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Ten questions to André K. Baby

Tuesday, November 6, 2018

TEN QUESTIONS TO ANDRÉ K. BABY

In this month’s blog, I have tried to convey a few personal aspects of my work as author in the form on an interview. Here are ten questions from André Baby the interviewer, to André Baby the author.

1. You are a francophone yet you write in English. How come?

As a kid, I spent a lot of my leisure time reading thrillers, and in French, the authors in this genre were not legion. Apart from George Simenon and a few others, there was no francophone  thriller tradition yet. But in the Anglo –Saxon world, Erskine Childers, Graham Greene, Ian Fleming, Somerset Maugham, Lawrence Durrell and later Grisham, Brown, Berry , Le Carré, Ludlum and others filled my imagination and enhanced my vocabulary, hence the ease for me to write in English.

2.  How did you come up with the character of your protagonist Thierry Dulac?

 Inspector Thierry Dulac grew out of my first story’s plot in Dead Bishops Don’t Lie, which involves a series of crimes committed in different countries.  I needed a policeman with cross-border authority and investigative powers in many jurisdictions, unimpeded by the geographical limitations of local police. Enter Interpol’s Dulac, with his baggage of faults, bad habits and sometimes questionable methods, but who gets results. It followed naturally that Dulac found himself in the heat of the action in The Chimera Sanction, another multi-locale story, and later  in Jaws of the Tiger, where his services are needed to aid Scotland Yard’s Harry Wade.

3. What are some of the technical aspects of your research for your latest thriller Jaws of the Tiger?

One of the challenges was simultaneously coordinating the different time zones of England, the hijacked ship and the US Coast guard, and making sure that the events happening on the ship, in England and in the US were being reported accurately in each time zone.

Another aspect of my research centered on the inner workings of Scotland Yard, with whom Dulac has to work with during his investigation. It was fascinating to learn how the Yard has improved investigative techniques with the use of super- computers such as HOLMES 3.

4.  Has your career as a lawyer helped you in your writing?

At ThrillerFest a couple of summers ago in New York City, I happened to attend a conference given by Steve Berry, best-selling author and “reformed lawyer”, as he calls himself.  As an introductory remark, he asked: "all right, how many lawyers out there?"  A forest of hands shot up in the air, to the amusement of all.  I was surprised to see the large number of lawyers- turned-crime writers. Natural affinity? Perhaps, but I think a lawyer has advantages and disadvantages when it comes to writing a good thriller.  Training in logical thinking, especially when piecing together the various aspects of the story, is certainly a plus. Also we lawyers are taught to be concise, and that every word counts. Authors should emulate this.  On the negative side, the conveying of emotions to the characters is rendered more difficult, as lawyers tend to suppress their emotions. It took me awhile to think about and put down on paper what my novel’s characters actually felt.

5.  How is Jaws of the Tiger different from other thrillers in the genre?

I think the main difference is that Jaws of the Tiger starts off as an action thriller, then morphs into a police procedural. In an earlier version, the full story was all action, but I felt the reader was left in the cold as to an important aspect of the plot, ie, finding out who was actually  behind the meticulously- planned hijacking. After that, I came  to believe writers should follow the story, and not try to fit it into the constraints of a specific genre. 

6. Why do you write?

For the intellectual challenge. Also, writing crime novels for me is a form of escapism from some of the brutal realities of our time.

7. Care to you share with us your writing habits?

 I’d like to think my writing habits are slowly improving with experience and time. I used to write sporadically but now I try to fix a weekly schedule yet invariably  life manages to get in the way. Still, I try to organize my time more or less evenly between writing and extracurricular activities.

 8.  How do you go from the idea of the book to the finished manuscript? Do you draft outlines?

When undertaking a new project, at first I try to take a synoptic view of what I’ll be writing about: choice of protagonist, type of crime, locations, and primary antagonist. At this moment, I have nothing more than a vague idea of the ending.  Initially, I tried making outlines, but they changed so much during the course of writing that finally I gave up. At best, I’ll draft a few lines and bits of dialogue to give direction to the next few chapters. 

My first draft is invariably a skeleton, usually in the form of dialogue. My only goal at this time is to get the story down on paper: a bare minimum of setting and description holds the skeleton together.  During the next five or six revisions, I’ll have fleshed out my characters, added narration, descriptions of settings, made my dialogues  more vivid, punchy and  credible. I’ll have cut out extraneous bits, rendered the story more fluid, and connected the scenes. With any luck, my manuscript can then be submitted to the publisher. 

