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Get into Bed with Hellen Hollick (Author Interview #2)

October 20th, 2009 | Author Interviews, G-I, Great Britain, Kings, Princes, Sheiks, Chiefs, Medieval, Queen or Princess 

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Hello Keira – thanks for welcoming me to your Blog!

Keira: How has Gwenhwyfar and Arthur's love evolved from what it was in The Kingmaking to Pendragon's Banner?

Helen Hollick: Things have moved on from the close of The Kingmaking. Gwenhwyfar now has one young son and is expecting another child. Arthur is attempting to consolidate his victories by making peace with the Anglo Saxon English – but not everyone agrees with his ideas, not even Gwenhwyfar. When he insists she goes with him to visit an English settlement she is horrified. Not only is she frightened by not knowing these people, or their customs and traditions, she is about to have her baby.

The relationship between her and Arthur is pushed to the limit – and beyond – in this middle part of the trilogy. Tragedy can either draw a couple together or rip them apart….

Be warned, a box of tissues may be needed!

Keira: What are some challenges that will be put to them to challenge the strength of that love?

Helen Hollick: There are quite a few, some of them tragic, some of them frustrating, some downright infuriating. But sorry I’m not telling you about them as it will spoil the read!

Keira: Arthur is now King – what challenges will he face in Pendragon's Banner? How does he hope to overcome them? How must he change?

Helen Hollick: Arthur’s goal is to unite his Kingdom and bring peace. It is an uphill struggle for him though, as other people seem set on stopping him. Even Gwenhwyfar….

Keira: Arthur’s stubbornness and Gwenhwyfar's temper are sure to cause problems. Outside of their relationship, how do their flaws affect life at court, politics, and situations?

Helen Hollick: There are quite a few exchanges of stubbornness and temper in this one. Arthur is single minded – he knows what he wants and is determined to get it, but members of his Council, especially his uncle, Ambrosius Aurelianus are equally as determined to stop him, which heads disastrously towards what could be an end of the Kingdom and peace.

We find out a lot more about Morgause in Pendragon’s Banner as well – and her daughter, Morgainne, the lady of the Lake. Arthur meets her and the inevitable happens. There are a few scenes where Arthur should have kept his breeches fastened – no doubt Gwenhwyfar feels the same!

Winifred, Arthur’s first wife also has her fingers dabbling in several pies. She wants her son to be the next King.

Gwenhwyfar has her own distractions. Her children, her worry and concern for Arthur – her jealousy of his other women. But then, she has a few male friends too. Friends who spark Arthur’s retaliatory jealousy.

There are several scenes in Pendragon’s Banner that draw from the early Welsh stories of Arthur, you may recognize a few or them. Weaving them into my novel in a plausible and practical way was my own challenge.

Keira: Why do you think people are drawn to King Arthur's story? To Medieval stories?

Helen Hollick: I think people enjoy the familiar Medieval tales of Arthur and the round table, Holy Grail and knights in armour because they conjure up a long-gone era of courtly love, honour, respect and Doing Noble Deeds. The whole chivalric image that brings out our romantic emotions.

But my Arthur is not from those stories. My Arthur is a rough, tough, down-to-earth war lord and soldier. The sort of man who can be an utter b*****d – but will fight to the death to protect you, and will always be there when you need him.

The figure of Arthur, in legend and fiction is one of the most enigmatic and intriguing of all the characters of English history and literature. What is it about him that makes people discuss him, read about him, write about him?

Google for King Arthur, and you will spend weeks going through the links. There are discussion boards, forums, facebook profiles, blog pages, myspace sites. He is there in virtually every genre of fiction, from fantasy to thrillers. There are movies of Arthur, poems about Arthur, plays centred around Arthur – you name it its been done.

People argue about whether he lived in the Iron Age, Roman period, Dark Ages or the 11th Century, the 12th, 13th…..

He was a local warlord in the north of Britain. He fought in Scotland, Wales, Brittany or came from the West Country – Cornwall, Somerset.  He is the King of myth and fantasy. Magic and mystery surround Arthur and his deeds.

Was he from the realm of Magic – or was he a real man, a soldier who led a war band into battle? The sad fact is - there is not a shred of evidence to prove he actually  existed!

For the truth about Arthur there are no answers.

And it is that which makes him so fascinating, why again and again we write about him, read about him.

I fell in love with Arthur while I was writing the Pendragon’s Banner Trilogy. I intimately knew that man for more than 13 years while writing the Trilogy – it took a long, long while to get him out of my system and move on to creating my next main character (Harold Godwineson in Harold the King. –  also to be published soon by Sourcebooks Inc)

But that feeling is not unique to me.

I wrote to the wonderful author Rosemary Sutcliff just before she died. I had completed The Kingmaking, but it was still in the process of being made ready to be published, so I could not send her a copy. I told her all about it though, and my ideas of Arthur. I received back a handwritten letter (complete with her cartoon motif of a dolphin attached to the last ‘f’ of her signature.)  She confided that after she had written her novel about Arthur, Sword At Sunset, she had not been able to get him out of her mind for at least six months.

I know what she meant…. And that is why Arthur is so popular. His spirit, his charisma, his presence goes on, living for ever.

No wonder the legends state that he will come again when he is needed. He never left. He is always here, dwelling in the minds of his loyal subjects, those of us who read and write about him!

Helen Hollick

Main Website: www.helenhollick.net
Blog profiles: www.acorne.blogspot.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/helen.hollick
Monthly Journal: www.helenhollick.net/journal.html

Follow Publicist Paul on Twitter: @psamuelson01

http://www.helenhollick.net/culpa41.html my own hints and tips for aspiring writers.

Buy: Pendragon's Banner: Book Two

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Author Interviews, G-I, Great Britain, Kings, Princes, Sheiks, Chiefs, Medieval, Queen or Princess



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3 comments ↓
#1 Marg on 10.20.09 at 6:00 am

I am just reading the first book in the trilogy and enjoying it very much! I didn’t read too much of the interview because I was wary of spoilers, but I am glad to see the interview nonetheless!

#2 Isabel Roman on 10.20.09 at 9:33 am

I’m not a big Arthur fan, but after reading your interview I’ve figured out why. Because a great many books focus on the paranormal aspect, on the rivalry between he and Morgan le Fey, or on Merlin with very little room for something new and fun or different. They don’t focus on the man, in this case, on his life, victories, skills, and love. I may just have to pick Kingmaking and Pendragon.

#3 Helen Hollick on 10.20.09 at 9:36 am

Isabel – you are so right! I never realised that before either!
Hx

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