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?
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
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
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
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 […]