Jillian Chantal

I have Sue Perkins here from Desert Breeze Publishing to chat a bit about her new release, Blitz.  I’m thrilled to have her. It seems she sent me her article and cyber space needed a snack and noshed on it. Not sure if it was my server or hers that was hungry.  I have the trailer posted below in the earlier post today if you want to take a gander at it.  Without further ado, here is Sue:

SUE:

Now my novel Blitz has been released I look back on the research I did to ensure the historical facts were correct. The story was inspired by my parents true life story and while a lot of it is fiction, the setting had to agree with the world of World War II. 

As a writer of fantasy and romance I don’t usually need to do a lot of fact finding. The worlds grow in my mind and eventually become the background scenery to the story. Writing about 20th Century History is another ballgame altogether. 

Instead of whirling along non-stop, skipping bits I found too hard, then going back when I’d worked them out, I had to keep stopping to check on facts. Mostly of the Plymouth settings I’d grown up with, but were they around before and during the war? My grandfather’s name was inscribed on the Plymouth War Memorial but what did the sculpture on the top mean? I’d never thought to find out before – it was just there. 

Luckily there are plenty of websites dedicated to Plymouth, the Second World War and the landmarks of the city. This took care of the earlier part of the story, but continual checking was needed to ensure the settings and facts were correct. 

When I reached the war years it became harder to keep everything straight. The English parts were not too difficult to research. Jack’s sojourn abroad meant making a timeline to keep the fighting and battles in chronological order. Not an easy task as I wanted it to loosely follow my father’s war experiences. This was certainly not easy to weave into the romance between Velma and Jack. 

Velma and Jack’s romance continued despite the hardships and stress involved with living through a war. My research made me feel content, but something wasn’t quite right. I thought back to the time immediately after the war and realized some of the words we use today were not common in pre war Britain or during the war. Words like “okay” were brought over by the American GIs and were only gradually taken up by the British. 

Eventually I made it to those two little – but amazing – words “The End”. Then I had to recheck the dates, places and speech again. Now the book is released I believe it has all been worth it. Not only is this book dedicated to my parents but I believe it is also a book lover of historical fiction will enjoy reading. 

Thank you for inviting me to your blog Jillian. 

Blurb

A summer of love can last forever, but clouds of war darken the horizon. Velma and Jack’s happiness is overshadowed by an uncertain future. Jack must leave to fight the enemy. Velma remains at home and does her best to aid her country. Will they survive and live the future of their dreams? Or will bombs and fighting destroy their lives and love? 

Here is a link to my website where we can read some of my work:

http://www.sueperkinsauthor.com

Or my blog which is a bit more fun:

http://sueperkinsauthor.blogspot.com

Buy link for Blitz is:

http://stores.desertbreezepublishing.com/StoreFront.bok