October 23, 2024 • 31 mins
Unlock the secrets of authentic historical storytelling with historian and author Lexi Cunningham as we paint the past with words. From the serene setting of Westerwood Hotel and Spa in Scotland, our writing retreat provides the perfect backdrop for this rich discourse on infusing your fiction with the hues of history. We venture beyond the surface of online encyclopedias, diving into the depths of scholarly texts and the whispering tales of old graveyards to create characters that resonate with truth. The art of capturing the essence of bygone eras in narrative form is a delicate one, where the choice of a single word can mean the difference between maintaining the period's authenticity or shattering the illusion.
Journey with us as we explore the corridors of museums and tread the cobblestones of historic sites to bring you invaluable insights into crafting believable settings. Lexi and I reflect on the balances struck between language of the past and reader accessibility, sharing our methodologies for steering clear of anachronisms, with my own creative choices in my Viking series as a case study. The episode is a wellspring of inspiration for fellow writers seeking to navigate the complex interplay of fact and fiction, to breathe life into the pages of history, and to create a world so vivid, readers can almost reach out and touch the threads of time.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hi and welcome to the Writing and Marketing Show
brought to you by author Wendy HJones.
This show does exactly what itsays on the tin.
It's jam-packed with interviews, advice, hints, tips and news
to help you with the business ofwriting.
It's all wrapped up in onelively podcast.
So it's time to get on with theshow.
(00:23):
And welcome to episode 198 ofthe Writing and Marketing Show
with author-entrepreneur Wendy HJones.
As always, it's an absolutepleasure to have you join me
here Today.
I'm going to be talking aboutwriting historical settings with
prolific author Lexi Cunningham, and it was very good of Lexi
(00:43):
to join us again on the show,and I know that she will have a
lot of wisdom to impart to ustoday and I'm very much forward
looking forward to that.
Before then, what has beenhappening in my life?
Well, at the moment this iscoming to you from the
Westerwood Hotel and Spa inCumbernauld in Scotland, and I
(01:03):
am here because I am running awriting retreat.
So a shout out to all thepeople, the delegates who have
come along and are on thewriting retreat in Scotland with
me.
It's all Scott publishing inretreats.
It's our very first writingretreat and it's running here in
Scotland and we have peoplefrom Australia and we have
(01:27):
people from America, so it's areal pleasure to be working with
them and I'm looking forward toan absolutely fantastic week
with them of learning andenjoyment.
What else have I been up to?
I'm getting ready for theLondon Book Show in a few weeks.
I've got some book signingscoming up next week, so really
hectic time for me between nowand July because I'm also going
(01:50):
to another conference, theScottish Association of Writers'
Conference, in a few weeks aswell.
So a crazy busy time for thisauthor and I love being busy and
I love doing everything writingrelated.
Before we get on with the showand meet Lexie, I would like to
say it's an absolute pleasure tobring you to show every week.
I do so willingly and I enjoydoing it.
(02:11):
However, it does take time outof my writing.
If you would like to supportthat time, you can do so by
going to patreoncom that'sp-a-t-r-e-o-ncom forward slash
wendah-h jones and you cansupport me for three dollars a
month, which is less than theprice of a tea or coffee per
month, because tea and coffee inBritain now costs about three
(02:33):
pounds to buy.
So it would be lovely if youcould support me.
It would let me know you likethe show and you want me to
continue, and I would also bevery grateful.
So what of Lexie?
Well, as I say, we've had Lexiehere before and it was an
absolute pleasure to have herhere.
She is a historian living inthe shadow of the Highlands.
(02:55):
Her novels are born of a lifeamid Scotland's old cities,
ancient universities and hiddenaway aristocratic estates, but
she has written since the dayshe found out that people were
allowed to do such a thing.
Beyond teaching and research,her days are spent with wool,
wild allotments and a wee bit ofwhiskey and, of course, lots
and lots of writing.
So, without further ado, let'sget on with the show and hear
(03:18):
from Lexie, and we have Lexiewith us.
Welcome, lexie.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Hello how are you?
Speaker 1 (03:26):
I am very well and it's lovely to have you with us
here today.
Well, I know you're in Scotland, but whereabouts in Scotland
are you?
I am?
Speaker 2 (03:37):
in Aberdeen, which is .
It's been a beautiful day inAberdeen.
I've been gardening and the sunhas been shining.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Oh, how lovely Gardening.
You can always think aboutwriting when you're gardening,
can't you?
It's very fair Well yes, yeah,right.
Well, hey, we're going to talkabout historical settings here,
which is something very dear tomy heart, given I'm writing a
historical fiction book, so it'svery helpful to have this
session right now.
So thank you for joining us totalk about that, and I know you
(04:10):
know a lot about history becauseyou're an archivist by
background and historian.
So I'm curious is can you shareyour process for researching
historical settings whenpreparing to write a piece of
fiction, and are there anyspecific sources of methods you
find most effective?
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Well, it does tend to vary depending on what I'm
doing.
