Skip to main content

#HistFicThursdays - Inspirational Series: Our Flag Means Death

I can’t quite remember what inspired me to watch Our Flag Means Death . I have a vague recollection of watching a trailer on Facebook and then, eventually, picking up my phone and flicking through various streaming platforms, finally settling on that as my pick. What I was expecting was a farcical pirate romp. Maybe elements of The Muppets’ Treasure Island but with a little more adult content. Lots of hopeless pirates attempting swashbuckling tasks with comically poor results. Possibly a bit of Blackadder -esque historical humour. As anyone who has watched the series would be able to tell you, I was a little way off the mark. In fact, it is a delicious, hilarious and touching tribute to Wokeness. And I say this as a good thing: all people are welcome here. For me, watching it straight after finishing (or getting towards the end of, I can’t quite remember) my novel about Alexander the Great, the relationship between Stede and Blackbeard really resonated with me. What begins as a fascin...

#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:

  1. Introduce yourself
  2. Introduce your writing
  3. Which writer(s) most inspire(s) you?
  4. Favourite quote from your writing
  5. Introduce your MC
  6. You take your MC to dinner - what do you talk about?
  7. Self-destructing hero of redeemable villain?
  8. Who (if anyone) is your MC based on?
  9. Would you give your MC a prequel/sequel? Why?
  10. What's your favourite #HistFic book?
  11. The last sentence you wrote
  12. What's your setting and why did you choose it?
  13. If you could time travel, when/where would you go?
  14. Which (if any) real events feature in your book?
  15. What aspect of your setting do you most struggle with?
  16. Do you prefer books set in the time you write about or others?
  17. Share your favourite research book
  18. Best description you've written
  19. What does you writing space look like?
  20. What's the top piece on your story's playlist?
  21. Who will your book be dedicated to? Why?
  22. What's the best feedback/review you've ever had?
  23. How do you advertise your book?
  24. What's the next #HistFic book on your TBR pile?
  25. Favourite quote from history
  26. Tell your story in Emojis
  27. With an unlimited budget, what's your book launch look like?
  28. What's the honest tagline for your book?
  29. Which scene (if any) have you written multiple times?
  30. In a perfect world, who narrates your audiobook?
  31. Spill the beans! What's the last word/line of your book?

Every Monday is a #MondayMusings prompt, and every Tuesday is a #TuesdayTruths prompt, all the others are mixed in with each other!

So, choose a colour scheme which works best for you, and let's have some #HistFic fun!





Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Masterworks: Legacy - Samantha Wilcoxson - Interview

  Today is the last of a series on nine interviews I'm sharing on the Crowvus Book Blog. These are from the authors of the short stories included in the  Masterworks  anthology by the  Historical Writers Forum . We're running through chronologically, some are video interviews, others are written. I am delighted to welcome the fantastic Samantha Wilcoxson, who is sharing the artist inspiration for her short story Legacy , as well as the appeal of James A. Hamilton, and the delights of researching. First of all, tell us a little bit about yourself, what you write (besides Masterworks!), and what inspired you to begin writing. I was inspired to write by my love of reading. After watching me read, write reviews, and keep journals for twenty years, my husband asked me why I didn’t try writing, so I did! Without really planning on it, I ended up writing historical biographical fiction. I’m drawn to a tragic tale but also to lesser known historical figures with emotive stor...

#HistFicThursdays - Apollo's Raven - Linnea Tanner - Book Blast

 If you've been following this blog for a little while, you might remember me sharing a fabulous guest post about this book in 2022 (which you can read here ). It's always great to welcome Linnea Tanner onto the Crowvus Book Blog, and I'm delighted to be taking part in her Coffee Pot Book Club book blast blog tour. So, let's meet the book... A Celtic warrior princess is torn between her forbidden love for the enemy and duty to her people. AWARD-WINNING APOLLO’S RAVEN sweeps you into an epic Celtic tale of forbidden love, mythological adventure, and political intrigue in Ancient Rome and Britannia. In 24 AD British kings hand-picked by Rome to rule are fighting each other for power. King Amren’s former queen, a powerful Druid, has cast a curse that Blood Wolf and the Raven will rise and destroy him. The king’s daughter, Catrin, learns to her dismay that she is the Raven and her banished half-brother is Blood Wolf. Trained as a warrior, Catrin must find a way to break t...

#HistFicThursdays - The Historical Fiction Community (and why I'm so glad I'm a part of it!)

 Today is the arrival of #HistFicMay, now in its third year. When I started it, I did it because I had really enjoyed meeting new writers through a similar #IndieApril list of prompts. I had a quick perusal to see if anyone had done a Historical Fiction one, saw they hadn't, and decided to set one up. It had the desired effect, and I have "met" (only online!) and discovered some wonderful writers and their books over the last couple of years. Community is a bigger thing than most writers realise. The more detached individuals may refer to community as networking, but the writing community is so much more than that. Don't get me wrong, I'm as introverted as they come, but without those people I have met during #HistFicMay or the online community of historical fiction writers, there are so many things I would never have known - sometimes even things which have led me to write certain scenes or books. I'm not saying you can't be a fabulous historical fiction ...