There r three R’s in ‘recercher’

In a quiet (read: easily distracted) moment recently, I had a quick Google of tips for writing my historical novel EPIC, as I like to call it…

These are three of the toppest tips courtesy of the excellent http://www.creative-writing-now.com

1. Read lots of historical fiction. The more of it you read, the better you’ll get to know how it works,
2. Choose an exact time period and place for your book (i.e., 1938, not “early twentieth century”; Paris, not France).
3. Do your research and avoid historical mistakes of any kind. If your readers notice that you’ve begun World War II in the wrong year, they’ll stop trusting you as an author.

To me this boils down to the three R’s – Read, Rehearse, Research.

I’ve got the reading down, I love historical fiction of almost any kind and I’ve always been a bookworm. I recently finished The Last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier (English readers can buy it here https://www.amazon.co.uk/Last-Runaway-Tracy-Chevalier/dp/000735035X – or even better, at your local independent bookshop!!!) and was stunned, as I always am, at the attention to detail and accuracy that has gone in to Chevalier’s writing. It’s also a brilliant story and I sobbed for hours, so that’s a bonus!!!

I’ve rehearsed my plan for my book, I know the development of the characters and the plot, and I know the structure I want it to take (although this is in an ongoing state of flux – I’ve switched it round and about and back round again numerous times already, and I’m sure it will keep changing. Variety is the spice of life, after all!!!)

So it still, always, comes back to research, research, RESEARCH!!! I’ve got a couple of GREAT leads on the guy I really want to know more about – one Robert Lenz. But I’m still reading, and asking, and rehearsing, and reading again, as part of this one most important thing; research.

‘Research’: late 16th century: from obsolete French recerche (noun), recercher (verb), from Old French re-(expressing intensive force) + cerchier ‘to search’.

Searching with INTENSIVE FORCE. That’s what I’ve been doing, and what I intend to do. In the meantime, if any of you have any great tips or leads for me, keep them coming!!! Robert Lenz, I will know you if it kills me!!!

 

Houdini was bound and determined, and look where that got him

One small step for Tash, one giant leap for Project Novel.

A few days ago, after a lot of reading, a bit of writing and a whole heap of coffee, I decided I had sat around for long enough. All this passive watching and learning about magicians, mentalism, cards, seances, escapes, is all very well, but how can I really hope to get into the mind of a magician if I’ve never tried to do any of it myself?

I hit a block on my work for a bit (just an average Wednesday really) and so I decided it was time for a more practical approach. Still not quite over the injustice of never receiving a Hogwarts letter, I decided to take my magical development into my own hands. A brainstorming exercise was born.

First up, I had a think about renting a prison truck for a day and publicising my daredevil escape across Sussex. What I’d lose in cash on flyers and van hire I’d surely make up for by charging the locals a fiver a ticket and running a sweepstake on my chances. But after I locked myself out of the house last week and had to climb not entirely elegantly through the window, I thought a full-on Houdini might be a bit optimistic for a first try.

Concluding that I wasn’t quite ready for a big public show yet, I decided to go a bit closer to home, and offered to put together a Ouija board for my sister to try and communicate with Goldie, her guinea pig who tragically, but unavoidably and through absolutely no fault of mine, died while in my care about 10 years ago in mysterious circumstances. But she didn’t seem too keen on dredging up the painful memories. The exact phrase she used is probably not appropriate for a family blog.

A good friend of mine has a pathological fear of flying, so continuing this philanthropic approach to my foray into magic, I thought I might try and cure him with some kind of hypnotism. I’ve watched a fair few episodes of You’re Back In The Room now, plus that chicken episode of Round the Twist, so I figured I could probably give it a decent shot. Turns out though that it’s not very safe or effective for novices to try, plus apparently you should ideally have a willing and receptive participant. When I tried to run it past him it turned out that frankly he was neither.

So I went with buying a pack of trick cards. I’ve never been particularly dextrous – horrible nail-biting habit and disproportionately fat fingers ruled out needlework, decent manicures, and a career as a hand model from a young age – but I’ve been working and working at it and I’ve got the display part down and I think I’m nearly there with the first trick.

My chat needs a bit of work and I’m definitely not quick yet, but it’s super exciting getting close to being an Official Magician (mastery of one extremely low level trick counts, right???). I love the methodology of it, working it through, getting it wrong, getting it wrong again, practicing and practicing and practicing, nearly throwing the cards and myself out the window, then practicing some more.