I think if it's somethingentirely new, I have to admit I
start with Wikipedia, but theimportant word there is start,
because some Wikipedia pagesones on railway engines or
regiments, for example areusually very reliable, but
others, as people will know, notso much.
But you can usually pick upreferences and places to go from
(04:51):
there and often some very goodimages as well.
And then I head for books of amore scholarly nature and what I
really like doing is readingfictional books that were
written at the time and in theplace, as tall as possible.
Then archives for the details.
And I say I say that but I don'talways follow it, because as a
professional archivist, much ofmy research has started
(05:14):
accidentally with some detail.
I've read in an old letter or aregister or something like that
, and I've then gone backwardsand read about the wider field.
And then again with my Vikingbooks, where there's no
contemporary literature and noarchives, but many hundreds of
modern books.
I've had to be quite selective,but I have also included
(05:35):
archaeological reports and, muchlater, sagas.
And then there are some veryspecific methods for some things
, for example for characternames that sound contemporary.
I often just take a trip to agraveyard and wander around
looking for something at theright date, and I love museums.
Museums are wonderful.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
No, that's fantastic.
I mean, I'm with you with themuseums in the graveyard, you
know, as long as you get theircorrect date, you know, and
you're not picking one thatwasn't really in use, then yeah,
they're fantastic.
And you learn so much ingraveyards and museums.
It's never know what you'llcome up with and you come up
with it.
You go to a museum and thinkingyou're going to learn one thing
(06:16):
and you come out learningsomething totally different,
exactly, and it takes you in adifferent direction, which is
great because it really enricheswhat you're doing.
It's really difficult becausewe're writing fiction, so we've
got to be creative, butobviously we've got to get
things correct, becausesomeone's going to write and say
, actually that didn't happen.
(06:37):
Then it happened 300 yearsbefore or 300 years later.
So what challenges do youencounter when balancing
historical accuracy with thecreative liberties necessary for
storytelling, and how do younavigate the development, the
delicate balance?
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Oh, I think every writer does this differently.
I tend to err on the side ofhistorical accuracy, sometimes
to the point of madness, becauseas a reader, I, as you say, I
hate to be jolted out of myenjoyment of a book by thinking,
no, that couldn't have happenedsurely.
I think we're very lucky aswriters of historical fiction.
We've got a fantastic settingalmost ready made for us and in
(07:18):
return, it seems ungrateful notto play by the rules of that
setting.
In fact, I regard it as anotherchallenge to be taken into
consideration when you'reconstructing a plot, because it
would be lovely, for example, ifthe male coach ran there and
stopped at that point, but itdoesn't.
So how do I get around that?
And sometimes the gettingaround the problem actually
brings in something else thatfits beautifully and it plays to
(07:40):
your advantage after all.
So you know, stick to your gunssometimes.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Yeah, I would agree.
Like, for example, the.
What I'm writing is set in EchoFekhen in 1818 onwards and you
think, oh, that's great, echoFekhen was a bit of a, you know,
a hub for the postal service,you know, and.
But then you realise that whatyou're actually talking about is
(08:07):
that a hub.
So everything's dropped off ata certain point and then taken
to points north, and then thepoints north, the male coach,
everything's dropped off at acertain time and then goes to
points south.
So you have to be careful thatyou're not having me.
You know, your points northgoing at six o'clock in the
morning when they didn't coach,didn't actually arrive until
(08:27):
three o'clock in the afternoon,you know.
So it's, you know you've got toget it right.
So yeah is a is a delicatebalance.
So I'm curious are there anyspecific time periods or
historical events you findparticularly inspiring or
intriguing for storytelling, andwhy do you navigate towards
(08:48):
them?
Speaker 2 (08:50):
I'm very much at home in the late Georgian periods,
so 1800 up to 1830.
And I started my first serieswhen I was working in Georgia,
edinburgh, surrounded byGeorgian documents, and just at
the time that the BBC's supremeproduction of Pride and
Prejudice was got, was going out.
So going back to that periodalways feels to me like putting
(09:11):
on an old pair of slippers.
It's just I'm there, I'm happy,it's graceful but it's brutal.
It's relatively simple but it'ssophisticated at the same time.
And it's sometimes quitesurprising.
And on the other side of that,I feel that the Scottish side of
that period hasn't been donemuch.
It's quite overlooked.
Victorian Scotland's beenoverdone, I think.
(09:31):
But there we are, the Vikings Ifell into my accident but I
love them.
I've written two books now setin the Second World War and I
find that's a very easy periodto write about.
I think, probably having beenbrought up by a generation who
lived and fought through it,it's almost not historical, it
comes quite naturally.
I'm not sure I'm ready to starta series set in yet another
(09:54):
period just yet.
I love reading books set in the1920s, that sort of frantic
guilt trip of surviving that warand the damage done by it and
high medieval settings appeal aswell.
I love that period but I think,like the 1920s, they've been
overwritten.
