Firsts For Christina Courtenay
This week I'm delighted to welcome author, Christina Courtenay, to the blog as part of my series of Firsts. Her wonderful novel, Echoes of the Runes, was published recently and captivated me when I read it. I asked her to tell us why this novel is a first for her
Christina, welcome and over to you.
Echoes of the Runes is a first for me in
several ways – when it was sold to a publisher, it was the first time I’d had
an agent representing me. It was wonderful to have someone fighting my corner,
especially since my agent is Swedish and therefore totally on board with the
Scandinavian theme. It was also my first book with Headline Review and working
with the lovely team there was an absolute joy.
And it was my first published
book with a Viking setting. So a lot to celebrate there! I deliberately said first Viking book published
though, because actually it wasn’t the first one I ever wrote. A very long time
ago, when I decided I wanted to be an author, the very first thing I tried my
hand at was a historical novel set during Viking times. I had never written
anything at that point, but naively thought it couldn’t be that difficult, so I
sat down and wrote a Viking story aimed at the Mills & Boon Historical line
… and OMG was it bad!
I can laugh about it now and I have kept it as a reminder of
how far I have come, but at the time I thought it was absolutely fine. I had no
idea about plotting, characters, setting or head-hopping. No concept of writing
style or misuse of adverbs. I hardly did any editing at all before sending it
off, and as for researching the historical period – er, what? I was a complete
novice and got just about everything wrong … and yet, I had such fun writing it!
In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I kept on writing, even when I received a
rather brutal (and well-deserved) rejection of that story. It didn’t matter,
because by then the writing bug had well and truly bitten me.
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All these years later, I have learned a thing or two (I
hope!) and I have definitely done an awful lot more research into the Viking
period. These days I try to get the setting and details right, and I can’t tell
you how many fact books and articles I’ve read, as well as watching programmes
and visiting museums and sites. In the name of research, I went to Denmark last
year to see some wonderful Viking museums; I attended the York Viking Festival
(great fun – can’t wait to go again!); I took my husband on a journey to the
north of England in order to follow in the footsteps of the ‘heathens’ who
attacked these shores a thousand years ago; and I’m hoping to visit Iceland and
Dublin when the virus pandemic is finally over. These were all (or will be) firsts
for me too and probably places I may not have considered going to otherwise,
but they all proved hugely enjoyable.
Finally, like Jan, I am extremely grateful for the support
of the writing community and all the lovely readers out there – they helped get
Echoes of the Runes into the Top 100 Kindle chart, definitely a
first for me! All in all, this book and my journey towards its publication has
been a truly unique experience and I’ve loved every minute!
Many thanks for inviting me to the blog, Jan!
It's been my pleasure, Christina. I'm not surprised at the response to your novel and the amazing reviews it's receiving. I thoroughly enjoyed it and am looking forward to The Runes of Destiny out in December.
Blurb:
When Mia inherits her beloved grandmother's summer cottage, Birch Thorpe, in Sweden, she faces a dilemma. Her fiance Charles urges her to sell and buy a swanky London home, but Mia cannot let it go easily. The request to carry out an archaeological dig for more Viking artefacts like the gold ring Mia's grandmother also left her, offers her a reprieve from a decision - and from Charles.
Whilst Mia becomes absorbed in the dig's discoveries, she finds herself drawn to archaeologist Haakon Berger. Like her, he can sense the past inhabitants whose lives are becoming more vivid every day. Trying to resist the growing attraction between them, Mia and Haakon begin to piece together the story of a Welsh noblewoman, Ceri, and the mysterious Viking, known as the 'White Hawk', who stole her away from her people in 869 AD.
As the present begins to echo the past, and enemies threaten Birch Thorpe's inhabitants, they will all have to fight to protect what has become most precious to each of them...
About the author
Christina Courtenay is an award-winning author of historical romance and time slip(dual time) stories. She started writing so that she could be a stay-at-home mum to her two daughters but didn't get published until daughter number one left home aged twenty-one, so that didn't go to plan! Since then, she's made up for it by having eleven novels published and winning the RNA's Romantic Novel of the Year Award for Best Historical Romantic Novel twice with Highland Storms (2012) and The Gilded Fan (2014), both published by Choc Lit.
Christina is half Swedish and grew up in that country. She has also lived in Japan and Switzerland but is now based in Herefordshire, close to the Welsh border. She's a keen amateur genealogist and loves history and archaeology.
When Mia inherits her beloved grandmother's summer cottage, Birch Thorpe, in Sweden, she faces a dilemma. Her fiance Charles urges her to sell and buy a swanky London home, but Mia cannot let it go easily. The request to carry out an archaeological dig for more Viking artefacts like the gold ring Mia's grandmother also left her, offers her a reprieve from a decision - and from Charles.
Whilst Mia becomes absorbed in the dig's discoveries, she finds herself drawn to archaeologist Haakon Berger. Like her, he can sense the past inhabitants whose lives are becoming more vivid every day. Trying to resist the growing attraction between them, Mia and Haakon begin to piece together the story of a Welsh noblewoman, Ceri, and the mysterious Viking, known as the 'White Hawk', who stole her away from her people in 869 AD.
As the present begins to echo the past, and enemies threaten Birch Thorpe's inhabitants, they will all have to fight to protect what has become most precious to each of them...
About the author
Christina Courtenay is an award-winning author of historical romance and time slip(dual time) stories. She started writing so that she could be a stay-at-home mum to her two daughters but didn't get published until daughter number one left home aged twenty-one, so that didn't go to plan! Since then, she's made up for it by having eleven novels published and winning the RNA's Romantic Novel of the Year Award for Best Historical Romantic Novel twice with Highland Storms (2012) and The Gilded Fan (2014), both published by Choc Lit.
Christina is half Swedish and grew up in that country. She has also lived in Japan and Switzerland but is now based in Herefordshire, close to the Welsh border. She's a keen amateur genealogist and loves history and archaeology.
Author
links/social media:
Echoes
of the Runes purchase
links:
Amazon UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Echoes-Runes-sweeping-epic-forbidden-ebook/dp/B07T65CZPX/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=christina+courtenay&qid=1579114778&sr=8-1
Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed Christina's post. Do you look back on your first novel and, like her, realise how much your writing has improved or was your first ever novel published?
You may also follow me on Twitter @JanBaynham and on my Jan Baynham Writer page.
Lovely to read about Christina's novel, Jan. I hope she gets to visit Dublin when it's safe to travel again - lots of Viking interest there!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sara. It will be good if she could, wouldn’t it? Christina’s book has certainly whetted my interest in the Vikings so I’d love to visit Dublin again and combine that with all the other things the city has to offer.
DeleteThank you Sara - I would love to Visit Dublin! In fact, it's next on my bucket list as the book I'm working on at the moment starts off there. Just hope we can all travel soon again!
ReplyDelete