This afternoon, I am wicked happy to welcome to Jorie Loves A Story, an alum of my Romance genre chat #ChocLitSaturday – John Jackson! He is an avid reader of Romance & Historical Fiction – where his wanderings run close to my own – as we share a fond love and appreciation of ChocLit novels – his friendships with authors is quite extensive as he’s actively involved in the Rom organisations throughout the UK, whilst allowing him to meet-up in person with the romance & historical writers of today who are penning the stories which give us a heart-pulse of pause for their ability to transfuse the past (and/or the Contemporary) settings in such a way as to allow us to ‘breathe a life’ through the journeys their characters’ take through the stories themselves.
It is with extreme pleasure to now welcome a fellow reader and blogger into the fold of published status as an ‘author’. Mr Jackson’s wit and humour is infamous throughout the three years we’ve been chattering on Saturdays – he has a tenacious eye for quality in fiction throughout the Romance genre and for authentic portrayals of historic periods. If you want a go-to reference for where History entreats into a Historical novel, look no further than Mr Jackson for advice! His knowledge about ancestral research and nautical history is further impressive as he brings a lot to the table to discuss a wide variety of stories and settings.
As soon as I knew he was going to publish his debut novel this year, I knew I wanted to feature him on my blog – I’ve watched his journey from budding novelist to making the bridge from a moonlighting writer into the blogosphere and online communities as a reader/blogger to published author. The following conversation is meant to introduce my readers to the series he is creating through this first installment of “Heart of Stone” whilst giving you a few inside glimpses behind how he creates his literary world.
Dublin, 1730
When young and beautiful Mary Molesworth is forced to marry Robert Rochford, widowed heir to the earldom of Belfield, she finds that her idea of love is not returned. Jealous, cruel and manipulative, Robert ignores her after she has provided him with a male heir, preferring to spend his nights with his mistress. Power-hungry, Robert builds up a reputation that sees him reach for the highest positions in Ireland.
Caught in an unhappy marriage, Mary begins to grow closer to Robert’s younger brother, Arthur. Acknowledging their love for each other, they will risk everything to be together. But Robert’s revenge threatens their lives and tears them apart.
Will Mary and Arthur find a way to escape Robert’s clutches?
Based on real events, Heart of Stone is a tale of power, jealousy, imprisonment, and love, set in 1740s Ireland.
Be sure to brew yourself a lovely cuppa and settle in for a lovely convo between Mr Jackson and myself! Afterwards, kindly remember to leave your notes, comments & questions for Mr Jackson in the comment threads as he will be responding as he’s able to leave you a reply. And, hopefully this will be a Historical Drama you’ll earmark to read whilst finding out why I love these kinds of releases!
As you’ve turned being an Ancestry Sleuth into a golden chance to tell an unknown story out of your family’s own lineage, what surprised you the most about how the story started to knit together? Especially, as it seems as if the pieces of the story’s heart were primed to be told through a novelist’s perspective?
Mr Jackson responds: I first became aware of the story behind Heart of Stone some ten years ago, in an old book I found on-line about celebrated Irish women. It sounded like a story worth pursuing, and gradually the whole tale came together. I thought “Wow! This is a story worth telling. At the time, though I didn’t have the desire or skills to try to tell it.
Then I realised that the story – as it was – couldn’t be told directly. I WANTED to tell it, possibly for the sake of the protagonist’s ghosts, but I knew I would have to write what I think of as “the story of what SHOULD have happened.”
I love how you took a tale out of historical records and re-invented it through a pair of lens which befitted the story itself but augmented the players into a re-imagining of how the events ‘could’ have played out if things had been different in their lives. This is one reason I, too, love HIstorical Fiction – the greatest joy is finding the ‘what ifs’ and questioning how things could have been if only this or that had been altered out of the historical past. Sometimes, I even find Alt. History narratives to be fascinating because they ‘alter’ key events which shifted society one way or another towards one outcome vs another. Similar to what your saying – there are some inspiring ‘moments’ in History which give us a moment to ponder, “This could have been so different if only,…” In this, you have whet my own thirst of interest to ‘see’ what you ‘saw’ and watch how you let the pieces fall together in a different way than how they were originally fused!
When your tracing your Ancestral roots, what are you hoping to find? What motivates you to keep going if you hit a blind spot or a place where the ‘mothers/fathers’ and other ancestors start to fall off or become a bit more tricky to locate? Do you have advice for other Ancestry Sleuths seeking their own lineage?
