My guest today is fellow Romaphile, Melissa Addey. However, Melissa doesn’t just limit herself to the history of the Eternal City! She also writes historical fiction set in medieval Morocco, 18th century China and Regency England. Her books have been selected for Editor’s Choice by the Historical Novel Society and won the inaugural Novel London award. She has been the Leverhulme Trust Writer in Residence at the British Library and has a PhD in Creative Writing. She lives in London with her husband and two children.
If you’d like to try Melissa’s writing, visit www.melissaaddey.com to pick up two free novellas, The Cup and The Consorts. You can connect with Melissa via Instagram and TikTok.
You can buy Melissa’s (many) books via her Amazon page.
What or who inspired you to first write? Which authors have influenced you?
I read an enormous amount as a child (we didn’t have a TV!) – all the classics as well as a lot of myths and legends from around the world, which I loved. I think reading all of those eventually came back out again in my own stories. In historical fiction, Tracy Chevalier who finds fascinating and unusual topics to write about, Philippa Gregory for her Tudor and Plantagenet series, where each book takes a different viewpoint, forcing you to revisit events from a new perspective, it’s something I’ve done in two of my series and I both love reading them and writing in that way – sitting down to write the ‘bad’ person’s viewpoint is a real workout as a writer. I love reading John Steinbeck, Terry Pratchett and Stephen King, so I can only hope something of their skills eventually rubs off on me!
What is the inspiration for your current book? Is there a particular theme you wished to explore?
I’m writing a standalone Regency romance series called the Regency Outsiders – it follows the Regency romance subgenre, but tries to explore what it might be like to be a little outside the ‘norms’ of that society – from people declared ‘lunatics’ to those who are neurodivergent or disabled, those who have been locked into engagements from childhood and expected to go through with them. I’m enjoying mixing beloved tropes of the subgenre with characters who do not always fit the expected behaviour of those tropes. Right now the book I’m completing, The Viscount’s Pearl, has a woman who is probably autistic, which I found interesting as it runs in my family and I thought that a section of society that has very demanding social expectations would be tricky for someone neurodivergent to navigate.
Just before starting this series I worked on a series of four books set in Ancient Rome, because I was curious – if the Colosseum had such vast spectacles, who was organising them? A similar size arena today has 3000 members of staff – yet there is zero mention of the backstage team of the Colosseum, so I had a lot of fun recreating them from the evidence left behind. For example, someone must have found, trapped and trained animals. There is mention of coloured sand in the arena – so someone must dye it and if you have different colours of sand, what are you using it for? Presumably to make patterns, perhaps to dance through (there were dancing girls in the breaks) or to indicate parts of the scenery. All those myths and legends I read came in handy for this series because they used to re-enact a lot of them with gladiators or unfortunate prisoners.
This is a guest post Melissa wrote for A Writer of History about doing the research for those books.
What period of history particularly inspires or interests you? Why?
It’s not very commercially savvy of me to keep moving from era to era, but I’ve come to see myself as a sort of wandering minstrel: I go to an era that fascinates me, find the stories I want to share, then move onwards. I hope my readers enjoy travelling alongside me. So far I’ve visited Ancient Rome, medieval Morocco, 18th century China and right now I’m working on Regency England. My Roman Colosseum series consisted of 4 books, From the Ashes, Beneath the Waves, On Bloodied Ground and A Flight of Birds. They followed the backstage team of the Colosseum – a retired centurion, his scribe, an ex-Vestal Virgin, a runaway slave boy and a She Wolf (prostitute) as well as other found family, as they escape Pompeii as it gets destroyed and then inaugurate the Colosseum. Each book follows one element – fire, water, earth and air. I loved following their lives as the Colosseum grew and changed.
What resources do you use to research your book? How long did it take to finish the novel?
I usually collect books for a while, then start looking for articles or specific pieces of info I need to fill gaps required by the plot. Then I’ll go through a phase of sensory research: cooking recipes from the period, watch dances, go on research trips (my most recent was to London’s oldest perfume shop, which was amazing!) maybe even dress up. I use Pinterest to gather lots and lots of images that bring the book to life for me visually – including the fun of clothes for my heroines especially – I can spend a whole morning picking bonnets and frocks! I listen to music from the era or something suitably evocative while writing. For my Roman books the fantastic Steve Cockings, an international re-enactor, invited me twice to his house for the most wonderful Saturnalia feasts just before Christmas – he cooks food from the period and serves it on real or replica tableware. Everyone dresses up. He dressed me in a Roman lady’s outfit and then put real 1st century jewellery on me and I was sipping from real 1st century cups… it’s an awe-inspiring feeling.