Now there's really no space foranother series on either of
those periods, but they are funto write up to read about.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
Yeah, they were a fun period really because it was
post-war, so people were stillreeling from it, but they had a
sense of gaiting as well.
Yeah, so I was guilt, yeah.
The guilt, yeah, yeah.
What role does cultural contextplay in your writing when
(10:40):
incorporating historicalsettings, and how do you ensure
your characters and plotresonate centricly within the
cultural norms of the time?
That's probably two questions.
Maybe I should ask one at atime.
A huge question Do you actuallywant at a time, or shall I?
Speaker 2 (10:54):
I'll just go on.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
I'm impressed.
I knew you could rise to thechallenge.
That's why I did it, Rexie.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
It means I can ignore the bits that I don't
understand.
I think if you're reading Ithink reading contemporary
literature in documents reallyhelps, particularly
correspondence, because it givesyou an idea of how people think
and speak and what bothers them, what they're looking forward
to, what they're not bothered bytoo, or what they're not
(11:23):
looking forward to.
That we might think lookingback is a huge event, but it
just passes them by and we findout to who they talk to and how
they talk to them.
Do they talk to people on thestreet?
Do they talk to?
How do they talk to theservants?
Or, if they're servants, how dothey talk to their masters?
(11:47):
And we mustn't assume we mustn'tlook back from our perspective
and assume that people felt thesame way as we do.
I mean, we can't assume thatall the women in the 18th
century would have beenfeminists if they'd had the
option.
Also, we need usually to slowdown.
We need to pace ourselves to aperiod where, for example, it
takes a good while to make a cupof tea if you're boiling the
(12:09):
water over an open fire, or toget a letter across the country
like your male coaches.
To travel to the nearest towncould take an awful lot longer
than it does today.
So the trick, I think, is tocast a spell over our readers so
that they slow down to the samepace and they're not reading
along and wondering why theGeorgian heroine doesn't just
get her mobile out and call fora taxi or something.
(12:30):
So really we need to get insidethe heads of our characters and
then draw our readers in theretoo.
But that sounds veryclaustrophobic and slightly
cramped, but I think that's whatwe need to do.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
No, that's a good way of looking at it.
I love the claustrophobic and abit cramped, but it's true they
need to be there as well.
So we always fall across things, don't we, when we're, as we
said, about the museums andthings that you weren't
expecting to.
So can you share an example ofa historical detail or fact that
you discovered during yourresearch that significantly
(13:04):
influenced the direction of yourstory?
Speaker 2 (13:08):
I can't think of a significant one that happened
while I was actually writing thecoincidence of Ballotur on
Royal Deeside being badlyflooded at New Year I think it's
2016,.
It happened and me having readabout the Muckles Spate, which
was a huge flood that happenedthere in 1829, that actually
inspired a whole series justdrawing from that one incident I
(13:32):
came across when I was workingin Edinburgh Castle, I came
across a story of miniaturecoffins being found in Arthur's
seat in Edinburgh.
I was working for the NationalMuseums and it came out that
they were kept in the NationalMuseums and I thought even at
the time I thought, right,that's going in a book, no
problem, even though I wasn'tactually writing anything at the
time.
Unfortunately, ian Rankin foundout about them as well, put
(13:55):
them in one of his books, but Istill couldn't resist and
eventually they appeared in mysecond series.
I couldn't keep them out forany longer.
They're just fascinating.
There was I was in the middle ofwriting a book once when I came
across an important detail thatI did need for the book and I
completely forgotten about itand it was pure chance.
(14:16):
I was talking about the book onan online talk and somebody in
the audience said oh, I betyou're including the Bear Amulet
.
And I thought, oh, I'veforgotten about the Bear Amulet.
Yes, of course I'm includingthe Bear Amulet, it's vital.
Yes, I think I probably should.
Yes, front of the, go back andtry and remember all the details
(14:38):
about the Bear Amulet, so theBear.
Amulet is in the book now.
Thanks very much to the personat the talk.
It would look stupid about it.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Well, that's good and things do happen.
You know people remind you ofthings or you'll see something
that sparks one thing and thenends up as another and it's so
interesting when you read it.
You know another problem withdoing historical research.
You know you start out lookingfor, you know, guns in the army
during the Crimea and before youknow where you are, inside of
Victorian sewer and you're like,how did that happen?
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Oh, the possibility for rabbit holes is endless.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
Absolutely yes.
So that takes me on to do.
You believe it's essential forauthors to visit historical
locations relevant to theirstories, and how has any such
first hand experience impactedyour writing?
Speaker 2 (15:29):
It is extremely important, certainly.
Sometimes, of course, it'simpossible, because if you're
setting your novel in the glorydays of the hanging gardens of
Babylon or something like that,you really would have to go by
description and imagination.
But at least you could visitIraq and feel what the air is
like and talk to people and seethe likely dimensions of the
(15:50):
setting.
I've been to everywhere I'vewritten about so far, I think,
but sometimes, up to you know,10 centuries too late, and when
it comes to some books I'veplanned, it's going to be really
difficult for various modernreasons to visit the settings.
