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Tag Archives: historical novel

A Treasonous Path… almost!

20 Thursday Oct 2022

Posted by la Clarina in Books, History, Stories

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historical mystery, historical novel, Preorder, publication, Sapere Books, Sir Francis Walsingham, The Tom Walsingham Mysteries

Tom gave a last, narrow-eyed frown at the letter’s signature — a false name, since no “Henry Fagot” resided with the French Ambassador, Monsieur de Castelnau at Salisbury Court. But then, the whole matter was a rigmarole: a mysterious informant writing his letters in bad French, and hiding them in an Italian fencing-master’s hat. Almost too fanciful to be true — and yet…

This was the third time, since returning from France late in May, that Tom had been summoned to the wood-panelled study, and set to read this fellow Fagot’s papers, and then made to unpick their meaning under his great cousin’s Sphinx-like scrutiny.

“So, Thomas?”

Tom took a good deep breath and straightened away from the windowsill. “So the French Ambassador’s servants are smuggling in Catholic books, but that is more an embarrassment than anything else,” he said — slow and considering. “Either this Henry Fagot is not very good at telling what is important, or he has a grudge against the Ambassador’s butler and cook…”

Publication day for Book Two of Tom Walsingham’s adventures in espionage and sleuthing is little more than a week away… Continue reading →

Add water and stir…

22 Thursday Sep 2022

Posted by la Clarina in Scribbling

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brainstorming, historical novel, Not quite Draft 1, The Tom Walsingham Mysteries, writing, writing process

In the beginning it was just “when the elder G. asks him about his plans to leave, Tom demurs.”

That’s all it was. A half line in Draft 0. Thirteen words in all. I thought it would be a very tiny scene, little more than a transition, a little coda to establish that Tom wasn’t leaving after all.

Then on Saturday morning… Continue reading →

The Small Writer and the Huge Deadline – an instructional tale

14 Thursday Jul 2022

Posted by la Clarina in Scribbling

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

getting unstuck, historical novel, murder mystery, Procrastination, research, writing

Once upon a time, there was a Small Writer with a Huge Deadline.

The Huge Deadline was still rather far away – and that was perhaps the heart of the problem. Had it been looming large, roaring nearer and nearer, the Small Writer would have been writing like mad, and piling up a nice daily wordcount, and biting her nails, and drinking tea by the gallon, and generally doing what she was supposed to do… Continue reading →

Life as a mystery writer

08 Friday Apr 2022

Posted by la Clarina in Scribbling

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historical novel, murder, research, stab wounds

Because I’m busy tweaking things, and filling gaps, and this sort of things in TW2*, yesterday I up and asked my mother’s physiotherapist what the best entry point would be for a stab wound in the back.

“I want it to quickly give the victim breathing trouble,” I explained – and, having spent half the morning poring over medical journals, even spouted that I probably wanted a bad case of tension pneumothorax… Continue reading →

“Go the way, vilain!”

03 Thursday Feb 2022

Posted by la Clarina in History, Stories

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British History Online, Calendar of State Papers Scotland, historical novel, primary sources, swashbuckling

After finishing Draft 0 last Monday, I’ve spent this past couple of days up to my chin in primary sources, thanks to the wonder that is British History Online. Continue reading →

A life like a novel

15 Thursday Jul 2021

Posted by la Clarina in Scribbling, Stories, Theatre

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Alexandre Dumas, historical novel, Théàtre Historique, The Three Musketeers

We all read The Three Musketeers as children, don’t we? And we play make-believe, and watch the movies (and the fact itself that they keep making more of them must mean something), and go on to read Twenty Years Later, and perhaps The Man in the Iron Mask – but this is already where “we” split into two camps, roughly speaking: those who leave behind Dumas as yet another childhood pleasure, and those who do not. Continue reading →

French museums and tarring brushes

11 Thursday Feb 2021

Posted by la Clarina in History, Scribbling

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France, historical novel, Montreuil-sur-Mer, museums, research, Road to Murder, writing

A few months ago, as I was working on Road to Murder, I found trouble in the form of a French town called Montreuil sur Mer.* Well, for various reasons, my sleuth Tom Walsingham finds himself spending a night there, much against his inclination, and I needed to have a good idea of the place for that… Continue reading →

Matthew Plampin’s Will and Tom

20 Thursday Feb 2020

Posted by la Clarina in Books

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historical novel, Matthew Plampin, Thomas Girtin, Will and Tom, William Turner

I remember picking up Matthew Plampin’s Will and Tom in the bookshop at the Tate Britain – and then putting it back, just as I’d put back half a dozen other hardbacks in the last day. In truth, after lugging many and many and many pounds of books across Europe over the years, I’ve learned, when I’m travelling, to only buy the ones that can’t conceivably be procured through the Net – either digitally or physically. So I jotted down the title in my notebook’s dedicated page, and in time the novel found its way to my Kindle. Then, for some reason, it took me a few years to get round to actually read it. If you have a To Read List of any length, you know how these things happen… Continue reading →

A Historical Novelist’s To-Do List

30 Saturday Sep 2017

Posted by la Clarina in History, Scribbling

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

historical novel, Lydia Kang, research, Writer Unboxed

I think I’ve told you already how Writer Unboxed is one of my favourite writerly sites. That’s mostly because it provides a wonderful mix of thought-provoking discussion and practical stuff, musings and resources, theory and exercises… All of it interesting and useful. Continue reading →

Giving Up on The Religion

13 Thursday Jul 2017

Posted by la Clarina in Books

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

Great Siege of Malta, historical novel, Mattias Tannhauser, Omnicompetent Hero, Pet peeves, The Religion, Tim Willocks

On the plane to Malta, I began reading Tim Willocks’ The Religion, one of a few Siege-themed novels I’d purchased in view of the journey. I rather liked the prologue, and my first glimpse of Grand Master La Valette and Sir Oliver Starkey, and the preparations for the siege.

If I  was tempted to raise an eyebrow at La Valette’s life-or-death insistence that they must have Tannhauser at all costs… well, he is the hero, after all, and he’s been a Janissary for part of his life – so he must be in the thick of things, and there is some sort of reason for it, right? Continue reading →

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