Confessions Of An Historical Novelist

gothicangel · Feb 18, 2012

So, there I was on a day out to the Roman fort at Chesters. Lovely February sunshine, if not a bit nippy. Coming out of Chesters I said why not have a look at the Mithras temple at Carrawburgh, as my new WIP contains a scene where my MC is initiated into the cult of Mithras.

Well, half-way across a farmer's field [somewhere between Chesters and Housesteads], and the Northumbrian weather does what it's best at, and turns into snow and hale. By the time we ran back to the car, I was soaked and frozen.

Fortunately, I now have a sense of humor about it.

So anyone else have any 'maybe I'll be telling this story into a journalist one day' about their books?

Siri Kirpal · Feb 18, 2012

Sat Nam! (literally "Truth Name"--a Sikh greeting)

I was once working on a novel and my life turned into the novel I was working on. Didn't manage to finish the writing. I think once I'm done with my current wip, I'm going to write a novel about writing that novel.

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal

Raula · Feb 19, 2012

I once dragged my very loyal and oldest friend around half a dozen churchyards in South Yorkshire, with no real plan as to how I would incorporate them into my novel. I've since learnt not to do that - and dragged him to the Earl of Strafford pub last time, which was my heroine's dowager home but conveniently does a really nice Sunday roast!

ishtar'sgate · Feb 19, 2012

Not living anywhere with cool historical monuments or buildings (B.C.,Canada) I convinced my husband to come with me to see a replica of Anne Hathaway's cottage on the grounds of the Old England Inn in Victoria on Vancouver Island. It was great and I learned a lot but left feeling a bit guilty about being able to simply get in the car and drive away. They had it pretty rough.

angeliz2k · Feb 20, 2012

When my mother and I visited Paris for a grand total of two days, I dragged her to the Rue du Jour, which is essentially a random street with nothing special about it except that the MC of my latest WIP (or at least her real-life counterpart) lived there. Very few people know who she was, so it's not like there's a plaque. But it was a great little Parisian street with buildings that appear to be well-preserved (at least on the outside) from that period. And the Eglise Saint-Eustache still looms over the street, perfectly placed to prick my MC's conscience.

I also dragged her to Versailles, but that much was less random.

Cristin_B · Feb 21, 2012

There is a torture scene in my ms, and I didn't know much about ancient torture methods besides what I'd seen in films. So, I learned there is a museum of torture in my husband's hometown (Ghent, Belgium). I dragged my sister-in-law along, and as I'm moved excitedly through the museum saying, "I can use this!" or "There's an idea!" she was turning paler by the minute and ended up losing her lunch. I don't think she'll accompany me on research trips any more

gothicangel · Feb 21, 2012

Cristin_B said:
There is a torture scene in my ms, and I didn't know much about ancient torture methods besides what I'd seen in films. So, I learned there is a museum of torture in my husband's hometown (Ghent, Belgium). I dragged my sister-in-law along, and as I'm moved excitedly through the museum saying, "I can use this!" or "There's an idea!" she was turning paler by the minute and ended up losing her lunch. I don't think she'll accompany me on research trips any more

Now, I have to make a trip to Germany.

[I love that kind of stuff, some of the Roman emperor's where pretty ingenious.]

Cristin_B · Feb 21, 2012

gothicangel, you won't have to go as far as Germany. My brother-in-law lives in the UK, and it's only about a five hour drive for them to get to Belgium.

It's actually in a castle where the Spanish tortured locals who refused to convert to Catholicism (Belgium used to be Protestant), but it houses a display of torture devices through the ages. The architecture is interesting too, even if it's not the era I'm writing.

Belle_91 · Mar 8, 2012

While other college students were out partying on Friday night, I was in bed, in my PJs by nine, and reading The Narrative of the life of Fredrick Douglass. Yeah...I'm that cool.

mayqueen · Mar 28, 2012

I planned my last vacation around research. Fortunately, my friend was up for it. (We're both huge Daphne du Maurier fans, so we stopped at Jamaica Inn on the way through to Cornwall.) I'm really glad she wasn't with me, though, when I went to the British Museum. I spent an what might have been an embarrassingly long time to anyone else looking at the Sutton Hoo hoard, taking pictures, and writing down notes. I'm fairly certain everyone at the museum thought I was crazy.

Alessandra Kelley · Mar 28, 2012

mayqueen said:
I planned my last vacation around research. Fortunately, my friend was up for it. (We're both huge Daphne du Maurier fans, so we stopped at Jamaica Inn on the way through to Cornwall.) I'm really glad she wasn't with me, though, when I went to the British Museum. I spent an what might have been an embarrassingly long time to anyone else looking at the Sutton Hoo hoard, taking pictures, and writing down notes. I'm fairly certain everyone at the museum thought I was crazy.

That or a forger.

W.J. Cherf · Mar 28, 2012

From the cliffs above Deir el Bahri

Some significant passages in my books would not have been as accurate and surely would not have had the detail, if I had not spent that long climb from Hatshepsut's mortuary temple up to the cliffs overhead.

Besides the grand panoramic view of the west bank with its verdant fields, the muddy brown snake that is the Nile, and the distant cluster of temples on the far bank - Karnak and Luxor, the view immediately below of the mortuary temples of Hatshepsut, Thutmose III and Mentuhotep II was eye-popping.

Having not experienced first-hand the powerful updrafts that break against the cliffs like great tidal surges, I would never have thought to have the ancient Egyptians hang gliding from atop them.

Confessions Of An Historical Novelist

gothicangel

Toughen up.

Siri Kirpal

Swan in Process

Raula

ishtar'sgate

living in the past

angeliz2k

never mind the shorty

Cristin_B

gothicangel

Toughen up.

Cristin_B

Belle_91

With her nose stuck in a book

mayqueen

practical experience, FTW

Alessandra Kelley

Sophipygian

W.J. Cherf

VP, Egyptian Studies Society