The Accidental Historical Writer
International Women's Day Q&A with Barbara Henderson
As part of our celebrations for International Women’s Day, we are highlighting some of our female authors through our quick-fire Q&A.
What is a quick-fire Q&A?
We have our interviewee pick a number at random (between 1-42) and we ask them the general question listed next to it. Shortly after we switch to asking book-specific questions (1-22), to give you a brief insight into our wonderful writers and their books.
Today we join Barbara Henderson as she answers our questions about her life and her book The Reluctant Rebel.
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If you could summarize your writing process and five words, what would it be?
Slightly chaotic, always enthusiastic and scatty.
If you could be any superhero, who would you be?
I would have to make up my own superhero. Somebody that is always able to come up with a funny answer because I can't do that.
What are you reading currently?
I am reading Vita and Gladiator, a children's book about Roman London (Londinium), by Ally Sherrick.
Where is your favourite place to write?
I oscillate, but I would say my central library in Inverness. No one's pressuring you to spend money. Everybody leaves you alone. There's a bit of white noise in the background, people having fun with books.
What could be better?
What inspired you to start writing books?
I had a horrible accident when I was a kid. I had to spend weeks confined on the sofa. Stories got me through that.
I loved being able to go wherever I wanted in the story.
My parents read me some stories and when I was better I could read for myself. It made all the difference to me. I thought if I can do that for someone else, take them somewhere they want to go, then that would be a great way to spend my life.
What is the most difficult thing about being an author?
Rejections because I still get them. I had 121 rejections before I was ever published. I was that kid who just kept trying to take the shots in the hope of scoring a basket. Eventually, it went in and I was lucky enough to be published.
In between, there are always projects that people say no to, and I think that's the hardest part. When you love something and nobody else gets it, it’s hard.
What is your favourite thing about being an author?
I love seeing a kid's eyes light up when they listen to a story. You can see that they're not seeing you anymore. They're seeing the situation you're describing.
What's your favourite animal and why?
I like sheep, but I think it's just because they're fluffy. But I love them at a distance.
I don't think they're nearly as cute upfront.
If you could describe yourself in five words, what would they be?
Friendly, enthusiastic, driven, chaotic and happy.
What is your favourite breakfast?
Porridge with stewed apples or some sort of stewed fruit.
What attracted you to your writing of your specific genre?
I mostly write history now and I think it was almost by accident.
I loved this historical event that I came across during the Highland Clearances. I wanted to write about it and I gave it a go. That's the one that got through the door.
Being scatty and a little bit disorganized, I didn't think I would make a very good historical writer. I'm not your meticulous, panicking person who gets everything exactly right,but I have found a way around it.
It’s called finding the expert who really cares, and then making friends with them.
I love historical fiction because I love reading it. There are a couple of books that really landed with me. One was The Executioner's Daughter by Jane Hardstaff.
What is your favourite thing about writing The Reluctant Rebel?
I lived very close to Culloden battlefield. I'm still in Inverness and it's the place I take all my visitors to.
Bringing the Jacobite era to life was something that was kind of on my bucket list. When I realised that there actually wasn't a lot of fiction for children about the period. That's when I thought, Gosh, I'd really like to be the one who does it.
How did you celebrate the publication of this book?
I really wanted Culloden Battlefield on board. So, I contacted them and I said, “you don’t know me but I'm writing about this period that you are also trying to share with people. My absolute dream scenario would be that we would collaborate on teaching resources for this book and that you would allow me to have the launch up at the battlefield”.
They said yes!
We held in it person, whilst dressing up and seeing the weapons demonstrations
I was able to bring my story to life.
Who is your least favorite character and why?
Captain Ferguson, one of the villains during what happened after Culloden. He was a government captain, but he seemed to take particular delight in torturing and in threatening the Jacobites.
How did the narrative for this book come about?
Historical fiction is like a washing line. You've got all these pegs that hold the washing in place (the historical events) in the order that they happen. The washing, the story, can flutter with my imagination.
What emotional reaction did you expect people to have to it?
The Reluctant Rebel is really a book that is an adventure first and foremost. It's a deadly game of hide and seek.
I would like to think that readers would be immersed in the story and care enough about these youngsters to be propelled through the story.
Are the characters in this book based on anyone in particular?
All the real historic characters really existed, but I made up the children. If you're writing for young people, then you really should have a young protagonist.
Archie and Meg are entirely invented characters. Meg is the enthusiast, the idealist, but also a tad naive. Archie is the pessimist, the realist, the one who kind of expects things to go wrong.
There is a bit of me in both of them.