I'm just going to have to do alot of research.
(16:10):
But going does offer you somethings you can't get any other
way, like the dimensions ofthings, how the landscape fits
around a setting, the way thesea plays on the shore, how the
buildings tower over the street,how the water runs under the
bridge, things that you justcan't pick up from photographs
or reading about them.
My visit to the Brockham Bursey,where much of my Viking series
(16:32):
is set, was complicated.
For one thing, an awful lot ofthe land had fallen into the sea
since the time of ThorfinnSigurdarsson, so you had to
imagine where it might have been, and for another it was
actually much, much smaller thanI thought it was.
I had to go home and rewriteall the times it took for people
to travel from one place toanother and the great vista they
(16:55):
could see from their longhousedoor.
I had to reduce it severely, sothat was extremely useful and I
really wouldn't have thoughtabout it.
I've just been pouring overmaps and just imagined it as
huge when it really wasn't atall.
So yes, vampal.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
I would agree.
I went out to Antigua and youthink of it being this massive
Caribbean island.
You know it's not as big as youthink.
You know who doesn't take thatlong to get across it, and
that's in a car, though, so youcan take a little bit of poetic
license for the.
You know the time it would havetaken them in those days,
because they were marching, youknow, or eventually they would
(17:31):
have had carriages.
But yeah, you're right, it'sthe size and it's the smell of
the sea and the, and you canrealise things.
I learnt something.
I was chatting to a historian,a lovely, lovely Antiguan lady,
and she said something about ofcourse it smells lovely and
Antiguan, but it smelled like asewer when your chap was here,
because you threw everythinginto the sea over the side of
(17:54):
the ships and I was like, oh, Iwould never have known that.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Oh, that's just lovely yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Yeah, so it's things like that as well.
You know that visiting gets youa lot more.
Yeah so when we're going to gointo dialogue.
I'm all over the place here.
I told you we're going to betalking about setting and I'm
asking you questions abouteverything.
When you're crafting dialoguein historical fiction, how do
you strike a balance betweenauthenticity and accessibility
(18:22):
to the modern readers, and haveyou faced any linguistic
challenges?
Speaker 2 (18:28):
This is a tricky one because you want your characters
to sound real but not to soundlike the bloke on yesterday's
bus.
I haven't.
I haven't had to face any ofthe sort of the and the problems
because my, my Georgians, speakreally quite normally, I think
you'd say, but avoiding anyanachronisms or peculiar slang
(18:50):
or metaphors.
I'm very picky about mymetaphors.
I go back and check things likethe one that bugs me is are you
on the right track?
And I'm convinced that derivesfrom railways.
So you know you've got to watchthat kind of thing and words
like silhouette and hypnotizeare actually a lot more modern
than we might hypnotize inparticular, there's not an awful
(19:12):
lot of swearing in my books,but I do try and make it
accurate.
So slang and swearing are justthe other things that move
fastest in language, so they'rethe ones that you have to keep.
Keep a finger on.
My Vikings are definitely morechallenging.
I don't speak old Norse and Isuspect most of my readers
probably don't read old Norse.
I do speak Norwegian and Ilearned it really just to try
(19:35):
and get all the Norwegians arereally modern language to try
and get a flow and some of theidioms and metaphors.
Maybe that would come through.
So I try just to let the speechflow and, as I say, watch out
for anachronisms and littlethings like mentioning the front
door, which is a subtle thingfor us.
(19:55):
I think the front door isopposed to the back door, but of
course Longhouse has only hadone door, so it meant that would
mean nothing to a Viking.
I'm also unreasonably obsessedwith not using the word orange
in the Viking ones because it'sderived from a Spanish word and
it came to the UK much later.
So there are no oranges,nothing is orange.
I'm probably putting in a lotof other complete, horrible,
(20:21):
terrible, accidental things, butjust not the word orange.
With the Second World War booksI try very hard, as a slang
moved really fast, particularlywhen the Americans came into the
war and started coming over,and I'm trying very hard to keep
the language in the year thatit was actually happening rather
(20:44):
than skipping and bringing instuff that came in later.
Google Ngram is a brilliantdevice for this, to check stuff.
You're right, because you cansee you've got to make sure
you're doing the right regionfor the language.
But if you put a word in, it'llshow you the frequency of the
use of that word in writtenstuff but you extrapolate speech
(21:05):
from that.
The trouble is it did lead to aterrible disappointment.
When I discovered that the word''cludgy'', which you will know
is a fine slang term for achamber pot, only came into use
in the 1960s apparently, I washorrified.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
Oh way I know I wouldn't have known that.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
So I'd have to go back and take it out of my
Georgian book, unfortunately,but it's a brilliant word.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
It is.
It's a fabulous word.
Yeah, that's really interestingbecause trying to avoid slang
and I mean when you writecontemporary books as well slang
is a big thing, because theyare literally saying that you
know, slang moves so fast nowthat it's impossible to use it
(21:50):
because it dates your bookbefore it's even out Exactly
yeah.