 9.   What are your thoughts on the latest publishing industry developments, mainly the rise of self-publishing? 

I am both traditionally published and self- published. I self- pubbed “Dead Bishops Don’t Lie” with CreateSpace, and The Chimera Sanction was published by Robert Hale Books. The French versions of both those thrillers are traditionally published.

Also, I was delighted when BWL Publishing accepted to publish “Jaws of the Tiger”.

Although I enjoyed the process of self-publishing with Amazon's CreateSpace, I rapidly found myself facing the biggest hurdle of all self -publishers,  namely  a limited scope of distribution to bookstores. Due to the problem of returns, one can only hope to place one’s novel within a small geographical circle from one’s home. To market the book outside that circle quickly becomes economically unjustifiable. Another disadvantage of self pubbing is that one must rely entirely on oneself to edit, market and promote the book.  In contrast, a traditional publisher has a country-wide distribution network, offers the support of an editing team and a marketing team. 

Although I believe there is room for both traditional and self-publishing, as far as I’m concerned the advantages of the former far outweigh the ones of the latter. 

10.  What is your greatest disappointment as a writer? What is your greatest satisfaction ? 

What I found most disappointing in the publishing world is the rejection process, to be more precise sometimes the lack of basic civility in the form of an acknowledgement on the part of the recipient, following an author’s query. Even a form letter is better than a total lack of response.  As to satisfaction, there is no greater gratification for a writer, I think, that to open one's computer and to find an e-mail from a reader saying how much she/ he enjoyed my book. That invariably makes my day.

Queen Anne Stuart- Part One- The Princess Bride by Rosemary Morris

For more information on Tangled Love please click here.



About Rosemary Morris

Every day my daily routine begins at six a.m. when I make a cup of herbal tea. After I drink it, I turn on the laptop. With time out to have breakfast I write – my goal is to write a minimum of 1,000 words a day – and deal with ‘writerly’ business, such as checking my emails, until 10 a.m.
Apart from the daily chores, housework, shopping, washing clothes etc., I am a keen organic gardener. During this month I plant out hardy cyclamen, pansies, primulas and wallflowers to provide winter colour, and bulbs to flower in late winter and spring. I also pot up bulbs and bring potted plants into the greenhouse to shelter from frost.
Autumn is the ‘season of mellow fruitfulness’ when I enjoy apples and pears from my organic garden where I also grow soft fruit, herbs, vegetables and ornamental shrubs and flowers.
After lunch I usually work for an hour on the laptop before I read fiction, or historical non-fiction to research my novels.
At around four p.m. I resume ‘writerly’ activities until eight p.m. unless I am otherwise engaged as I will be this evening when guys are burned, bonfires are lit, and fireworks spangle the night sky to celebrate Guy Fawkes Day.

Queen Anne Stuart
Part One
The Cinderella Princess

My novel, Tangled Love, is set in the reign of Queen Anne Stuart, who reigned from 1702 to 1714, a ‘Cinderella’ princess of little importance during her childhood.
When she was born, neither her uncle, Charles II, nor his younger brother, her father, James, Duke of York, could have foretold that she would become the last of the Stuart monarchs. Charles’ seven bastards proved his virility so there was every reason to believe he and his queen of three years would have legitimate heirs to the throne. In the unlikely event of their not producing one, his brother and sister-in-law, James and Anne, had produced an older brother and sister for the latest addition to their nursery, baby Anne.
In those days infant mortality was high. Anne and her older sister, Mary, survived the Great Plague which broke out in the year of Anne’s birth. The little princesses grew up in their nursery but their brother James, another brother and two little sisters died. One can imagine the effects of these deaths on ‘Cinderella’, a small girl with poor health whose weak eyes watered constantly.
With the king’s consent to have her eyes treated in France, her parents sent four-year-old Anne to her grandmother, widow of the executed Charles I.
As I write, I have before me a portrait of Anne as a small girl painted at the French court by an unknown artist. She is plump and adorable, dressed in brocade, playing with a King Charles spaniel. Her eyes are wary set in an oval face with a mouth shaped in a perfect cupid’s bow.
In 1699, after Anne’s grandmother died, the little girl passed into the care of her father’s sister, Henrietta Maria, Duchess of Orleans, whom Anne’s uncle, the King of England doted on. One year later, five-year-old ‘Cinderella’ had to cope with yet another death, this time that of her aunt, whose husband, younger brother of the French king, was suspected of poisoning her. Anne returned to England, her eyes only slightly improved. By then her mother was unpopular because she had converted to the Church of Rome. Anne’s father gave serious consideration to his salvation. He took Holy Communion from a papist priest. The decisions ‘Cinderella’s parents’ made would have a long-term effect on the young Princess Anne’s future.