Mr Jackson responds: Initially, it is a case of “joining up the dots” and seeing who’s there, hiding among the branches. A lot of the time, what you find is not of possible interest to anyone else, but just occasionally, an ancestor will turn up who has done amazing things, or been to amazing places, or witnessed amazing events. You just have to keep going, and eventually the stories will start to come together.
Sometimes I find, the pieces which are ‘missing’ or ‘absent’ in our ancestral lineage are ‘found’ the further we move forward in global indexing of records – the grunt work going on right now on this front is quite impressive! I’ve taken part in such an event myself, yielding to accepting indexing historical records isn’t in my future as it affects my eyes – leading to more migraines – as it’s the ways in which the records are kept and digitalised which affect how I ‘see’ them myself – but more to the point, its due to this volunteerism for updating digital archives and records which is leading all of us to find ‘missing threads’ of our own ancestral past. I agree! Previously, when I first started conducting online research, I could only ‘go so far’ backwards, whereas now I can go into the 10th and 9th Centuries! I need to due more research into the UK ancestors – as the titles are starting to come forward and I am a curious sort – were those who held titles hold positions which might have lent them more ‘biographical data’ to uncover a bit about their lives? This is what I live for myself – ‘the stories’ of my ancestors – if you can find them & if they were able to live a life which could leave behind a record (either in public or private sectors) – it gives us a portal of entry. Yes, I agree – patience is most important when doing this kind of research!
What do you personally find attractive about the Historical Fiction genre? I know your a stickler for ‘accuracy’ and ‘plausible’ concurrency with History’s time-line – what did you personally try to authentically write into your own novel which others might not be aware of as being ‘historically accurate’ rather than ‘writerly inspired takeaways’?
Mr Jackson responds: Although I love genealogy, I am a “teller of tales” rather than a historian. I want to tell a story that does justice to the historical protagonists. I do like to be as accurate as I can, but the story comes first, last and between.
A list of historical facts with no narrative is a history textbook. A narrative will turn it into a classic story.
I couldn’t agree more! The best reason to dig into Historical Fiction is to find a breathable lifeblood of ‘History’ we can interpret and fuse into our heart, mind and spirit. Historical Fiction allows us to find a tangible and believable way to allow ‘History’ to consume us in such a way as giving us an up close perspective of what past generations ‘lived through’ whilst stepping through their shoes and assuming the roles they once lived. We get to walk a mile in their spirit – seeing and feeling everything they felt, whilst feeling humbled and empathetic to their experiences. For this, my admiration and gratitude is infinite for the writers who curate this special part of literature which allows us the ability to ‘time travel’ back into the past and re-live the moments which are just ‘out of sight’ but never far from mind.
Have you visited Ireland where the story is set? What were your impressions of the area now? What if anything was left behind from the 18th Century which helped you alight in the time-fold of your story?
Mr Jackson responds: I have. I wrote the initial story using what research material I could find and use in the UK, including old maps, pictures, Google Earth, etc., but I knew I would have to see the area, to look at how the walls, roads and hedges were made, for example. Can you see over the hedges from the back of a horse, for example? (Yes, you can.)
Two of the main houses involving the story are still there. One of them is in wonderful condition, and a must for visitors to County Westmeath. I really got a sense of the motives of the original players in the drama from actually SEEING where they had stood, and walking the paths they had trod.
Ooh! Isn’t it a grand time to be a writer? We can do such a lot of preliminary research through online sources before going into ‘original sources’ and library outlets – to pull together the texts and other background bits needed to round out our research ahead or before we take a journey to a specific ‘place’ or ‘setting’; if travelling is able to be added to the research queue. I love how you included such ordinary details of ‘hedgerow’ visibility! I oft wondered how writers sorted things of this nature out – I sometimes presumed they could have rang a local source on the phone and asked specific questions which would only come to mind to a writer to question – but going there in person, is also a wicked treat, because you can ‘drink in more’ than the specifics whilst seeing how the setting ‘fits in’ with your vision for the story. Ooh! I am so happy to hear you were able to re-walk through the places your characters once walked themselves! I bet you felt ‘connected’ to them in a way you only could imagine previously!
Why do you think marriages and romance in the 17th and 18th Centuries were fraught with difficulties? Where alliances were sometimes preferred over true love? Where was the balance between duty, honour and the passion of the individual?
Mr Jackson responds: Custom and tradition. Being “married off” was the only real ambition any well-born girl could hope for. The higher up the social scale, the better. I think that true love was often the last factor in many marriages, although it may well have arisen later.
