Middle Grade Settings: An Introduction Having photos in front of you can help you write about your settings I’m going to make a confession. Settings are not something I often spend time planning. Perhaps my stories are the poorer for it, but the settings come as I’m writing or editing. The Glass Room, in Taking Wing, is not something I planned before I started writing. Personally, I’m a very visual writer, seeing my characters as though they are a video in my head, and I write what I see. As such, the setting just happens! There are benefits and drawbacks to this. The main benefit is that the writing process is more interesting. Not everything is set, and my story can still give me surprises. The drawback is that, similar to AI, I cannot know that I’m not stealing settings from films and books I’ve seen/read previously. I certainly don’t mean to plagiarise but the concern is a real one! With that in mind, I have started to at least have a vague idea of my settings before I start t...
A couple of years ago, I wrote a blog post about Writing from Artefacts about a box of historical objects I received as a gift. Each month of 2024, I hope to build on this and introduce you to some of the artefacts I've gathered over the years. These are all things which have been - at least in part - inspirations for me, and I hope they will give you a few extra ideas along the way for your own writings...
The old organ in Thomaskirche
It's probably unsurprising that I'm starting with musical instruments, since music is my day job! There tends to be music in all my stories, and there is something very special about connecting to the music of the past. When I went on my German adventure in 2013, it was very special to visit Thomaskirche in Leipzig, where Bach was the Director of Music for more than quarter of a century.
Here are three of my own little musical treasures...
Music is something which is here to stay - its forward-facing legacy at least as long as its past. Whatever you are writing, whatever time or whatever place, music would always be a part of life. It is wonderful to be able to hold and study instuments made in traditional ways and with traditional crafts.
I have no idea what the age of these drums are, but they are made in a traditional style, using hollowed wood and animal skins. I would love to know more about where they came from and who made them, but there is no clue that I can find about either thing.
I got this bugle from a local auction. It is a military instrument, probably from WWI. Not being a wind musician at all, I can't get a note out of it, but Judith (our resident trumpeter) managed to play The Last Post on it. It was a very strange thing to hear that music on an instrument which - in all likelihood - had not played it for a century. Every dent on here has its own story, and I love imagining what that story might be.
Delving a little further back in time, this drum dates from the turn of the 20th Century. Again, it came from a local auction but from a different house clearance. This is a marching drum, still carrying its original (as far as I can tell!) skin on one side, although this is now torn, while the other side has been fitted with a synthetic skin.
Caithness held many Mafeking Night celebrations and - judging by the age and style of this drum - this could easily be a part of those celebrations.
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