Big thank you to The Reluctant Bride author Beverley Eikli for answering a few questions for CLP today!
When did you know writing was for you?
I was the family storyteller when we had no television during school holidays at our Beach Cottage in the seaside town of Coffin Bay in South Australia. When I was about seven, I’d gather my younger sisters round and I’d regale them with the next episode of the story I’d been concocting: ‘The School for Witches’. During my dramatic teenage years I wrote Medieval sagas followed by Victorian historicals. Every lunch hour at school I filled exercise books with my stories because the writing bug was so strong. I simply couldn’t NOT write.
After I met my husband, a Norwegian bush pilot, and went to live with him in a thatched cottage in Botswana’s Okavango Delta, I tried my hand at a couple of Mills & Boon romances – Khaki Fever and Romp in the Swamp – however it took another 23 years after drowning the heroine of my first completed romance (written at age 17) before I finally got published.
How would you describe your books?
They’re all historicals which build on a web of lies and intrigue while the romance develops slowly, before the story gathers pace, becoming an action/adventure or mystery story with a lovely Happy Ever After ending.
Why was The Reluctant Bride a book you wanted to write?
I had this idea about a quiet, brooding war hero called Angus who’s been in love for years with a beautiful and seemingly unobtainable woman, Emily. When Angus delivers news of the death of Emily’s fiance, he tells her a lie in order to spare her pain; a lie which comes back to haunt him after Emily becomes his ‘reluctant bride’. I loved the idea of a white lie turning into a millstone and precipitating a series of unexpected and ultimately explosive events.
The story was written in layers over about six years, winning a variety of competitions along the way. Finally I realised that the backstory set during the French Revolution, was pivotal to the heroine’s dark past, so I thoroughly researched those turbulent times. I wanted to tell a story where readers could immerse themselves in a tale of spies, lies and betrayal, then rejoice in an unusual resolution, while unconsciously learning about the historical framework of the 26 years which underpin the book, from the beginning of the French Revolution to the Battle of Waterloo.
What is the hardest part of the writing process for you?
Not getting too involved with the plot. At least I know that my hero, Angus, has been described by almost every reviewer as a total hunk – the strong silent type whose quiet heroic exterior hides simmering passions and the determination to win the heart of his ‘reluctant bride’ at any cost.
What are your favorite genres to read?
I love a good thriller, mystery or romance; usually a cross-genre romance, which is what I like to write. One of my favourite writers is Bernard Cornwall. I love the historicals he co-writes with his wife, Susannah Kells.
What do you want readers to take away from your story?
I want them to escape into a world of love, drama, mystery and adventure, and to finish the book with the sense that however dramatic or terrible life becomes, the love and loyalty of a good man or woman will always make it possible to weather the storm.
How important do you think social media is for authors these days?
Until recently I’d have said, ‘I don’t know’. However, since The Reluctant Bride was released in mid September I’ve noticed that every time the book is reviewed or I’m interviewed, or I do my History through Costume Talks, my sales jump noticeably. So I’d have to say, yes, social media is very important. In the old days, authors didn’t have to take so much time away from their writing to promote their own book, but social media has become increasingly difference and it really makes a difference.
Fortunately I’ve just handed in the edits for my March 2014 release, The Maid of Milan, so I can concentrate on promoting The Reluctant Bride more than I was able up until now.
What would be your advice to aspiring writers?
Don’t give up because you’ll never know if success was around the next corner. Definitely, tenacity is as important as ability.
Thanks so much, Samantha, for having me here today.
