Rosemary Morris: An Author’s Life!

It is always a pleasure to welcome multi published author Rosemary Morris to the RNA blog. Rosemary’s writing life has been most interesting and will show our newer members how an author’s life is never straightforward.

I am fortunate. Unlike many people, whose dreams are never fulfilled, my dream of becoming a

traditionally published historical novelist is a reality.

From childhood, I enjoyed fictional worlds. (In my imagination, the lime tree at the end of the road was a princess in disguise, so I curtsied to her every day. Not surprisingly my ritual led to someone remarking, ‘I pity that strange child’s mother.’

Since I began reading at the age of five, I have continued. Past times fascinate me so I prefer historical fiction and non-fiction.

In my early twenties, while living in Kenya, I wrote several novels. Delighted when a mainstream publisher sent me a contract, I signed it and accepted the advance. Unfortunately, I didn’t know that because a date of publication was not specified, for various reasons, my historical romance might not be published. It was not. From then on, my path to holding a paper back that I wrote in my hand was rocky.

Settled in England, our nest emptied of five children, my late husband encouraged me to follow my dream. I wrote without success until, after he left his body when my books were accepted by a small press that subsequently declared bankruptcy. I was then published by another small press. Sadly, in spite of five star reviews on Amazon and Goodreads, my sales were negligible.

My good fairy appreciated my determination. She waved her magic wand. My previous publisher agreed to terminate my contracts, after which Books We Love accepted me as a client.

In a short space of time, Books We Love have republished most of my backlist and published my two new novels.

My romantic novels, rich with historical detail, and in which my heroes and heroines are too shy to open wide their bedroom doors, are set in the reign of Queen Anne Stuart, 1706-1714, and the ever popular Regency era.

A frequent question is: “Where do you get your ideas from?”

“From the supermarket.” A famous novelist, whose name I can’t remember, replied when asked the same question.

To answer it, I’ll explain that when I read non-fiction an idea for a novel germinates. For example, I read that many noblemen refused to swear oaths of allegiance first to Queen Mary and then to Queen Anne, while their father, James II, lived. Some of those honourable gentlemen joined James in France. ‘What,’ I asked myself, ‘would happen to their children?’ In my novel, Tangled Love, the heroine, daughter of a Jacobite, goes from riches to rags to riches.

The themes in my novels are problems which have affected people in the past and continue to. For example, in The Captain and The Countess, set in Queen Anne Stuart's reign 1706 - 1714, most women were controlled first by their fathers and then by their husbands. They were vulnerable, and at risk of physical and mental abuse. Today, women still suffer from abuse, but are entitled to legal protection. My readers might not have suffered personally, but are probably aware of the problem.

The hero in The Captain and The Countess is Captain Howard, an artist, who serves in Queen Anne’s navy. He is the only person to see behind the Countess of Sinclair’s fashionable façade, discover the cause and help her.

I have written three novels about heroines born during the Regency era on different days of the week. Sunday’s, Monday’s and Tuesday’s Child are connected by a single character; and so will the next one in the series, Wednesday’s Child.

While writing a novel, I enjoy research that includes visiting places of historical interest as well as reading historical non-fiction. Although I have eight large bookcases, another one would be welcome. A new addition to my library is the 639 page-long The Tears of The Rajas. Mutiny, Money and Marriage in India 1805 by Ferdinand Mount. I anticipate many happy hours reading about the Low family ‘who ‘survived mutiny, siege, debt and disease everywhere from the heat of Madras to the Afghan snows’ William Dalyrymple’s ‘White Mughals’ inspired my novel Far Beyond Rubies, which Books We Love will publish in the near future. I look forward to being inspired by The Tears of The Rajas.

Links:

Website

Facebook

Novels available as e-publications and paperbacks from: www.amazon.com and http://www.amazon.co.uk

Set in Queen Anne Stuart’s reign: The Captain and The Countess. Tangled Love.

Pending Publication: Far Beyond Rubies.

Set in the Regency era: Sunday’s Child, Monday’s Child, Tuesday’s Child

Thank you Rosemary and good luck with your future writing ventures.

If you would like to be interviewed for the RNA blog please contact the team on elaineeverest@aol.com

en Captain Howard, an artist, who serves in the navy meets the Countess of Sinclair, a widow, for the first time, he is the only person who sees the pain behind her fashionable facade. Although she is not a weakling, from then on he is determined to help her.From then on he is determined to help her.en Captain Howard, an artist, who serves in the navy meets the Countess of Sinclair, a widow, for the first time, he is the only person who sees the pain behind her fashionable facade. Although she is not a weakling, from then on he is determined to help her.From then on he is determined to help her.