Special Guest Interview with by Julie Maxwell, Author of The Image of the King

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

England, 1648. King Charles I is a prisoner on the Isle of Wight. He has lost the civil wars. He now stands to lose his head. Escape is imperative - but it seems increasingly impossible. No one proves more enterprising than the king's spy-mistress Jane Whorwood. Yet no one poses more of a threat to his image as a family man.

I'm pleased to welcome author Julie Maxwell to The Writing Desk:

Tell us about your latest book

The Image of the King is the story of two men, King Charles I and John Milton. Milton is now famous as the poet of Paradise Lost. But in his own day he was infamous as the writer who defended the trial and execution of King Charles. It was the first time in history that a head of state had been impeached by his subjects and brought to account for crimes against his own people. The novel alternates between the viewpoints of Milton and the monarch in order to explain how each man reached this extraordinary juncture in his life.

What is your preferred writing routine?

I write best in the morning. The brain’s transition from sleeping to waking is often very productive for me, so I go straight to the desk to write everything down. Later in the day I find it helpful to switch from word-processing to writing longhand with a favoured fountain pen that is a real physical pleasure to use. I draft dialogue, sometimes whole scenes, in notebooks while I am away from my desk and then type it up afterwards with improvements. 

I usually work on a novel for an intense spell of several months. Then I might put the draft aside for a very long time so I can look at it with fresh eyes again. I like to reread my own work as though I am encountering it as a reader, not as its writer.

What advice do you have for new writers?

Write the book you feel compelled to write. A novel is a marathon that is sure to involve several laps of the hurdles. It is hard to sustain unless you feel driven by the need to write this particular novel and, conversely, by the conviction that this book really needs to be written. 

What have you found to be the best way to raise awareness of your books?

This is a question that I am still trying to answer. The novelist Joanna Kavenna once described me as ‘an original and witty writer who deserves to be better known’. If you are traditionally published, then a lot depends on the marketing budget and the effectiveness of the publicist. There is also, of course, an element of luck. 

My debut You Can Live Forever and my second novel These Are Our Children both had ‘Big Five’ publishers. As a result there were reviews in the national press, Sunday magazine features and radio appearances. With The Image of the King, my first venture into historical fiction, I am trying something new. Sharpe Books is a digital-first publishing company which has achieved many Amazon bestsellers. Recently I have been lucky enough to appear on the podcast ‘1666 and All That’, hosted by Paul Lay and Miranda Malins, and to write a piece on ‘Milton the Historian’ for Aspects of History. I joined Twitter rather reluctantly just a few months ago, but I am glad of the opportunities it has given me to connect with other writers and readers. 

Tell us something unexpected you discovered during your research

The received image of King Charles I is of a slightly aloof, tragical martyr. His death distorts him into a permanently solemn historical figure, the one who stares so miserably out at us from van Dyck’s masterly portraits, as though he is already waiting for the axe to fall. What I discovered in the course of researching his life story, however, was how many blackly comical moments there were. The novel starts, for example, with a bungled attempt to escape Carisbrooke Castle that leaves the King farcically stuck in a window frame!

What was the hardest scene you remember writing?

The scene that is now chapter two was originally the beginning of the book. I had never written historical fiction before and I knew that it needed to be an immersive experience, so I chose to describe a disaster scene. I also needed to establish a main character, decide how I would handle the dialogue of historical figures, and draw on my research without allowing it to impede the narrative flow. It was a lot to do all at once and it took me many attempts. I always find, however, that the beginning of a novel takes much longer than everything else. Once you know what you are doing, then the rest can follow relatively quickly. 

What are you planning to write next?

The sequel to The Image of the King. After eleven years of Cromwellian rule, the Stuart monarchy is restored. The biggest manhunt in British history, for the killers of the former King Charles I, is soon underway. As a notorious apologist for the regicide, Milton goes into hiding to save his life. How will his great poem Paradise Lost ever be finished now?

Julie Maxwell 

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About the Author

Julie Maxwell was born in Southall in 1975 and educated at Christ Church, University of Oxford. Her debut novel You Can Live Forever (Jonathan Cape) won a Betty Trask Award and was Book of the Month on BBC Radio 5 Live and a TLS Book of the Year. These Are Our Children (Quercus) was an Observer Book of the Year. She has thrice been the recipient of an Authors’ Foundation award from the Society of Authors. The Image of the King (Sharpe Books) is her first historical novel. Julie Maxwell is also a literary critic and has held Fellowships in English Literature at both Oxford and Cambridge Universities. She co-edited Shakespeare and Quotation (Cambridge University Press) and has written on numerous contemporary literary topics for Areté magazine. You can find Julie on Twitter @JMaxwellAuthor