Extract from Tangled Love
Prologue – 1693

Author’s Note The heroine is another Cinderella who goes from riches to rags.

“Nine-year-old Richelda Shaw sat on the floor in her nursery. She pulled a quilt over her head to block out the thunder pealing outside the ancient manor house, while an even fiercer storm raged deep within. Eyes closed, she remained as motionless as a marble statue.
Elsie, her mother’s personal maid, removed the quilt from her head. “Stand up child, there’s nothing to be frightened of. Come, your father’s waiting for you.
Richelda trembled. Until now Father’s short visits from France meant gifts and laughter. This one made Mother cry while servants spoke in hushed tones.
Followed by Elsie, Richelda hurried down the broad oak stairs. For a moment, she paused to admire Lilies of the Valley in a Delft bowl. Only yesterday, she had picked the flowers to welcome Father home, and then arranged them with tender care. Now, the bowl stood on a chest, beneath a pair of crossed broadswords hanging on the wall.
Elsie opened the massive door of the great hall where Father waited at one side of an enormous hearth. Richelda hesitated. Her eyes searched for her mother before she walked across the floor, spread her skirts wide, and knelt before him.
Father placed his right hand on her bent head. “Bless you, daughter; may God keep you safe.”
He smiled. “Stand up, child. Upon my word, sweetheart, your hair reminds me of a golden rose. How glad I am to see roses bloom in these troubled times.”
Richelda stood but dared not speak, for she did not know him well.
Putting an arm round her waist, he drew her to him. “Come, do not be nervous of your father, child. Tell me if you know King James II holds court in France while his daughter, Mary, and William, his son-in-law, rule, after seizing his throne?”
“Yes, Mother told me we are well rid of King James and his Papist wife,” she piped up, proud of her knowledge.
With a sigh, Father lifted her onto his knee. “Richelda, I must follow His Majesty, for I swore an oath of allegiance to him. Tell me, child, while King James lives, how can I with honour swear allegiance to his disloyal daughter and her husband?” Unable to think of a reply, she lowered her head, breathing in his spicy perfume.
Father held her closer. “Your mother pleads with me to declare myself for William and Mary. She begs me not to return to France, but I am obliged to serve King James. Do you understand?”
As she nodded, her cheek brushed against his velvet coat. “Yes, I understand, my tutor told me why many gentlemen will not serve the new king and queen.”
“If you remain in England, you will be safe. Bellemont is part of your mother’s dowry, so I doubt it will be confiscated.”
If she remained in England! Startled, she stared at him.

Five Star Review of Tangled Love

Rosemary Morris has crafted a superb novel set in the Queen Anne time-period in London. The historical details are accurately researched and artfully presented, making excellent use of vivid sensory details. Further, the characters spring to life, each fully moulded into his or her unique personality.
Bound by a childhood promise made to her father, protagonist Richelda faces tough challenges nearly a decade later. Poor and now orphaned, she dreams of a better future with all the trappings of the good life. But, to keep her promise, she must regain the ancestral home, Field House, which is said to contain hidden treasure. Her vow to her father is sealed by a ruby ring that she wears on a chain around her neck--a constant reminder of her promise.
Dudley, her childhood sweetheart, plus the charismatic Viscount Lord Chesney, her suitor in an arranged marriage by her wealthy aunt, set the stage for Rachelda's doubts and uncertainties. Dudley won her heart years earlier, but is he all that he appears to be? Chesney, on the other hand, is the owner of Field House and could offer her the life she dreams about in her ancestral home. Further, Aunt Isobel has promised to make Richelda her heiress on the condition she does indeed marry Lord Chesney. Yet are her push-pull feelings for Chesney strong enough to merit a marriage vow? Throughout the story, Richelda never disappoints. She is spirited, fiercely independent, sweet, and loving--truly a three-dimensional character.
Author Rosemary Morris takes her readers gently by the hand and leads them down a highly entertaining pathway filled with love, intrigue, deceit, and mystery. Highly recommended. A winner!

Sil.

Novels by Rosemary Morris

Early 18th Century novels: Tangled Love, Far Beyond Rubies, The Captain and The Countess
Regency Novels False Pretences, Sunday’s Child, Monday’s Child, Tuesday’s Child, Wednesday’s Child and Thursday’s Child.
Mediaeval Novel Yvonne Lady of Cassio. The Lovages of Cassio Book One
www.rosemarymorris.co.uk
http://bookswelove.net/authors/morris-rosemary