Hungry for Books : An Interview with V E H Masters

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readershouse.co.uk

“Award-winning author V E H Masters discusses childhood love for books, writing rituals, series inspirations, and forthcoming novel set during the Spanish Armada, revealing her passion for history-infused storytelling.”

EDITOR, READER’S HOUSE

V E H Masters has written four historical fiction novels and is currently working on the last in series. Her books are regularly on the Amazon Bestseller List, and she’s the winner of the Barbara Hammond Trophy. She has a BA in History and Sociology and formerly was an executive coach and leadership development specialist. She lives in the Scottish Borders with her very supportive husband.

  What kind of reader were you as a child? 

A starved one! I was so hungry for books and there were so few available either at home or in my primary school. I remember yet the excitement when a school friend told me there was a place you could get them for free.

I badgered my mother who sent me into the town library, most unusually alone aged seven, to find out how to join. It helped a little but the librarians never offered advice about what I might read and just stood behind the desk watching. I was so envious when I read Sally Vicker’s novel ‘The Librarian’. Someone like her lead character would’ve been a godsend to my book starved self.

What do you read when you’re working on a book? And what kind of reading do you avoid while writing?

I do lots of research both before and during writing. I’ll get so far then decide I need to know more about childbirth practices in Italy of the 1500s or why clocks in public spaces then included the phases of the moon and the signs of the Zodiac or what was it like to live in the sultan’s harem.

So I’m mostly diving into articles I find online through the National Library of Scotland but I also always have a fiction book on the go to read at bedtime – I’m a sucker for a well written romance.

What books do you find yourself returning to again and again?

My aunt who was a nanny to the aristocracy used to visit us once a year. We would get constant warnings beforehand about our behaviour and to speak properly (ie not speak Scots, which my dad did and which was considered fearfully common). She did bring us some wonderful presents though. The best ever were the Anne of Green Gables books. I was gifted them in dribs and drabs over several years and read and re-read them. I still dip into them now. Anne was my role model!

What book are you embarrassed not to have read yet?

I still haven’t read ‘Shuggie Bain’, I’m embarrassed to say. Especially since Douglas Stuart was not only a Booker Prize Winner with his debut novel but is a fellow Scot. My daughter-in-law tells me it’s very good however I have a sense it might be grim. I like books that leave me uplifted and also the fact that it’s a Booker Prize winner frankly puts me off. I’m not a huge fan of the highly literary (I always think it’s good for me to read such books, but then again life’s too short to keep doing things you don’t much enjoy). I will read Shuggie though – I’m now making it a New Year Resolution.

What’s your favorite book no one else has heard of?

I enjoy Georgette Heyer novels, not sure how well known she is these days. She wrote so many I’m always discovering another. ‘The Nonesuch’ was one I came across recently. She writes regency romance but it’s in the touches of detail and the slang and colloquialisms of the era that her skills and depth of research really shine through.

How did you come to writing, did you always want to write?

In company with many authors I knew I wanted to write as a young child. It was a shameful secret – for who did I think I was that I could ever be good enough. When I was twelve our history teacher took us to the  castle ruins in St Andrews, Scotland, where I grew up. I’d never been inside before and when we went down the long siege tunnel dug out of rock in 1546 I was enchanted. I learned the men who took the castle then and held it for fourteen months called themselves The Castilians and I knew, even then I had the title for my book. What I didn’t know though was how long it would take before I actually wrote it.

Did you always plan to write a series

When I finished writing the ‘The Castilians’ readers asked “what happens next?” I wasn’t sure if I had the same passion for writing a sequel but then I got fascinated by what it would be like to live as a family through the turbulence of the Reformation, as religions and allegiances shift depending on where you are – and especially how you could hold together if you held differing faiths and perspectives within the family.

My books now span Europe with the penultimate being largely set in Constantinople. We’re coming back to Scotland for the end, though.

What’s your writing day like?

I’m very strict with the first draft otherwise I’d never get it finished. I set myself a daily target of 1200 words which I have to achieve regardless of how much faffing around I do. And then I also spend time linking with readers either through my newsletter, blog or Facebook. I love to hear what readers think and can be contacted via my website on  https://vehmasters.com.

Who is your favourite character from your own books?

I have to like the main characters otherwise I couldn’t spend so much time with them. Grissel the servant is funny, feisty and loyal. I think it has to be her, although Bethia her mistress comes a close second – and then there’s Mainard, the husband who’s kind yet very determined. I’ll stop now…

 What are you working on now?

The final book in the series, which is set in 1588 when the Armada ships were wrecked off the Scottish and Irish coast. It’s a fascinating period to research. It’ll be released next November and my biggest headache currently is finding a title that fits with the rest of the series.

V E H Masters has written four historical fiction novels and is currently working on the last in series. Her books are regularly on the Amazon Bestseller List, and she’s the winner of the Barbara Hammond Trophy. She has a BA in History and Sociology and formerly was an executive coach and leadership development specialist. She lives in the Scottish Borders with her very supportive husband.

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