The Curse of Heatherwell House (Working Title) came from a slightly different place than many of the other stories in this collection. When I decided that I was going to put together a collection of short stories with the theme of Gothic Horror, I quizzed Clemency on what would scare her. She said “zombies”. Not the easiest thing to work with for Gothic Horror – give me a ghost any day. Here are some thoughts about how I went about creating The Curse of Heatherwell House … Once I had spoken to Clem about the things she finds scary – and discovered which of my back catalogue she found the creepiest – I started to get an idea for a story. It involved a vicar (obviously the younger son of a wealthy family, as all these Gothic vicars seem to be) who took over gravedigging responsibilities because the rest of his parish were too sick to do it. I was pleased with the premise – and perhaps it will turn into another story. Watch this space… But there was one major sticking problem: whils...
I can't believe we are almost at the end of #HistFicMay! I have had a fabulous time and feel like I have made many new discoveries in the realm of Historical Fiction. Finding your place as a writer can be really difficult, but when you have a great network behind you it is a hundred times easier! If you have found this blog you will know that my family - a family full of writers! - are my closest team, but I could not have achieved all I have today without the support and help of the fabulous Historical Writers Forum . I created #HistFicMay because I wanted to give something back to my network of fellow historical writers. I hope I have done just that! So, please have a look at the #HistFicMay tag across social media. We're on Twitter/X - Facebook - BlueSky - Instagram - Threads - and perhaps other platforms which I'm not a part of. I promise you that you will find fabulous writers with incredible books. Writers, there is a fabulous network for historical fiction. I c...