Author Interview with G. Lawrence
1. When did you start writing?
When I was very little. I wrote a story about a robber whose name was burglar, or vice versa. I can't remember now. Anyway, the big twist was his name was another name for thief, which, at the age of six or seven I thought was a huge plot twist and intensely amusing!
2. What was your journey towards becoming an author like?
I always dreamed of being a writer, did English Literature at University, and I was always writing, but rarely did I finish anything. For years it went on like that. I'd get these great ideas for the start of a story, but I never knew the ending and so I gave up. I started writing on Wattpad in my late 20s, which changed a great deal for me. By posting a chapter a week, I finished several books. Once I knew I could do it, I stopped psyching myself out of the entire process and got to writing.
I've always loved history and always felt many women of history don't get fair representation, so I started writing about two of my favourites, Anne Boleyn and Elizabeth I. My first book about Elizabeth, The Bastard Princess, followed, along with La Petite Boulain, my second book, this time about Anne Boleyn (not listed the order I published in! The second Elizabeth book, The Heretic Heir, was published before La Petite Boulain). After that, I couldn't stop. I left my full-time job in 2016 and although at times I've had to take on part time work (dream jobs aren't always ones that pay the best, and I try always to keep my books affordable) I've been a professional writer for ten years now. Sometimes I think about that and feel like the luckiest person alive. Even though there have been struggles with money over the years, even though I frequently work myself to the point of burnout (and I have actually burnt out before, during the Covid lockdown when I decided the best way to cope with isolation was just to work all the time - turns out that wasn't the best idea), I wouldn't do anything else. As long as I can write for a living, I will.
3. What can you tell me about your latest book? (Feel free to include an excerpt.)
Descendants of the Gods is book two in my series on Cleopatra. The first book, The Last Queen, was an imagining of her early life. This book deals with her rise to the throne after the death of her father and covers the events leading to the civil war between Cleopatra and her brother-husband Ptolemy, and the intervention of Rome and Julius Caesar.
I loved writing this book. The relationship between Cleopatra and her sister Arsinoe is central to the novel, and Arsinoe is one of my favourite characters. It's also a journey of self-discovery for Cleopatra. She starts in doubt over her abilities and finds confidence. There's a love story element too. If you know anything of the history, you know what I'm talking about!
4. What sort of methods do you use for book promotion?
Mainly social media. I post on most major platforms aside from X, from which I was banished this year because, apparently, I wasn't "authentic." I see myself in the mirror everyday so I'm fairly sure I'm authentically me. A whole load of authors got banished from the platform at the same time. I'm fairly sure it was X attempting an online book ban!
Anyway, I'm happy on the other sites. It's a bit of a shame, because I had 70k followers on X, but I'm now working on growing on the others instead. I’m growing fast on Tiktok. Come follow me there!
Aside from social media, I've used Amazon ads sometimes, mixed results there, and FreeBooksy, which a friend and fellow author introduced me to, which is excellent. I've used that a few times now for free book promos and it delivers each time for me. Mary Anne Yarde Book Promotions is excellent too, beautiful designs, lovely book ads and posts on Insta, and she's an author herself so totally understands the importance of a good picture and description!
5. Where do you get your ideas for stories?
History! I read a lot of nonfiction and sometimes something I read about a person just grabs me.
6. What are you working on right now?
The second book in a series on Katherine Parr. This one follows In Darkness Born and is called Of Shadow Forged. Whilst the first dealt with her childhood and first marriage, the second covers the early period of her marriage to Lord Latimer and the Pilgrimage of Grace, one of my favourite rebellions of the Tudor era, mainly because it was so fascinating in a social and political sense.
7. Any advice for other authors?
Read! Read everything, even books you think you won't like. You have to expand your mind, uncover the beauty of language, and throw yourself into every genre.
And write. Don't just talk about writing. Sit down and do it. First drafts are always terrible. Writing is as much about editing as inspiration, and if you haven't got anything to edit, you'll get stuck. You can polish a rubbish draft. So write it, no matter how rubbish the first draft seems. Make it beautiful as you edit.
ABOUT G. LAWRENCE:
“I am an independently published author, and proud to be so. Living in a little cottage in Wales in the UK, I love where I live as much as I love to write.
The age of the Tudors has been an obsession for me since I was a child, and many of my upcoming books will centre on that time, but I also pen the odd dystopian fiction or historical fiction from other time periods. I will be releasing all my titles on amazon, for kindle, paper and hard back, and soon to come, audio books!
I studied Literature (with a capital L) at University and usually have twenty or more books I'm currently reading. Reading and writing are about mood for me, and I haven't found a genre I didn't enjoy something about so far...
I can often be found on social media, sharing my books and any interesting historical site I have managed to find that week, so come find me if that’s what you like to see!”
