I’m planning a 780km hike: the Camino de Santiago, across the top of northern Spain. That’s 33 days of walking. Any wonder I’ve developed a fascination with shoes! Finding a shoe that fits is of paramount importance if I’m going to successfully complete this hike. Continue reading
Category Archives: Research
Witches, Vampires, Werewolves
Throughout history, fear and superstition have ravaged the hearts and minds of peoples of Europe. Witches, werewolves and vampires were blamed for all manner of atrocities and trivialities. Tied to religious fervor, anti-Semitic sentiment and social control, an estimated 110,000 witch trials took place across Europe; 48% of these ending in execution. (Brian Levack, The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe, 1995.) Today, our fascination with witches, werewolves and vampires is seen in popular literature and film.
Historical Research
This week I continue research 18th century medicines and herbal remedies. It’s fascinating actually – gruesome and bizarre! Given the protagonist of my historical fiction, Annabella, is a healer, I need to develop a working knowledge of herbs to build accuracy and authenticity. Annabella is treating a princess (historical figure who died of a ‘mystery’ illness). Of course today, doctors could diagnose the princess’ illness; at the time however, her symptoms had the villagers gossiping – pale skin, an aversion to sunlight, reddened urine…not surprising then that the villagers thought her a vampire. And you know how gossip grows and spreads.
Myths, hero tales and theory
I have been plumbing the depths of literary theory and analysis of hero tales and myths. This is part of my Masters degree – the last unit actually (HOORAH!), but is also quite useful background knowledge in writing a novel in which the protagonist is female, and a historically persecuted one at that. The theory is prompting me to consider what type of image of ‘girl’ I am projecting in the novel and what kind of image this gives prospective teen readers.
Questions and further research
As I write, I come across many things that I am unsure about, that I don’t know, that I am interested to find out, or that I think will enrich and add depth to the story. Rather than get caught up with these things during the initial writing stages, I create a list of questions and research points. These are the things I will need to resolve by the final draft, but that, at the moment, I don’t want to hold up the writing process.
Witch trials…historical research
Much has been written about witches, witch hunters and witch trials. These will be recurring ideas in my novel. Here is some history of the witch trails in Bohemia that informs my novel.
Keeping notes
It’s a great idea to keep notes when you are writing. Ideas take time to percolate, like coffee brewing, and while they do, you can come across any number of idea gems, story gold, and factual diamonds that can be long forgotten when you finally sit down to write that story.
The reading writer
As part of my writerly research, I went to the library to review the first page of several novels – my purpose was not to write a whole book review. I was particularly interested in what hooks a reader into a story, what keeps them keep reading, and how are first pages written and constructed to do just this.
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