Alas, this was a sad and tragically true reality for so many girls – sometimes it is also the most heart-wrenching dramas to read in Historical Fiction because too oft-times the girls did not fair well later in life nor had any happiness to alight after their ‘duties’ were filled to their husbands. It’s a sad fate and yet, somewhere along the line – things changed for the positive. We might not always understand the historical past, but through the stories, we see the courage the women had despite the circumstances and in some instances, how they thrived despite the odds. It just depends on the individual we’re reading about and the choices/options they had within their restricted life.
Was there a moment during the writing process you felt you were giving your ancestors a ‘better ending’ than they had lived? How did you weigh the joys of writing the story ‘Heart of Stone’ with the realities of knowing how the persons who lived had not had the best of outcomes in their lives?
Mr Jackson responds: I knew I was doing this. I felt that, at a distance of three hundred years and seven generations, as one of the very last surviving descendants of the main players, this was “something I could do for them.”
I love your attitude of ‘putting to right’ something which living history could not accomplish alone. It gives a grounding of truth in how a descendant can re-take up the reins of his/her own historical past and knit out of what is left behind a humbling story of where truth and fiction merge into a new ‘entry’ of truth on behalf of the ancestors we hope understand our reasons and motivations to tell ‘this new story’ out of their own living truth. These kinds of stories interest me to tell as well – they give a personal edge to History and are generally the ‘unspoken’ stories which might otherwise go unnoticed. The kind which are meant to be told – which is why it’s a blessing there are those of us who are contemplating how to ‘tell them’ and give them a new light of promise for being understood.
As your stories are being threaded into a series – where different aspects of your lineage are being re-addressed through different stories which alight in the time-line of your series focus – is there a year or period of events upcoming your most enthused to write about?
Mr Jackson responds: This one had the advantage of being my first book. As a bunch of ancestors though, they ALL, generation by generation, seem to have done interesting things, outside the run-of-the-mill.
I am really looking forward to book 4, about Henry Dumaresq, my Great-Great-Grandfather. Watch this space!
I cannot even express how wicked happy I am hearing this is going to be a ‘multi-generational saga’ as these the delish treats I find threading in Historical Fiction! I am a serial fiction girl – so anytime I find a ‘saga’ I can truly sink my teeth inside – through all the highs, lows and in-between bits affecting one family’s lineage of ancestors & descendants, makes me giddy! I love how you can trace through the legacies of how time and events affected their lives but also, how things start to interconnect whilst seeing how the ‘world’ around them evolved and changed. It’s a wonderful journey your setting up for the readers who love these kinds of stories – so thank you! And, how impressive is it that your ancestors left behind such wicked sweet folly for a novelist to ‘play with’ such as yours have for you? You were dearly meant to be a historical novelist!
Being a Historical series – do you have an endgame in mind for how many instalments you’re going to be creating?
Mr Jackson responds: I have 4 in a line at the moment. There are lots more scumbags, rapscallions and rascals – and a few heroes, still to come beyond that.
Laughs! Sometimes the characters who interest me most are the ‘rapscallions and rascals’ as you call them! Ironically or not, sometimes they have the most interesting back-stories and either redeem themselves ‘somewhere’ along the route of their futures or they add interesting flavour to the descendants who came after them! Everyone has ‘something’ in their historical past where sometimes the people you least expect to be in your lineage might actually provide the most entertaining ‘story’ to tell lateron! I will look for the ‘few heroes’ you have to share, as they give you a flutter of hope for the joys your family enjoyed along the way too! Always good to have a lineage full of interesting characters – good times, bad times and those moments which make everyone question ‘what next’ are part of what gives us our fortitude of strength lateron.
When it comes to multi-generational historical sagas, which stories have you personally read lift the genre to the same level of intensity as your own series? Which stories would your readers love to know inspired you?
Mr Jackson responds: I was brought up on Georgette Heyer, the true mistress of Regency Romances. I also found her historical novels, especially those dealing with the Napoleonic Wars were, for me, fantastic reads. Brilliantly accurate, and a real feeling of place and character.
Being a sailor, I was also an addict of CS Forrester’s Hornblower books, and Alexander Kent’s Bolitho books; again, great stories from the Napoleonic era.
Hornblower is on my TBR – I didn’t want to begin this series or the ‘Master & Commander’ series without the mindset for being able to go ‘start to finish’ with both of them. I did pre-jump my readings of the latter by seeing the motion picture with my Dad – it was an intense film, but it gave me something to ‘hold onto’ until I could pick up the books and dive into these worlds. I personally LOVE Nautical Historical Fiction – life on the high seas and the dangers therein. In a cheeky way, this is why I loved ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ films (minus the last one!). Yes! The whole era of the Napolenonic Wars is generally the ‘timescape’ I seek out most myself! It is rife with dramatic tales and of raw courage of the men who claimed the sea as their home. I honestly never could settle into a Heyer novel myself – Austen claims my heart, but Heyer only strove to frustrate me. Needless, I understand why reading Classical authors is a font of inspiration for finding your own path as a novelist.