Especially when you're writingfor the young adult market or
anything like that.
The slang they're using willhave changed by next week.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
I mean the reverse support.
It starts at all fast.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Precisely it's just, it's a minefield, at least.
At least you know it's.
If it was in use, then it mayhave changed since then, but
that doesn't matter yeah.
If it was in use in the yearyou're writing about.
Then you're on a winner.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
You know a lot safer writing contemporary.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
Precisely.
Yeah, so often we have realhistorical figures in our
historical fiction, and this isone that's dear to my heart
because it's based on, so thisis why I'm asking this question,
you know.
So how do you handle theinclusions of real historical
(22:43):
figures in your fiction, andwhat considerations do you take
into account to portray themaccurately while still serving
your narrative?
Speaker 2 (22:53):
Well, in the Viking books there's lots of leeway
because, apart from the latersaga, there's really nothing
much to tell us what theindividuals were really like and
very few close descendants tocomplain either.
So if I've made Earl Thorfinn'swife a snobby flirt which is,
incidentally, a phrase that Iwouldn't use in a Georgian book
I don't think anyone will reallymind.
(23:14):
My pair of books set in 18thcentury Aberdeenshire, are based
on two real historical events,so the inclusion of real people
is inevitable.
So I read as much as I couldabout them.
I read letters written by themso I could try to hear their
voice.
I looked at portraits, readletters about them as well from
(23:37):
people who knew them.
I stuck with as much history aspossible and then really went
with my instincts, which I thinkworked for those two books.
In later books it can betrickier and I usually
incorporate only quite minor.
Well, I incorporate them asminor characters about whom?
Often about whom nothing muchis known historically.
(23:59):
I think I've got a very briefcameo of Wellington in one book,
but I heard a lot aboutWellington even for that one
cameo, and in other cases it'ssomebody that I knew was there
but nobody knows much about themnow.
The big exception is my latestseries, which is the journals of
(24:21):
Dr Robert Wilson, based on aBerkshire Doctor.
He was definitely real and Iread all his journals and looked
at his belongings and hisportrait.
I haven't brought myself toread his poetry yet, but I'm
sure the time will come, and Istuck to his historical account,
but I've inserted eventsbetween the lines, as it were.
(24:41):
The funny thing is my colleagueand I, when I was first reading
the journals, thought he wasquite a heroic figure, but when
I came to write him he headedoff in an entirely different
direction and he's a verydifferent person, not a
particularly comfortable person,but a fortunate thing is I
don't think there's anyone leftin his family to sue me, so I
(25:04):
should be okay.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
Well, if he wanted to go in that direction, he was
going in that direction, that'sfor sure.
Trying to wrestle thecharacters back doesn't work.
No, no absolutely hopeless.
Yeah, yeah.
So we're going back to thesettings.
As I say, I'm all over theplace here.
I'm trying to help myself aswell here, as well as the
listeners.
Is that how, in what ways doyou believe incorporating
(25:31):
historical settings can enhancethe overall themes and messages
of your fiction, and how do youuse it to the historical
backdrop, to add depth to yourstorytelling?
Speaker 2 (25:44):
I think when we're panicking about something
happening in the world at themoment, it's always worth
looking back to see whathappened when it happened before
, like reading about the Spanishflu during COVID, for example.
We might not learn anythingpractical, but sometimes it just
helps to see that others gotthrough, that people have made
(26:04):
it through such times before,and a new perspective is always
good.
As for adding depth, I sort ofhad to think about that because
in some ways it's contradictory.
If I were writing acontemporary book, there's all
the depth of the world availableto me.
There's my own knowledge ofcurrent affairs, what people say
to me, the world around me, myown experience.
(26:28):
It might be easy to become toodistracted and, almost as a
reaction, the story itself mightbecome too shallow, maybe
over-focused, but because I'vechosen a specific point in the
past and learned about it andset it in its context, perhaps
it is a depth because of thatfocus.
Not sure I can quite decide onthat one.
The easy answer is sort of tosay that you do tons of research
(26:52):
and then leave almost all of itout and hope for the best.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
Yeah, it is a difficult one because you want
to give it a sense of settingwithout overwhelming characters.
It needs to be part of theoverall story because of course,
that's what they did and youknow it can be tough to handle
really.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Yeah, you don't want people to be reading the book
and thinking and then and thenbeing surprised to find it's
historical as well.
You want them to be aware ofthe historical context but find
it relevant Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
That's good.
It's relevance as well.
So in what ways do you believeincorporating historical
settings can enhance the overallthemes and messages of your
fiction, and how do you use?
Speaker 2 (27:40):
I've just asked you that one.
It doesn't matter.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
Listen, I'm going mad .
Okay, let's put this intocontext Wendy's going mad.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
It doesn't matter.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
We've asked you that one and I like the answer.
I'm going mad.
I know you're a really prolificwriter, so can you tell us a
bit about your books?
