Q&A with Gillian Hamer discussion

I loved the Charter, particularly the historical thread. What made you write the story of the girl on the shipwreck alongside the contemporary storyline? What were you trying to convey?

I've wanted to right about The Royal Charter since my childhood, and to begin with, Angelina only appeared in the Prologue. And then my agent said If I wanted her in there, she should have her own POV and feature throughout. From that came the idea to mirror her story alongside the modern day female lead, Sarah. I saw Angelina as a guardian angel, trying to protect Sarah from harm. And I wanted the ending to show them both finding peace through their interaction.

Does that make sense? And having read the book, do you think that came across?

Thanks so much for your reply. And yes, I thought that was what the two threads were about. I felt having Angelina there really added to Sarah's story and vice versa too. I felt a great deal for both characters and loved the way their stories overlapped.

Yes, I believe it makes sense, and it did work for me in that sense. I really loved the intertwining of history and contemporary; I found both characters deserving of my empathy, and that is important to me in a novel. I must have at least "one" character whom I can get behind and support and wish for events to work out for her or him. A novel in which I can't interest myself in any characters is a failure for me (no matter how much other readers might appreciate it).

Mallory, I think that's exactly what I loved about this book. Sarah and Angelina were such great characters and I had so much empathy for them both.

I'm saying that now because I just finished one in which I, to put it politely, could care less about any of the characters, and that for me is just sad.:(

Sorry about the typo right/write! *blushes* Got carried away on my soapbox!

Getting characters right is vital and something I think I'm only just learning as I've always been plot driven.

I must quote you a line from an interview I did in Frankfurt recently with Sir Richard Taylor of Weta Workshop (the man behind the CGI, costumes, characters and makeup behind Avatar, Lord of the Rings, King Kong and the new Hobbit) ... and best friends of Director, Peter Jackson who we were discussing here ...


Peter always finds the intimate. That’s the heart of every great story and great film, and something that is sometimes missed in the great blockbusters. The spectacle films that are made these days, is that in the epic, they continue to show the epic. But of course you go to a movie to form a relationship, you read a book to form a relationship, with a set of characters that you can otherwise not get in your normal life. And that will only happen in the intimate. It will never happen in the epic.

So it doesn’t matter if it’s King Kong or if it’s Frodo, as long as you connect?

Yes, you have to offer a unique character, that we want to go on a journey with. A book, arguably, is even more difficult, because you’ve got to go on a multiple week journey, or however long it takes someone to read a book. Or in my case a very long time! And I need to love and even love to hate that character, because that character has to be that engaging. You know, why did we all love Harry Potter? It’s because we grew to have those people as family members in our lives.

And I totally agree!!

Full interview in Dec Words with Jam magazine out this week!