Steven’s Comments (group member since Jul 05, 2013)

Steven’s comments from the Q&A with Steven A. McKay group.

Melisende wrote: "Are you familiar with the legend of Matilda FitzWalter who was reputed to be Maid Marion?"

Sorry I didn't reply to this sooner Melisende, been on holiday and stuff!

Yes, I know about Matilda Fitz-Walter, but she was a much later addition to the original ballads which I tried to stay as close to as possible if I could. In Wolf's Head, Robin's girl is indeed Matilda, but she's not a noblewoman, just as Robin isn't a nobleman - they're both regular people.

Paula wrote: "Will Maid Marion be making an appearance?"

Not in the way she appears in most legends (as some kind of noblewoman)! Robin's girlfriend in Wolf's Head is called Matilda - there are historical records showing a Robin Hood was married to a girl of that name just around my time period so that's what I went with.
I didn't see much chance of lowly outlaw getting together with a noblewoman either, so Matilda is just a "normal" girl in Wolf's Head. :-)

Hi Louise! Well, the modern versions of the legend, as I say, generally seem to stick to the earlier time period so when I started researching the "real" Robin, I was quite glad to find much of the evidence pointed to a later era. That made things fresh right away, even before I'd started writing the story. For plot ideas I just picked up on little things that were in the history books I was using for research - talk of minstrels, Hospitallers, other legendary outlaws like Adam Bell, anything really that seemed interesting fired my imagination and opened new, unexplored themes for me to work into "my" version of the legend.
I'm also not a fan of "flowery" medieval type language - it's a modern audience I'm aiming at, so I wrote it in that style. There's no "gadzooks" or "forsooth" or any of that in Wolf's Head.

Hi Elaine, excellent question, thanks. It's probably been Little John - deep down, we'd all like to be near-seven-foot giants after all...! Despite his enormous size and strength, he's one of the more down-to-earth of the characters - not prone to moments of rage, or fear, or even self-doubt, he just goes along with a grin on his face, dealing with things as they come.
That really appeals to me because I'd love to be like that, but I'm not!

I also liked writing Sir Richard-at-Lee because, in my book, he's a Hospitaller. I've read a fair bit about the Templars, but not so much about the Hospitallers, so it was an interesting challenge to research them and their ways. In the initial version of the book he was quite a minor character, but he ended up taking on a life of his own and is playing a large part in the sequel too.

Yes I mentioned this slightly in an earlier reply to Melisende. The name Robin Hood was around before the 14th century, and there may well have been an "original" Robin who became something of a folk hero long before King Edward II. However, the ballads tie in with a later Robin, which makes me think elements were taken from different men, in different times, to create the legend we all love today.
My book simply tells the story of ONE Robin :-)

Paula wrote: "Does your Robin come from Wakefield? Apparently there was evidence of a man who came from Wakefield with that name who was outlawed but went on to become one of Edward II's chamberlains."

That's the one! Some sources say he was pardoned and became a member of the King's staff, then became an outlaw again....

Paula wrote: "I have often wondered if Robin hood was modeled on earlier outlaws like Hereward. Do you have any thoughts on this Steven~?"

Definitely, Paula. Medieval England was rife with outlaws - as Terry Jones says in his cracking book "Medieval Lives": "By the end of the period, historians tell us, practically everyone got outlawed at some stage of their lives. It had become a minor inconvenience - a bit like having your credit card stopped"!
I feel he maybe exaggerating a little there, but I think it's clear, the people of the time loved to hear tales of bold robber outlaws - it was very much "us and them".
Hereward, Adam Bell, the Folville gang (possibly even William Wallace!) - all of these vague legendary figures no doubt became amalgamated into one great hero (Robin of course).

Melisende wrote: "Not really a question was it? So, how do you feel you re-interpretation will be viewed?"

Hi Melisende, thank you for joining in. :-)
So far, of the people that have read it, everyone has been very positive about how I've treated the character. I've tried not to do anything too radical - Robin and the men are Christians, they use longbows, the familiar names like Little John and Will Scarlet are there, the sheriff is there (although I tried to make him a little more human than just some "wicked witch" type baddie)...They don't hide out in Sherwood, but they never did in the earliest ballads either (coincidentally(?) enough though, at that time, the sheriff was charged with looking after Yorkshire AND Nottingham).
Really, the only thing I can see people complaining about is the period I've set the book in. There were Robin Hood legends long BEFORE the 14th century - but I suspect "Robin Hood" became a synonym for "highwayman" or "outlaw" or even "wolf's head" so there's no historical reason "my" Robin couldn't have lived exactly as I describe.

Paula wrote: "There have been a lot of misnomers written about Edward II in historical fiction as well as nonfiction. I wondered what your take on him is?"

I have to be honest, Edward doesn't really feature in the book. He's alluded to and is there in the background, but doesn't really play a part directly. However, it seems clear he wasn't quite the idiot he's been made out to be, although he was obviously not a popular figure at the time - he should have spent more time dealing with outside threats (like those pesky Scots!) and less time messing about with his boyfriends.
I've learned a huge amount from this blog (which also has a facebook page). Kathryn's page is a great read - I'm a little nervous of her reviewing my book but she's promised to do it when she gets the time...
http://edwardthesecond.blogspot.co.uk...

I did a LOT of research on the book before I even started writing it. I started with the classic work by J.C. Holt then moved on to Graham Phillip's and Martin Keatman's take on the legend among many others. I really liked the idea that Robin might have been active - in Yorkshire, not Nottingham! - around the time of King Edward II. The ballads seemed to fit with the history.
As you say, pretty much every take on the Robin Hood story is set in an earlier time, so setting mine in 1321 was a new way to do it, and, according to Phillips and Keatman etc, historically accurate too!

Ultimately, that period seemed like it would be a great backdrop for a Robin Hood story. There was a lot of turmoil for peasant and lord alike with famines and political upheaval, while the Templars had been destroyed not long before and the Hospitallers benefited as a result.

It was a horrible time to live, but a great time to set a book.

Hi Paula! GB Print made the cover for me. I had the design in my head, so I asked them to make it for me and they came up with pretty much what you see there now. The first draft was similar but white and turquoise, and the longbow was much shorter, so I asked them to tweak those things and that was about it. I can't take credit for the big arrow though, that was their idea - at first I hated it (and it was more of a "fantasy" style arrow-head in the first draft), but it's really striking and I ended up loving it.
I also wanted an eye-catching spine for the paperback versions so people would be drawn to it on shelves and the designers made a great job of that too.
Obviously it wasn't free, but I'd spent a fair bit on a very well respected editor (who had worked with Bernard Cornwell, Ben Kane and Jilly Cooper previously!) so it seemed silly to scrimp on a good cover image.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/GB-Pri...

Hi Bernadette, I had SOME of it planned in advance. I actually have a vague framework for the entire trilogy mapped out but it only really covers major events like who dies when. For the most part, I just sat down and let the book write itself. Sometimes I have an idea and when I start writing, the characters decide to take things in a direction I hadn't expected myself. I also had things in the original draft that were completely removed after I hired an editor - for example, a mystical old wise-woman that sometimes appeared only to Robin! The fantasy elements were taken out and replaced with a little more history, and the book is a lot better for it, I think.

It took me three years to complete - mainly because of some bad family times - but it's finished now, so ask me something about my Robin Hood novel...