Speaker 2 (28:01):
Sure.
In the last year I started twomore series, so that makes five
series, which is just silly.
My first series is Murray ofLetho, which is set in late
Georgian times and mostly inScotland.
I started my second seriesbecause I felt I was writing the
Murray books too quickly, sothat's the Hippolyta, napier or
Ballotry Motor Series set inwhat's now Royal D-side,
(28:23):
starting in 1829 of that flood Imentioned.
My Orkney-Yinga series is setin Viking Orkney.
As a result of a randomconversation with a neighbour
and then, because I couldn't getback up to Orkney during
lockdown or for a good whileafterwards, I started a Second
World War series set in Aberdeenwhich was easy to research.
I just had to walk out thefront door and look at stuff and
(28:46):
that's the Alec Katanach series.
And then, finally, I startedthis really tricky series based
on real journals of this rector,dr Robert Wilson.
The first one was set in thePardecalée just after the Battle
of Waterloo, which the Frenchcall the Battle of
(29:07):
Mont-Saint-Jean.
Incidentally, and thereforenice historical context, the
French do not refer to it asWaterloo.
I didn't know it before the book.
The second will be set in Paris, which is otherwise known as an
excuse to visit my niece, andthen he carries on eastward
(29:27):
after that, so that could getquite tricky.
I was the archivist who listedthe journal years ago and this
idea has just been in my headever since to try this series.
And then there have been a fewstand-alones and that pair of
books set in 18th centuryAberdeenshire.
I think that's about all ofthem really.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
You have to be the most prolific writer I know,
which I'm glad about because itmeans I can keep reading them.
I think I'm single-handedlysupporting your lifestyle.
It's much appreciated.
They're great books, I have tosay they really are.
I love your books.
So my final question where canmy listeners find out more about
you and your books?
Speaker 2 (30:04):
Well, the books are all on Amazon, or hard copies
can be ordered from my website,which is just lexiconiancouk.
I'm on Twitter and Pinterest,but I'm most active on Facebook,
where you are very welcome tocome and join me Excellent.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
Well, it was an absolute pleasure to chat to you
again, even if I am asking youthe same questions over and over
Good practice.
Thank you very much indeed.
No worries, enjoy the rest ofyour day, thank you.
(30:39):
That brings us to the end ofanother show.
It was really good to have youon the show with me today.
I'm Wendy H Jones and you canfind me at wendahjjonescom.
You can also find me on Patreon, where you can support me for
as little as $3 a month, whichis less than the price of a tea
or coffee.
(31:00):
You go to wwwpatrioncom.
Forward slash wendahjjonescom.
I'm also Wendy H Jones onFacebook, twitter, instagram and
Pinterest.
Thank you for joining me todayand I hope you found it both
useful and interesting.
Join me next week when I willhave another cracking guest for
you.
Until then, have a good weekand keep writing, keep reading
(31:25):
and keep learning.
Hi and welcome to the Writing and Marketing Show
brought to you by author Wendy HJones.
This show does exactly what itsays on the tin.
It's jam-packed with interviews, advice, hints, tips and news
to help you with the business ofwriting.
It's all wrapped up in onelively podcast.
So it's time to get on with theshow.
(00:23):
And welcome to episode 198 ofthe Writing and Marketing Show
with author-entrepreneur Wendy HJones.
As always, it's an absolutepleasure to have you join me
here Today.
I'm going to be talking aboutwriting historical settings with
prolific author Lexi Cunningham, and it was very good of Lexi
(00:43):
to join us again on the show,and I know that she will have a
lot of wisdom to impart to ustoday and I'm very much forward
looking forward to that.
Before then, what has beenhappening in my life?
Well, at the moment this iscoming to you from the
Westerwood Hotel and Spa inCumbernauld in Scotland, and I
(01:03):
am here because I am running awriting retreat.
So a shout out to all thepeople, the delegates who have
come along and are on thewriting retreat in Scotland with
me.
It's all Scott publishing inretreats.
It's our very first writingretreat and it's running here in
Scotland and we have peoplefrom Australia and we have
(01:27):
people from America, so it's areal pleasure to be working with
them and I'm looking forward toan absolutely fantastic week
with them of learning andenjoyment.
What else have I been up to?
I'm getting ready for theLondon Book Show in a few weeks.
I've got some book signingscoming up next week, so really
hectic time for me between nowand July because I'm also going
(01:50):
to another conference, theScottish Association of Writers'
Conference, in a few weeks aswell.
So a crazy busy time for thisauthor and I love being busy and
I love doing everything writingrelated.
Before we get on with the showand meet Lexie, I would like to
say it's an absolute pleasure tobring you to show every week.
I do so willingly and I enjoydoing it.
(02:11):
However, it does take time outof my writing.
If you would like to supportthat time, you can do so by
going to patreoncom that'sp-a-t-r-e-o-ncom forward slash
wendah-h jones and you cansupport me for three dollars a
month, which is less than theprice of a tea or coffee per
month, because tea and coffee inBritain now costs about three
(02:33):
pounds to buy.
