Steve Robinson Q & A on October Group Read "To The Grave"

[Steve]

Hi, and thanks for choosing To the Grave. I hope you enjoy reading it, and I'm looking forward to chatting about the book. While I was writing it, Mena became a very special character to me, and I hope she endears herself to you just as much.

[Judith]

I haven't read the book yet, however I do welcome you to the group and hope you have a good session.

[Steve]

Thanks Judith. :o)

[Odette]

Welcome to the group and am looking forward to some interesting discussion. I have read and enjoyed very much your first three books. I am re-reading To the Grave, before I start on the Lost Empress.

I am interested in genealogy and have been researching my family history for some time. It is amazing what can be found out and the stories to be told.

[Steve]

Thanks Odette. I'm glad you're enjoying the series so far. You're right about all the stories out there, waiting to be found. I think that's one of the most fascinating things about genealogy, and you never know what you might find. I suppose that's really the essence of my Jefferson Tayte books.

[Steve]

Hi David, thanks for the question.

When I include a past narrative, I tend to write that section in it's entirety first. At least, I did with To the Grave and The Lost Empress. In the Blood was written in a more linear fashion and The Last Queen of England is all set in the present day. Once I've written the past narrative I then plot Tayte's storyline around it. I find it easier to know what parts of the past story Tayte needs to unlock and connect with if that past story is already written. It also helps to keep me in character and the time period, rather than switching back and forth between Tayte and Mena in the case of To the Grave. I tend to have an idea of how both sections are going to play out though long before I start writing anything.

[Steve]

I spend a lot of time on the research for both the past and present narratives in my books. I really became wrapped up in the war era for To the Grave, possibly because there's already so much research material out there for that time, so it was easier to get caught up in it. I think there's something about that era though drew me in. The research can become more difficult the further back you go, but whatever the period, I try to be as accurate as possible. You often hear advice to writers about writing what you know, but that can be limiting. Yes, write what you know, but if you don't know it, learn it first. That's all down to research. I enjoy the historical aspect of my writing very much.

[AngryGreyCat]

Did you plan out the Magdalene Laundry connection at the start or did that come later. evolve out of the story?

It is a current topic that people are discussing especially with the discovery of more women and infant remains at another Catholic site. I found it very interesting, especially since I had just read Ken Bruen's Jack Taylor series that had a Magdalene connection as well. It is such a fascinating and at the same time horribly sad piece of history.

[Steve]

Fanficfan44 wrote: "Did you plan out the Magdalene Laundry connection at the start or did that come later. evolve out of the story?

It is a current topic that people are discussing especially with the discovery of m..."

The Magdalene connection wasn't planned from the outset. I actually wrote Mena's part of the story for To the Grave six years ago in 2008, and hadn't heard much, if anything, about Magdalene Laundries at the time. I don't recall the big scandal about these laundries having broken while I was writing. The connection came from Mena's plight, and then my research into those times.

Picking Mena's name was as much of a coincidence. I wanted to choose something that a devout Catholic mother might choose for her daughter and came up with Philomena, after Saint Philomena the wonder worker. It was such an unusual name that I had to explain it to my literary agent at the time. Imagine my surprise when some years later a movie called Philomena, which was based on a book about the Magdalene Laundries was released.

My maternal grandmother was a war bride. Mena's story came from that and developed from there.