Ripples in the Sand - Helen Hollick - Blog Tour Guest Post

I am delighted to welcome historical fiction author Helen Hollick to my blog today as part of her 2013 blog tour launching her new book Ripples in the Sand. 

Helen has kindly offered some tips for budding historical fiction writers.

Thank you for inviting me on to your blog Lindsay, it is a great honour to be here!

You asked me if I had any tips for budding historical fiction writers – hmm, I’ll have to put on my thinking cap for this one. You see, all HF writers seem to have different approaches. Elizabeth Chadwick is a dedicated, organised writer. She researches her facts meticulously and writes to a set pattern and deadline almost every day. Other writers draft out a plot and rough idea first, then go back to fill in the gaps with the research – and I have to say this, some writers don’t even bother with much detailed research at all, and in consequence make some absolute howlers. One writer I have heard of had a scene where her characters could smell the sea from London. Apart from the fact that in the early 1800’s London stank so much from detritus in the streets and floating in the river Thames it would have been impossible to smell anything that did not have an obnoxious smell, the sea is almost 40 miles from London. Too far to smell! And even the sea at Southend (where the river estuary is) doesn’t smell of the sea because it is mostly mudflats.

Does it matter that such errors are made? I suppose it doesn’t if the idea is just to write a rollocking good historically-set adventure story (or romance, or thriller, or whatever) but if the writer wants the reader to believe what is happening in the story attention to obvious detail is essential.

I once read a cracking good read of a novel based in Roman Britain. I got halfway through to a scene where a Roman was sitting, back propped against Hadrian’s Wall, eating a rabbit and potato stew. Not everyone is aware that it was probably the Normans, some 700 or so years later, who introduced rabbits into Britain, so maybe that error can be forgiven – but I thought it was common knowledge that Sir Walter Raleigh, during the reign of Tudor, Elizabeth I, brought the potato to England from the Americas.

For me, the novel was ruined.

I’m not saying I don’t make errors! In the original edition of Harold the King (titled I Am The Chosen King in the US) there is a reference to a ‘double-headed axe’. An axe with two heads (blades) was not around in 1066, but actually this was a publisher’s typing error – it was supposed to read ‘double-handed’, i.e. held with two hands. I also used snowdrops in the same novel. I searched for ages to try and discover when snowdrops were introduced into England – couldn’t find a reference (this was in the days before the power of the Internet). I later discovered that it was not, as many people think, a native of Britain or introduced by the Romans, but possibly only arrived in the 16^th century. My saving grace is there is no hard evidence; the facts of snowdrops seem to always have the words perhaps, possibly and maybe attached!

I do worry that there is now too much emphasis on the accuracy of historical novels, that they must be exact down to the smallest detail of the smallest reference. Is historical fiction becoming historical faction? Are writers so concerned with getting the facts right that the actual story is disintegrating a little? I mean, does it matter if one writer says Queen XXX had blonde hair, another said she was a brunette? We all know that Elizabeth Tudor was a red-head…. But as she wore a wig for most of her life, I wonder: was she? Underneath she was possibly bald of very grey!

So I think my main tip would be: research your facts, but concentrate on building believable characters doing believable things – and write a good story, not necessarily in the form of a history text book though!

I enjoy writing my pirate-based Sea Witch Voyages because although the nautical detail is as spot-on as I can get it (thanks to a lovely nautically knowledgeable maritime author, James L. Nelson, who checks the detail for me), and the historical element is basically accurate, most of the story is pure fictional imagination. I write Captain Jesamiah Acorne’s adventures for fun. Fun for me to write and for my readers to enjoy.

What I do like doing is tweaking history to be plausible – so in Bring It Close, the third Sea Witch Voyage, Jesamiah becomes involved with the dastardly Blackbeard. We know a lot about this awful man, one of the most notorious of pirates, because the records of the trial of his captured crew were written down. In my story, Jesamiah is responsible for Blackbeard’s demise – but he was most adamant that his name was not to appear in the official records. So they aren’t there!

A very tongue in cheek way of re-writing history! *laugh*

For my next book, I am considering trying my hand at writing an adventure based on my Arthurian Pendragon’s Banner Trilogy. I had an idea for a character who had served in Arthur’s cavalry, but badly injured he could no longer fight on horseback, so was at a loss what to do with the rest of his life. He becomes involved in a murder and a stolen horse – and Fate changes his life for him.

Or I might write the fifth Sea Witch novel…. I do so adore my Jesamiah Acorne!

About the book...

The fourth voyage of Captain Jesamiah Acorne, pirate captain and charming rogue.

