INTERVIEW: Gillian Bagwell, author of '|The Darling Strumpet'
I have great pleasure in welcoming Gillian Bagwell to my blog today. She is the author of two books I've enjoyed hugely: The Darling Strumpet and The September Queen. She has a new book out - called Venus In Winter - which looks wonderful and which I'm looking forward to reading very much.
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Are you a daydreamer too?
Yes, I’m a daydreamer! I think most writers must be. Visiting historical sites is especially evocative for me, especially in connection with my writing historical fiction. I can get lost in imagining my characters there, what they did and thought, and marveling that this is the actual priest hole that Charles II hid in during his flight after the Battle of Worcester, or the very site of the theatre where Nell Gwynn performed, or the street where Bess of Hardwick lived in London. Even if much has changed about a place, there’s something magic about those experiences.
Have you always wanted to be a writer?
I’ve always loved books and I’ve always written bits here and there, but I didn’t begin writing my first novel until seven years ago. Many years earlier, I had done a lot of research about Nell Gwynn, and begun writing a one-woman show for myself based on her life, and though I set that project aside, Nell stayed in my mind and heart, and I always thought I’d get back to her. In 2005, I put my life on hold to go to London to take care of my mother, who was terminally ill, and while there, without a creative focus and needing something of my own to work on, I began writing Nell’s story as a novel, which was eventually published as The Darling Strumpet.
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Tell me a little about yourself – where were you born, where do you live, what do you like to do?
I was born in Tacoma, Washington, in the northwest of the U.S., but moved away from there when I was very young. We moved around during my early childhood, settling in Berkeley, California when I was nine, and that’s where I really grew up. I moved back here two years ago, so it’s home again. The San Francisco Bay Area is a great place, full of exciting things to do and much history.
Inevitably, I suppose, I don’t get around to do as much visiting of historic sites and so on around here as I do when I’m travelling, but they’re there!
How did you get the first flash of inspiration for this book?
My first two novels were set in seventeenth-century, and when I was casting around for what to write next, I recalled that Bess of Hardwick sounded like an interesting character, though I didn’t know much about her, as she lived somewhat earlier than the period I’d been writing about. I did a little research and was immediately drawn to the richness of her life. She rose from humble beginnings to become the wealthiest woman next to Queen Elizabeth, and knew just about everyone of importance in the second half of the sixteenth century. She built Hardwick Hall and Chatsworth House, survived four husbands, and is the ancestor of many of the noble families of England, including the current royal family.
How extensively do you plan your novels?
All three of my books are based on real people, so I start by laying out a timeline of my character’s life and then develop as close to a three-act structure as I can, using significant events as the plot points that turn the story in a different direction, bring a conflict to a culmination, and so on. Of course as I write and continue with my research, I learn more and get different ideas, and the structure may change. But I don’t have to make up an entire story from scratch!
Do you ever use dreams as a source of inspiration?
I can’t think of a specific idea I’ve used that’s come from a dream, but I do try to be open to inspiration and those wonderful moments of serendipity that can come while writing. For instances, I visited Australia while I was working on The September Queen (the title in the U.K. and Commonwealth countries was The King’s Mistress), I saw a great production of King Lear at Bell Shakespeare at the Sydney Opera House. The scenes that take place on the heath, when Lear has been cast out by his daughters are very evocative, and gave me inspiration for the part of the story when Jane Lane and her brother are walking the two hundred miles from Staffordshire to Yarmouth. I wrote a climactic scene that takes place during a storm, with Jane and her brother taking shelter in a novel, as Lear does with his fool and Gloucester.
[image error]
Did you make any astonishing serendipitous discoveries while writing this book?
There was a discovery that was tantalizing and frustrating. I learned in the early stages of my research for Venus in Winter, my novel about Bess of Hardwick, that Bess’s letters were being transcribed and digitized to be put online, but that the project wouldn’t be done in time for me to make use of this great resource. Ironically, the project has just gone live (read it here) now that my book is about to be published. But at least people who read my book and want to know more about Bess can read her letters. And I can use the letters if I write the second part of Bess’s life, as Venus only covers her first forty years.
