Writing Historical Fiction: wise advice at the Historical Novel Society Conference 2024

Dartington Hall in Devon

Back in the spring, I reached the 17th to 19th century category shortlist of the Historical Novel Society’s First Chapters competition. It was the nudge that encouraged me to attend the HNS conference in early September. The HNS and I have history (ahem): I attended the conference in 2012 and in 2014, and was on the committee for the Oxford conference in 2016. I have history with the competitions too! I was on the shortlist for the Short Story Award in 2012 with ‘Reputation’ and won in 2014 with ‘Salt’: you can read both these stories in my ebook An Oxford Vengeance. In 2016 I was on the judging panel for that year’s short story award.

Other tempting reasons for going: the chance to meet up with friends I’d made at previous conferences and to make new ones. Plus, the location: Dartington Hall in Devon, which is set in beautiful countryside near Totnes and which has stunning gardens. I’d heard so much about it over the years and it didn’t disappoint. What did disappoint was the weather – lots of cloud and rain over the weekend, but on Monday morning , when virtually every other delegate had left, the sun came out at last and everything glowed.

The conference theme was page to screen, which is really apropos, given so many historical novels achieve fame through television and film productions. (As I write this I’m eagerly anticipating the start of the TV dramatization of Hilary Mantel’s The Mirror and the Light). There were so many talks and presentations – it was impossible to attend them all, of course. But here’s a selection:

The HNS founder Richard Lee opened the conference on Saturday 7th September before Bernard Cornwell gave the keynote. Who better to kick off the weekend’s talks, given that his novels about Sharpe and Uhtred have transferred so successfully to the screen? He was sardonic and down to earth, with a great range of anecdotes. His first piece of advice was ‘Don’t get too excited’ if an offer for your work to be filmed comes your way: he only believes that the project will actually happen ‘when the credits roll.’ And if you’re invited to write the script? ‘For Godsake, say no!’ He expressed frustration with those who don’t portray history correctly on the screen, lambasting Ridley Scott’s film Napoleon for not knowing the difference between a mortar and a howitzer and for having an officer at the battle of Waterloo scream at his men to go ‘Over the top!’ He shared anecdotes about actor Sean Bean, saying that now when he writes the Sharpe novels, it’s Sean’s voice he hears. He came across as one who certainly does not suffer fools gladly, including the French, the ‘little darlings’ who make the films and writers who claim to have writer’s block, which is something he does not believe in. He said that he has ‘never done a structure in my life … Part of the joy of sitting down to write is to see what happens.’

In a discussion of writing medieval fiction afterwards, Elizabeth Chadwick reminded us that ‘A writer is a bridge between now and then’ and Matthew Harffy, talking about the difficulty of accessing the medieval mindset, asserted that ‘Authenticity is more important than accuracy.’

Ian Mortimer, author of the very popular Time Traveller’s Guides, used his platform to disagree most vigorously with the traditional way of teaching history, with its ‘God’s eye view of the past’. He called for ‘free history’ rather than neutral, formulaic history.

Kate Quinn highlighted something every historical writer can relate to when she said ‘You run into the danger that you never finish the research.’ Ain’t that the truth (I speak from experience …)

On Saturday evening, there was a gala dinner in the incredible Great Hall which dates back to the time of Richard II, with after dinner speeches and the announcement of the overall winner of the First Chapters competition, Lenore Hart, for ‘The Alchemy of Light’. Entertainment was by the Sea Gals, who sang sea shanties with great gusto.

On Sunday, Diana Gabaldon took a very different line from Bernard Cornwell. He had advocated not getting involved with the scriptwriting, but she has very much been part of the production of the scripts for the Outlander series. She gave us insights into the process: the writers’ room, the showrunner who produces the ‘beat sheets’, the way changes are made for political, gender or race reasons. She described how, if you are not writing within a recognised genre category, you need to ‘make it as good as you can so they don’t care whether it doesn’t fit in a box’. She wrote Outlander ‘as a practice novel to learn how to write a book’, having intended to write crime. And there was common ground with Bernard Cornwell when she said ‘I don’t write in a straight line … It comes to me in pieces.’ So anyone who worries about not having their book completely mapped out in advance can relax a little.

My friend Alison Morton chaired a lively panel discussion with authors Kate Quinn and Ruth Downie, all brilliantly costumed in Roman outfits, about how ancient Rome has been portrayed on the screen. They highlighted the eternal fascination we have with Rome and how it’s all about common humanity but also about the great differences between their outlook and ours. ‘What is it about blokes with swords?’ Alison asked, before describing how she came to write her Roma Nova series, about a part of the Roman Empire surviving into the modern age – a Roman Empire ruled by women.

Jane Johnson, in her vibrant talk, proved that ‘The most authentic writing comes from the depths of your experience’ when she described how she met her husband during a dramatic and romantic adventure in the Atlas mountains while she was researching The Tenth Gift. They now live in Cornwall and location clearly feeds into and sustains her novel-writing. Like many of us, it’s when she trips over an interesting historical fact that her imagination kicks into gear. ‘One of the reasons I write is to find those secrets in our history,’ she says, while adding that ‘It’s more difficult in many ways to write about history that’s within people’s memory.’ She has had an amazing career as publisher as well as writer and worked with Peter Jackson on the Lord of the Rings films in New Zealand; she published Tolkien’s books at George Allen and Unwin and she launched the Voyager imprint which published Stephen King and George RR Martin. I’ve read several of her books and am really looking forward to reading the latest, The Black Crescent.

