Author Interview with Chrissie Parker
Welcome Readers toanother installment of our author interview series. Today we have the pleasureof chatting with Chrissie Parker, author of multiple historical novels.
JMR-Welcome to theBooks Delight, Chrissie. Tell our readers where you live, what you do for funand what does the perfect day look like?
CP- Thanks for hostingme! I live in Devon in the UK. I love walking, photography and exploringcastles, historic homes, and ancient sites. I also enjoy lots of creativethings like crafting, knitting and painting.
For me, the perfect day is getting out and about to explore somewhere new.
JMR-What’s yourfavorite historical time period? Why?
CP- My favourite isAncient Egypt. It’s fascinated me since I was a child. The Egyptians were incrediblyinteresting people in all aspects of their lives. The temples and otherbuildings they created were incredible and what they did to ensure a goodafterlife is utterly fascinating.
I will also admit that Nabataeanhistory comes a very close second though. They were equally as fascinating, andthe ancient site of Petra is stunning!
JMR-Who is yourfavorite historical figure? Why? If you could ask them one question, what wouldit be?
CP- This is a difficultone as there are so many interesting ones. If I must choose just one, I’d probably go back to Ancient Egypt at thetime it was ruled by the female Pharoah Hatchepsut. I’d ask her what life as afemale king was like and if she really was accepted by her subjects, as modern evidenceshows she may not have been.
JMR- How did you cometo be a writer of historical fiction?
CP- I have always lovedhistory and archaeology. When I was at school, I wanted to be an archaeologist,but my grades weren’t good enough. I used to do a lot of writing as a child andspent my adult years writing many books but none of them gelled with me. In2000 my husband and I visited the ancient site of Petra in Jordan, and I fellin love with it. Upon return I wrote my first published book, set in Petra, weavingtogether my love of archaeology, history, and writing!
JMR- Did you visitanyone of the places in your books? Where did you feel closest to yourcharacters?
CP- Yes, all myhistorical fiction books are set in places I’ve visited, such as Petra, Egypt,and Greece. I love being able to immerse myself in the locations, sights,sounds and weave them through the stories I create. I think I feel closest tomy characters in the locations where something important happened in theirlives.
JMR- Chrissie, tell usabout your new book, Among the Olive Groves.
CP- The book I’dlike to highlight is Among the Olive Groves, Book 1 of the Zakynthian FamilySeries. It was published nine years ago, but it’s one of my readerfavourites. It’s set in a dual timeline, one of which is Zakynthos during WW2.The story is about a female resistance fighter called Elena and what happens toher during the war. The story is fictional, but there are lots of facts aboutZakynthos during the war woven in, which makes it more interesting for thereaders. I’m highlighting it as I’m currently editing the follow-up book whichshould be out later this year. I’m also very proud of everything the book hasachieved over the years, including the fact that it’sused as text for TIE International ESOL exams in Greece!
JMR- You co-authored a history book about theGreek island of Zakynthos. What was it like to work with a second author? Howdid you split the writing duties?
CP- Yes, we are in year nine of working on the book and arenow at the editing stage. For me it was easy to work with another author. My co-authorLouise and I had already worked together on a tourism website and we workedwell together. I live in the UK, but Louise lives in Greece, so we’ve writtenthe whole book via shared docs, messages, and video calls! It’s worked wellthough. We came up with the list of topics and then split them between us tomatch our strengths. So, Louise concentrated on things like tradition, culture,festivals etc., and I did the subjects of archaeology, geology etc. We’ve alsomet in the middle and divided up the other subjects, working on some together. It’sbeen a fun project to work on and we can’t wait to release the book.
JMR-What projects doyou have in the pipeline?
CP- As well as theHistory book about Zakynthos, I’m currently editing A Night of Thunder, Book2 of the Zakynthian Family series, which is a follow up to Among theOlive Groves. There was never meant to be a follow up book, but I receivedhundreds of messages from readers wanting to know what happened to a specificcharacter, so I’ve now written a follow up. It’s turned out to be quite a longstory, so there will also be a third and final book called Hope Under BlueSkies, Book 3 of the Zakynthian Family series.
I’ve also just finishedwriting another book which is currently under wraps and due to be announcedsoon, unfortunately I can’t share any more about it at the moment, but it’s oneI have loved working on and again features a real event.
After these books I’mgoing to be rereleasing my first published book as it’s now out of print andI’m going to be writing another historical adventure series, but it’s still inthe planning stage, so I don’t have all the details yet
JMR- Tell our readershow to find you on social media and the web.
CP- Of course, I have awebsite, where there’s lots more information, short Q&As as well aslocation photos: https://www.chrissieparker.com
I can be found on thefollowing social media:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChrissieParkerAuthor
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@chrissieparkerauthor
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chrissieparkerauthor/
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/chrissieparkerauthor
JMR- What question wereyou hoping I’d ask but didn’t?
CP- One question I getasked a lot is: Is writing historical fiction hard and do you have to do alot of research?
My answer would be,it’s not particularly hard, but the research side is important. Readers areentering a world that was very different to the modern age and so getting thehistory, locations, clothing, even tone of speech right, is vital. There’snothing worse than writing something and it being wrong! But I’d also say don’tpanic over it, enjoy the research, it can be great fun and it’s one of the thingsI enjoy about the writing process.
JMR- Thank you, Chrissie,for stopping by. Your books look really great! Readers, I’ve included a link toChrissie’s books below. Please be sure to check them out.
CP – Thanks so much forhosting me today!