[image error]
Where do you write, and when?
I write at home, and I’m fortunate to live in a place that is very conducive to writing: a little cottage in the hills of Berkeley, California, just on the edge of a huge wilderness area, Tilden Park. My desk faces a bank of windows that look out onto redwood and lots of other trees and greenery. It feels remote, though I’m actually very close to other houses and it’s only a ten-minute drive to commercial areas.
I don’t have any particular schedule. If I have more mundane work that takes up my time, I have to fit my writing in around that. Generally afternoons and weekends are good for me—I’m definitely not a morning person.
What is your favourite part of writing?
I can certainly get lost in research. It’s fascinating to me to learn things that make pieces of the puzzle fall into place, shed light on the events of my characters’ lives and their world. For instance, when I was researching The September Queen, I discovered that Elizabeth of Bohemia, an aunt of Charles II who was at the court of her niece and his sister Mary of Orange, planned to take Jane Lane with her when she moved to her son’s court in Heidelberg. It didn’t happen ultimately, but it showed that they had a real relationship, and I made use of that in the book.
What do you do when you get blocked?
If I feel overwhelmed about how to write a scene or how to proceed, sometimes I just pick some smaller task that seems less daunting, such as making small revisions to another scene, and that gets me going. Or I may just tell myself that I just need to sit and work for half an hour, and by the time I’ve done that, I’m into the project again. But not having to make up all the events in a book is a big help! I know what happens next, I just have to figure out how to write it.
How do you keep your well of inspiration full?
Good question! I think I just try to let my mind to stay open to inspiration from whatever source it may come when I’m working on something. Even when I’m not actively writing, I’m thinking about the book, the characters, the events, and I get ideas that I can use.
Do you have any rituals that help you to write?
No, not really. I always think of a quote from the novelist Peter de Vries: “I only write when I’m inspired, and I see to it that I’m inspired at nine o’clock every morning.” In other words, just do it!
Who are ten of your favourite writers?
Diana Gabaldon – I love her Outlander series and she’s been an inspiration to me.
Patrick O’Brian – I’ve read all twenty of the Aubrey-Maturin books, naval adventures set during the Napoleonic era, two or three times.
George Macdonald Fraser – his Flashman series is very entertaining.
Ian Rankin – sometimes when I’m writing, I really want to read something that isn’t historical fiction, and Rankin’s crime fiction set in contemporary Edinburgh, is perfect for that.
Laura Ingalls Wilder – my sisters and I grew up reading the Little House books, and I’m sure that influenced my interest in history and the lives of people in past times.
Mark Twain – it always amazes me how contemporary and relevant his writing is still. I’m particularly fond of Life on the Mississippi, which chronicles his time learning to captain a steam boat and the characters he encountered during that time.
P.G. Wodehouse – nothing like a little Jeeves and Worcester!
Samuel Pepys – his diary is such a great read, bringing Restoration London so vividly to life.
My home page on my computer is the diary online that Phil Gyford put together over ten years (Samuel Pepys Diary) so I can read each day of the diary as it happens.
Marion Zimmer Bradley – The Mists of Avalon and subsequent books tell the King Arthur story from the perspective of the women in the story, and are very evocative of magic and nature as a source of spiritualism.
Shakespeare – an early love, and in my life in the theatre before I turned to writing, I’ve acted in, directed, and/or produced many of the plays.
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Marion Zimmer Bradley, one of my favourite writers too
What do you consider to be good writing?
It’s hard to say one thing, because there are so many kinds of writing. But certainly some constants are telling a good story that draws your readers in, creating a main character that is believable and with whom your readers can identify, and vividly evoking the character’s world are important.
What is your advice for someone dreaming of being a writer too?
Sit down and write something. Don’t obsess about making it perfect before you move on, get to the end. Then rewrite— that’s much easier than getting it out of your head and onto the paper or screen in the first place.
What are you working on now?
I’m writing the first few chapters of the novel I hope to write next, which is quite different from any of my previous books, and also have in mind another smaller project set in Restoration London.I don’t want to say more than that.
