Pump Up Your Book Chats with M.M. Bennetts

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Educated at Boston University and St Andrews, M.M. Bennetts is a specialist in the economic, social and military history of Napoleonic Europe. The author is a keen cross-country and dressage rider, as well as an accomplished pianist, regularly performing music of the era as both a soloist and accompanist. Bennetts is a long-standing book critic for The Christian Science Monitor.

The author is married and lives in England.

Bennetts’ latest book is Of Honest Fame.

You can visit the author’s website at www.mmbennetts.com.

Q: Thank you for this interview, M.M. Can you tell us why you wrote your book?

Well, I had begun Of Honest Fame and then set it aside while I rewrote my previous book, May 1812. But once that was finished, and even before, the characters from this book were all there, waiting like actors in the wings, pacing up and down, tapping their feet, ready and determined to go on-stage. The imagery was there in my head too. But this one character, he’s just so full of drive and restless energy, and it was as if he was stalking me, always there, always in the shadows waiting, watching for his moment, leaning against the walls of my mind, determined to have his say, his time on the page. I had to write it, if only to shut him up.

Q: Which part of the book was the hardest to write?

The segments that take place in Poland, in the Sudeten and Czechoslovakia were the most difficult from two angles. One was a complete absence of any pictures or engravings or descriptions of houses or villages or farms during the period of the Napoleonic wars. Everything dates from the days of the Soviet Bloc or WWII. So researching the geography of the place was immensely challenging.

But equally, those were the passages in the novel which touch on the devastating effects of having an army of half a million men plus their horses quartered on some of the poorest communities in Europe, and what happened. So emotionally that was very stark.

Q: Does your book have an underlying message that readers should know about?

One of the things which always disturbs me about historical fiction set in this period is how the Napoleonic Wars always happen somewhere else, if at all. But that’s like making a movie set in between the years 1939 to 1945 and never mentioning WWII–as if the British lived in some insulated bubble or parallel universe. Which was hardly the case in the early 19th century–they had their fingers on the pulse of the world. And as a social historian, I know that these wars were immensely disrupting to all the countries across Europe, but also to worldwide trade–the Americans were hit particularly hard in this way. And so I always want to give the reader a glimpse of that reality, to allow them to see what people on the ground in those countries must have experienced after the ruination of twenty years of total war. I’m interested in the people, always the people. Without them, there is no history. I want to bring that alive.

Q: What was one of your favorite books as a child?

Charles Lamb’s Tales from Shakespeare

Q: What is your favorite book as an adult?

Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities.

Q: What are you reading now?

Russia Against Napoleon: The Battle for Europe, 1807-1814 by Dominic Lieven—which is so fantastic I hardly have words to describe just how superb it is.

Q: Do you remember when the writing bug hit?

The truth? At university, I was an unrepentant idler and slacker–so instead of writing my essays as I was meant to, I’d sit by the fire and write stories and sonnets in my essay notebooks.

Q: Besides books, what else do you write? Do you write for publications?

I’ve been a free-lance book critic for The Christian Science Monitor since the late Eighties, so I’ve written book reviews for much of my working life.

Q: Do you have a writing tip you’d like to share?

Learn to love the editing process and every step that takes your prose and story from that dull pebble through the cutting, cleaning and polishing to a faceted and bright-shining diamond.

Q: Would you like to tell us about your home life? Where you live? Family? Pets?

Honestly, I’m fairly boring—married with children and dogs, and living in the country, describes it pretty fully. So, teeth to brush, kids to school, dogs to walk, leaves to rake, apples to pick, weeds in the garden—that sums it up pretty thoroughly.

Q: Where’s your favorite place to write at home?

If I’m working on something in a journal, which I often do before I approach the Mac, that might be anywhere there’s a pen and paper; but once the work is on the Mac, then I’ll be at my desk in the Growlery.

Q: What do you do to get away from it all?

I ride out on a nearby stretch of downland.

Q: Were you the kind of child who always had a book in her/his hand?

My father used to take me to the library every Friday evening when he’d get home from work, and his rule was I could stay up as late as I wanted on Friday and Saturday night, as long as I was reading. So I was a hardened reader by an early age.

Q: Can you remember your favorite book?

I loved historical fiction, even as a child, but my earliest book memory is of my father reading the Greek myths and legends to me and my brother. I must have been about three. I shall never forget the Minotaur!

Q: Do you remember writing stories when you were a child?

I didn’t write as a child. I wanted more than anything to be a concert pianist, so the thought never occurred to me.

Q: What was the first thing you did as far as promoting your book?

I started and maintained a blog about history, horses and writing—www.mmbennetts.com.

Q: Are you familiar with the social networks and do you actively participate?

I’m familiar with some of them—Facebook, for example. And I do keep in touch with my friends and readers that way.

Q: How do you think book promotion has changed over the years?

Well, it used to be enough to be a hermit and let your publisher transcribe your pages of hand-written text into type and then publish the thing. It worked brilliantly for Patrick O’Brian. But it’s all become so much more competitive and publishers and readers want an author to engage with them. So, if you feel you’ve got something to say that’s worth a reader’s time, you have to forego the hiding out in your Ivory Tower and go talk about it.

Q: What is the most frustrating part of being an author?

For me, the most frustrating thing is and has been the feeling that we’ve lost the hunger for good storytelling combined with memorable characters and great writing.

Q: What is the most rewarding?

The opportunity to write books that I hope will become friends to my readers and be read over and over again–beautiful books full of beautiful writing that touches the heart and the soul of my reader, because, I’ve said it before, a book is the most intimate form of communication, straight from my head and heart into yours.

Q: How do you think book publishing has changed over the years?

Computers have changed everything, from the speed of writing (it’s not longhand anymore) to editing, to type-setting, to cover layout, to putting the whole together with the printer.

Q: If you had one wish, what would that be?

One wish? To write my next book–to continue the story.

Q: If you could be anywhere in the world other than where you are right now, where would that place be?

Riding out on the Downs, or perhaps riding across Scotland.

Q: Your book has just been awarded a Pulitzer. Who would you thank?

The Beloved; God; and my dear publisher for her faith in me.

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Question of the Day

How do you make sales happen for you?

A lot of hard work! I sponsor a lot of on line parties, festivals and contests. Book sales don’t magically happen, believe me. An author has to work hard to earn her readers. And then she has to work hard to keep them by giving them something they’ll enjoy reading. I try hard to make my books worth a reader’s time.

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