Approaching England’s North Devon Coast Captain Jesamiah Acorne is worried. A Royal Navy frigate is trailing in his wake and Sea Witch has a hidden cache of brandy and indigo aboard. His instinct is to hoist full sail and flee, but he cannot attract attention, for his wife, Tiola, is ill and getting worse. She says the sea is affecting her, but Jesamiah has never seen seasickness like this before - is it something worse; something to do with her being a white witch perhaps?

Tiola’s brother, Ben, is in gaol, arrested for smuggling. At a loss of how to help him, opportunity comes in the unexpected form of Sir Ailie Doone. He offers Jesamiah a highly secret but lucrative commission to go to Spain and bring back to England a man who will lead a Jacobite rebellion. It seems an ideal solution, but first Jesamiah must break young Ben out of gaol. Once escaped from the threat of the gallows, the boy can sail with Jesamiah on the Sea Witch leaving Tiola ashore to recover in peace.

Except, being captured and interrogated by the Spanish and meeting with an old friend, the beautiful English spy Francesca, is not part of Jesamiah’s plan. Once again he is in danger of losing his fidelity, his freedom and maybe even his life.

Tiola meanwhile, has her own fears to face. Why is the ethereal spirit of the sea, Tethys, so determined to have Jesamiah for her own? To save him, Tiola must find a way to recall her previous lives and discover why events of the past have influenced the hatreds of the present.

Like ripples in the sand blending together when disturbed, she must influence the fragile ripples of time...

Ripples in the Sand is published via SilverWood Books

About the Author

Helen Hollick lives in London but is moving to Devon in 2013 with her husband and adult daughter. In between researching the background information for her historical novels, and her pirate series about Jesamiah Acorne, she spends most of her time helping with her daughter’s horses as chief groom and general runaround. She has a university diploma in early medieval history – and a passion for pirates.

Thanks Helen!

The Black Banner - Helen Hart

Ahoy there, clamber aboard the Bonny Marie and join an amazing adventure on the high seas with young buccaneer Becky Baxter! This is an entertaining, exciting young adult read depicting the lives of pirates in the eighteenth century. 


Thirteen year old Becky Baxter wants nothing more than to leave behind her unkind Ma and her life of poverty in the backstreets of Bristol, and meeting sailor Zac Price one day she talks her way onto the crew of the Bonny Marie setting sail from Bristol in 1719. But wait, Becky? A girl on a ship? Becky becomes Billy, and determines she will keep her true identity a secret, however hard it may be. She joins Captain Scarbrill and his crew and slowly learns the ropes, the highs and lows of being away at sea. 


But what’s that on the horizon? A black banner! Pirate captain Logan and his crew seize the Bonny Marie and Becky decides to join them! Cue a life of riding the waters targetting merchant ships and procuring gold and other treasures from those ships they encounter! Where will this all end? Will the pirate lifestyle be able to endure? This is a cracking buccaneer adventure tale for young adult readers. And this adult enjoyed it very much too!

4.5/5


Thank you very much to the author for providing a review copy of this novel.


'The Black Banner' is available now in paperback and Kindle editions, published by SilverWood Books., from Amazon UK and Amazon USA.

The author is part of the loveahappyending project highlighting new authors. 

Visit Helen's own author page here, where you'll also find some writers' tips.

Interview with the author, Helen Hart

What gave you the original idea for the story of The Black Banner?


I always knew I wanted to write something for young teens/YA. I've never really grown up and I've always loved reading YA novels because the stories are so much more exciting than most adult novels. Being a young adult (or teen) is an exciting rollercoaster time where you learn who you are, how you fit in, who you can rely on. You’re discovering so much for the first time, and every experience is intense. This is reflected in YA fiction. Characters tend to be smarter, more energetic and more resourceful than their adult counterparts. The baddies can be really bad. And the settings can be fantastic – after all, there aren’t that many adult novels with pirates or highwaymen or supernatural creatures. So... I'd had a few rejections for an adult novel I'd written, so I sat down to write the book I really REALLY wanted to write... not writing for the readers, or the publishers, or a literary agent, but just for me. I dreamed up the character of Becky Baxter who lives in poverty with her rather unpleasant mother, and thought to myself "If I were Becky, what would I really want to happen to me to get me away from this horrible life I'm living...?" And so Becky's adventures began. And in all honesty, who WOULDN'T want to go back to be a 13 year-old girl with no responsibilities except disguising yourself as a boy and  throwing in your lot with a gang of pirates on the high seas of the Caribbean? 