Finally, Scottish author Shona MacLean discussed with her agent Lisa Highton how she never intended to be a novelist at all. She was all set for an academic career, but a job move for her husband led to her living in a small town in the north east of Scotland where she became interested in its history: what she learned turned into a novel, The Redemption of Alexander Seaton. Not only have I read this novel, but I went to school in Banff for three years so I was keen to hear what she had to say! What came across strongly was her passion for the period and more than that, the locality: even when she was under pressure from her publisher, what mattered most to her was a setting she could relate to. There was also a pressure to write books in a series – this seems to be particularly the case when your story involves a crime or two! She warned of ‘the marshes of research’ but her love for the history of Scotland and her respect for ‘the spirits of the folk’ really shone. Her latest book, The Bookseller of Inverness, is a standalone (I’ve read this one too!) and is set in the aftermath of Culloden. It powerfully depicts the trauma of defeat and the risks of staying loyal to a cause that’s been lost, as well as the corruption of faith and honour that fear and oppression may bring.

I said at the start of this blogpost that a major part of the appeal of a conference is the chance to meet and talk. I was delighted to enjoy meals at the White Hart at Dartington with my friends and to meet new writers and readers. Afterwards, I joined my friend Clare Flynn, multi-published historical novelist, in a beautiful old Devon cottage (well, it had to be old!) for a brief writing retreat. I was working on revisions for my new edition of The Chase, which counts as historical these days as it is set in 1989, (the ebook is now out in this edition with a new cover - paperback to be updated very soon), plus my forthcoming book of short stories, One Morning in Provence. More about these in a future blogpost!

Interested in writing or reading historical fiction? Find out more about the HNS here.

Writing retreats: how to get the balance right

A month ago I returned from the third writing retreat I’ve spent in the company of the best writing friends you could imagine. In 2021 we went to an old Arts and Crafts house in Surrey. Last year, we were by the sea, in Marazion, Cornwall. This year we chose the Loire region of France. 

I have loved all three retreats and I’ve come away from each with new enthusiasm, new insights, new knowledge. I think that for me, this was the best one yet. 

Why was that? It was all about getting the balance right. Our first retreat was too short for the kind of deep-dive experience writers seek. A retreat is all about getting in touch with your creativity in a location where the everyday cares and distractions of normal life no longer interrupt. I came back from Surrey with a new idea but little actual writing done. 

Cornwall is for me a spiritual home. I have been in love with its landscape and history for more than two decades. Maybe this got in the way during the Marazion retreat. As the group member who found and co-ordinated the property let, I was so intent on making the experience perfect for everyone else that I lost sight of what I was there to do. Once again, I came home having not been as productive as I’d intended, though I had learned a lot about publishing and marketing from the multi-published authors in our group. 

If you go on a retreat, it’s important not to undervalue the non-writing time. Things go on that are intangible; they may not seem obviously practical or developmental but actually they are. When I look back at all three retreats, I can see how our friendships have deepened. How it is crucial to be with people you trust. How we root for each other, nag one another, sympathise with one another, give each other ideas and information. How we share laughter and anecdotes and strategies. How we defend one another in the context of a publishing world that can be hostile or frustrating or plain incomprehensible. We steady one another. We reach out from our little writing cells and know someone will be there to reply, cajole, soothe, giggle, share indignation, gossip, inspire.

The French trip had minor downsides. The travelling was onerous. The weather wasn’t great. But we could cope with that. There were incredible pluses: we shared an amazing gite in the Loire countryside. We spent time alone or in small groups or all together. The gite had great facilities, including not one, but two swimming pools! We went on an excursion to the beautiful château of Amboise. Those members who live in France were indefatigable in their efforts to ensure we were all comfortable and well fed. Our evenings were spent in gales of laughter as we played word games and shared mystery readings. 

I went to France with a plan: I would not burden myself with notes and research and all the paraphernalia of the two major projects I am engaged in. I took my iPad and a slim notebook, that’s all. I chose to write something different, for publication this summer. I was disciplined: I went on the Amboise trip but not on two other excursions. I retired to my gorgeous peaceful room after breakfast and wrote in bursts until lunch and after lunch, knowing that the evening’s fellowship (and wine!) would be my reward for a productive day. I struggled during the first couple of days, then it all gelled. I came home with 10,000 new words for my new project. I couldn’t have been happier. 

Back home it is hard to maintain the momentum, of course, but I am still plugging away. Already we are discussing where our next retreat will be … 

Photos above: notebooks I made for my friends; at the Château d’Amboise; in my writing room; breakfast spread; headshot by Jean Gill

Advice if you’re going on a retreat:

• Make sure you go with the right people. A retreat is about community. It’s about support and sharing, not competition. You need to feel you can trust your fellow writers and you can open up to them. Over the years, my friendships with my fellow retreaters, some of whom I met initially online, has grown ever-deeper and more invaluable to me. 

• It’s not all about you. It’s about listening and supporting. It’s about moving out of your own self-obsessed grumbles and resentments about writing and publishing. It’s about knowing you are not alone and neither is anyone else in the group. Knowing that you can offer fellowship, love and support to your friends is infinitely precious. 

