The Writing Desk: Special Guest Post with Nicola Harris, Author of O...

 

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Tell us about your latest book.

My latest book is Shades of Yellow, my fifth novel. It’s the metafiction novel I have longed to write for a long, long time. I wanted to show the messiness of writing, but, of course, it is about more than that. Shades of Yellow tells the story of Lucy, a young woman in 2010, who is writing a novel about Amy Robsart, the first wife of Robert Dudley, the man who came closest to marrying Elizabeth Tudor. Lucy shares this novel with the reader —either by showing (when she shares chapters of her work in the book) or telling (when she reflects about or journals about her novel).

What first drew Lucy to write Amy’s story is that Amy may have had breast cancer, like Lucy had five years before the story starts. The novel covers a few weeks in Lucy’s life when she is reclaiming her extremely messy life through writing this novel about a woman who died in suspicious circumstances.

 What is your preferred writing routine?

I am so glad you included the word ‘preferred’. That sees me on a writing retreat, away from the many interruptions that make up my normal life.

 I confess I am out of any kind of routine at the moment. Far too distracted by the journey of having a new novel published. But my usual routine is going to my study in the morning and tick off at least 500 words. I find 500 words is my breakthrough number—once I hit that number, I am in the zone, and the writing just flows.

What advice do you have for new writers?

 I have shared this many times before, but this is something I really believe because I know it is true: perseverance furthers. The lovely Sandra Gulland gave me these wise words decades ago when I was trying to find a publisher for my first Tudor novel, Dear Heart, How Like You This? 

 While the doors opening to me during the twenty-plus years of writing professionally may have been unexpected doors, they were all doors important to my growth as a writer – and for my life’s journey.

 My other piece of advice is to take care of your health; we need our bodies to write. That is something I wish I had kept in mind far more in my younger years. I would tell my younger self to go for regular walks, so that, at this stage of my life, it would be a habit well and truly part of my life. Likely, it would have resulted in a much healthier life.

 What have you found to be the best way to raise awareness of your books?

 Word of mouth – always word of mouth. And what a lovely way to know your book is selling.

 Tell us something unexpected you discovered during your research.

For Shades of Yellow, I really did not expect to have to do what felt like the same amount of research for 2010 than what I did for the life and times of Amy Robsart. The world has changed so much in the last fifteen years.

For my Katherine of Aragon novels – it was the vast difference of Katherine’s life growing up in her mother’s court in Castile than what she faced during her first years in England. I have no doubt those first years were a true culture shock for her.

 In my Anne Boleyn novels? I’m certain there must have been unexpected discoveries, but nothing I can remember after all these years.

What was the hardest scene you remember writing?

There have been so many hard scenes to write. I had to take mental health breaks away from imagining Katherine of Aragon’s story after writing the scenes of all her tragedies in the birthing chamber. The death of her son, weeks after his birth, had me writing that scene in tears.

But I suppose writing of Anne Boleyn’s execution twice in my writing life were the hardest scenes to imagine and write. The thought of the time it may take for someone to lose all consciousness after being decapitated still makes me feel ill.  

But I write fiction by embodying my characters – so it is vital for me to tap into their experiences, good or bad.

 What are you planning to write next?

 I am working on a novel that I am thinking of as my Elizabeth Tudor novel. My POV character is a woman who served Elizabeth years before Elizabeth became queen and stayed in her service until her death in 1592. The mountain of storytelling I need to surmount is enormous, and ambitious. But I have learnt not to look at the mountain but just focus on tackling the steps in front of me. It will take me years to write, but I am happy to have something that will keep me writing.

Wendy J. Dunn is an award-winning Australian author with a lifelong fascination for Tudor history. That passion runs so deep, she wasn’t surprised to discover a personal connection to the Tudor era shortly after publishing her debut Anne Boleyn novel—told through the eyes of poet Sir Thomas Wyatt the Elder. Her family tree reveals that one ancestral line, possibly spanning three generations, purchased land from both the Boleyn and Wyatt families. It’s very likely her ancestors knew them personally.

Wendy is married and the proud mother of three sons and one daughter, named after a Tudor queen (though not Anne, to everyone’s surprise!). She’s also a delighted grandmother to two wonderful young boys. In 2014, she earned her PhD and continues to walk in the footsteps of the historical figures she brings to life in her fiction. Alongside her writing, Wendy tutors at Swinburne University of Technology in Australia.

Links:

Website: http://www.wendyjdunn.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorwendyjdunn

Book Bub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/wendy-j-dunn

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wendyjdunn

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/197156.Wendy_J_Dunn

Newsletter: https://wendyjdunn.substack.com