In the process of writing, what mattered to you the most as a novelist? However, as I mentioned earlier, when I wrote my short story ‘ The Weather Station’ the characters revealed themselves and I saw that there was enough there for me to expand the story into a novel. I hadn’t considered writing a novel at that stage I wasn’t sure if I was able. Up to 2017, I had written five or six short stories. So here’s the finished book with its lovely cover! But what gave you the impetus to write your first novel? It was sadly demolished in the 1930s to make way for Cardiff Bus Station.
Reece, one of the main characters in Rebecca’s Choice, hails from Temperance Town. It seemed such an interesting area that I decided to include it in the novel. The sale of alcohol was not allowed there – hence the name.
For example, while researching Cardiff in the Victorian era I discovered there had been an area of Cardiff called Temperance Town, that was established in the 1850s. There were so many! I loved the way that my research of the era influenced my writing of the novel. What fact or feature about the Victorian era did you find the most surprising or interesting? When I was finishing the short story I knew I had a lot more to say, in fact I knew I had enough for a novel! It did not change its name to ‘Rebecca’s Choice’ until a few months before publication. The original short story was 12,000 words and called ‘The Weather Station’. The setting of Tredelerch was so beautiful back then, nestling at the bottom of a hill next to a river. I think it was the story of the outdoor balls, with marquees, dancing and Hungarian bands playing, that inspired me to write a romance.
On the writing course we were told to write a short story using the fruits of our research, and this is where it all started. I discovered that Tredelerch had housed one of the first outdoor weather stations in South Wales and that the family who lived there in the 1890s had hosted lavish balls in the summer in the garden. Many interesting articles were retrieved by the search engine.
So I decided to type in the name of the old house, which was ‘ Tredelerch’. My grandfather had lived in a very old house in Cardiff where I remembered playing as a child. I was on a research module on a writing course and we were told to access newspaper articles from the Victorian era. Tell me about why you chose to write a romance and why the Victorian era made it an ideal setting for this particular story. Its always a pleasure to interview someone who is launching their first novel, so I’m thrilled to welcome Welsh author Heidi Gallacher to my blog today to tell me about her historical romance, Rebecca’s Choice, as part of her Coffee Pot Book Club Tour.
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