• Make the most of the skills you bring. I’m an editor and writing coach. Several of us are genius marketers with experience of traditional, independent and hybrid publishing. My friend Jean Gill is a fantastic photographer and took new headshots of me for my author website!

• It’s about the right choices: the length of the retreat, its location, its comfort. There is no point in not being kind to yourself. A retreat is a celebration. Choose somewhere with comfy beds and space around you, tables to write at, nature to contemplate, good food and drink. A retreat is not a penance: it is a reward for your commitment to the present and future of your writing life. 

• Make plans. Go to the retreat with a clear idea of what you want to accomplish. It may be that you’re not particularly interested in coming away with a massive word count, which is not a badge of honour to be waved – after all, those new words may not be the best words in the end … You may go on a retreat to edit a completed novel, brainstorm a new one or find a way of becoming unstuck. You may come home with a single sheet of paper on which is sketched out an outline or a new plot-thread – result! This is precious time you are giving yourself, so spend some time beforehand evaluating which task or aim you want to focus on. Otherwise (and I speak from experience) you will hop about from task to task and not get any of them done to your satisfaction.  

• Go equipped. Consider keeping it simple. I chose not to take my laptop and my files of research and outline notes this time. This freed me up. You might take only a notebook which you use in a random way, jotting ideas, single lines, whole passages down as they come to you. This is liberating. You know that when you come home you can expand and organise from these beginnings. 

• Decide if the internet is important and if it is, what use you are going to make of it. There’s no point spending a fortune on a trip if all you do is doom-scroll on social media. But if you have a launch coming up, posting photos of your writing life keeps your readers interested. If you’re writing a tricky scene, you may need the internet to consult sources and facts. Or, like me, you simply type xxx at any point you’re unsure about and you do the follow-up checking when you get home. 

• Think about how you’re going to maintain some of the momentum after your return. Not just the momentum – the spirit of the retreat. This is hard, I know, because real life comes washing back into your consciousness like a tide. Consider having a Facebook group with your friends, dedicated to the retreat and its aftermath so you can keep in touch with the people who shared the experience with you. Consider keeping a writing journal during the retreat, that you can reread to reawaken the feelings and thoughts you had while you were there.
  

 Photos above: Amboise house; fireplace and bed in château; mural of French Resistance hero Jean Moulin in Chartres; carvings and rose window in Chartres (on way to the retreat); Château d’Amboise

To Alison, Carol, Clare, Jane, Jean and Karen - thank you so much for your friendship!

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How can you keep a grip on your story? Thriller writer Alison Morton shares her plotting safety-net

Publishing a book is exciting. All those months and months (sometimes years) of hard slog at the keyboard have come to a point. You’ve been through several rounds of editing: your own red-pen-wielding self-edit, your critique partner’s input (mine has the instincts of a velociraptor) and the professional copy edit. You’ve commissioned a beautiful cover that conveys something intrinsic about your story to induce the potential buyer to pick it up or click on it. 

And here it is. In my case my eleventh novel. By now, I have an idea of how to put my stories together. They’re thrillers, so I use the traditional structure: inciting incident, three crisis/turning points, the black moment where everything falls apart, the climax and the resolution.  

I like to keep my readers on their toes, so I shoot through the standard twists and turns with curveballs, decoys and gambits, mainly because that’s the sort of thing I enjoy reading. 

But there’s a bit of a problem with that…  

Writing the first book of my Roma Nova series in 2012, I became so engrossed in producing the story that I inadvertently put events in the wrong sequence or found myself introducing one character to another I’d killed off three chapters before. Luckily, I had avoided that old cliché – the eleventh month pregnancy. 

My heroine was going on a long journey: not just physical but personal, emotional and empowering. I desperately needed some way of tracking all these different and interwoven threads; not only the action but also its timing.  

Although I was a computer geek, I rejected using a spreadsheet like Excel. I didn’t need all those columns. So I developed a grid in MS Word which tracks timeline, summarises the scenes in each chapter and where I could note down the word count for each chapter. (I rather pompously called it ‘structure analysis’ at the time and the name has stuck – sorry.)  

Entering the details after each day’s writing not only kept the grid up to date, but also made me re-examine the coherence of the plot. These days, I enter the details at the beginning of the next session’s writing as it reminds me of the action and context of what has gone before. 

The added bonus is that the completed grid is invaluable for reviewing, editing and revising the first draft. Plot holes jump out and poke you (figuratively) in the eye. You can then sort them out before they become embarrassing. 

Is this still necessary eleven books and nine years later? 

YES! In Double Pursuit, my latest, my heroine travels all over the place: Poitou, Rome, Brussels, Strasbourg, Montpellier, Tilbury and the African Sahel. She makes progress, has setbacks, has useful conversations and arguments with her lover, gathers titbits of intelligence, and works out strategies. Clues have to be laid at specific points – not so soon it spoils the story and not so late that it looks as if the villain has been ‘parachuted’ in near the end.  

Thrillers, especially crime thrillers and spy stories, are necessarily convoluted, so the author needs to remember who said what to whom, or who did what to whom, and the decisions taken at one point in the story that affect another. I have a good memory, but I’m not Mr Spock from Star Trek. And you’ll be pleased to know I’m using it for my current work in progress and even halfway through I’ve been able to prevent some horrible plot holes. The velociraptor critique partner I mentioned at the beginning reports that she uses the grid religiously when writing her own novels and admits it’s saved her much embarrassment on many an occasion! I couldn’t possibly comment… 

If you’d like to try it, you can find an empty grid and a sample, part-filled grid in the files area on my writing blog. Please feel free to download and use them. 

