Featured Interview With Millie Thom
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born in the seaside town of Southport in Lancashire, UK, in 1947, the eldest of three children. Times were hard for most people in those years following WW2 and we lived in a prefab (prefabricated house) until I was seven. Prefabs were quickly constructed in many parts of Britain, especially in areas where bombing had been heavy. Although Southport itself wasn’t badly damaged, the city and port of Liverpool, eighteen miles south along the coast, was. My mother’s old family home in Liverpool was completely obliterated, fortunately while the family was out. But it brought about the move to Southport in 1942– where my parents met when my dad was home on leave from the navy.
I lived in Southport until leaving university, after which I moved to Doncaster in Yorkshire to take up my first teaching post. I met my husband (also a teacher) during my first year there and we were married two years later. We’ve now been married for forty-six years. We’ve lived in various parts of England during that time, the moves mostly being for job promotions. It was while we lived in Wantage, in Oxfordshire, the town where King Alfred was born, that I first got the idea of writing about him.
We now live in Nottinghamshire, midway between Newark and Lincoln, and all but one of our six children live in the area. The youngest lives in London.
Since retiring a few years ago, I spend much of my time writing, but my husband and I also enjoy travelling, both abroad and around Britain. We still have a very long list of ‘places to visit’!
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I’ve been an avid reader all my life, mostly thanks to my dad, who was rarely to be seen of an evening without his nose in a book. It was Dad who took us (the three children) to the library on a Saturday, a place I’ve always adored, even in the days when ‘Silence’ was demanded. I liked nothing better than quietly browsing through lots of books before making my selections. Mum was more of a storyteller than a reader, and found no trouble in telling us bedtime stories, which she made up as she went along. She had such a vivid imagination.
I still have a passion for reading, and never go to sleep without having read at least a few chapters. I read mostly historical fiction because I’m mad about history, and I also love a good crime novel – preferably a murder mystery.
I wanted to write for many years before I actually had the time to do it. Six children and a teaching career left little time for much else. But I suppose I did plenty of writing at school … little pantomimes at Christmas and scenes and short plays for weekly assemblies, for a start. Not to mention the thousands of reports!
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Most of the books I’ve read in recent years have been historical, set in a variety of countries and at various time periods. I enjoy straight historical fiction as well as historical mysteries. There are many historical crime novels around at the moment and the genre has become very popular. In fact, once I’ve finished my trilogy about King Alfred, I plan to write one, too.
I’ve read and enjoyed historical books by a number of well-known authors, including Wilbur Smith and Bernard Cornwell. I also loved Harper Lee’s wonderful book, To Kill a Mocking Bird. One of my very favourite authors was Dorothy Dunnett who, sadly, died in 2001. She wrote such complex historical novels, set in her native Scotland. Her books are hard to get into for many new readers, due to the dated style and Scottish dialect, but for me, her characterisation is second to none.
I can’t really single out one particular author who has inspired my writing. I think most books I’ve read have given me much food for thought. I’ve always loved the Classics, and although they aren’t historical fiction, the time periods at which they are set have always fascinated me. I first read ‘Jane Eyre’ by Charlotte Bronte when I was eleven, and quickly followed it with ‘Wuthering Heights’ by her sister, Emily. I continued to read everything from ‘Robinson Crusoe’, ‘Little Women’, ‘Anne of Green Gables’, ‘Moby Dick’ and several Jane Austen novels – to name just a few.
I also enjoy crime novels set in the present day. Authors I particularly like include Val McDermid, Mark Billingham and Patricia Cornwell. Their plots are so gripping and I can only imagine how much research goes into the modern police procedures and forensic methods.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
The last book I published was ‘A Dash of Flash’, which is something totally different to my historical trilogy. I’d been writing flash fiction on my blog for some time, and decided to put some of the stories into a book. They are a mix of contemporary and historical, with a few fairytales and ghost stories. I didn’t want all the stories to have been previously published, even if only on WordPress, so I wrote several new ones, including the longer stories of almost 1000 words. All in all there are 85 stories and I found illustrations for two-thirds of them.
At the moment, I’m writing Book Three of my trilogy (‘Wyvern of Wessex’) which will complete the stories of both King Alfred and Eadwulf and have spanned almost fifty years. If all goes well, it should be published in a few months’ time. The trilogy has taken me several years to write, mostly because I started Book One ten years ago when I was still teaching. Unfortunately, I simply hadn’t the time to complete it and left it ‘on hold’ for the next six years. Not a good idea!
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