Blog
Recommended Regency Historical Fiction – The House in Quill Court
Multi-award winning author Charlotte Betts is renowned for winning the Historical Romance category in the Romantic Novelists Association Awards, not once but twice. Having just finished The House in Quill Court I think that the romance label does her a disfavour,...
The Secret of a Welsh Medieval Manuscript
I'm delighted to welcome Mark Noce to my blog today, introducing his debut novel 'Between Two Fires', which is set in medieval Wales. I was particularly interested in this book because by coincidence I was just reading recently about The Black Book of Carmarthen,...
Historical Fiction – Ten Editing Tools. No 1 – Light
The power of place and atmosphere is what drove me to first pick up my pen and try to write something set in the past. A useful editing tool to enliven your novel is to go through the draft and examine the quality of the light. Before the advent of artificial...
Historical Fiction – Virtue no 7 – Education, education, education
In considering the virtues of historical fiction, I've left the most obvious until last. As well as being a good story, historical fiction is educational. In fact most stories were told to us as children as if they were history, so the line between storytelling and...
Recommended Research – Eyewitness books on the Stuart Period
Just found this great little hardback book whilst browsing Carnforth Bookshop (which has more than 10,000 second hand books!). Also in this series by A F Scott are titles 'The Plantagenet Age', 'The Tudor Age' and 'The Georgian Age.' Compiled as a series of...
Cabinet of Curio-stories – A 17th century ‘kicking’ lock
On the Sherborne Museum website is this gorgeous picture of a seventeenth century lock. In 1654 diarist John Evelyn wrote that sophisticated lock mechanisms were 'rare contrivances' and regarded as technological marvels, 'esteem'd a curiositie even among...
Historical Fiction – Seven Virtues. No 6: Servants and Masters
In my life today I have no servants living in my house. The work done by servants in previous centuries is now done by machines, or automation has rendered it unnecessary. For a historical fiction writer the presence of servants in the house is a massive...
Magician John Dee and his strange friendship with Edward Kelley
Today I welcome guest blogger Elizabeth Ashworth, author of many historical novels and several books of non-fiction. Elizabeth's new book The Merlin's Wife tells the story of John Dee's life from the point of view of his wife, Jane. Dee was the most famous magician in...
Cabinet of Curio-stories – Tiny Cathedral Windows that Sing
Up until the 17th century there were no real guitars - the only instruments similar to a guitar were the lute and, in Spain, where my book 'A Divided Inhritance ' is set, the vilhuela. In the early 17th century the Guitarra Morrisco became popular in Spain in the...
The Last Roundhead – the power of the written word in the 17th century
The Seventeenth Century was highly literate and the printing press really was a contemporary information superhighway. Jemahl Evans I'm delighted to welcome Jemahl Evans as my guest today. Jemahl is a fellow enthusiast of the era of the English Civil Wars and its...
5 Great WWII Historicals for Young Adults
World War II stories may hold a special appeal because this was a conflict that young people got swept up in — as refugees, Resistance fighters and youth soldiers — as dire circumstances forced them to behave like adults So says Kristin Hannah, best-selling...
Cabinet of Curio-stories – Miniature Scottish Coffins
In 1836, five young Scottish boys were out hunting for rabbits on the slopes of Arthur’s Seat, a hill in the centre of Edinburgh. After chasing a rabbit into a small cave, they saw something jammed into a crevice in the crag. It was the first of no less than seventeen...
Historical Fiction: Virtue no 5 – The Absence of Media
Depending on which era you are writing in, you will find that less media existed, than does now. First there was the voice, then writing, then printing, then the telephone, then computing and finally - Lord help us - the internet. Instant messaging means...
Cabinet of Curio-stories – the Lost Ruskin Daguerrotypes
I have just visited Brantwood, the Lakeland bolt-hole of Victorian giant of arts and literature, John Ruskin. Whilst I was there, I came upon this fascinating story. When Ruskin died in 1900, he was largely-forgotten figure, having suffered from bouts of mental...
Writing a Historical Fiction Trilogy for Teens
Lady of the Highway, the third book in my highway series for teens (and adults!) has just been released by Endeavour Press, so I thought I'd share with you some of the highs and lows of writing a historical fiction trilogy, and in particular a teen trilogy. There are...