T A Williams is the author of both romance novels and cosy crimes. I have read and enjoyed several of his books and you can see a couple of my reviews here –
Trevor kindly agreed to answer my questions and his answers make great reading! I hope you enjoy the interview and please read his books, you won’t be disappointed!
INTERVIEW WITH T A WILLIAMS
Which childhood books and authors were your favourites? Do you think they influenced you in wanting to become an author?
As a boy growing up I started out with Enid Blyton’s “Famous Five”, moved on to Arthur Ransom’s “Swallows and Amazons” and then from there into thrillers by people like Alistair Maclean. The very first thing I ever wrote was at age 13. This consisted of 44 handwritten pages entitled “The Lake Dwellers” which was a shameless rip-off of “Swallows and Amazons”. Because I’m very old, we still used to read books in those days because there was absolutely nothing worth watching on the black-and-white TV set. It’s interesting that my first attempts at writing in my 20s were thrillers. I moved on from there to historical novels (I got really hooked on the Middle Ages – still am) but nobody was interested in publishing them.
How did you get your first book published?
After years of rejections (I have a file of letters – remember them? – from publishers and literary agents which is the thickness of a telephone directory – remember those?). I decided in January 2013 that if they didn’t want my serious stuff, I would give them something humorous and so I wrote my first book “Dirty Minds” (now retitled as “What Happens in Devon”) and sent it to a newly-formed imprint of Harlequin called Carina. To my delight they offered me a two-book contract.
The first two books didn’t sell particularly well and I was amazed to be offered another two-book contract. These did better and that’s how it started. Now I’ve written 26 romances and I have another two in the can as well as three whodunnits (a new departure for me that appears to be unexpectedly successful).
If you had to write a non-fiction book, what subject or person would it be about?
As I said above, I’m hooked on medieval history and I would have written a book about Simon de Montfort. He was the man at the head of the so-called Albigensian crusade which eradicated the Cathars of southern France. Most historians see him as the devil incarnate nowadays, but I see him more as a Rommel character, a brilliant general fighting for an unworthy cause.
How do you come up with titles for your books?
That’s easy; I don’t. I used to come up with my own titles but of the 30 or so books of mine already published, I probably only chose the titles of half a dozen of them. The publishers and, in particular their marketing people, like to choose titles which they think will sell. I don’t always agree, but who am I to argue?
When you’re being interviewed about the books you’ve written, do you ever forget the names of your characters?
Regularly. I must say it’s a relief to be writing a series now of whodunnits where the same main characters appear in each volume. At least I remember those. To be honest, I also forget the names of the characters as I’m writing quite often. As mentioned above, I am very old and before long I’ll probably have a band around my wrist with my name and address on it.
What’s the strangest thing you have researched (or Googled!) for a book you were writing?
Since I started writing whodunnits, my browsing history would probably get me arrested. Do-it-yourself poisons, rigor mortis, how many bullets in an automatic weapon and so on? For my romances, I regularly find myself having to google such weird unknown mysteries as names of shoe designers and cosmetic companies.
What’s the best book you’ve read recently?
Without question the best book I have read in the last 10 years is “Wolf Hall” by the late Hilary Mantel. An excellent piece of writing and a remarkable piece of historical research. I must hold up my hand here and say that I read very little. At the moment I’m doing my best to read my way through all of the Agatha Christie canon but because I can’t dedicate the time to sit down and read the whole book in one go, I constantly have to keep checking back when I pick it up again because I forget who’s who (see above for my lack of memory where names are concerned).
How do you feel being a male author in a genre dominated by females?
The only times I’ve ever felt a bit awkward have been those rare occasions when I have been to Romantic Novelists’ Association meetings where I have found myself one of a very small group of men among a crowd of ladies. Unfortunately this throws up the aforementioned name problem. Because there are so few men there, most people either recognise me or assume that they know who I am because I’m the bald one. I then have to try and remember who on earth these ladies are, and it’s not easy.
As far as the writing is concerned, I knew when I started that I was taking a big risk trying to think myself into the head of a woman, but it seems to have worked and I generally get pretty positive reviews. After all, why shouldn’t men write romance? After all, Shakespeare was a man (allegedly). Just saying…
Do you have any rituals when you start writing a new book?
Not really. I’m what’s known in the trade as a seat of the pants writer. I normally start a book knowing where it is going to be set, a rough description of the main character, and the knowledge that it must have a happy romantic ending. How I get there very often only develops partway through the book. This is fine as far as the romances are concerned but I found I have to be a lot more disciplined with the whodunnits. After all, if you’re writing a murder mystery it’s helpful if you know who is going to be killed and by whom.
Tell us about your latest book/upcoming book/Kindle deals/anything you want to promote.
As I’m now writing two different genres for two different publishers these have been a busy few months. My next romance with Canelo is coming out on the 2nd of March (next week) and the next whodunnit at the beginning of April.
The romance, “Never too Late” (needless to say, not my choice of title) is the story of Steph, a recording engineer with a classical piano background, who finds herself staying at a luxury villa on the Mediterranean coast where a once famous rock band is in the process of reforming. While there, she falls out of love with her current boyfriend and in love with a classical violinist.
The cozy mystery, “Murder in Florence”, will be the third in the Armstrong and Oscar mystery series, all set in Italy. Dan Armstrong, a retired metropolitan police DCI, is now living in Tuscany where he has set up his own private investigation agency. He is engaged by a Hollywood film company who are shooting a movie in Florence as they have been receiving death threats. These threats arrive attached to arrows fired from a bow. It’s up to Dan and his four-legged companion, Oscar, to find the killer before he strikes again.
Many thanks, Karen, for inviting me onto your blog. I hope some of the above is of interest to people. If I can give one word of advice to any aspiring author it is simply: Persevere. I didn’t get my first publishing contract until I was 64 (The Beatles would have something to say about that).
Social Media Links –
Website: http://www.tawilliamsbooks.com
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/tawilliamsbooks
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TrevorWilliamsBooks/
NOTE FROM KAREN – I am on the blog tour for Never Too Late, so look out for that review!
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