Today, in Caithness, the sun is shining and the air is clear. I'm sure it will come as no surprise to anyone reading this blog that, certain weathers and certain times of the year ignite certain music in me. And, on late winter days which are filled with sunshine, I am usually to be found singing the songs of The Spinners . Inevitably, I start humming different ones of their songs (and of course adapting them to be about Orlando and Jess) as I go around doing different things. But I remember almost all the words to them. I haven't heard a lot of them in years, but they are all there, rooted in my memory. It is truly fascinating to think about how these songs have passed through history. They are part of my own nostalgia, which is why crisp sunny mornings make me incapable of ignoring the temptation to sing them, but they are part of something much bigger. There are songs amongst them which are a newer step in the folk music movement. Songs like Silver in the Stubble are amongs...
For NaNoWriMo last year, I wrote a book called The Stonemason's Crown. This was in part inspired by a discovery I made whilst poring over a map. It was not an old map, but a map of old things using LiDAR technology. For Christmas, my sister got me a copy of that map, printed on metal and zoomed in on the very spot where my story was set.
Maps give an amazing insight. Not only do they point out landmarks which are sometimes long gone and forgotten, they also show how people reacted with - and believed in - the world where they lived. Where would our imaginations be without etched sea serpents, or "Here Be Dragons" on the edges of these documents? Time was I would only read books which had a map in them. I've got a little bit more accepting now, but I still get a real buzz as a reader to find a beautiful map tucked into the opening pages of a book.
My dad loves maps. Consequently, I have always found them fascinating. He has quite a collection, some which are hundreds of years old, including a (somewhat sooted up!) 17th Century map of part of the country which is in need of a deep clean before anything can be properly made out. But what a great spark for the imagination, wondering who would have had it made and for what purpose. It is the human side of the past which speaks to historical fiction writers and readers, and there are dozens of stories to every point on every map.
Because much of what I write is now set in the real world, I have to admit to largely overlooking the need for maps, but maybe it is time to hand-draw one and see if I can include it in one of my books. Perhaps, if The Stonemason's Crown is ever published, there will be one in there...
Comments
Post a Comment