I'm delighted to welcome Trisha Hughes to the blog.
Hello Trisha - I'm so pleased you were keen to appear on the blog.
And it's always a pleasure to make contact with a fellow author when it comes
to sharing news about books. But before we discover more about your latest
release, Victoria to Vikings – The Circle of Blood, here are some questions
which will hopefully give your readers an insight into some of the things that
matter to you.
Arabella: Authors can release books, making them available to readers in various ways…via an agent, or working directly with a traditional publisher, or they can even go the self-publishing route. Which method of publishing do you prefer, and why?
Trisha: In
the past, I’ve gone down the traditional publishing road, without an agent. My
first book, my best-selling memoir ‘Daughters
of Nazareth’ was published traditionally by Pan MacMillan Australia and
reached the number one spot in Australia, surpassing the current Stephen King
book that was on the shelves at the time. That’s because traditional publishers
have vast resources for marketing. My next three books, my Historical fictions based
on British Monarchy throughout the ages that I call my V2V trilogy, were also published
by a UK publisher and have had a great deal of success. Although it feels
rewarding to have a publisher, because let’s face it, it feels like a pat on
the back, control of your book and the marketing of it is out of your hands. It
also takes up to nine months from signing the contract to release date and being
the impatient sort, the time drags for me. Not just that, but the royalties are
quite low. This time, with the help and insight of some wonderful friends who
are self-published authors, I plan on self-publishing my next book, the first
in a mystery / crime series based in Australia I call ‘Dragonfly’. It’s been edited and the cover is on the way. I’m
feeling quite excited about this new adventure.
Arabella: A slice of Chocolate
Cake, a piece of Fruit, or Burger and Fries?
Trisha: I’m
a foodaholic. There is nothing quite like a burger and fries with a pint on the
side. And show me a person who doesn’t like chocolate cake and I’ll show you a
lunatic. So for me, I can squeeze in all three in one day. Does that make me an
overachiever?
Arabella: Who or what inspired you
to write your latest release, Victoria to
Vikings – The Circle of Blood?
Trisha: It all started quite
innocently five years ago. I was sitting in a car on the way to the beach with
my 13-year-old grandson trying to find a way to grab his attention away from
his Facebook page. Like any grandmother, I asked him about school. What did he
like best? What subjects did he take? And I perked up when he said one of his
subjects was history. I’ve always liked history and I was happy to have
something to chat to him about. I asked him, ‘So you know all about Henry VIII
then?’ Because basically, doesn’t everyone? His blank look stunned me because
well, this is Henry VIII we’re talking about. So for the next half an hour I
told him the story of a charismatic eighteen year old who eventually turned
into an obese tyrant. I told the story to him in a way that would engage his
interest and he laughed at all the right places and was shocked at all the
right places. It started me thinking. Why don’t
we know more about our history? History not only provides us with a glimpse of
how things used to be, but its lessons can teach us things that are important
for life today. History can be the richest of stories, the saddest of stories
and the most shocking of stories. That was the day I decided to write a book on
past kings. Two years of research later, I knew I had too much information for
just one book.
Okay...I know it sounds academic but
it's actually not. Sure, it's based on facts but it's told as a
rambling narrative and is written in a way that's easy to read. Rudyard Kipling
once said, ‘If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be
forgotten.’ And that's what I've tried to do. I turned my books into a trilogy of stories about the kings of
England. The first book is called ‘Vikings
to Virgin – The hazards of being King’. The next is ‘Virgin to Victoria – The Queen is dead. Long live the Queen’ and
the latest release just a few months ago is ‘Victoria
to Vikings – The Circle of Blood’.
Arabella: If the person of your dreams, (husband/wife/partner/or superstar), were to take you out for the night, where would they take you and what would you do?
Trisha: I currently live in
Hong Kong with my husband so if I had a ‘dream date’ with him, he’d have to
take me to Paris. My heritage on my
father’s side is French and I feel a tug every time I see a picture of the
Eiffel Towel. I’ve been to Paris a couple of times and it never loses it’s
magic for me. I love the cobble stone streets, the history, the museums, the quirkiness
and the old-worldliness. Did I say I love the magic?
Arabella: Currently, what is your
most favourite T.V. programme, and why?
Trisha: Juggling everything
doesn’t leave a lot of time for watching television but when I do, I love watching
shows like Vikings, Game of Thrones, Outlander and Kingdom. And now I’ve discovered
crime. And I love it all. My husband observes me closely when I watch ‘How to
get away with Murder’ and call it research.
Arabella: When writing a book or
chapter, which do you concentrate on first: plot, character, or setting?
Trisha: Although
I like to think I’m an organised person, I’m a messy writer. I jump around all
over the place. I always believe ‘Write what you know about’ so with my
trilogy, I researched until my brain was almost mush. With my new upcoming mystery
novel, I had my home town in mind as the setting. I knew the area and I knew the
climate, so the ‘filler’ part came easily. I also thought I had a terrific beginning and
an ending that no one would guess. What I didn’t have was the middle part and a
character. But that was the fun part. My main character became a sort of Harry
Callahan with a sense of humour. The rest just fell into place.
