Lesson Summary

Fil Reid has always been writing, starting with a very short story on a 'Petite' typewriter as a child, and although she continued by hand, she then turned to the keyboard, mainly as she produces at least four 100,000-word books a year!

To-date these have been published by Dragonblade in the US, which include the Guinevere series and upcoming Cornwall series. Although she enjoys exploring the locations she writes about, she has been limited by her fear of heights.

A dog owner, Fil discusses her love for horses, as well as her experiences with autism and Asperger's Syndrome in her family, her children's unique interests and talents, and she told Morgen about finding her younger son reading 'Fifty Shades of Grey' at a bookshop when they lived in France!

Fil's writing career took off after winning a competition that led to her Guinevere series publication, inspired by her love of King Arthur, and was then asked to write Regency romances.

Other topics covered include book covers, ebook pricing strategies, marketing importance, and Fil praises her publisher's marketing efforts.

Fil's writing style distinguishes itself from American authors through attention to historical accuracy and English settings. She values feedback from online critique groups and her editor, appreciating the detail-oriented approach that ensures cultural and historical accuracy in her writing.

Fil Reid lives four miles from the sea in Cornwall with her husband and a rescue dog from Romania called Bella. Her books have been published by Dragonblade in the US since she won their Write Stuff competition. Her first six books comprise the Guinevere series - an innovative retelling of the Arthurian legend from the point of view of a modern origin Guinevere. Her short stories have been shortlisted in several competitions and won a few prizes. She has a new series set in Cornwall coming out this year, starting with The Cornish Mermaid.

Apart from writing, the great love of her life has always been horses, and when she was younger she worked with them for a number of years - on the stud attached to Highclere Castle (where Downton Abbey was filmed), as a stable girl in a flat racing yard (when she was young, brave and thin), and in a riding school. She also ran her own riding school when her children were small.

She speaks fluent French after having lived there for ten years, after which she lived on a widebeam canal boat before her move to Cornwall. One of the things she loves to do is to visit the sites she uses in her stories. However, she has acrophobia, a morbid fear of heights, so one or two places are out of reach to her. Too scary!

She's been fascinated by all things Arthurian since she was a small child and saw the Disney film The Sword in the Stone, but didn't find out until she was an adult that she has Asperger’s Syndrome (as do two of her sons). She now believes her ASD accounts for her obsessions with both horses and King Arthur.

You can find out more about her books from https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/author/B09MTYYYXT/allbooks.