The Writing Journey with Sophie Perinot

I’m delighted to have Sophie Perinot on the blog today discussing her journey as an author. Sophie and I have met a few times at HNS conferences and connect regularly on social media or via email. She has both a BA in History and a law degree but left the law to pursue artistic interests, including writing. Sophie readily identifies herself as a ‘history nerd’. Welcome, Sophie!

MKT: How do your more recent novels differ from earlier novels, particularly the first few novels you wrote?

Sophie Perinot: They are shorter. Noticeably so. 

Part of that is the market. Novels, even Historical Fiction which is given a bit more grace in the length department, are shrinking. My debut novel was, if I remember correctly, 160k words long. That’d be a tough length to get published today—especially as a newbie author without a track record. My last novel was right around 100k.

I’ll admit though, it isn’t just a changing market that’s shortened my stories. I’d like to believe my focus and editing abilities have advanced over the years. Additionally, I’ve moved away from biographical historical novels which I think also facilitates brevity.

MKT: How has your writing process evolved since your first years as an author?

Have I gotten better at the craft of writing? God, I sure hope so. I am more self-assured and more practiced at world-building, writing convincing dialogue, showing not telling. But . . . .

I’d say the essence of how I approach a new novel really hasn’t changed in the more than a decade since I was first published.

First, I need a spark (I’ll discuss how I find those in response to a later question). Once I know what, when and who I am writing, I begin my process with a loose outline/list of the historical events that will be in the book—an outline that expands as my in depth, grounding, research begins.

I know I am ready to start drafting when at least one of my main characters start speaking to me. I need to hear their voice. That’s the moment when I discover what the POV (or POVs) in the book will be—first person present, third person past? I don’t decide that ahead of time.

Nor do I outline my plot. I know what the climax will be. What the resolution will be (sometimes more roughly than others) and what major history will be featured. Smaller events and details are layered in as the writing progresses, and they prove relevant. 

People always ask me why I don’t outline. I think a detailed outline would—after days or weeks of work—hold me back creatively. And besides it would be pointless. My characters tend to defy me anyway. They say unexpected things. They do unexpected things. I’ll always remember when I was writing And by Fire (as Evie Hawtrey) and I walked into my kitchen to refill my coffee. My husband was there, and I said to him, “I am having a hell of a day. Burned bodies are stacking up, and if I don’t catch this killer soon more people will die.” He opened his eyes wide and responded, “you do realize you are writing this book.”  And I said, “Yeah but Nigella (my MC in the modern plotline) and I are solving the case as we go.”

Has your readership changed over time? Do you have any insights on why your readership has or has not changed?

This is such an interesting question because I honestly don’t know. 

I do, of course, have a core group of readers who follow me wherever I go in my career. Century hopping—no problem. Mystery, they are up for that. I pause to give a shout out to them—I really appreciate their loyalty on my journey. But I also hear from new readers with every book. 

Perhaps I should have, but I have never tried to compile any statistical data about my readership in terms of age, gender, education level, etc. If I had to guess—based on contact by email and attendance at author events, which is really more anecdote than data—my readers are predominately female and skew middle-aged and older. 

Have you tried a different genre? If so, which genre and to what effect?

I have indeed. I took on a new pen name, Evie Hawtrey, and stepped into the mystery/crime fiction zone (with some twisty history of course). Evie’s debut was dual timeline which I’d never tackled before. The historical timeline was 1666 during the Great Fire of London. The second and more substantial timeline was modern day. That’s a significant change for me. In a dozen years I’d never written anything contemporary.

I quickly found that the research expertise I developed by writing historical fiction (I would argue that no fictional genre develops more rigorous and detailed researchers) greatly helped me in researching my modern mystery (police procedures, what happens to bodies when they burn, etc.). 

While my research and writing skills held up across genres, I did have to make a MAJOR shift when writing in the present day. I had to get used to making things up where I actually knew the real 411 because—shocker—you can’t use real, living people in a contemporary timeline. This threw me for a loop. If I am writing in the sixteenth century at the royal court of France I can, of course, add fictional characters. But I can’t replace real people with them. I can’t replace the heir to the throne, with a fictional substitute.