It’s incredibly frustrating and requires seemingly eternal patience, concentration and drive. My respect and admiration for magicians has increased tenfold just in these last couple of days. I can’t believe what perseverance it takes to master even this most basic of tricks. Of course, I still have no idea what I’m doing, and I can’t hope to really understand what it takes to really Do Magic. But this is giving me an incredible insight into a tiny bit of the process, as well as a whole shedload of respect for the people who really do this properly.

I raise my top hat to you all. Give me a couple of months (years? decades?) and a rabbit might jump out as well, and do a little bow.

Could it be magic now?

So a few people have had their interest piqued by my last blog post and want to know what my big new project is. I hate saying too much before I’ve finished something because I worry it curses it, and I end up with instant writer’s block. But I’m excited about this one, as I think I said in my last post!!! And, more importantly, I’m going in to the unknown, so I’m going to need all the help I can get.

As always, it’s historical fiction. That’s what I love and I won’t ever go too far from that. But I know from experience that I can’t blag it, I need to really immerse myself in the world I’m trying to write about and make sure I get my facts straight.

So the world I chose is magic, in Houdini’s time, so we’re going back to the early 1900s. It’s kind of a creepy world, but it’s also one that demands rationalisation. I always remember as a child being fascinated by magic sets and the Magic Circle, but not so much the glitzy tricks, as finding out exactly the method behind them. I’ve always hated secrets and not knowing things, I’ve always wanted to solve stuff. So I like thrillers, reading them all in one go right to the end so I know exactly what happens, and I prefer realism to complete mysticism.

For example, I remember getting obsessed with programmes like Jonathan Creek, where there is an intensely rational approach to make the seemingly impossible possible. I love the idea of this incredibly normal guy in a duffle coat, working in the crazy, glitzy, spectacular world of magic, which when broken down is really a front for something much smaller and rational and more cerebral. And that is kind of what inspired me. I want this new project to be thrilling, but ultimately rational, so it needs to be heavily embedded in reality.

To quote Jonathan:

‘What you see isn’t always what’s happening.’

and

‘Sometimes it’s useful to look beyond the obvious.’

I have these written on Post It notes above my computer whilst I try and plot out the big twists in my new story. I want to baffle people, but I need to explain it at the end in a convincing way, and these help keep me focused on that aim.

I also found this recently, after I watched The Prestige, in a review of that film by Roger Ebert:

‘Houdini, the great transitional figure between “magical” acts and ingenious tricks, was at pains to explain that everything he did was a trick; he offered rewards, never collected, for any “supernatural” act he could not explain.’

I hope I can explain my own tricks by the end of my book, and I hope this has started to explain a little bit about my plans to you. More to follow, but for now, back to work!

N xxx

New Year New Page…

In the New Year we are all redefining ourselves and our lives; out with the old and in with the new. But there’s a reason your resolution was to really start using that gym membership this year, just like it was in 2015, and 2013, and 2010-2012 as well come to that. The past affects the future, and there’s no such thing as a true new beginning, not really.

We know why we do it; because starting something new is always exciting. It’s fresh and it’s different and you can be completely sure you won’t be repeating any of those old mistakes this time.

I always find this when I try to sit down and write something new. I clear my desk, line up my books and my brand new erasable pens. I set up new folders on my computer, I stock up on healthy but tasty snacks for brain food and I make sure I’m wearing shoes even though I’m probably the only person around, because it just feels more professional that way. I know where I’m going with the idea, I know what the end goal is (I’m still watching you, Rowling…), and I even enjoy doing some of the preliminary plotting, batting ideas around and brainstorming all over the backs of magazines and receipts I have in my bag.

But suddenly that all too familiar feeling can creep in – all this starting from scratch is actually extraordinarily difficult. Writing the first sentence? Plotting the first chapter? Suddenly I have an urgent craving for a cup of tea, and a slice of cake, and actually looking at that windowsill, it could really do with a wipe down… And all of a sudden, history has repeated itself as it always does, and I haven’t done anything new at all, not really.

So let’s abandon once and for all this idea of tabula rasa, because it doesn’t exist. I know I am going to need a good few coffee breaks today, and I intend to take them. I will write the first few plans in different colour pens, because it looks pretty. I’ve learned from doing this before, I know the drill. I know enough of my own history to be able to use it to help my future.

But the beauty of my new project is that it’s a bit like what I have done in the past, but it’s beautifully different at the same time. Just like before, the world I am trying to understand won’t be new, far from it. But my view of it will be. Research is going to be key this time. Putting in the hours early on to really understand this world is going to make all the difference in getting the truth to the page. So learning from the past is essential, but putting a new spin on it will dust it off and make it shine in 2016.

I’ve always believed an old world through new eyes is a story worth telling. I won’t be changing my opinion this year. And I’m excited to start.