Happy writing!

About Alison:

Alison Morton writes award-winning thrillers featuring tough but compassionate heroines. Her nine-book Roma Nova series is set in an imaginary European country where a remnant of the ancient Roman Empire has survived into the 21st century and is ruled by women who face conspiracy, revolution and heartache but with a sharp line in dialogue.  

She blends her deep love of France with six years’ military service and a life of reading crime, historical and thriller fiction. On the way, she collected a BA in modern languages and an MA in history.   

Alison now lives in Poitou in France, the home of Mélisende, the heroine of her latest two contemporary thrillers, Double Identity and Double Pursuit. Oh, and she’s writing the next Roma Nova story.

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About Double Pursuit:

One dead body, two badly injured operatives and five crates of hijacked rifles.

She’s hunting arms smugglers. But who is hunting her? 

In Rome, former French special forces intelligence analyst Mélisende des Pittones is frustrated by obnoxious local cops and ruthless thugs. Despite the backing of the powerful European Investigation and Regulation Service, her case is going nowhere. Then an unknown woman tries to blow her head off. 

As Mel and fellow investigator Jeff McCracken attempt to get a grip on the criminal network as well as on their own unpredictable relationship, all roads point to the place she dreads – the arid and remote African Sahel – where she was once betrayed and nearly died. Can Mel conquer her fear as she races to smash the network and save her colleague’s life? 

Where to buy Double Pursuit:
Amazon

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/fr/en/ebook/double-pursuit

Apple

B&N Nook: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/double-pursuit-alison-morton/1140156361?ean=2940162379614

Books2Read: https://books2read.com/DoublePursuit

Paperback: https://www.alison-morton.com/books-2/double-pursuit/where-to-buy-double-pursuit/

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Connect with Alison:

Connect with Alison on her thriller site: https://alison-morton.com

Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/AlisonMortonAuthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/alison_morton    @alison_morton

Alison’s writing blog: https://alisonmortonauthor.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alisonmortonauthor/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5783095.Alison_Morton
Alison’s Amazon page: http://Author.to/AlisonMortonAmazon

Newsletter sign-up: https://www.alison-morton.com/newsletter/

Find solace in creating your home writing retreat - 7 tips and an invitation

In ‘normal’ life – which with every passing day right now takes on the shape of a mirage – how often have you dreamt of going on a writing retreat? Now, we’re in a time of crisis and there’s no choice: we can’t get away to write. We may have extra time at home, but that is time we didn’t choose to allocate to writing. It’s time where we may be distracted by family concerns and commitments, such as home-schooling our children. It’s also time in which to fret about the future – and fretting isn’t good for the creative muse.

All the same, people are pursuing new interests and spheres of knowledge. We’re rediscovering the pleasures of crafting. We’re learning languages or doing online fitness workouts. It’s quite amazing.

And you? You want to write. So today’s post is all about seeing your home (which at times may be feeling like a prison or a cramped overcrowded madhouse) as a haven. A retreat, in fact.

Here’s 7 tips for setting up your writing retreat at home.

1.  Choose a time. Your commitments are not going away. The dog needs a walk. The elder child needs to be coaxed into doing some schoolwork. The toddler needs to be watched in case they blunder into a sharp corner or decide that shoving a clothes-peg up their nose is the greatest idea in the world. You need to review the shape of your day – a shape that may have changed radically since lockdown. You used to write when the kids were at school. Now you may have to opt to rise before they do, or stay up late after they’ve gone to bed. You may need to bargain: you will give the family time and attention on condition that they give you your ‘me’ time to write. The other thing that’s important in all this is to try to negotiate a time that suits them and suits you, which is about knowing your own ‘best’ times of day in terms of alertness and creative flow.

2.  Choose a place. When we dream of retreats we dream of cottages by the sea or high-ceilinged rooms with a view or serene libraries, hushed as a monastery. Well, not now. You are going to have to claim some territory in that over-crowded land you call home. It may not be ideal, but it is worth selecting a location within the house where you put a flag up saying ‘This is my writing territory’. You may have a loft, a shed, or a spare room. You may not: then you’re going to have to choose your bedroom, or a corner of the living-room or the end of the kitchen table. Once again, it’s clear you’ll need to negotiate because all these places have other claimants too. But I think it is time to be tough, especially if you allow other people in the household to mark out their special places as well. In your chosen location, put down some possessions associated with your writing: your notebook and pens, the book you’re taking notes from, the laptop. These are visual cues to you and to the family that you mean business.

3. Make the special place just that – special. It’s important to see your writing retreat as a pleasure. So make everything about it as joyous or as peaceful as possible. Work in natural or good lighting. Sit on a comfortable supportive seat. Play music in the background, if that helps you. Use scented oils in a diffuser. I use a Tisserand pulse-spot roll-on which has rosemary, mint and bergamot in it. Write in a beautiful notebook where even to touch the paper is a pleasure. Use your favourite pen. Wear a silk kimono if you want to, or your fleecy onesie.

4. Ring-fence your creativity. You need to put up an imaginary barrier to distractions or worries or guilt. This can take the form of an actual sign you put up: Keep Out, or Silence Please (I have a Bodleian Library Silence sign I hang on the doorknob). You can also have a notice or card propped up in front of you with a favourite quote or a few words saying ‘You can do it’ or ‘Stay with it’ or ‘You deserve time to write’ or ‘Your words matter’ or any other encouraging message you want to give yourself. Switch off the distractions of emails and social media notifications. Don’t listen to the news (I am rationing tuning into news bulletins these days). Ask your family members to write down any questions or requests and place them gently just outside your place of creativity: you’ll attend to them later. Wear headphones, not just to shut out extraneous noise but as a visual signal to the others that you are, literally, in your own head-space right now. Have a pad of post-its by you and if any distraction, reminder for your to-do list or anxious thought arises, jot it down there and push it aside, for later. Don’t break the now of your retreat.

5.  Have modest goals. If you’re feeling stressed, don’t add to that stress by being too ambitious. Set a reasonable time-limit and break the big creative task down into smaller, achievable goals. Write a poem. Write a scene or a flash fiction. Feel good about that. Don’t equate sheer volume with value. If you have found the perfect image for how you or your character feels, that writing session has been totally worth it.

6.  Give yourself breaks to rise and walk about the room, or do some stretches. (As I write this, I am actually chuckling at myself, because I am notorious for locking myself into a fixed, hunched position for hours on end. I need to take my own advice!)

7.  Find support and community if aloneness isn’t working for you. Move beyond the family who are on your side but who may not necessarily understand how you’re feeling. Join fellow creatives in co-working sessions. Just knowing that other people are quietly working with you can be a real encouragement and solace. It can also create a sense of accountability, if you have buddies to discuss the session with, before and after, sharing intentions and what was achieved. It’s a paradox that you need to create a kind of ‘bubble’ round yourself for flow to happen, but that bubble isn’t burst in the presence of other creatives.

UPDATE: I’ve now developed a self-study mini-course, Create your Home Writing Retreat. Find out more here.

Invitation: I’ve just run my second free online writing retreat (Sat 4th April), after the first went so well a couple of weeks ago. Attendees have reached out to me afterwards saying how valuable they’ve found these sessions so it’s likely I will host more! If you want to know when I arrange the next one, please sign up for the Fictionfire newsletter via the form below - you can unsubscribe at any time.

Collected Fictionfire blogposts 2019

Lessons Learned on a Solo Writing Retreat

I’ve just returned from a week by the sea. I planned the trip for ages and in the run up to it I often lay awake, heart racing with gleeful anticipation. I had run retreats for other writers before, in St Ives and Oxford, where my focus had been on enabling attendees to access their creative energy and get productive.

This one, though, was all about me. Which made me feel a little guilty. I’m a woman, a mother, a mentor to other writers. I’ve run my literary consultancy for a decade now and before that I was a teacher. I’m a little out of the habit of putting my writing first!

I arrived late on the Saturday evening. I couldn’t get into the rental property at first, which is a whole other story! On Sunday morning, I laid out my papers, notes and laptop. I thought about the six precious days ahead and how this book, already more than half-written, was going to make giant strides forward.

Then, quite simply, I panicked.

So here, at the other end of that precious week, are some lessons I’d like to share with you to help you if you’re considering going away to write: they’ll also remind me when I go on my next solo retreat – and yes, there will definitely be a next one!

1                     If life has got in the way and you haven’t been working on your book for a few weeks or months you can’t expect it to jump and greet you like an old friend the minute you decide to pay it some attention. It’s going to be like my sister’s cat: whenever she’d been on holiday, on her return, instead of rushing to be petted, it would turn its back on her. It would have to be coaxed round. So it is with your abandoned masterpiece. You’re going to have to sweet-talk it. You’re going to have to give it time to thaw out towards you.

2                     Which leads to the next problem. You don’t have all that much time. You don’t feel you can wait for it to warm up naturally, so you try to force the issue. You open up Scrivener. You reread some older bits, dismayed because they feel as if someone else entirely wrote them. You can’t remember what your fine intentions were. You’re all at sea. The panic grows and with it, the paralysis. You go out for a walk, hoping that will help. It doesn’t. Force is not flow. Thus endeth Day 1. Only 5 to go.

3                     You stay indoors the next day. You think that relentless application of the seat of the pants to the chair will help. It doesn’t. You read inspirational work connected to your topic. At first, all that does is spark envy and a sense of inferiority. What were you thinking – that you could contribute an individual vision to this overcrowded subject?

4                     You picked one of the loveliest places in the world for your retreat. You start to think that may have been a Very Bad Idea. You leave the laptop and sit in a chair by the window, watching the light change ceaselessly. The weather is mostly bad. But you see a rainbow plunge its arc into the bay in front of you. You are seduced by beauty. It is a distraction. You might as well have paid for this week as a holiday and let yourself enjoy it as such.

5                     On Day 3 you see another rainbow (you see 10 by the end of the week – is that a sign?). You take more notes from that inspirational book. You start grabbing at post-it notes and jotting down ideas and phrases. Some of those ideas seem to reach out to others, like those films you see of neurons sending little tendrils out at the synapses within the brain. That evening, for the first time, the spirit moves you to write. You write nearly 2000 words in one fell swoop. An immense relief floods you. An immense weight drops away.

6                     On each of the days that are left you write 4000 words. You know other writers would write more. You don’t care. Those words, damned in your brain, have suddenly started flowing and you are in an altered state of consciousness. You don’t edit, you don’t reread, you don’t think too hard – you just let them rise.

7                     You realise that next time you won’t book a week. You will book 10 days or more. You will factor in that you need to depressurise before you can begin to let things flow. Writing is not a switch you flick at will. When you care about it the way you do this book, you must let it rise like the water in a well, slow, silent, inexorable, until it reaches the brink and spills.

8                     You learn that the beauty of the place was not a distraction. It was part of a meditation. It was part of a mental state. You needed it and you will again.

9                     You learn that a balance of intense burst of writing with going for a walk (even if your ears are falling off with the cold) or simply sitting, watching the waves and hearing their rhythm, has worked for you. What’s more it has restored something in you.

10                 On the train home, still writing, you look up and see that 10th rainbow. A gift.

Now I am back home, the next task is not to let the magic evaporate. I still have part of the book to write and life will inevitably get in the way. But I will make steady forward progress, heading for publication in early spring. If you want to hear how I get on and later read special advance excerpts, for this is a book I am writing to help other writers, you can sign up at www.unputdownablewriter.com. And if you want to keep helping me make this book as relevant as possible, please do take my quick anonymous survey: https://forms.gle/rSxHNhMuduvERJdPA

Are you in Europe and interested in learning how to self-edit? I will be teaching a half-day workshop and offering one-to-one consultations at Zurich’s WriteCon on 30 November! Visit www.writecon.ch to see the full programme and speakers and make your booking.

Paying tribute to Barbara Large

Many years ago, I arrived in the beautiful and ancient city of Winchester, carrying a novel I had nearly completed. I was wrestling with guilt because for the first time, I had left my two young children with their father, so that I could have a couple of days to myself. I had set off on a bold adventure: I was attending what was then known as the Winchester Writers’ Conference, an annual event attended by hundreds of writers from all over the world. 

Shortly after my arrival, a slender dark-haired woman with a Canadian accent came to chat with me. Back in the days when there was scarcely any internet and certainly no Facebook groups for writers, we were used to working in isolation. I had come seeking information but more than that, I was looking for connection. I didn’t really understand at the time just how significant those connections were going to be and that meeting Barbara Large MBE, the conference’s founder and Director, was going to change my life.  

Barbara, who died in March of this year, was an extraordinary person. Her will and energy were phenomenal. I was always in awe of her dedication and her genuine concern that no writer should feel alone or adrift in the literary world. She welcomed and encouraged every single delegate and she celebrated the success of conference attendees with as much pleasure as if that success was her own. Even when she retired in 2013 after 34 years of presiding over the conference, she kept on reaching out to writers and running her own Creative Words Matter courses, with the help of Adrienne Dines and Sarah Mussi. At last year’s conference she was physically frail but her will undaunted, her joy undimmed. Her indomitable spirit was still an example to us all. 

Barbara’s favourite expression, when she made her annual welcoming address and when she drew each conference to its close, was to call us her ‘family of writers’. She listened, sympathised, and encouraged. She drew us together, establishing connections both personal and professional. 

When I was at last a published author, I started a whole new relationship with Barbara. She first invited me to give a talk at the conference and then to run workshops and give one-to-ones. Winchester became an annual feature in my working calendar. I ran some weekend workshops for her in Shawford at other times of the year. Barbara opened up a whole new career for me as a creative writing teacher and editor, culminating in my setting up Fictionfire Literary Consultancy ten years ago. 

Over the more than two decades I have been attending what is now the Winchester Writers’ Festival I have made friends with so many fellow writers – a couple of whom I met that very first year. It all comes down to that first tentative visit, where Barbara made me welcome and made me feel seen and understood. 

This year’s Winchester Writers’ Festival starts on the 14th June and you have until the 10th to book your place. I won’t be teaching there this year but I will be raising a glass to Barbara and all she stood for: an unselfish commitment to sharing knowledge and experience, a dedication to being an encouraging voice, cheerleader and guide. I’ll be sending my good wishes to everyone there this year.

We writers are far less alone than we used to be, thanks to the internet. We know more about the world of publishing than we used to do. We are able to self-publish in a way we couldn’t before. We can research agents, attend events online and offline. We are connected. 

But still in the wee small hours we may be full of doubt about the value of our work. We may feel alone with those doubts and wonder if we will ever be able to complete that book or find a publisher. 

Barbara would say to you: ‘Yes, you can! You’re not alone! You are part of the wonderful family of writers – welcome!’ And she’d go on to regale you with the famous anecdotes of the delegate lost in the nearby cemetery and the pink nightdress on the bed of one male delegate’s room … 

I hope that in your writing life you find true guides and cheerleaders. Seize every opportunity to attend events where you may meet them – you never know where it may lead!

You can read some of my blogposts about the conference on Literascribe, my previous blog. Just follow the tags in the sidebar - Winchester Writers’ Conference and Winchester Writers’ Festival.

I will be teaching on Oxford University’s OUSSA summer school programme and the Creative Writing Summer School at Exeter College as usual this year.

I’m also working on my new book, The Unputdownable Writer’s Mindset - visit www.theunputdownablewriter.com to sign up for advance news and sneak peeks ahead of publication in the autumn. 

London Book Fair: seven reasons to be cheerful

There’s not a lot to celebrate right now in the British political scene, so as I write this post about my visit to last week’s London Book Fair the word that comes to me and comforts me is this: alliance. I could say a whole lot more about politics but I am going to accentuate the positive. The day I spent at Olympia was a positive one in every way. 

