This week, we finally managed to install our new (not new ) item of furniture - a mid-18th Century grandfather clock. It's not bright and shiny like more modern ones, but a dark oak with a warm patina which the beeswax polish is drawing out. In order to set it up, we had to do a certain amount of research - how to hang the pendulum, where the weight went on the endless chain - and it got me thinking... where and when did certain divisions of time come from? The time periods which I have written either had household clocks or didn't, I have not written novels from the time of their invention. Clocks have been around for a long time, and the obsession with measuring time in an ordered fashion dates back to at least the ancient Sumerians. It was they who established a circular reading of time and, I imagine, the sixty seconds/minutes came about as much because it was an easy way to divide a circle as anything else. But it wasn't until much later that the precision of seconds ...
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...