Arabella: How do you research your
novels and characters?
Trisha: That
was easy for me with my historical V2V series. The characters were already there
in history books and online. The first books I read were a series written by
Sir Winston Churchill called ‘History of the English Speaking People.’ It was
tough reading with quite a lot of uninteresting political information that I didn’t
want in my books. But it gave me a basis of where to start. I soon realised
that what I needed to do was give these kings and queens a personality. That was the hard part. Because all the
characters were unique in their own way, I had to have them express themselves
in different ways. I had to combine the vast number of physical signals with
the individuality of each character and I had to do it without propping myself
up with dialogue. The only way I saw to do that was with emotion.
Although
the books are factual, adding emotion is why the books are in the ‘historical
fiction’ category. I had to delve deep to find out what each character was like
and describe what I thought would be
their emotional response. And that’s where the serious research came in. These
characters didn’t live in bubbles. They interacted with the world around them.
All I had to do was create a valid emotional response for each individual while
keeping the historical setting in order. To do that, I visited all the
historical castles that I could. I soaked up the atmosphere and I found that
each site had endless sources of information. I thoroughly enjoyed the
research.
Arabella: What advice would you
give to someone who is starting out on their writing journey?
Trisha: My
best advice is to never give up. Wisdom comes to us in the unlikeliest of
sources, and a lot of times it comes through failure. When you hit rock bottom,
remember this…while you’re struggling, rock bottom can be a great foundation on
which to grow and build. A person who picks themselves off the floor and keeps
going is the person who will continue to grow and improve.
In
my youth, I was always told to blend. But over the past few years, I’ve ignored
those words. I’ve refused to listen to them. I tell myself every day to shoot
for the stars. That good enough is NOT good enough. What you do is stand tall
and you keep on standing. No matter what, you never give up. Anything is
possible.
Arabella Sheen
About Trisha Hughes:
Trisha
is an Australian author currently living in Hong Kong. She has lived in many countries all over the
world and loves to travel. She divides her time between writing books, writing
articles for a local magazine and mentoring children in creative writing. For
the past three years, she has been one of three judges in the Hong Kong Young
Writer’s Competition, helping to encourage children’s imagination. Although
previously a historical fiction author, she is now embarking on a new adventure
in mystery and crime series based in her home country of Australia.
Website and Social
Media Links:
BOOK BLURB - Victoria to Vikings
To the victor goes the spoils and nowhere is
this truer than in the history of the British monarchy. There are kings who
ruled for just a few months and there are some who ruled for over fifty years.
There are some who should never have ruled at all. They include the vain, the
greedy and the downright corrupt. There were adulterers, swindlers and cowards
and their stories span over 1500 years full of lust, betrayal and heroism. Yet
this group also share one thing in common. In their own lifetimes, they were
the most powerful individuals in the land and they weren’t shy about letting
their subjects know.
Virgin to Victoria is a powerful story travelling through time, beginning with Henry VIII’s daughter, Elizabeth I, as she stepped up to the throne as Britain’s new queen. Her sister Mary had ruled before her but that queen was dead and Britain’s future lay in the hands of this bright-eyed intelligent woman who promised a magnificent future for everyone. It continues through the unsettling times of the Stuarts and moves from Oliver Cromwell through to the ferocious Hanovers and finally ends with Queen Victoria ready to accept her sceptre at the age of eighteen after the death of all her childless uncles. This book is written as a story and brings these monarchs alive to show them as flesh and blood characters who actually lived and died, not just vague names in history books.
Trisha Hughes is a best-selling Australian author who now lives in Hong Kong. Trisha attends workshops for children’s creative writing groups and is a mentor of a yearly young writers competition. Her first book was published 18 years ago, a best-selling autobiography called Daughters of Nazareth. Trisha has recently published the first book in this historical trilogy, Victoria to Vikings.
Virgin to Victoria is a powerful story travelling through time, beginning with Henry VIII’s daughter, Elizabeth I, as she stepped up to the throne as Britain’s new queen. Her sister Mary had ruled before her but that queen was dead and Britain’s future lay in the hands of this bright-eyed intelligent woman who promised a magnificent future for everyone. It continues through the unsettling times of the Stuarts and moves from Oliver Cromwell through to the ferocious Hanovers and finally ends with Queen Victoria ready to accept her sceptre at the age of eighteen after the death of all her childless uncles. This book is written as a story and brings these monarchs alive to show them as flesh and blood characters who actually lived and died, not just vague names in history books.
Trisha Hughes is a best-selling Australian author who now lives in Hong Kong. Trisha attends workshops for children’s creative writing groups and is a mentor of a yearly young writers competition. Her first book was published 18 years ago, a best-selling autobiography called Daughters of Nazareth. Trisha has recently published the first book in this historical trilogy, Victoria to Vikings.
Amazon links:
