It had to happen one day.
Regular readers of this blog know I am a bit of a history buff and spend as much time as I can climbing over ruined castles, old abbeys, stone age forts and the like wherever I find them.
I have always said I am not a big fan of historical fiction… but slowly more and more historical reads have somehow found their way on to my bookshelf and into my e-readers.
So, I guess it’s time to fess up…. This morning I found myself doing some serious historical writing research. It was before breakfast too!
No – don’t panic. I’m not going to suddenly become a writer of historical novels.
I am, however trying my hand a something a little different. And while the story is contemporary, it does need a good strong historical background.
So while still in my jim-jams, I was checking the most common Cornish names in the early 1800s, and the exact date of the destruction of a certain Devon wharf. And I did discover that reading about ship wrecks can be fascinating.
I have always done research for my books. For the first Coorah Creek novel, I spent ages learning about piloting a small plane.
For Bring Me Sunshine, I spent time talking to people who had done what I, unfortunately, couldn’t – which was take a cruise to Antarctica.
For my historical backstory, I turned first to the web. It found out pretty much what I needed to know very quickly. But just because I have what I need, that doesn’t mean I shall give up the research. Every page I went to seemed to point me further on to something else that looked interesting. Before I realised it, I was a long way from my starting point in a direction I had never intended to go.
I can feel all my historical writer friends grinning from ear to ear as I say I’m really enjoying the research. It is all their fault of course.
However – that’s not to say I will ever write an historical novel. I still find that prospect totally daunting. And there are still more stories to tell about the people of Coorah Creek…
AND on that subject. Do drop by in a week, as I will have some news to share with you about that.