Gillian Bagwell's website
If you enjoyed this interview, you may enjoy some of my other interviews:
Marina Fiorato
Nancy Bilyeau
Joanne Harris
[image error]
Are you a daydreamer too?
Yes, I’m a daydreamer! I think most writers must be. Visiting historical sites is especially evocative for me, especially in connection with my writing historical fiction. I can get lost in imagining my characters there, what they did and thought, and marveling that this is the actual priest hole that Charles II hid in during his flight after the Battle of Worcester, or the very site of the theatre where Nell Gwynn performed, or the street where Bess of Hardwick lived in London. Even if much has changed about a place, there’s something magic about those experiences.
Have you always wanted to be a writer?
I’ve always loved books and I’ve always written bits here and there, but I didn’t begin writing my first novel until seven years ago. Many years earlier, I had done a lot of research about Nell Gwynn, and begun writing a one-woman show for myself based on her life, and though I set that project aside, Nell stayed in my mind and heart, and I always thought I’d get back to her. In 2005, I put my life on hold to go to London to take care of my mother, who was terminally ill, and while there, without a creative focus and needing something of my own to work on, I began writing Nell’s story as a novel, which was eventually published as The Darling Strumpet.
[image error]
Tell me a little about yourself – where were you born, where do you live, what do you like to do?
I was born in Tacoma, Washington, in the northwest of the U.S., but moved away from there when I was very young. We moved around during my early childhood, settling in Berkeley, California when I was nine, and that’s where I really grew up. I moved back here two years ago, so it’s home again. The San Francisco Bay Area is a great place, full of exciting things to do and much history.
Inevitably, I suppose, I don’t get around to do as much visiting of historic sites and so on around here as I do when I’m travelling, but they’re there!
How did you get the first flash of inspiration for this book?
My first two novels were set in seventeenth-century, and when I was casting around for what to write next, I recalled that Bess of Hardwick sounded like an interesting character, though I didn’t know much about her, as she lived somewhat earlier than the period I’d been writing about. I did a little research and was immediately drawn to the richness of her life. She rose from humble beginnings to become the wealthiest woman next to Queen Elizabeth, and knew just about everyone of importance in the second half of the sixteenth century. She built Hardwick Hall and Chatsworth House, survived four husbands, and is the ancestor of many of the noble families of England, including the current royal family.
How extensively do you plan your novels?
All three of my books are based on real people, so I start by laying out a timeline of my character’s life and then develop as close to a three-act structure as I can, using significant events as the plot points that turn the story in a different direction, bring a conflict to a culmination, and so on. Of course as I write and continue with my research, I learn more and get different ideas, and the structure may change. But I don’t have to make up an entire story from scratch!
Do you ever use dreams as a source of inspiration?
I can’t think of a specific idea I’ve used that’s come from a dream, but I do try to be open to inspiration and those wonderful moments of serendipity that can come while writing. For instances, I visited Australia while I was working on The September Queen (the title in the U.K. and Commonwealth countries was The King’s Mistress), I saw a great production of King Lear at Bell Shakespeare at the Sydney Opera House. The scenes that take place on the heath, when Lear has been cast out by his daughters are very evocative, and gave me inspiration for the part of the story when Jane Lane and her brother are walking the two hundred miles from Staffordshire to Yarmouth. I wrote a climactic scene that takes place during a storm, with Jane and her brother taking shelter in a novel, as Lear does with his fool and Gloucester.
[image error]
Did you make any astonishing serendipitous discoveries while writing this book?
There was a discovery that was tantalizing and frustrating. I learned in the early stages of my research for Venus in Winter, my novel about Bess of Hardwick, that Bess’s letters were being transcribed and digitized to be put online, but that the project wouldn’t be done in time for me to make use of this great resource. Ironically, the project has just gone live (read it here) now that my book is about to be published. But at least people who read my book and want to know more about Bess can read her letters. And I can use the letters if I write the second part of Bess’s life, as Venus only covers her first forty years.
[image error]
Where do you write, and when?
