Back to school, back in time! Quickfire Q+A with Barbara Henderson

Join us as Barbara Henderson, author of Enter Eddie Shakespeare, takes part in our series of quick-fire Q&As!

What is a quick-fire Q&A?

We have our interviewee pick a number at random and we ask them the general question listed next to it.

Shortly after we switch to asking book-specific questions, to give you a brief insight into our wonderful writers and their books.

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What would you tell your younger self?

I would say to have a bit more self-belief earlier in the journey because I was in my 40s by the time I really believed I could be a writer and I didn't start writing seriously until I was in my mid-30s. So I feel like I would have maybe had the confidence earlier had I known that it was actually possible for people who didn't go to private school or had contacts in the publishing industry.

Who's a writer you'd love to have dinner with?

There's a lady called Jane Hardstaff who wrote the book that persuaded me that historical fiction was going to be my genre. Jane Hardstaff wrote a book called The Executioner's Daughter. And there was one follow up, I think it's called River Daughter. You know, the book was brilliant. It really blew my mind to what kids could handle. And yeah, I just want to ask her why on earth she didn't write anymore. She just stopped after those two books. It's like, come on, Jane! So, I'd like to have dinner with her. And then obviously Shakespeare. That would be amazing. What a dinner party.

What was your favourite thing about writing this book?

It was connecting with my teenage self who fell in love with Shakespeare. I love the theatre and I think Shakespeare actually is the one who made me fall in love with theatre in general. And I'm now a drama teacher. So you can do your own interpretation of that. I studied English literature and Scottish literature at university. And I then spent many years teaching Shakespeare and teaching drama, sort of informed by that. So that was probably the best thing.

I also had a wonderful work in progress grant from the Society of Authors, which enabled me to go to Stratford and to London and to see plays and do the research tours and so on, which was wonderful.

What was the most emotional part about writing this book?

The most emotional is always related to what happens to the main character.And, you know, I am a sibling. I'm a much younger sibling than my two sisters. And I have continuously, they would hate me saying this, felt sort of dismissed or overridden in some way by them. And they do mean well. Now it's much more of an equal thing, but I remember being that 12 year old when your sisters are in their 20s and they know everything and they don't want you around. I think I tapped into that much more than I anticipated with Eddie, who is 16 years younger than William Shakespeare and is very much at the receiving end of that dismissal. So, yeah, that was a little bit emotional, not in a howling way, but in a way that really tapped into something, an insecurity perhaps that I had as a child.

Who's your favourite character and why?

I do love Eddie. I love the resilience that he has and the inventiveness. And actually, he has quite a sunny disposition. So even when things don't work out his way or when he has a setback, he finds a way to try and see the good in people. And I really like that.

Perkin was so much fun to write. He is an antagonist for Eddie Shakespeare. He tries to thwart Eddie's efforts to secure a place in the company and he's just vile. But there are reasons for this. And I feel like I have a responsibility not to just paint things as black and white, but to make sure that there's nuance even with the bodies. And I think there are reasons why Perkin is insecure and might want to target somebody like Eddie.

There's loads of good stuff in that book. I enjoyed a lot of the characters. William Shakespeare, I was cagey about writing about because we know so much about him. He's been studied in so many ways. People have very strong feelings about what they think he might have been like and I was really interested in that early, early stage. What was he like when he couldn't have been confident of his legacy or of his future success? What was he like when he was just on the cusp and it could have all gone belly up for him so easily? That's what I was interested in. And I think, I hope, I've done him justice.

What do you wish you had known when you first started writing this book?

How many people were going to be able to weigh in with opinions!

I'm German born. I live in the north of Scotland. Am I really the most logical person to write about William Shakespeare and Tudor times in London? No, I'm not the most natural person. I'm just the one who was fascinated by his youngest brother. And I had a strong idea for a story and I wanted to see that through. I feel like I'm still to find out what I wish I had known when all the people weigh in with all the things that I might have got wrong, but I hope not.And so far, they haven't. So far, responses to the book have been thankfully very positive. So I am lucky and grateful.

I think with history, you're always running a risk, you just feel like you're running that gauntlet. If you're inventing a fantasy world, nobody can tell you you're wrong. Whereas with history, it's a really clear and present danger.

If your book was made into a film who would play the characters?

That is hard because I'm not very good with names! I think often the type of actors that we know have very strong American accents and are known as other characters because we've seen them so many times. So I would pick a complete unknown. I think it would be very important to do, sort of what the Harry Potter films did, you know, just pluck some completely unknown children out of obscurity. And run with not necessarily how they're physically described, but whether they capture the spirit of the characters. So somebody quite wiry, you know, Eddie would have been well used to physical labour. I think he would have been wiry and muscly, but quite thin. Reasonable would have to be very dark skinned and would have that sort of mysterious loyalty that only somebody who's just gifted with being an amazing friend can give. And we've all met these people who just are amazing friends, regardless of what you throw in their way. And so that's Reasonable's superpower. He's incredibly musical. So you'd have to pick a child with very, very good tuning and a lovely velvety voice. That would be my preference.

Henslow has been played before by Geoffrey Rush. So why not resume this? Let him play that again as Henslowe. I think he was Henslowe in Shakespeare in Love. So let's plop for him. Why not?

Did you know how it would end before you started writing?

Yes. And that is because I have actually scoped out a sequel. You know, I started thinking of this as a possible series. So I thought if you had kind of like Horrid Henry, where Horrid Henry essentially stays the same character and it's essentially aimed at the same target audience. But you're taking sort of an issue or a theme at a time. My book right now is set in 1591, 92. These are the kind of months that I'm covering. But the year after, there is a huge outbreak of plague, and they probably would have become strolling players. So I've got a whole plot ready to go for that. What happens to Eddie afterwards? What happens to Marlowe? Marlowe is murdered very shortly after my book ends. So yes, I knew that it would have to be resolved that Shakespeare would be a success, that Eddie would be accepted into the company. But there are all sorts of other adventures to be had. One day, maybe if I get a chance, I will return to this.