Griff Hosker: Author of Adventure

I'm hosting another guest blogger this week, and one I'm most thrilled to have join us. I had the pleasure of meeting Griff Hosker when we both attended a session at the Historical Novel Society conference, last summer. I will let Griff's bio tell you everything you want to know about him, but suffice it to say that this gentleman has clearly made his mark on historical fiction adventures. So, let's not waste another moment, but find out more about his latest project, who his main character is, and some details about how he likes to write! Oh, and since I'm a Griff Hosker fan myself, the last photo at the bottom of the blog is us last summer at the HNS conference!

‘Crécy: The age of the archer’ is the first book in a brand new series about Sir John Hawkwood who was a fourteenth century mercenary. I found his name whilst researching something else and that set me, like a hunting dog, on his trail. He sounded like a perfect vehicle for my work as he had humble beginnings and yet became one of the richest and most successful men of his generation.
This is the blurb from the book.

"In 1335 the Black Death was just thirteen years away from England but there were other threats and dangers. Young John Hawkwood is forced to leave his home and seek a life in London. There he learns how to survive and, more importantly, how to fight. Leaving his life as an apprentice tailor he follows the army and King Edward to fight the Scots. He has a skill; he can not only use a bow, but he can use a sword and his mind. It is the start of a life of war for the young man.
He fights first in the Low Countries at the battle of Cadzand before heading to Gascony to fight under the charismatic leader and cousin of the King, Lord Henry Plantagenet. As he fights so his skills improve and the novel follows his progress until he fights in the two great battles of 1346, Crécy and Neville’s Cross.

This is just the start for John Hawkwood who will become, in the fullness of time, one of the greatest condottiere the world has ever seen, a man who, at the Battle of Castagnaro in 1387, shows the world that he was a great leader, too."​

I was lucky in that his early life was not well documented and that gave me the freedom a writer craves. The first mention of his name comes from the Battle of Crécy and I began there. I knew that he was knighted after Poitiers which meant by then he was a man at arms and so this first book would allow me to write about his life as an archer. I also liked the fact that he began in England. That made the research so much easier. I am lucky in that I live close to land which has remained untouched, in terms of development, since medieval times. When I walk my daughter’s dog each morning, we walk across medieval plough marks! There is also an ancient greenway. All of this means that I can walk a land which my characters would have walked.

I also like to have weapons and armour so that when I write about a battle, I can be realistic. One of my readers, Rich Sankovich, allowed me to use his crossbow because I did not write about it accurately enough! I now understand that weapon. I have a helmet, coif and sword- one day I will get the mail hauberk too! This allows me to use the weapons my characters use. I even bought a bill hook which was a medieval tool used by archers so that I could sharpen a stake as they did at Crécy, Poitiers and Agincourt.

I always write in the first person. I feel comfortable with that style and I understand its restrictions. I like to get inside the minds of my heroes. The drawback is that you can only see events through their eyes but it does allow many opportunities for surprise. I am, at heart, a storyteller. I taught English for 40 years and I know that my work is not great literature. I want my reader to be reluctant to put the book down as they want to know what happens next. In fact, many of my readers have told me that they read my 90000 word books in a day or two so compelling are the stories. I like those reviews because they tell me that I have been successful.

John Hawkwood is a character who has a long journey ahead of him. He marries but he also has mistresses. He fights for and against popes. This will be a journey for me too. As with all of my books, I know where I will get to, at the end, but not how I will get there!
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Here is a photograph of some the armour I use to help me with the writing of the books.

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From the bottom up:
Norman Helmet
The Earl Marshal Sword (circa 1180)
Coif, worn under the helmet
Blackthorn staff

I included the last one as it demonstrates how I write. My hero (in War in the West- Border Knight series) is stranded in Wales and he cuts down a blackthorn branch with his sword. I have blackthorns and I made certain that I could do it. Later in the book he has to defend himself with the blackthorn staff and an enemy slices off the end. I replicated that- hence the short nature of the stick.
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I also use metal figurines to aid my combats. It is great fun but helps me give that edge of realism.

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Griff Hosker's Bio

I was, for forty years, a teacher in the north east of England. I always loved writing and would regularly send my efforts, typed on a portable typewriter, to publishers who, inevitably, rejected them. My early success was in the musicals I wrote for the young people I taught. I suppose my most successful venture was when the Millennium Dome opened in 2000 and a musical I co-wrote was showcased there for one performance.

It took retirement to spur me to try once more to be published. I wrote The Sword of Cartimandua in 2012 and this time used the Arts Council to get it published in paperback. They had a programme called Feedareed. The book did not sell well but I had my work in print. I then stumbled upon Kindle and that changed my life. When I uploaded it, I began to sell more and more. I wrote, very quickly, the next six nooks in the series and then moved on to a series about the Battle of Hastings. It took my son to help me make the leap from having a small and select audience to the wider one I now enjoy. He found a design company and they re-did all of my covers. That was in 2014 and my monthly sales went from 1700 to 4000+ and kept rising until they hit the 20000 mark.

I now have one series, Lord Edward’s Archer, with Lume, a traditional publisher and W F Howes publishes my audio books but the majority of my work is still self-published. My readers are mainly in the English-speaking world, but I sell well in Germany and Europe.
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I write 5000 words a day and I have a strict writing regime which starts at 6.30 a.m. I know that I am a lucky man and, at 70 years of age, I am living the dream but I have 40 years to make up for!

Amazon Book link:
Crécy: The age of the Archer

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