This is my first 'real' interview - Richard Lowe interviews me about Forsaking All Other and writing in general. It is part of his Author Talk series where he interviews a range of authors about their books and their approaches to writing. Richard's website Fiction Master Class also contains a wealth of material for people … Continue reading An Interview with the Author!
writing
Yay!
Well, I have finally done it. Last week I published my novel Forsaking All Other both as a paperback and an ebook. A historical novel with strong romance elements, it is set in England in the mid-1580s and tells the story of a young woman's struggle to avoid an arranged marriage at a time when … Continue reading Yay!
One Minute Book Review – First Person by Richard Flanagan
First Person is a first person narrative set in the early 1990s in the depths of the ‘recession we had to have’. Kif Kehlmann, an aspiring writer, is struggling both financially and artistically. He lives in a rundown house in Hobart with his wife Suzy who is expecting twins, and their three year old daughter. … Continue reading One Minute Book Review – First Person by Richard Flanagan
the coven
I have been blogging for nearly two years now, twice a week over the last twelve months. Although I thoroughly enjoy it, I doubt that I will be able to manage to be so productive over the next couple of months as I will be busy making final edits and formatting my novel Forsaking All … Continue reading the coven
Assume Nothing
Recently I have read several books where historical implausibilities have just leapt off the page at me - female cooks in the Manor house of a substantial gentry family in the 1530s, characters attending a play several years before the playwright was even born, a twelve year old girl reading a banned book that was … Continue reading Assume Nothing
One Minute Book Review – Mothering Sunday – A Romance by Graham Swift
Traditionally Mothering Sunday is the fourth Sunday of Lent, a day when domestic servants were given the day off to visit their families. Jane Fairchild, the Niven family’s maid, is a foundling so has no mother to visit. This Mothering Sunday, the 30th of March 1924, is a light filled day that feels like summer … Continue reading One Minute Book Review – Mothering Sunday – A Romance by Graham Swift
Revision, revision, revision
I regard writing as in some ways like sculpting with clay. In sculpting the starting point is a design and an armature (the framework on which a clay sculpture is moulded), with writing most of us begin with a general idea of the story we want to tell and the arc it will follow even … Continue reading Revision, revision, revision
Language in Historical Fiction
I suppose I am getting ahead of myself blogging about the way I write historical fiction when I have nothing published yet, so these are as much the thoughts of a reader as a writer. While the details of place, and manners and customs play a large part in creating the historical world, the style … Continue reading Language in Historical Fiction
What’s in a name?
Quite a number of factors need to be taken into account when choosing the names for characters. Some apply to any form of fiction such as ensuring that the character names are distinct and not easily confused with other characters, that they do not sound alike or look similar on paper. Even initials need to … Continue reading What’s in a name?
Not What it Used to Be by Livi Michael
This interesting article by Livi Michael, published in Historia Magazine, looks at the way the writing of historical fiction has changed over the last fifty or so years in response to developments in historiography and the contemporary world view. In the course of my lifetime, historical fiction has been on a journey, from mass-market romance … Continue reading Not What it Used to Be by Livi Michael
