I was lucky enough to have USA Today bestselling romance author Emily E K Murdoch answer some of my questions about her life as a romance author. Her background is fascinating! In her bio, she writes, “I am a medieval historian and writer. Throughout my career so far I have examined a codex and transcribed medieval sermons at the Bodleian Library in Oxford, designed part of an exhibition for the Yorkshire Museum, worked as a researcher for a BBC documentary presented by Ian Hislop, and worked at Polesden Lacey with the National Trust. I have a degree in History and English, and a Masters in Medieval Studies, both from the University of York. I have a medieval series and a Regency novella series published, and I am currently working on several new projects.” After reading this, I bet you can’t wait to find out more! Here are her answers to my questions:
1. In your bio, you say you are a medieval historian and have a Masters in Medieval Studies. If you still have a day job, what is it, and how do you balance it with your writing?
I no longer have a day job! I worked for many years in the marketing industry, rising to become the Chief Brand Officer for a health tech company before I turned 30, but by the time I turned 30 I had become a full time author. It’s taken a lot (!) of very hard work, but I’m very fortunate to do what I love for a living.
2. Your story Least Likely to Win a Duke is a Harlequin Historical Romance and the first in the Wallflower Academy series. Can you explain what the "wallflower academy" is? Is this based on any real academies from the past?
There has been the idea of ‘finishing schools’ for a very long time, though we may not necessarily use that term. Children were often sent away to study even as early as the classical era, but by the medieval era there was a sense that a child could not become a fully rounded adult without some experience of the world. This was found by sending a child to live in another household, and by the Tudor era, wealthy and noble widows often housed several of their relatives, usually girls between the ages of ten and eighteen, in what we would consider a sort of finishing school environment, teaching them etiquette, courtly manners, and fitting them with the tools to find a suitor.
Finishing schools are a Victorian idea though of course have their roots much earlier, and focus on the idea that a young lady wasn’t ‘finished’ or ready for Society until she had been taught deportment and social skills. In America, they were known as ‘charm schools’. When a young lady finished her course of study there, she was considered ‘finished’ and ready for courting and marriage.
I created the idea of a wallflower academy because I was certain that there would have been families during the Regency era who despaired at their wallflower daughter - desperate to marry them off, but conscious that they weren’t bold or forward enough to find a husband. And so the Wallflower Academy was born!
3. In Least Likely to Win a Duke, your heroine Gwen has a deep secret. How important are secrets in your stories?
I love a secret! I think all of us have secrets, those things about ourselves that we would never tell another person. Being able to share your secrets with someone is a truly intimate thing, and so you all often find secrets - and lies! - in my novels.
4. You've written a Medieval series, a Regency series, and a series that takes place in the American west. What a variety! Do your series have inspiration in true stories, or real people from the past? How involved was the research for the various periods in history?
All of my series have slightly different inspirations, as you can imagine from such a complex back catalogue!
My medieval series is based on some real life events and a few historical characters, and it was the events and the situation they caused that interested me. Everyone knows about the Battle of Hastings in 1066 and the Norman Conquest, but we rarely give thought to the Anglo-Saxon women who were afterward married off to Normans. What did they think about that? How difficult was it for two people on different sides of a war to fall in love?
My American western series has required the most research from me. As a medievalist, I had much of the background information in my head, and living near Bath and being British, a lot of Regency history has come into my mind through osmosis! But I’d never studied American history before, so that was a challenge.
5. What advice do you have for a writer who aspires to write historical romance?
First, read! Read as much historical romance as you can get your hands on. There is so much variety out there: time periods, story types, heat levels, pairings, you name it, you can find a variation out there.
Second, work on your craft. There is a huge learning curve at the beginning, but it never ends - I am still learning and I hope I still will be in another ten years time.
And thirdly, find author friends. This can be a very lonely business, and getting to know and support other authors as they write can make a huge difference to your passion and, if you want it to be, career.
Thank you so much for taking the time for the interview, Emily! And best of luck with the new Wallflower Academy series.