What is your favourite part about being published by an Indie Publisher? What made you chose Crooked Cat Books over other options?
Mr Jackson responds: A couple of friends of mine were published by Crooked Cat. They spoke highly of them. I submitted to them, and was offered a contract. I then did a LOT of “Due diligence” checking, and couldn’t find anyone with a bad word to say about them.
I can’t really say if Crooked Cat are better or worse than a larger publisher, as I don’t have any experience to draw on. They will certainly do for now, though.
Has anything surprised you as you’ve started to embark on launching your publishing career? As you’ve transitioned from book reviewer and Romance appreciator into a full-fledged author?
Mr Jackson responds: I have been very surprised by the changes in the industry, from the publishing model before amazon and e-books. An author, especially a new author like myself, has to do ALL their own publicity, right from the get-go. Even established authors are finding that publicity budgets have been slashed, and they are having to do a lot more – or nearly everything – themselves.
This is something I have noticed myself – writers are wearing a lot of hats these days besides the one thing which gives us the most joy: the creation of the stories themselves. I give credit to all writers who do not get jaded by the new methods of being published to where they feel stretched too thin to enjoy the ‘writing’ side of their lives. Each of us has to find our own balance and not let the Publicity / Marketing side overtake our writerly passion. You are on the right track of understanding what you need to do whilst not taking on more than you can handle.
What is your favourite outlet of social media and why do you love to use it to connect to authors and readers alike?
Mr Jackson responds: Twitter or Facebook. It’s hard to pick a favourite; it’s like picking your favourite child. Twitter is short and snappy; Facebook allows a more considered response.
I’ll always be a tweeter rather than a facebooker – I love Twitter for the convos and the ways in which we can interact in a real-time interface. I think your either one or the other when you get down to the heart of social platforms – I know a lot authors have to multi-task and learn more than one platform but for me, I knew I had to sort out which platforms worked best for me rather than stretch myself past the point of what I could enjoy maintaining. Blogging is my own personal niche but tweeting always me a way to ‘microblog’ my bookish life whilst being my outlet of communicating with the book world at large.
Whilst you’re not researching and writing your next story, what uplifts your spirit the most?
Mr Jackson responds: That’s very easy. The company of friends! (among whom I include my wife, Pamela)
Without our families, we’d be lost as much as without our faith – so I can dearly see why this was your answer! Friends are the joys we happily find alight on our paths when we do not expect to find them and give us hours of happiness for having crossed our paths. I am thankful your life is full of passion and joy – both in your writerly pursuits and outside of them! Plus, I think – photography might be something amongst your loves – you have a knack for taking snapshots of the ‘moments’ you live and of the people you meet! Your your own historian of memories!
Thank you, Mr Jackson for such a stimulating conversation! I enjoyed getting to know more about your own writerly style & approach to writing Historical narratives whilst finding we share a mutual love of the ancestral past whilst being Ancestry Sleuths in our families! The joy for me was celebrating your publishing debut whilst having had the chance to get to ‘know’ you through #ChocLitSaturday! Likewise, I look forward to following your ‘saga’ as it unfolds – bit by bit – and here’s to a long career of being inspired by your ancestors to curate a breadth of fiction which makes them feel proud of their descendant who took their lives to heart & retold their tales for his generation!
This interview is courtesy of the blog tour via Brook Cottage Book Tours:
I am blessed to be able to interview the authors who are inspiring my next reads!
Similar to blog tours where I feature book reviews, as I choose to highlight an author via a Guest Post, Q&A, Interview, etc., I do not receive compensation for featuring supplemental content on my blog. I provide the questions for interviews and topics for the guest posts; wherein I receive the responses back from publicists and authors directly. I am naturally curious about the ‘behind-the-scenes’ of stories and the writers who pen them; I have a heap of joy bringing this content to my readers.
{SOURCES: Book Cover Art for “Heart of Stone”, author biography, author photograph of John Jackson, book synopsis, blog tour badge were provided by Brook Cottage Book Tours and used with permission. Post dividers badge by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Rainbow Digital Clip Art Washi Tape made by The Paper Pegasus. Purchased on Etsy by Jorie and used with permission. Tweets are embedded due to codes via Twitter.Blog graphics created by Jorie via Canva: Conversations with the Bookish Banner and the Comment Box Banner.}
Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2017.
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