So it would be lovely if youcould support me.
It would let me know you likethe show and you want me to
continue, and I would also bevery grateful.
So what of Lexie?
Well, as I say, we've had Lexiehere before and it was an
absolute pleasure to have herhere.
She is a historian living inthe shadow of the Highlands.
(02:55):
Her novels are born of a lifeamid Scotland's old cities,
ancient universities and hiddenaway aristocratic estates, but
she has written since the dayshe found out that people were
allowed to do such a thing.
Beyond teaching and research,her days are spent with wool,
wild allotments and a wee bit ofwhiskey and, of course, lots
and lots of writing.
So, without further ado, let'sget on with the show and hear
(03:18):
from Lexie, and we have Lexiewith us.
Welcome, lexie.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Hello how are you?
Speaker 1 (03:26):
I am very well and it's lovely to have you with us
here today.
Well, I know you're in Scotland, but whereabouts in Scotland
are you?
I am?
Speaker 2 (03:37):
in Aberdeen, which is .
It's been a beautiful day inAberdeen.
I've been gardening and the sunhas been shining.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Oh, how lovely Gardening.
You can always think aboutwriting when you're gardening,
can't you?
It's very fair Well yes, yeah,right.
Well, hey, we're going to talkabout historical settings here,
which is something very dear tomy heart, given I'm writing a
historical fiction book, so it'svery helpful to have this
session right now.
So thank you for joining us totalk about that, and I know you
(04:10):
know a lot about history becauseyou're an archivist by
background and historian.
So I'm curious is can you shareyour process for researching
historical settings whenpreparing to write a piece of
fiction, and are there anyspecific sources of methods you
find most effective?
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Well, it does tend to vary depending on what I'm
doing.
I think if it's somethingentirely new, I have to admit I
start with Wikipedia, but theimportant word there is start,
because some Wikipedia pagesones on railway engines or
regiments, for example areusually very reliable, but
others, as people will know, notso much.
But you can usually pick upreferences and places to go from
(04:51):
there and often some very goodimages as well.
And then I head for books of amore scholarly nature and what I
really like doing is readingfictional books that were
written at the time and in theplace, as tall as possible.
Then archives for the details.
And I say I say that but I don'talways follow it, because as a
professional archivist, much ofmy research has started
(05:14):
accidentally with some detail.
I've read in an old letter or aregister or something like that
, and I've then gone backwardsand read about the wider field.
And then again with my Vikingbooks, where there's no
contemporary literature and noarchives, but many hundreds of
modern books.
I've had to be quite selective,but I have also included
(05:35):
archaeological reports and, muchlater, sagas.
And then there are some veryspecific methods for some things
, for example for characternames that sound contemporary.
I often just take a trip to agraveyard and wander around
looking for something at theright date, and I love museums.
Museums are wonderful.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
No, that's fantastic.
I mean, I'm with you with themuseums in the graveyard, you
know, as long as you get theircorrect date, you know, and
you're not picking one thatwasn't really in use, then yeah,
they're fantastic.
And you learn so much ingraveyards and museums.
It's never know what you'llcome up with and you come up
with it.
You go to a museum and thinkingyou're going to learn one thing
(06:16):
and you come out learningsomething totally different,
exactly, and it takes you in adifferent direction, which is
great because it really enricheswhat you're doing.
It's really difficult becausewe're writing fiction, so we've
got to be creative, butobviously we've got to get
things correct, becausesomeone's going to write and say
, actually that didn't happen.
(06:37):
Then it happened 300 yearsbefore or 300 years later.
So what challenges do youencounter when balancing
historical accuracy with thecreative liberties necessary for
storytelling, and how do younavigate the development, the
delicate balance?
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Oh, I think every writer does this differently.
I tend to err on the side ofhistorical accuracy, sometimes
to the point of madness, becauseas a reader, I, as you say, I
hate to be jolted out of myenjoyment of a book by thinking,
no, that couldn't have happenedsurely.
I think we're very lucky aswriters of historical fiction.
We've got a fantastic settingalmost ready made for us and in
(07:18):
return, it seems ungrateful notto play by the rules of that
setting.
In fact, I regard it as anotherchallenge to be taken into
consideration when you'reconstructing a plot, because it
would be lovely, for example, ifthe male coach ran there and
stopped at that point, but itdoesn't.
So how do I get around that?
And sometimes the gettingaround the problem actually
brings in something else thatfits beautifully and it plays to
(07:40):
your advantage after all.
So you know, stick to your gunssometimes.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Yeah, I would agree.
Like, for example, the.
What I'm writing is set in EchoFekhen in 1818 onwards and you
think, oh, that's great, echoFekhen was a bit of a, you know,
a hub for the postal service,you know, and.
But then you realise that whatyou're actually talking about is
(08:07):
that a hub.
So everything's dropped off ata certain point and then taken
to points north, and then thepoints north, the male coach,
everything's dropped off at acertain time and then goes to
points south.
