One of the things I like about writing historical fiction is doing research. Well, I’ll clarify that a bit – the thing I really like is looking at pictures. Trouble is, finding images that will fire the old imagination ain’t that easy, so sometimes it comes down to good old fashioned reading. I mentioned in…
Category: Writing
More Deadlines, Schmedlines…
Back in October, I wrote a little post about deadlines and how, in true Douglas Adams style, ‘…they go whooshing by…’ The book I was working on at the time was ‘Mortlake‘ (book 2 in my ‘Maps of Time’ series). Somewhat surprisingly, I managed to hit that deadline in a week-or-two-either-side sort of way, which…
When is a Blog Not a Blog?
The answer is of course – when it’s also a book. We’ve all heard stories of writers who’ve had their blogs turned into books in one of those rare incidences when some savvy publisher realised its potential and decided to grab the proverbial by the thingumajigs. And before you can say The New Harry Potter,…
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Word…
Way back at the end of 2013 I posted a short piece celebrating finishing my second novel. It went something like this: And the last line is finally on the page! The Architect’s Apprentice is finished and the bad guys are finally unmasked. Course, there are still questions, leaving plenty of scope for a follow…
Meet and Greet Weekend @ DBDO: 2/12/16
Saying the Same Old Thing…
One of the challenges in writing novels is how we use language. A big part of that language (obviously), is the words we use to say what we want to say. And while there are a fair few words available, it can be tough to constantly come up with new ways of saying the same…
6 Silly Book Things We Never Notice…
Reading a book is a lot different to writing a book. There’s a ton of stuff we take for granted that publishers and printers (and of course, indie authors) know all about, but that might not be obvious to the newbie author/publisher. Now, I don’t consider myself to be a newbie but every day I…
London Bridge is (sometimes) Falling Down…
One of the difficulties of writing historical fiction is the lack of pictorial and other evidence – photos, newsreels, podcasts etc, which means the images we can get our hands on are so much more meaningful. And then of course, there are the wonderfully talented people who turn their talents to building realistic models (such…
Historical Writing – Fact or Fiction?
Writing about times long past can be great fun, but how accurate do authors need to be with historical fiction? While most readers expect authors to just ‘make stuff up’, a bit of good old fashioned research can make a world of difference. I’ve always believed that writers should use their imaginations – after all,…
Deaths and Other Surprises
What is it that makes us who we are? In the space of a few days, the world has lost three wonderfully individual and very different men: Lemmy, David Bowie and Alan Rickman were all hugely significant in their own artistic spheres and massively influential in my own personal sphere, too. It’s strange how the…
Colin Garrow 