When writing in the modern day, I quickly learned the exact opposite was true.  The better known a real person was the more urgent it was that I replace them with a fictional substitute.

For example, my main character in And by Fire, Detective Inspector Parker, works for the London City Police. During my research I learned the name of the actual Superintendent for that force, as well as other details about him. But—as a friend who writes contemporary fiction told me—use a living person and their details in a novel and you’ll end up getting sued.

So, I made up a Superintendent. 

I was mortified and worried people would think I was a hack. I kept saying “but if I name him X and readers go to the department’s website and his name is Y they will think I haven’t done my research.” Turns out that’s just not the way contemporary fiction works, lol.

So ultimately by taking on a new genre I expanded my writing skills and my creativity in unexpected directions. I think that growth will make my future books better, whether they are mysteries or straight historical novels. 

Have you tried different eras? If so, to what effect?

I am a time-traveler. I’ve published historical novels set in Ancient Rome, 13^th century France and England, 16^thcentury France, 18^th century France, and 17^th century England.

Many historical novelists are committed to a particular era. For example, I have several UK friends who are ancient Rome all the way. And that works for them. Alternatively, I know novelists who specialize in a particular country and wander quite effectively through different eras of that history.

On the other hand, I tend to be inspired by things I stumble upon serendipitously. Sometimes it’s a person. Sometimes an event. Sometimes a question. Whenever and wherever that spark takes me, I go. 

For example, my first published novel was written in reaction to a footnote.

I was researching a different manuscript—one that got me my agent but wasn’t published—when I stumbled upon the amazing, 13^th century daughters of Raymond Berenger, Count of Provence. Specifically, I found the characters that became the centerpiece of The Sister Queens in a footnote in a book on the history of Notre Dame de Paris—a footnote discussing the carving over the Portal Rouge of the Cathedral. According to that footnote, all four sisters made politically significant marriages, with the two oldest, Marguerite and Eleanor, becoming the queens of the rival kingdoms of France and England respectively.  I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t heard of these powerful influential women.  And it irritated me. I began to research, and it quickly became clear there was a story to be told—one that restored these women left inexplicably out of the retelling of history. 

A decade later my dual timeline mystery, And by Fire, was inspired by something very different—an NPR interview and a question that I’d been thinking about for a while. 

The idea for the historical thread in And by Fire came from an NPR interview. I heard a female historian talking about the Great Fire and how everyone today accepts it was an accident, but nobody benefited from it more than Sir Christopher Wren—it made his career. I thought what if I put a twist on that and asserted that not everything destroyed in the fire burned accidentally? That premise gave me the window to think about zealotry in art and what is and is not okay to sacrifice for art—a question that is very personal for most creatives and one that has interested me for a very long time.

If there is something else you can share about your writing journey, please do so!

I don’t believe that the writing journey is smooth or easy for anyone. I think it’s very important for writers who are just starting out to know that. Everyone has their own path. Comparison of anything—from your writing techniques to your sales—is NOT a good idea. 

You need to decide why you personally are writing, what your goals and expectations are for life as a creative, and what your limits are. For example, I won’t sign a two-book contract. I came to writing from practicing law—a job that often feels like being held hostage (my personal work record: 27 days without a day off). When I decided to become an author it was important to me that it be on my own terms and that I never had to perform to someone else’s deadlines at the drafting stage. 

If you take the time to understand why you write, how you personally create, and what you expect from your efforts, then you will have a reliable measuring stick for how you are doing. If, by that measure, you are happy with your progress and position as an author than what anyone else is doing is irrelevant.

P.S. it is supposed to be fun. 

Many thanks, Sophie. You’ve shared some powerful lessons for writers and some intriguing insights into the author world for readers.

FOR MORE ON READING & WRITING HISTORICAL FICTION  FOLLOW A WRITER OF HISTORY. There’s a SUBSCRIBE function on the right hand side of the page. 

M.K. Tod writes historical fiction. Her latest novel THAT WAS THEN is a contemporary thriller. Mary’s other novels, THE ADMIRAL’S WIFE, PARIS IN RUINS, TIME AND REGRET, LIES TOLD IN SILENCE and UNRAVELLED are available from Amazon, Nook, Kobo, Google Play and iTunes. She can be contacted on Facebook or on her website www.mktod.com.