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Delving into the history of a house

5 September 2021 By Melanie Backe-Hansen

It’s a good week for anyone interested in the history of houses; a new series of A House Through Time begins, and the paperback edition of the book of the same name is out. If you’re inspired to delve into house history to find out more about the building you live in, or you’re a […]

How do I find imaginative space between what I know of the facts?

18 August 2016 By Emma Darwin

Dear Dr Darwin You’ve talked elsewhere about finding the “white space between the facts” on which we can write, and I think I’ve found a time and place – the run-up to Waterloo – which gives me (just about) enough white space for fiction. But I’m finding it very hard to write anything on those […]

How to make us believe your bucklers are swashing and your Tyrian is truly purple

1 October 2015 By Emma Darwin

Dear Dr Darwin, You keep saying “make it vivid and convincing”, but how do I do that? When I put in lots of detail my writers’ circle say it slows up the story; when I cut it back they say they don’t believe in the places. When I make my characters act/think/react differently from how […]

I’m beginning to wish my novel was set in Salford in 2015

1 July 2015 By Emma Darwin

Dear Dr Darwin, I’m writing a novel set in medieval Mallorca, and I’m a draft-by-the-seat-of-my-pants writer, not a planner. My business partner says it’s inefficient to do the research until I’ve written my first draft and know what I need. My critiquing partner says it’s asking for trouble to do the writing first and leave […]

So I put the gravy browning on my legs as I drank my Camp coffee and sang along to Glenn Miller

1 April 2015 By Emma Darwin

Dear Dr Darwin, When a wartime-set story is all, “So I put the gravy browning on my legs as I drank my Camp coffee and sang along to Glenn Miller,” or similar? It’s so unsubtle that it ruins my immersion in the story. I know it makes sense to use things that I think lots of […]

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Latest Releases

The Lying Dutchman by Graham Brack

20 May 2022

Dead in the Water by Mark Ellis

19 May 2022

Widows of the Ice by Anne Fletcher

15 May 2022

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Editor’s Picks

From the Mill to Monte Carlo by Anne Fletcher

15 June 2021

William of Orange's army arrives in England

Why the Glorious Revolution was . . . well, neither

4 November 2018

Historia Q&A: Ben Kane

15 May 2018

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Historia Magazine is published by the Historical Writers’ Association. We are authors, publishers and agents of historical writing, both fiction and non-fiction. For information about membership and profiles of our member authors, please visit our website.

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ISSN 2515-2254

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