Reason 1: Recognition. It was so good to get back to the London Book Fair for the first time in a few years. I first visited in 2012 when my overwhelming feeling about it was of being a stranger in a strange land, no matter that I was a published author. LBF was not, after all, created for authors. It is a trade fair and as such it’s all about publisher promotions, negotiations and deals. As an author (unless you’re a big name and the biggest names are awarded ‘days’ when they are wheeled out to the book trade public), you feel like an invisible cog in a very big wheel that’s capable of turning without you, thank you very much. 

Reason 2: Actually, scrub that last sentence. However small a cog you are, you are integral to the smooth turning of that machine. Every cog connects, with ratchets, pinions and other cogs. Every author is part of creating the book industry. Every author produces the fuel for that industry, through imagination, dedication and productivity. Every author should be recognized and appreciated for his or her contribution to the British economy and the respect shown to creativity in our nation. (Oh dear, am I heading towards the political again?) 

Reason 3: Buzz. It is exciting to enter a hall like a nineteenth century railway station, gaze around at the publishers’ stands and the lines of posters, see the trade names we grew up with, hear the hum of conversation, watch people stride past, mobile phones to ears, wheelie-cases trailing. Self-important and self-satisfied, a lot of it, yes, but still, it’s alive with action and conversation. I find that invigorating. 

Reason 4: Opportunity. Any writer, whether aiming for traditional or independent publication, needs to be informed. You need to tap into how the industry really works. Visiting a book fair helps you understand that industry better, which increases your chances of being able to approach publishers in the right way (not, by the way, by tugging their sleeves at the Fair, without appointment or preparation!) Listening to talks, getting into conversations – who knows where it may all lead? 

Reason 5: Connection. Opportunities come from the connections you make. More than that, true friendship and a sense of community arise when, as I did back in 2012, you meet people in person whom you may have known before in the digital world. Or you are introduced to new contacts. You realize that as a writer you don’t need to be alone. Your challenges are their challenges. Your successes are celebrated. There are shoulders to cry on. There are teams cheering for you. 

Reason 6: The Alliance of Independent Authors. In 2012, what led me to LBF was the amazing Orna Ross, who had just set up ALLi as a non-profit organisation to help writers understand the industry and make their independent mark within it. I have been a member from the start and am in awe not just of Orna, but of all the other ALLi members who have contributed to its growth as a respected powerhouse of information and support. During LBF I hung out with my ALLi friends and there was a fantastic ALLi party afterwards. Fellowship, shared stories, plans for the future, a total sense of vibrancy. Buzz, connection, opportunity. Book love. Writing love.

Reason 7: Optimism. Yes, even in these troubled times! I talked to novelist Alison Morton at the Fair, who said she was optimistic about the book business. Publishing expert Dr Alison Baverstock echoed this, saying, ‘We’re in political crisis, aren’t we, and it seems to me the book business is quite a bright star within that, that we have strong exports and also that in times of political crisis, cheap treats do quite well, so traditionally publishing’s done OK when there is a national crisis. And we all need something to take our minds off the awful B word.’

Keep taking your mind off the political horrors! Keep writing, buying and reading those cheap treats! Maybe I’ll see you at LBF 2020?

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Want to know more? ALLi held an inspiring online digital conference last weekend and anyone can listen to the huge range of sessions and presentations until 25th March: follow this link. ALLi members will have lifetime access to it. 

If you’re interested in joining ALLi you can find out more here. If you do want to join, go here ( full disclosure: this is my affiliate link). 

If you’d like to read about my very first visit to LBF go here.

Gallery: First row - with Alison Morton and Debbie Young, the ALLi stand, Dr Alison Baverstock of Kingston University. Second row - Rohan Quine, with Carol Cooper, Dan Holloway and Selfie Prizewinner Jane Davis (see my last blogpost!) Third row - Orna Ross, the ALLi party after the Fair, with Orna.

To Change or not to Change? That is the cover question.

This week, Alison Morton, author of the successful Roma Nova series of thrillers, discusses the when, why and how of changing your book covers. Given that she and her cover designer, Jessica Bell, have done a damn fine job of it, you’ll be interested to read on!

First of all, apologies to Bill for mangling Hamlet’s lines, but weighing up whether to change covers for an established series does make one ‘draw [one’s] breath in pain.’

Excited in the run-up to the publication in 2013 of INCEPTIO, my first book, I was stunned by the cover that SilverWood Books produced. Here was the embodiment of my book: imperial purple, a gold eagle, symbol of Roman power, yet in a thoroughly modern design. Added to that, the ‘proper’ Roman font – Trajan Pro – as seen on inscriptions still visible across Europe. Brilliant!

And so it has been for the past five years and eight books. Each book has been published with a different jewel-like cover echoing the contents, but the eagle graphic constantly present, making the Roma Nova brand distinctive.

But times change. People change. Habits and wishes change. When historians write about our age, the one expression to characterise it will be ‘continuous change’.

My book sales have been steady, occasionally spiking. From the comments and reviews written by readers, I gather they enjoy the stories enough to give them hundreds of five stars across the series. But I wanted to introduce Roma Nova to more readers. So I dived into the murky business of marketing, beginning with an analysis.