I write at home, and I’m fortunate to live in a place that is very conducive to writing: a little cottage in the hills of Berkeley, California, just on the edge of a huge wilderness area, Tilden Park. My desk faces a bank of windows that look out onto redwood and lots of other trees and greenery. It feels remote, though I’m actually very close to other houses and it’s only a ten-minute drive to commercial areas.
I don’t have any particular schedule. If I have more mundane work that takes up my time, I have to fit my writing in around that. Generally afternoons and weekends are good for me—I’m definitely not a morning person.
What is your favourite part of writing?
I can certainly get lost in research. It’s fascinating to me to learn things that make pieces of the puzzle fall into place, shed light on the events of my characters’ lives and their world. For instance, when I was researching The September Queen, I discovered that Elizabeth of Bohemia, an aunt of Charles II who was at the court of her niece and his sister Mary of Orange, planned to take Jane Lane with her when she moved to her son’s court in Heidelberg. It didn’t happen ultimately, but it showed that they had a real relationship, and I made use of that in the book.
What do you do when you get blocked?
If I feel overwhelmed about how to write a scene or how to proceed, sometimes I just pick some smaller task that seems less daunting, such as making small revisions to another scene, and that gets me going. Or I may just tell myself that I just need to sit and work for half an hour, and by the time I’ve done that, I’m into the project again. But not having to make up all the events in a book is a big help! I know what happens next, I just have to figure out how to write it.
How do you keep your well of inspiration full?
Good question! I think I just try to let my mind to stay open to inspiration from whatever source it may come when I’m working on something. Even when I’m not actively writing, I’m thinking about the book, the characters, the events, and I get ideas that I can use.
Do you have any rituals that help you to write?
No, not really. I always think of a quote from the novelist Peter de Vries: “I only write when I’m inspired, and I see to it that I’m inspired at nine o’clock every morning.” In other words, just do it!
Who are ten of your favourite writers?
Diana Gabaldon – I love her Outlander series and she’s been an inspiration to me.
Patrick O’Brian – I’ve read all twenty of the Aubrey-Maturin books, naval adventures set during the Napoleonic era, two or three times.
George Macdonald Fraser – his Flashman series is very entertaining.
Ian Rankin – sometimes when I’m writing, I really want to read something that isn’t historical fiction, and Rankin’s crime fiction set in contemporary Edinburgh, is perfect for that.
Laura Ingalls Wilder – my sisters and I grew up reading the Little House books, and I’m sure that influenced my interest in history and the lives of people in past times.
Mark Twain – it always amazes me how contemporary and relevant his writing is still. I’m particularly fond of Life on the Mississippi, which chronicles his time learning to captain a steam boat and the characters he encountered during that time.
P.G. Wodehouse – nothing like a little Jeeves and Worcester!
Samuel Pepys – his diary is such a great read, bringing Restoration London so vividly to life.
My home page on my computer is the diary online that Phil Gyford put together over ten years (Samuel Pepys Diary) so I can read each day of the diary as it happens.
Marion Zimmer Bradley – The Mists of Avalon and subsequent books tell the King Arthur story from the perspective of the women in the story, and are very evocative of magic and nature as a source of spiritualism.
Shakespeare – an early love, and in my life in the theatre before I turned to writing, I’ve acted in, directed, and/or produced many of the plays.
[image error]
Marion Zimmer Bradley, one of my favourite writers too
What do you consider to be good writing?
It’s hard to say one thing, because there are so many kinds of writing. But certainly some constants are telling a good story that draws your readers in, creating a main character that is believable and with whom your readers can identify, and vividly evoking the character’s world are important.
What is your advice for someone dreaming of being a writer too?
Sit down and write something. Don’t obsess about making it perfect before you move on, get to the end. Then rewrite— that’s much easier than getting it out of your head and onto the paper or screen in the first place.
What are you working on now?
I’m writing the first few chapters of the novel I hope to write next, which is quite different from any of my previous books, and also have in mind another smaller project set in Restoration London.I don’t want to say more than that.
Gillian Bagwell's website
If you enjoyed this interview, you may enjoy some of my other interviews:
Marina Fiorato
Nancy Bilyeau
Joanne Harris
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