Hi! Who are you?
Hi! My name is Nicky Moxey; I'm a British author-cum-amateur archaeologist living in Suffolk, UK.
What do you write about?
I mostly write about things that I come across via the archaeology or in the historical record. My first historical novel, Sheriff and Priest, came about because I found a large lead sheet whilst metal detecting; figuring out what it was led me down some fascinating research alleys. Eventually I knew it was a roof tile from a priory, not marked on the map; and that the founder was a local boy-come-good who had been given 1,000 acres to set it up by none other than the King's mistress. What?!! Why? That sealed my fate for the next few years - how could I not write the novel?
I'm currently editing the sequel, which I hadn't planned on writing at all - but the story of why the priory had been moved lock, stock and barrel from its original location to where it is on the map today turned out to be just as interesting!
I have published a series of children's short stories about other things that inspire me - a Viking ship prow, for instance, or a chicken-sized feathered dinosaur, or a poorly-executed karate kick. They're great fun to write, and I want to do three more and wrap the set up at nine.
There's also a Bronze Age lady called Anya scowling at me with her arms crossed, toe tapping, waiting for me to give her some attention. She's part of the Historical Novel Society's current anthology, Distant Echoes, but apparently that's not good enough, she wants to be in a novel too. Real soon now, Anya - I promise!
Which character will we love to love and why? Which character will we love to hate and why?
I love Wimer the Chaplain, the Sheriff and Priest above, and I hope you will too! I'll tell you a secret - there's an old oak stump on the priory's foundation site which, if you squint, looks like a monk - and that's where I go to chew over all my troubles. It somehow helps enormously that I know him very well - I've seen his handwriting in the Pipe Rolls, for instance, when he wrote his resignation letter; and I love that he chose a tiny cormorant drying its wings as his personal seal, just as he would have seen them doing on the local river when he was a boy. I can talk to him without anyone hearing and without him answering back!
As to characters to hate - injustice, arrogance and assumption of automatic privilege are things that make me seethe. Thomas a'Becket's actions in the first book are despicable (and true); King John's my baddie in the sequel. I did allow myself one scene that's a pure flight of fancy there; but I'm sure he would have been just as nasty if it had occurred to him!
Links:
Nicky's Amazon Page
Wimer's Facebook Page
No comments:
Post a Comment