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Showing posts from April, 2024

#HistFicThursdays - Inspirational Series - Merlin

 I remember when I was little, watching a Making Of documentary about Robin of Sherwood . One of the points which the writer made was that each person who retells the Robin Hood legend adds a little something to the story. He introduced the idea of the occult – the Baron de Belleme in particular is a terrifying character – and this later influenced other Robin Hood adaptations, including the character of Mortianna in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves . You might be surprised to find that this blog is not actually about any version of Robin Hood. In fact, it’s about the TV series Merlin . That’s your recommended viewing for wet days during summer, if we have any rain ever again after this heatwave! I first came across Merlin when it was released in 2008. It was such a Big Deal that a trailer for the series was shown at the cinema when I went to watch Tropic Thunder with my older sister while living with her in Ipswich. I mostly just remember the dragon and thinking it looked ok. Some...
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#HistFicThursdays - Things to Inspire - Artwork

 This month's #HistFicThursdays have been all art-inspired, so I'm sticking with that theme! A couple of months ago, the Things to Inspire  blog was about sketches . Today's is about finished pieces of artwork! Artwork has been an inspiration for millions of people across thousands of years. Just like a book, the finished product can (hopefully!) be an inspiration. Over the years, we've collected one or two pieces of old artworks, and these are a few... Religious artwork has always been used as an inspiration and, historically, this was how the majority of people interacted with biblical stories. This was a barn find - probably created for someone's own interest judging by the naive style of artwork. It looks like it might have been from a panelled wall at some point. I wonder what happened to the rest of the panels and what story they might show when they are all together... Of course, not all artworks are paintings! Here is a scrimshaw of the Battle of Flamborough...
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#HistFicThursdays - The Weave of the Norns - Free Poem

 Continuing from last week's post which explored Artwork as Inspiration (the starting point for Proof of the Old Faith ) I'm sticking with Norse culture. Here is The Weave of the Norns , a poem I wrote a few years ago about these three frightening women. Enjoy! The Norns by Arthur Rackham Weave of the Norns Beneath the threat of utter doom he sought them at their fabled loom. The king searched on until he found them on the morrow’s battleground. The tallest worked the wheel alone; the next, a shuttle made of bone; the shortest bore a silver sword with which she severed each loose cord. What pattern spun these women three, dictating mankind’s victory! “I come to beg you demonstrate a gentle weaving of our fate.” “Then know you this, oh man of peace, we weave the thread and cannot cease.” “Weave us an ending to this war and grant us threads of peace once more.” “What cost would such a wise man pay for us to change our weave this way?” And now he saw the bloody thread, time’s fab...
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#HistFicThursdays - Art as Inspiration

 Last year, the Historical Writers Forum published an anthology of stories which had been inspired by pieces of artwork. I take a particular pride in this anthology - not only because it is a fabulous collection of stories which mine is included in, but also because I helped to come up with the theme. In amongst the pages of Masterworks , you will find stories inspired by painting and sculptures, and one which was inspired by a carving. I wrote a blog on this little carving when the book came out last November (which you can find here !), but it got me thinking about other examples of artwork as an inspiration... As historical fiction writers, art is not only an inspiration, it is also a valuable tool. Through art, we can get an idea of what people looked like (very handy if you are writing about a real figure from history) and it can also be very handy for events and settings. One of my favourite continuous portrayals of an event is the example of Frost Fairs. These start from the...
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#HistFicThursdays - Gearing up to this Year's Big Event - #HistFicMay

 After the fabulous fun and friendship of last year's #HistFicMay, I have decided to run the risk of doing it again! I'm sure that this year will be even better  than last year! So here's your heads-up of what you can expect from this year's online historical fiction event! I will be looking out for posts on BluSky , Facebook , Instagram , Threads , and Twitter , and I can't wait to reconnect with familiar faces and meet new friends too! Just like last year, every day will have a prompt. You can schedule posts or post them on the day. You can use pictures or use the #HistFicMay prompt image instead. Really, you can post anything which links to the prompt! And speaking of prompts, here they are: Introduce yourself Introduce your writing Which writer(s) most inspire(s) you? Favourite quote from your writing Introduce your MC You take your MC to dinner - what do you talk about? Self-destructing hero of redeemable villain? Who (if anyone) is your MC based on? Would you ...
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