Historical Crime – Blending the real with the imagined: GJ Williams
The Tudor Rose Murders Series is based on a fundamental approach – take real events, real people and throw a fictional plot and several bodies into the mix. Then add fictional characters as required to enrich the context, fill the gaps, and smooth the sub-plots.
There are many authors who take characters from history and believe that, when writing fiction, they have the right to bend facts, personality, time and actions. They are good authors and have loyal readership who delight in the story forming the narrative and not the facts. I choose the other end of the spectrum and research for months to ensure I am as close to history and the person as possible. The joy of this is that real history gives you gems with which to work – both in terms of people, their lives, and their places. The challenge is being true to that research and ensuring you present people, society and events as they were. It also takes you down rabbit holes. I can spend hours in worrisome checking to ensure I have William Cecil’s eye colour, Robert Dudley’s hair, or Queen Elizabeth’s dress just right.
So, what are the methods for writing real people into a murder mystery and have them walk alongside the people of your imagination?
Real research
I start with google to get a rough feel for the person’s background, dates, family, marriages and key events. Wikipedia is good, websites like History of Parliament are better for prominent characters. But never touch Google’s new AI ‘helper’ which constructs ‘facts’ from many sources – the good, the bad, and the downright ugly-untrue. When I researched a man called John Black, trumpeter to Henry VIII, the helpful AI assistant informed me that he was a trumpeter to Henry VII, Henry VIII, Edward, Mary, Elizabeth 1st and James 1ST. He must have been a man of substantial puff if he was trumpeting heralds for 119 years. You only have to see how quickly the AI assistant changes ‘facts’ to know that it is a flighty friend.
Beyond the computer are the books in which brilliant researchers of history present delicious details about the lives, loves and limitations of your characters. Modern historians go beyond the bare facts of what happened and when and seek to get under the skin of people in history. For example, the demon we know as Bloody Mary was a frightened, sick, bitter and emotional woman, desperate for love and a child of her own. Hours of reding often ends up as a single line – such as the image of Mary crumpled on the floor of a birthing room in The Conjuror’s Apprentice. But that line is true to history.
Beyond the books are the places. I visit castles, churches, houses, buildings and streets where the characters would have walked – to see what they saw and imagine what they were thinking. There are also archives and museums. You will never get over the thrill of picking up a document or artifact and know that your character once held it. Also, paintings. Look into the eyes of a portrait and it is strange how you get a feel for the person.
Last but not least – the academics. Some are a little aloof and will only send you a link to their book. But others join you in the journey of the novel, throwing in facts, ideas, and snippets of ‘did you know’. All is priceless.
Respect for the once-living
My personal principle is that you never make an innocent into a murderer, or a mild-mannered man into a maniacal plotter. You keep to the person as they were in life. Sometimes this means embellishing and giving character to a person who is little written about. A case in point is Blanche ap Harri – a real character, who was Elizabeth’s Welsh nursemaid and longest serving female companion. She did more and lived longer than the famous and foolish Kat Astley, but in line with her quiet demeanor, she is ever present in court records yet never described. The joy here is that you can make up her personality, her habits, and foibles, but always within the boundaries of what you know.
The upside of researching the person behind the picture is that so many people who rose to prominence were far from pale-minded and there is no need for embellishment. I can portray with absolute confidence Henry Carey’s potty-mouth; William Herbert’s stinking cur-dog; Elizabeth’s tendency to throw a tantrum and then cry; William Cecil’s false modesty; John Dee’s irritating habit of listing all his academic achievements along with his genealogy to King Arthur; Philip of Spain’s unfortunate reputation as a peeping Tom; Anne of Cleves’ love of gambling; Mary Queen of Scot’s tendency to dramatics; and Catherine de Medici’s dalliance with the occult.
On a serious note, we must respect the now-living as well as the once living. If I was to portray William Cecil as a vicious murderer, then Mr. Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 7th Marquis of Salisbury, is going to be rightly offended on behalf of his ancestors and family.
Blending real and fictional characters
If the plot is fictional then you will need fictional characters. They fill holes, give your real characters someone to react to, and push the story along. They often have a key role in the narrative. My second key character is fictional and serves to balance the eccentricity of John Dee. She is his apprentice, Margaretta, and has strange abilities which he both envies and uses to his own advantage. She can see and hear what is not said. So, she serves to push the story forward by gaining information he would not have and gives us the point of view through which we see his strange, brilliant and difficult nature.
Fictional characters also enable you to add in characteristics which enrich the story but which cannot be found in real characters – the demanding mother, the brother somewhere on a spectrum, the black apothecary with a secret, the rough guards, the dreadful sister or maid, and the love interest. The temptation here is to base them on real people especially the ‘dreadfuls’. I try to avoid this – you must protect the guilty even when every fibre of your body wants to smack them down on paper for all to see. However, there are times when I create a character who I really like – and there will be a strong element of a dear friend shining through.
One of the delights of blending real and fictional people is that you must imagine how they would interact, how they would behave with each other, how they would speak. My approach is to live it out – maybe the hangover of being an only child with imaginary friends. I can spend hours acting out scenes – to the bemusement of my neighbours. Caution is required when you go on a walk to unravel a plot block. A woman walking down a path ranting at John Dee can disturb.
Have fun.
Enjoy writing your characters. The real characters have interesting lives to map out and the fictional gives you endless license to make up story arcs that you just want to write. I have as much fun deciding how Margaretta’s life will go as I progress through the series as I do researching the strange trajectory of John Dee’s progress from fame to infamy. The only principle I keep to here is the boredom boundary – if you are struggling to write a character or their dialogue because you just don’t care – then it is time to kill a darling. The people in your story live and walk with you through the weeks and months of creating a novel – so make sure you are in good company.
About the author
GJ Williams is a Welshwoman raised in England – much like her detective John Dee. After years of writing for fun, she won a book deal for the Tudor Rose Murders in 2023. The first three novels, The Conjuror’s Apprentice, The Wolf’s Shadow, and The Cygnet Prince are all on the shelves. The Assassin’s Mark comes out in May 2026. GJ Has also been commissioned to write another series of murder mysteries all based on events in Welsh history.
Follow GJ on her website www.gjwilliamsauthor.com or on Instagram @gjwilliams92