Why did you decide to concentrate on a female pirate?


I think I concentrated on a female pirate because boys have all the fun in novels, so I wanted a girl to do a bit of 'swashing and buckling'. And as a reader I've seen boys do this kind of thing before - just think of young Jim Hawkins in 'Treasure Island'. So I wanted to take a different angle and it seem natural to throw a girl into that lifestyle, with all the associated difficulties of concealing her true identity. I was looking for the excitement of Joan of Arc and those real-life girl pirates Mary Read and Anne Bonny.


What fascinates you about this period in history/about the lives of pirates in particular?

That's a good question... I guess the 17th and 18th centuries seem to me to be very exciting times. Yes, I know there was disease and hardship and no antibiotics... but the clothes were great (all those tricorn hats, lace cuffs and velvet coats). It was a time when adventure and entrepreneurial spirit was seen as a good thing - go to sea, make your fortune! Nowadays there are so many rules, and society has so many expectations (and everyone is worried about health & safety, and satisfying lawyers about 'acceptable risk'). A few centuries ago, adventurers were actively encouraged to go to sea and 'take' the shipping of enemy nations in legalised piracy known as privateering. Pirates took a step outside of that and lived totally outside the law. I know that many were cruel and deeply unpleasant criminals, but it's nice to think that some acted with honour like handsome Captain Logan Corder in 'The Black Banner'. 

Do you have a favourite book?


I love the 'Angelique' series by Anne Golon (writing back in the 1950s in collaboration with her husband, as Sergeanne Golon). She wrote such wonderful rich, epic  stories, full of historical detail about the court of the Sun King, Louis XIV. Angelique is an amazing heroine - beautiful, resourceful, quick-witted and kind. She's what every romantic heroine (and every real-life adventuress) should aspire to be! I've read almost every book in the series (and there are many of them, let me tell you, 13 in all!) and re-visit some of them quite regularly, at least every two years - my favourites are 'The Road to Versailles' where Angelique has to live as a thief and pickpocket until a chance encounter sets her on the road to becoming the favourite mistress of the King, and 'Angelique in Revolt' where she turns against the King, who she suspects may have engineered the murder of her beloved first husband Joffrey de Peyrac. Such classic and exciting adventures... no other books come close for me.

What are you currently reading?

I'm re-visiting Daphne DuMaurier in a big way - I picked up a collection of her short stories in a little independent bookshop recently and was reminded how wonderful her writing is, and how humanly fallible yet likable her characters are. I'm re-reading 'The House on the Strand' now (probably my all time favourite of hers) with the intention of going on to 'Rebecca', 'My Cousin Rachel', and 'Jamaica Inn'.

Are there any writers who influence or inspire you in your writing?

Well, how funny that we should just be talking about the mistress of great writing herself... Daphne DuMaurier. I can't say I'm a good enough writer to have been able to take her as a influence, but I'd love to think that I've read and re-read her so many times that some of her craft has rubbed off on me. A reader once told me that they felt my writing reminded them of Anya Seton, which is a HUGE compliment. As for authors who I HOPE influence me? Well there are so many I admire, that we could be here a while... if I had to name just one, it would be Robert Westall. He was a genius at conjuring up compelling characters and fast-paced plots. He mixed adventure with genuinely heart-breaking tragedy to create unforgettable books that deserve to be read again and again. There’s also Maggie Prince who hooks the reader from the first page, and doesn’t let go. Her believable heroines have great adventures amidst a rich cast of unique and fascinating characters. I also admire a lot of Catherine Fisher’s work, especially her fantastic YA novel ‘Corbenic’ which is a modern and utterly brilliant take on the Grail legend. And finally (although I could go on...!) Mary Hooper is a great favourite of mine – she weaves magic with words, and I couldn’t put down her Great Plague novel ‘At the Sign of the Sugared Plum’ (which has such a gorgeous cover, too).

Do you have a favourite place where you do your writing?

I have my study at home. It's a tiny room next to the kitchen, so I can make regular cups of tea to keep me going (it's an English habit, lol). I have a small window that looks out over our garden where I set up a bird table and I like watching birds come in to peck at the food I put out. However, I try not to look out the window too much as it's a distraction... I try to stay in the world I'm conjuring for my characters, so when I'm working on a novel - whether it's pirates, or Victorian vampires, or samurai sisters - I tend to pin up a lot of maps and pictures of the time so I'm immersed in that world. That's the nice thing about being a writer... you can disappear into another time and place. It's a bit like time travel!

Thank you so much for your time, Helen!