You have written a series of books about the Tudor court. What is the lure of this period in history?
I’ve never been sure about that myself. I just know that I started reading about the Tudors (with a Landmark biography of Elizabeth I followed by the Readers’ Digest Condensed Books edition of a novel about Elizabeth Tudor when she was young) when I was eleven or twelve and I’ve never lost interest.
I have seen your novels described as ‘detailed’ and ‘well researched’. Do you do all your research before you start writing a novel or do you write and research simultaneously?
It’s a combination of both. I’ve been writing about the sixteenth century for a long time, so I have a lot of material readily available in file folders and on my bookshelves. Since my cast of characters is made up almost entirely of real historical figures in the Kate Emerson books, for each new one I hunt up every bit of biographical material I can find on anyone I think I might use in a “speaking role.” For BY ROYAL DECREE (December 2010), the story of Bess Brooke, Marchioness of Northampton, a key player in the attempt to put Lady Jane Grey on the throne in Queen Mary’s place, I relied a great deal on information I found in biographies of the Duke of Northumberland, Queen Catherine Parr, Lady Jane Grey, and Mary Tudor. As I write, I do more research as specific questions come up. When I realised, for example, that I was having trouble getting a clear picture of Bess Brooke’s visit to Princess Elizabeth during Queen Mary’s reign, I tracked down a book titled RIVAL AMBASSADORS AT THE COURT OF QUEEN MARY because it was the French ambassador who supposedly sent Bess to the princess. That was where I found a connection between the French ambassador and one of Bess’s brothers. What happens in my novel may not be exactly what happened in real life, but it makes sense given what little we do know about the incident.
Your heroines are strong, independent women. Who is your favourite Tudor woman and why?
This is an almost impossible question to answer because there are so many candidates. My “hobby” is the WHO’S WHO OF TUDOR WOMEN at my website (http://www.kateemersonhistoricals.com) and there are mini-biographies of over a thousand interesting Tudor women there. A couple of long-time favourites are two women other writers have written novels about (meaning I won’t be writing about either of them). One is Mary Boleyn. I don’t think she was nearly as dull-witted or wimpy as THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL makes her seem. The other is Kat Astley, Elizabeth Tudor’s governess. In both nonfiction and fiction, she tends to be presented as dithery and easily deceived. I don’t buy that. For one thing, Elizabeth Tudor thought highly of her and Elizabeth was not one to suffer fools gladly.
Do you think that Henry VIII’s numerous and debilitating ailments played a part in his transformation from gentle prince to vicious tyrant?
I’m sure they did. There are also several interesting articles and books that speculate his diet, and the diet of the English in that era in general, may have been responsible all sorts of odd behavior-everything from paranoia to coming up with completely unworkable schemes to rebel against the Crown.
The Tower of London is an important setting in The Pleasure Palace and Between Two Queens, have you ever visited it and what were your first impressions?
I have been there, but I don’t recall any specific first impressions. On the other hand, a visit to the ruins of Warkworth Castle in Northumberland gave me a very vivid sense of what life would have been like there in the sixteenth century-everything from a guard room with a pit under it to the view from the upper floors of the river and town.
Your novels require you to do a lot of research into the courts of the Tudor monarchs from Henry VII to Queen Mary. Have you come across any activities, customs or traditions that you’ve found particularly interesting or peculiar?
The idea that the king or queen couldn’t go anywhere unattended strikes me as being both interesting and peculiar. There was so much court protocol to be observed that Henry VIII couldn’t even sleep with his wife without being escorted from his apartments to hers by two grooms of the chamber, who then had to wait just outside the door until he was ready to go back to his own bed. Not exactly romantic!
Why do you write your Tudor books under a pseudonym?
There are a couple of reasons, but the biggest one is to try to avoid confusing readers. I write historical mysteries and nonfiction (and before that, children’s books and romance) under my real name, Kathy Lynn Emerson, and contemporary mysteries under the pseudonym Kaitlyn Dunnett. The Secrets of the Tudor Court novels are not mysteries and the characters, although fictitious, are all based on real historical figures. Although there is certainly some overlap, they are aimed at a different audience than my mysteries are and my writing style is somewhat different, as well.
I know that some authors only write at certain times of the day, some in their pyjamas, others arrange their desks in a certain way. Do you have any rituals that you follow when writing?
Just get up and go to work. I seem to be most productive in the morning, so I try not to let myself be distracted by other things, like reading and answering email or watching the news on television, until I’ve done a significant amount of writing each day.
If you could ask any historical personality a question, what would it be and whom would you ask?
It would be “What were you thinking?????” and I’d ask it of Henry VIII, in relation to oh, so many of the decisions he made, especially about sending former friends, relatives, and wives to the Tower and about trusting the advice of some of his advisors. Of course, challenging King Henry that way would probably send me straight to the Tower, as well.
What advice would you give a person thinking about writing a book set in Tudor England?
Read everything you can find, especially biographies. By this I mean books and articles and entries in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, NOT poorly researched online encyclopedia articles. And definitely do not rely on grossly inaccurate television series and movies.
For more information on this author visit:
Leave a Comment