Interview with Author Sally Nicoll

I’m excited to have Sally Nicoll, former journalist, broadcaster and advertising copywriter, join me today on Eliza Loves Sci Fi to talk about her debut thriller, The Power Behind The Throne. I met Sally through Twitter, a weird and wonderful community where I regularly meet some very lovely writers. I invited Sally to talk about her new book.

Hi Sally, thanks so much for joining me. The Power Behind The Throne is described as a high stakes political thriller and for me, it was certainly fast paced action from the get go. Can you tell us a bit about the book?

The Power Behind The Throne poses a question that could change the course of British history: What if an American student from Seattle had the power to bring down the monarchy? It’s hard to summarise the plot without spoilers, but the young American – whose name is Jack Hollander – becomes the target of a mysterious and sinister group of men who are in business to protect the throne at any cost. Jack becomes the hunted until he learns to be the hunter, which is a recipe for a compelling story that, in the words of one kind reviewer: ‘…grabs you by the throat and refuses to let you go until the final page.’ I’ve had a few emails from people who accused me of keeping them up late at night because they needed to know what happened in the end. As an author, that’s a huge reward. So far as the style of writing goes, it’s interesting to see who – as a newcomer – I’m being compared with. It’s fabulous to be mentioned in the same breath as David Baldacci, Robert Ludlum and Frederick Forsyth, and I’m equally thrilled to be compared to Jeffrey Archer. Not only does Mr Archer have a tiny cameo in The Power Behind The Throne, he is also a novelist whose stories keep ME up late at night!

That’s a fantastic group of writers to be compared to. Where did the idea for the book come from?

That’s a tough question! I suppose first of all, I’ve always been fascinated by the monarchy. As a journalist, I covered several Royal stories, and I’ve been in the same room as Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on several occasions. (I was surprised at how petite she is – and impressed with her huge love of horse racing, which is also one of my passions.) She is the only monarch most of us have ever known, and I’ve always felt sorry for Prince Charles, unable to start his ‘real job’ even when most men his age are thinking of retirement. Every once in a while, there’s talk of the monarchy skipping a generation, and while I was listening to a radio show on that topic, I started thinking: What if Prince Charles were to be robbed of his inheritance? How could that happen? Does Britain still need a monarchy? Is the royal family actually in charge of its own destiny – or are others pulling the strings? It didn’t take long before a huge conspiracy was going on in my head. And then I started writing…

We were honoured to have Queen Elizabeth visit the Irish republic this year- the first time a monarch has ever visited since the country gained independence. Growing up in Ireland, there was always a quiet interest in royals like Princess Diana and today that interest leans more towards the younger royals. I think your book brings up an interesting ‘what if’ scenario that I’m sure people have wondered about. How much research did you have to do for the book?

Tons! History and politics were always my favourite subjects. Some writers use research as a way of putting off the writing, and I try hard not to be one of them. But at the same time, if I was going to write against a backdrop of real people – especially people who are as familiar to everyone as the royals – I had to get my facts correct. Having said that, you need to know that the royal family are not the main characters in The Power Behind The Throne. It’s our American student, Jack Hollander, who is up against three of the most powerful men in England who have decreed that he is to be sent back to Seattle in a body bag, when he shows up in London just as the reign of Queen Elizabeth is finally drawing to a close. I also did so much research into the death of Princess Diana that I came up with my own theory about that, which finds its way into my own narrative. I also managed to blag a behind-the-scenes tour of the Savoy hotel, where Jack Hollander hides in plain sight for a couple of days. And I visited Canterbury Cathedral, Buckingham Palace and the Tower of London, which all feature in The Power Behind The Throne.

Your other book, Bets and The City, is a comedy memoir about your career as a professional spread better. Being a former journalist and broadcaster, how did you find the transition from fact to fiction?

Not as difficult as I found the transition from broadcasting to advertising! When I worked in radio, you needed to be able to produce a script very quickly. If you didn’t come up with quite the right words, there was always the next bulletin. Whereas in advertising, where clients pay vast amounts of money, every single word is agonised over. And I mean agonised. It would be a cheap shot to say that many journalists write fiction. (My favourite character in The Power Behind The Throne is the journalist, Spencer Peacock. “Two ex-wives, four ex-children, six ex-newspapers and a staple diet of whisky and peanuts had left their mark.”) When I wrote my thriller I was mindful that my facts needed to be accurate, and that I needed to agonise over ever word, in order to tell the story as well as I possibly could.

I could certainly see evidence of the attention to detail you put into your writing. You are currently using Twitter to promote The Power Behind The Throne. How do you find it works as a marketing tool and do you use any other platforms, such as Facebook or LinkedIn to reach your audience?

Everyone told me I had to join Twitter. So I joined Twitter. I was turned off by the authors who do nothing other than ceaseless self-promotion for their books, so I vowed not to be like them. After I’d made that decision, Twitter became fun. I’ve made genuine connections with people. I’ve discovered Twitter is a great way to protest about poor customer service – and get good results. Watching Hugh Grant give evidence to the Leveson Committee with a live Twitter feed running simultaneously (My favourite: I am so glad Hugh Grant is our Prime Minister) brought a whole new dimension to rolling news. I am commissioning a Tweeting artist in East Anglia to paint a picture of me and my dog. If I happen to sell some copies of The Power Behind The Throne as well, that would be great! I’ve got a Facebook page, again because everybody told me I had to, but I’ve not done much with it yet – mostly because I hate the way Facebook changed its interface. Ditto for LinkedIn, I just don’t find it very user friendly.

I did finally figure out YouTube, though. Here’s the link for my book trailer: The Power Behind The Throne- Book Trailer

I agree about Facebook. Twitter seems so much easier to comprehend. That’s coming from someone who was dragged to it kicking and screaming. Now, I’m a convert. Speaking of Twitter, you recently launched a competition offering people the chance to win a free Kindle.(COMPETITION CLOSED) All they have to do is follow you and re-tweet a link to your book. Sounds easy. What has the response been like?

Lots of people on Twitter want to win a Kindle! They’ve been following and retweeting like wildfire. And someone WILL win a Kindle, I promise. We’re keeping the competition going until the New Year, so there’s still time to enter. Again, I don’t know if the interest will translate into sales – but hopefully if people get to know me, they’ll be sufficiently interested to check out The Power Behind The Throne. (COMPETITION CLOSED)

If you weren’t writing, what would your dream job be?

Easy. I’d like to be the Chairman of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. Once upon a time, I’d have said manager, but Harry Redknapp is doing a superb job, so I’d love to work alongside him. As it is, I have to watch from the Upper West Stand.

Do you have any advice you would like to share with new writers?

I’m assuming you mean writers who want to publish. In which case, read books and blogs about the craft of writing. Embrace criticism from writers whose work you respect. (If you don’t know any writers, join Twitter – we’re all there!) Keep up-to-date with the paradigm shift in the publishing industry; no matter whether you are looking at the traditional agent-and-publisher route or contemplating self-publishing, know that unless you take the time to write the very best book you can, which means editing and polishing, rather than rushing to submission or ebook conversion, you’re dead in the water. Treat your writing career as though it’s a business – because ultimately, that’s what it is.