A book takes approximately 6 months from beginning to publication, the first in a new era is always a little slower but once I’m embedded in an era it gets a little faster.
What do you do if stuck for a word or a phrase?
The thesaurus is often my good friend, but I also have things like lists of names, slang, cookery books, etc. for each era, and those are very helpful in filling in important details. I have a great book on Regency food, so I have fun devising fancy meals every time my characters need to eat. The Roman plebians ate more simply as many didn’t even have kitchens, but knowing how much Romans today love their food I created a street food owner who is the best friend of my main narrator, so that I could talk about all the delicious things she cooks from simple ingredients.
Is there anything unusual or even quirky that you would like to share about your writing?
I think I’ve found I love to write about very tight social situations where putting a foot wrong leads to anything from social ostracism to death, and then working out how my characters will cope with not fitting those expectations. I like both the rules and what happens when they are broken or at least challenged. And I love sensory research! I think it makes the era come alive for me and therefore for the reader as well.
Do you use a program like Scrivener to create your novel? Do you ever write in long hand?
No, just Word for me. I scribble a lot of lists of things to do or ideas for plots etc., but they go into the computer pretty fast.
What advice would you give an aspiring author?
Read a lot. Write as often and as much as you can because your writing will get better with practising, even if you don’t realise it.
Is there a particular photo or piece of art that strikes a chord with you? Why?
It’s a photo from Unsplash but I no longer have the photographer details – when I saw this it perfectly summed up the feeling of my book The Cold Palace, which focuses on an empress of China who ‘went mad’ and her life in the Forbidden City. I love it and I use it in my book trailers for that series all the time.
Tell us about your next book.
I’ve just finished and will be editing The Viscount’s Pearl, with the autistic heroine. After that I’m moving on to write To Win Her Hand which will be a Christmas Regency romance. It’s based on a line from Pride and Prejudice where Lady Catherine de Burgh says that Mr Darcy and her daughter were intended to marry since they were in the cradle. I wanted to explore what that would feel like – being duty bound to marry someone you barely know. I read years ago that every author should have a Christmas book in their back catalogue and having just checked Amazon’s Top 100 mid December and found 20+ Christmas titles, so it looks like they might be right. So this is my one! I’m lucky that the Regency era I’m using included not just lovely Christmas traditions but also 1814 had the last Frost Fair where the River Thames in London froze over and there was a huge celebration on it with thousands of people, fires, foods, music and dancing – so I have not just Christmas but a bonus Frost Fair to use in my story!
They called it the Flavian Amphitheatre. We call it the Colosseum. Let the Games begin.
Rome, 80AD. A gigantic new amphitheatre is being built. The Emperor has plans for gladiatorial Games on a scale no-one has ever seen before. But the Games don’t just happen by themselves. They must be made. And Marcus, the man in charge of creating them, has just lost everything he held dear when Pompeii disappeared under the searing wrath of Vesuvius.
Now it will fall to Althea, the slave woman who serves as his scribe, to ensure the Colosseum is inaugurated on time – and that Marcus makes his way out of the darkness that calls to him.
Can a motley crew comprising a retired centurion, slaves, a prostitute and an ex Vestal Virgin pull off the greatest gladiatorial Games ever seen? Or will they fail and find themselves in the arena as punishment? Time is running out to deliver an unforgettable spectacle.
FROM THE ASHES is the first, fast-paced novel in the gripping new Colosseum series. Follow the quick-witted and fiercely loyal backstage team of the Colosseum through the devastation of Pompeii, plague and fire. This is historical fiction at its most captivating: both action-packed and tender.
Thanks so much for providing insights into your books, Melissa! I think it’s fantastic how you’ve delved into so many different eras and cultures. Good luck with your Regency series.
You can buy Melissa’s (many) books via her Amazon page.
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