Guest Post with Danielle Burton

I’m delighted to welcome Danielle Burton to my blog today. Danielle is a wonderful lady that I’ve gotten to know since joining the Twitter community, and I am very excited to bring you more about her upcoming book and events. So, let’s get into it!

Tell us a little about yourself.

First of all, thanks for letting me do this, Amy. I’m Danielle Burton, a historian, history blogger, and I also work in the heritage sector. I graduated from the University of Derby with a First in History and a Masters in Public History and Heritage.

How did you get into writing?

I’ve been wanting to write a history book for nearly 9 years now. I did it privately for a long time, but after I graduated from my masters in 2018, I really missed the historical research and created a blog to put my writing out there a bit more.

What era do you write about and what drew you to that time period(s)?

My debut history book is on the Wars of the Roses, which has always been my first love when it comes to history. I inherited my love of the period from my parents. Since a young age, I’ve been taken to castles, battlefields and re-enactments connected to that period. We have also been members of the Richard III Society for 20 years.

However, as much as I love the Wars of the Roses period, I just have a passion for unusual stories that should be brought to life, so in terms of my blog, I write about anything roughly from the fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries. A long period there really!

Can you tell us a little bit about your most recent book?

My debut biography is on Anthony Woodville, brother-in-law of Edward IV, it’s his life that I have been researching for nearly 9 years. It’s entitled Anthony Woodville: Sophisticate or Schemer and is available to preorder in the UK, with it being due for publication on 15th February.

Where can people order your book?

Amazon, directly from the publishers at Amberley and other good book retailers.

Are you working on something at the moment? If so, can you spill the beans a little?

I have an idea for another book, but at the moment, life is a bit hectic, so I’m not currently working on that. At the moment, I’m focusing on my history blog and history talks for now.

How do you go about your research?

I usually start finding out basic background information and work from there. I find it very useful to follow up bibliographies and/or footnotes too. That’s a good way to find out what primary and secondary sources are out there if you’re not sure where to start. Then build up from there. I’m also a big fan of writing copious notes on sources as you go along.

Do you have a favourite historical source?

Working in archives has meant I have had many favourite along the way, all for different reasons, but I would say a letter to the King of England, Henry VI, dictated by Joan of Arc in 1429, about the Siege of Orleans. In it, she mentions specific men she feels should respond to her, who were all important men fighting for the English at the time. One of these men was Thomas, Lord Scales, the father of Anthony Woodville’s future wife.

If you could give one piece of advice to aspiring authors, what would it be?

If you want to write non-fiction, make sure you keep a good bibliography right from the start, it saves you a lot of chasing up of where ideas and quotes came from later on.

Can you tell us your favourite fiction and favourite non-fiction book?

I don’t tend to read much fiction these days, so that’s a bit hard. If I had to say so though, I would say myfavourite fiction book would be Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke. It’s technically a kids/young adults book, but every so often I go back to it and I will always love reading it.

My favourite non-fiction book is probably a lot harder as I read so much more of it. I would probably say The Earth is All that Lasts by Mark Lee Gardner, a joint biography of Chiefs Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. I was kind enough to receive a review copy by the author (shipped all the way from America!) last year. It was probably the best book I’ve read in years and just couldn’t put it down.