the Victorian’s eat cat meat, who invented the cat flap, and what links cats to Jack the Ripper?

Well that’s me done. Thank you for reading and thanks especially to Lisa for hosting me today!

Buy links for my book include:
Smashwords
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Barnes and Noble

Thanks for stopping by again, Grace. Keep on writing!

Interview with debut historical fiction novelist Grace Elliot

Today it's my pleasure to welcome novelist Grace Elliot to Reviews and Interviews to chat with us a bit about herself and her debut novel, A Dead Man’s Debt (5 star rated historical romance)

Grace Elliot leads a double life as a veterinarian by day and author of historical romance by night. Grace lives near London and is addicted to cats, acting as housekeeping staff to five mischievous moggies.

Grace believes intelligent people need to read romantic fiction as an antidote to the modern world. As an avid reader, she turned to writing as a release from the emotionally draining side of veterinary work. Her debut novel A Dead Man’s Debt is now available from most eBook stores including Amazon, for $2.99

Grace, please tell us about your current release.
A Dead Man’s Debt is a story of blackmail, duty and unexpected love.

Our hero is the darkly restless Lord Ranulf Charing. He’s a complex character, raised from birth to hold honor above all else and, as heir to the Cadnum title, can never fulfill his calling to be a professional artist. But our heroine, Miss Celeste Armitage, is Ranulf’s opposite. Independent and determined, Celeste has the traits of a 21st, rather than 19th century, woman.

Celeste doesn’t care who she offends when she refuses to marry a lascivious Viscount. Sent to the country in disgrace, she meets Ranulf and falls for exactly the sort of rogue she has sworn to avoid. But Ranulf is being blackmailed over his late brother’s debts. To preserve the family’s honor he must renounce his feelings for Celeste and marry another woman…but he underestimates Celeste’s resolve to clear his name and in so doing, places his true love in mortal danger…

What inspired you to write this book?
The inspiration behind A Dead Man’s Debt sprang from a portrait of the young Emma Hart (who later married Lord Hamilton and became Horatio Nelson’s mistress)

The painting by George Romney shows an innocent yet lush young woman, scantily clad with a hint of bosom, brazenly staring out of the canvas with an allure that is quite hypnotic. It struck me as sensational for an 18th century work, that the sitter was not prim, proper, straight backed, and starchy. At the time the picture must have been utterly scandalous.

But who would be bold enough to commission such a portrait? (As it happened Emma Hart was ahead of her time…but that’s another story.)

What a delicious idea for a story!

What if the woman in the portrait wanted to shock and deliberately draw attention to herself? From this idea Lady Sophia Cadnum, Ranulf’s mother, was born. A woman who hated being an aristocratic brood mare and resented her children….

What if years later, this same portrait threatened to disgrace her son, forcing Ranulf to do the very thing she resented…and marry out of duty…

Thus the stage was set for the story of blackmail, sacrifice and redeeming love that in A Dead Man’s Debt.

What exciting story are you working on next?
In my view you can’t beat historical romance for page turning, escapism and I hope my next novel, Eulogy’s Secret will live up to this reputation.

Eulogy’s Secret is a story about hidden identity, dangerous assumptions, and prejudice. Our heroine, Eulogy Foster, has a secret that could destroy lives…but will she keep that secret if, in the telling, she could win the man she loves?

Once again set in the Regency, this book is the first in a series of three, about very different brothers, and will be available later this year.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?
I read somewhere that to be a writer, you need to write!

My initial reasons for writing was as a form of therapy, if you like, from the stresses of an emotionally demanding job. I would write, not even dreaming of publication, but as a conduit for an active imagination to spill out onto the page. Thus, I wrote for at least 20 minutes a day and pretty soon the habit grew to an hour…and then as long as I could carve out from looking after a house, family and working part time.

My first published piece was non-fiction for The Lady magazine – a feature on the 800th anniversary of the death of Eleanor of Aquitaine…and then I became a regular columnist in the Veterinary Times, with articles on the attitudes to animals in the past…then I turned to fiction…and the rest, as they say, is history.

Do you write full-time? If so, what's your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
I’d describe myself as a ‘guerilla’ writer. I have a job, two teenage sons, cooking, cleaning, etc., and so I have to seize whatever opportunities come my way

As to how I find the time, well my personal motto is “If you want something done, ask a busy person.” Somehow, the more you have to do, the more you get done! Is that not true ladies?

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
Ahh, that would be Widget! No, not the sort you click on a computer, but one of my five cats. I write on a laptop on an old sofa in a converted garage, and she loves nothing better than to snuggle up against my thigh whilst I write. She’s my ‘Writer’s cat’ (a bit like a master criminal!) and keeps me hard at work because if I get up, she will claim the warm patch and then look hurt and affronted if I try to move her off….

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
For as long as I can remember I wanted to be a vet. As a child I was very ill for 6 months, and eventually it was my mother's bribe of riding lessons, that gave me the determination to recover. I was your typical horse-mad little girl, not to mention dogs and cats and spent my teenage years volunteering at the local dairy farm and riding stables.

Being a vet is still my dream job, but what I didnt realized as a naïve youngster, was that loving animals means saying goodbye to patients can be very hard indeed…I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the responsibility of making life and death decisions, but there again, it would be wrong if I took it lightly.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?
Thank you so much for reading this interview, and a big thank you to Lisa for hosting me.

I’d love to hear your feedback so please leave a comment below.

If you’d like to know more about me or my work visit http://graceelliot-author.blogspot.com. My blog reflects my addiction for things historical, romance and animals!

I’m also on Twitter: @Grace_Elliot.

Grace, thank you for being here today. It's so fun to have guests from 'across the pond' stop here. And all the best with your writing!