Well, this is the last #HistFicThursday blog before I launch Beneath A Darkening Sky at an event in Thurso on Monday 13th . Shame it couldn't be a Friday 13th, but we can't have everything! One thing is for certain: October is the spookiest month. And not just because we have Halloween. Halloween could be a day later and October would still be the spookiest month... Look at how the light retreats at this time of the year: up here, the seasons' turning drains away the daylight at a rate of 2.5hours over the course of this month! Up here, anyway. Our ancestors knew, a long time before they tracked time using clocks, that this month we now call October was a time to look back at what has been and ahead to how we will survive the winter. Is it any wonder then that, with generations of people looking back, October became a month for souls and spectres? People we have loved and lost come back to visit our hearts, imaginations - and, perhaps, our homes - as we recall autumns of ...
Friday 1 st November 2019 - Beginnings No matter what anyone tells you, your beginning is spectacularly important. No pressure or anything, but if a reader doesn’t gel with your first line, your second must be amazing. The general rule of thumb is, the further a reader is expected to go to find the story, the easier it will be to lose them. Starting a book can seem a bit like a rocky, uphill struggle - but it's worth it! One of the most well-known beginnings: In the beginning was the word It’s difficult to rival that one! But it’s a statement of truth (let’s leave fact out of it, as most of use NaNoWriMo writers are in the business of fiction), and that’s what most of my first lines are. Petrovia Lodge was all that could be expected of a country house for a family of a not inconsiderable income. Day’s Dying Glory In a country at peace, men of war are confined to their homes and families. Beneath Black Clouds and White The springy hea...