An Interview with Nancy Jardine

The Reading Cafe is happy to welcome Nancy Jardine. Here is a short bio on Nancy.

Born and raised in Scotland, Nancy Jardine is an avid reader of many different genres. She now full-time writes in different genres which include: light-hearted contemporary romance, Celtic Britain historical romance, general women’s fiction, family saga, and time-travel fiction for children 9-12yrs. If, like Nancy, you are looking for a bit of escapism then you’ll find all that, and more, in her novels.

Let us begin our Interview with Nancy.

TRC: Nancy, we at the Reading Café would like to thank you for taking the time to answer our questions. Would you please tell us about yourself?

Nancy: I live in the village of Kintore, in the spectacular castle country of Aberdeenshire, north-east Scotland, where history of all kinds is a stones throw away. I’m an ex-primary teacher of mainly 11-12 year olds, but I gave up the chalk in 2011 to write full time. When not writing, or officially child-minding my 1 year old granddaughter two days a week, I tend my lovely weeds in my now neglected large garden. A few years ago I started to do serious ancestry research and find that absolutely fascinating. I’m glad my own handsome hero of a husband does the cooking, or these days I’d starve!

TRC: When and how did you first become interested in writing? 

Nancy: I always loved teaching creative writing in my classes, but my first ‘proper’ writing projects were 2 large non-fiction historical books which were published for school purposes.  A teacher resource book was written in 1999, and a comprehensive history book for Kintore School was written in 2005-my researches revealing that the village school amazingly dates back to the early 1500s. Those kick started my writing career.

TRC: What was your first book ever published?

Nancy: My first fiction novel-Monogamy Twist -was published by The Wild Rose Press in Aug 2011. This is my contemporary version of a weird Dickensian bequest of a slightly dilapidated estate in Yorkshire, England. This novel developed when I was watching a new B.B.C. series of Charles Dickens on TV, and concurrently doing the early ancestry research for my paternal family.

TRC: Have you always liked to write?  Please tell us your process in writing a novel.

Nancy: I always wanted to be a reader, but initially only wrote when necessary for teaching purposes. The urge to write for personal enjoyment only sneaked up on me after I had done the non-fiction work. I started off as a ‘pantser’ with my first novels, but then had to do a lot more planning for my ancestral mystery romances that have complex plots. I now initially tend to make a general timeline; a basic plot structure; I purchase inexpensive images for my characters from my favorite image sites (I use these for blog purposes and for my book trailer videos) and then I get started.

TRC:  You write contemporary romance and Historical novels.  Do you have a preference of the genre you like to write?  Is there any other genre you would like to try?

Nancy: I don’t really have a preference and I’m keen to try different genres and sub-genres. Though I loved creating my non-fiction works I’ve no plans to do any more non- fiction. To date I’ve written an action-packed adventure time-travel novel for children aged 10-12 years-Dabbling With Time-set locally in Kintore, where an intrepid trio travel back to the Roman invasion of the Emperor Severus in A.D. 210. I’ve started a second of this series. Two of my contemporary romances are what I call history/mysteries- Monogamy Twist and Topaz Eyes- where there’s a complex ancestral tree involved. The family members of the ‘tree’ have to be revealed to solve the central mystery. Take Me Now is a light-hearted contemporary romance-also with a mystery involved-where the heroine has to uncover a saboteur who is damaging the hero physically and also his businesses. My historical adventure, The Beltane Choice, is set in Celtic/Roman Britain of A.D.71 when the Romans invade the Brigantes territory. I’m presently writing a sequel to this. I’ve also started a family saga, beginning in the 1850s in Scotland, that’s loosely based on some of my ancestry research.

TRC:  How did you come up with the idea for The Beltane Choice?  Can you please tell us the premise of this story?

Nancy: In 2002-2004, there was an intensive archaeological dig undertaken on the land that was used to build a brand new school in my village of Kintore. The archaeologists discovered that the previous estimate of around 4000 Roman soldiers, encamped in a marching camp approximately A.D. 83, was probably inaccurate. New evidence showed that the area had been used 3 times by Roman Armies, and there had perhaps been 10000 men camped there. That dig was right across from my own garden, so I hope you can imagine how excited that made me! From that point on I was desperate to write a novel involving an invading Roman Army and the local Celtic population. I think you may have guessed I’ve always loved teaching Celtic/Roman history to my classes so it was a natural progression to move on to writing a romance set in those times.

To be totally different from my kid’s novel The Beltane Choice is located in what we’d now call the border areas between Scotland and England, in A.D.71-a critical time for the Celts of northern England. The Selgovae tribe’s territory was north of the border, and the Brigante lands to the south. A Brigante prince-Lorcan of Garrigill-captures a Selgovae princess-Nara of Tarras– and takes her back to his Celtic Settlement. Nara is used as a bargaining tool to ensure a stronger bond between the usually warring Celtic tribes when the might of the Roman Empire marches northwards in Brigante lands. The bargaining does not quite work out as simply as Lorcan plans and thwarts the development of their relationship. Nara has her own personal reasons for choosing her mate before the Beltane festival and finds herself in a real dilemma. Bloody war with the Romans causes untold grief and suffering- Lorcan is lost to her-but Nara’s determination and courage makes sure that situation changes!

TRC:  How much background research was required to write your novel?

Nancy: A lot of Celtic/Roman research was done generally during my teaching of the era, and I’ve accumulated lots of books. I’ve also visited many Celtic/ Roman visitor centers in Scotland and England and absorbed knowledge from that. I had to delve into specific Brigante and Selgovae research for The Beltane Choice, though there is actually almost no evidence written down about those tribes. Much of what is available was written by roman historians-like Tacitus- and has to be used with a ‘pinch of salt’.  A lot is then left to the imagination as to how the Celts actually lived. In The Beltane Choice I’ve used historical facts where suitable, but it’s mainly my interpretation of what I envisage as their lifestyle.

TRC: What are you currently working on?

Nancy: I’m currently working on a sequel to The Beltane Choice. My initial idea was to take on a particular character and tell that story. About 8k words into it I realized the time sequence would not work well enough. I abandoned that first draft, and started all over again with a different character from The Beltane Choice.

When I hit a road block with the above I pick up my saga and add more to that.

TRC:  Many writers discuss book ideas and information with a family member, a friend or another writer.  Who inspires you?  Do you have a muse?

Nancy: Unfortunately I have no-one who fits that category. One drawback of living in the countryside is that there are no writers groups nearby. I’ve largely done everything on my own till the editing stage of my books. I’m actively seeking either beta readers or a critique partner, since I appreciate their value to other writers I’ve come to know in Crooked{Cat}Publishing and The Wild Rose Press.

LIGHTNING ROUND:

FAVORITE FOOD: Spaghetti Bolognese

FAVORITE DESSERT: Scottish tablet

FAVORITE AUTHOR: Don’t have one. I like far too many, of many different genres.

FAVORITE BOOK: Pride and Prejudice

FAVORITE CHARACTER (NOT YOUR OWN): Jack Sparrow (and almost anything done by Johnny Depp)

LAST MOVIE YOU SAW: Fantastic Four with Ioan Gruffudd (a re-run on TV when I took a break from writing!)

Thank you, Nancy for answering our questions. The Reading Café wishes you the best of luck with The Beltane Choice.