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#MGMonday... Middle Grade Settings

 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...
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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 Head - the same battle which I'm currently writing about! Our family connections to this made it doubly attractive!

I'd love to know if you find an inspiration in these - or any other pieces of artwork. How important is artwork in your stories - to both the finished product and during the formative stages?

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