What did potential new readers expect when they saw my book covers? Did they see adventure thrillers featuring strong heroines, a touch of history and mystery, tales of courage, failure, triumph, heartache and resolve? Hm. Perhaps the eagle image, dark colours and formal Roman script no longer had that elusive ‘pick-me-up’ element. Learning point: Emotion and character needed to be brought in.

Did the existing covers convey action and movement? Certainly, they conveyed strength and purposefulness, but there was no hint of risk, personal danger or taking the initiative. And you can’t say that either of my heroines, Carina or Aurelia, is backward in any of those aspects!
Learning point: Show some dynamism.

People vs. patterns. I rejected a cover with a face in 2013 because I couldn’t see it fitting within the graphic. It would have confused the impact of the eagle. From a five years’ later viewpoint, I still think that was the right decision then. Trying to fit everything together is not a good approach, nor is overcrowding a cover. The whole concept needed a rethink. Learning point: Don’t tinker – start again.

It’s hard-headed, but in marketing terms a book cover needs to tell readers what the book is about and entice them to pick it up – all within a second or two. If the cover isn't compelling enough to make passers-by (real or virtual) look further by reading the summary and reviews, they won’t buy.

Researching this was a hard process; I’m not a trained or professional marketer. However, I have run small businesses and am aware how important marketing is. And these days, more than ever, the impact must be instant.

Taking the decision to change the whole look of the Roma Nova covers was excruciating. But by now I had five solid years of experience in the book world: interacting with readers, absorbing reviews, listening to fellow authors, discovering new techniques and trends. I was also expanding the series, firstly by dropping in a novella (CARINA), then a collection of short stories (ROMA NOVA EXTRA). Currently I’m drafting a novella set in the 1970s featuring Aurelia, set between AURELIA and INSURRECTIO, something that would further mess up the existing numbering order!

A fresh approach was needed, and this was the perfect time to reassess and restructure the whole series. So I split the stories into two strands within the Roma Nova series: Carina Mitela adventures and Aurelia Mitela adventures.

Readers have described my books as a cross between Lindsey Davis’ Roman detective Falco and The Hunger Games. They’ve also been likened them to Manda Scott’s and Kate Mosse’s books. Conn Iggleden, Simon Scarrow and Elizabeth Chadwick (among others) have said nice things about them. I’d like to think they’d also appeal to readers of JD Robb and Robert Harris (or is that hubris?).

Back to the covers…
I commissioned designer Jessica Bell to draw up some concepts for the whole series.

I asked her to keep the original background colours: INCEPTIO purple, PERFIDITAS blood red, CARINA in between, SUCCESSIO blue, AURELIA green, INSURRECTIO black and RETALIO amber, and to include the signature eagle graphic in the mix.

She would draw up three concepts and I then had to choose one. But was it really up to me? Did it matter what I thought or felt? No. Definitely no. Which would most appeal to readers? And address the learning points from my analysis?

Disassociating yourself from your book, your baby, that part of your soul that you’ve put on public view is the hardest part of the process.

Jessica was a joy to work with: imaginative, professional and supportive, especially of some of my dafter ideas. But she was also ruthless in a very friendly way when my suggestions were off-piste; she was right every time.

Delighted isn’t the right word. Thrilled is a bit nearer. Shocked and overwhelmed in a very positive way is better still. After five years of beautiful but rather sober covers, the books have taken on a new, dynamic life. I think Roma Nova is about to storm off on some exciting new adventures.

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Late 1960s Roma Nova. Retrained as an undercover agent, ex-Praetorian officer Aurelia Mitela is sent to Berlin to investigate silver smuggling, but barely escapes a near-lethal trap. Her lifelong nemesis, Caius Tellus, is determined to eliminate her and ruin Roma Nova.

A former military commander, Aurelia is one of Roma Nova’s strong women, but she doubts in her heart and mind that she can overcome her implacable enemy.

And what part does the mysterious and attractive Miklós play – a smuggler who knows too much?

When Caius Tellus strikes at her most vulnerable point, Aurelia must make an agonising decision – her country, her love or her child?

First in the Aurelia Mitela adventures, where Roman fiction is brought into the 20th century through an alternative history lens and first of the AURELIA trilogy. INSURRECTIO and RETALIO complete the trilogy.

– Historical Novel Society’s indie Editor’s Choice for Autumn 2015
– B.R.A.G. Medallion
– Finalist, 2016 HNS Indie Award

Paperback: https://myBook.to/AURELIA

Amazon: https://myBook.to/AURELIA_Kindle

Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/ebook/aurelia-30

B&N Nook: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/aurelia-alison-morton/1121827041?ean=2940151557450

Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/aurelia/id1378216297

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Alison Morton writes the award-winning Roma Nova thriller series featuring modern Praetorian heroines. She blends her deep love of Roman history with six years’ military service and a life of reading crime, adventure and thriller fiction.

A ‘Roman nut’ since age 11, Alison misspent decades clambering over Roman sites throughout Europe. Fascinated by the mosaics at Ampurias (Spain), at their creation by the complex, power and value-driven Roman civilisation, she started wondering what a modern Roman society would be like if run by strong women...

Now she continues to write thrillers, cultivates a Roman herb garden and drinks wine in France with her husband.

Connect with Alison on her Roma Nova site: http://alison-morton.com

Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/AlisonMortonAuthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/alison_morton @alison_morton

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alisonmortonauthor/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5783095.Alison_Morton
Alison’s Amazon page: http://Author.to/AlisonMortonAmazon