So you have to be careful thatyou're not having me.
You know, your points northgoing at six o'clock in the
morning when they didn't coach,didn't actually arrive until
(08:27):
three o'clock in the afternoon,you know.
So it's, you know you've got toget it right.
So yeah is a is a delicatebalance.
So I'm curious are there anyspecific time periods or
historical events you findparticularly inspiring or
intriguing for storytelling, andwhy do you navigate towards
(08:48):
them?
Speaker 2 (08:50):
I'm very much at home in the late Georgian periods,
so 1800 up to 1830.
And I started my first serieswhen I was working in Georgia,
edinburgh, surrounded byGeorgian documents, and just at
the time that the BBC's supremeproduction of Pride and
Prejudice was got, was going out.
So going back to that periodalways feels to me like putting
(09:11):
on an old pair of slippers.
It's just I'm there, I'm happy,it's graceful but it's brutal.
It's relatively simple but it'ssophisticated at the same time.
And it's sometimes quitesurprising.
And on the other side of that,I feel that the Scottish side of
that period hasn't been donemuch.
It's quite overlooked.
Victorian Scotland's beenoverdone, I think.
(09:31):
But there we are, the Vikings Ifell into my accident but I
love them.
I've written two books now setin the Second World War and I
find that's a very easy periodto write about.
I think, probably having beenbrought up by a generation who
lived and fought through it,it's almost not historical, it
comes quite naturally.
I'm not sure I'm ready to starta series set in yet another
(09:54):
period just yet.
I love reading books set in the1920s, that sort of frantic
guilt trip of surviving that warand the damage done by it and
high medieval settings appeal aswell.
I love that period but I think,like the 1920s, they've been
overwritten.
Now there's really no space foranother series on either of
those periods, but they are funto write up to read about.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
Yeah, they were a fun period really because it was
post-war, so people were stillreeling from it, but they had a
sense of gaiting as well.
Yeah, so I was guilt, yeah.
The guilt, yeah, yeah.
What role does cultural contextplay in your writing when
(10:40):
incorporating historicalsettings, and how do you ensure
your characters and plotresonate centricly within the
cultural norms of the time?
That's probably two questions.
Maybe I should ask one at atime.
A huge question Do you actuallywant at a time, or shall I?
Speaker 2 (10:54):
I'll just go on.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
I'm impressed.
I knew you could rise to thechallenge.
That's why I did it, Rexie.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
It means I can ignore the bits that I don't
understand.
I think if you're reading Ithink reading contemporary
literature in documents reallyhelps, particularly
correspondence, because it givesyou an idea of how people think
and speak and what bothers them, what they're looking forward
to, what they're not bothered bytoo, or what they're not
(11:23):
looking forward to.
That we might think lookingback is a huge event, but it
just passes them by and we findout to who they talk to and how
they talk to them.
Do they talk to people on thestreet?
Do they talk to?
How do they talk to theservants?
Or, if they're servants, how dothey talk to their masters?
(11:47):
And we mustn't assume we mustn'tlook back from our perspective
and assume that people felt thesame way as we do.
I mean, we can't assume thatall the women in the 18th
century would have beenfeminists if they'd had the
option.
Also, we need usually to slowdown.
We need to pace ourselves to aperiod where, for example, it
takes a good while to make a cupof tea if you're boiling the
(12:09):
water over an open fire, or toget a letter across the country
like your male coaches.
To travel to the nearest towncould take an awful lot longer
than it does today.
So the trick, I think, is tocast a spell over our readers so
that they slow down to the samepace and they're not reading
along and wondering why theGeorgian heroine doesn't just
get her mobile out and call fora taxi or something.
(12:30):
So really we need to get insidethe heads of our characters and
then draw our readers in theretoo.
But that sounds veryclaustrophobic and slightly
cramped, but I think that's whatwe need to do.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
No, that's a good way of looking at it.
I love the claustrophobic and abit cramped, but it's true they
need to be there as well.
So we always fall across things, don't we, when we're, as we
said, about the museums andthings that you weren't
expecting to.
So can you share an example ofa historical detail or fact that
you discovered during yourresearch that significantly
(13:04):
influenced the direction of yourstory?
Speaker 2 (13:08):
I can't think of a significant one that happened
while I was actually writing thecoincidence of Ballotur on
Royal Deeside being badlyflooded at New Year I think it's
2016,.
It happened and me having readabout the Muckles Spate, which
was a huge flood that happenedthere in 1829, that actually
inspired a whole series justdrawing from that one incident I
(13:32):
came across when I was workingin Edinburgh Castle, I came
across a story of miniaturecoffins being found in Arthur's
seat in Edinburgh.
I was working for the NationalMuseums and it came out that
they were kept in the NationalMuseums and I thought even at
the time I thought, right,that's going in a book, no
problem, even though I wasn'tactually writing anything at the
time.
Unfortunately, ian Rankin foundout about them as well, put
(13:55):
them in one of his books, but Istill couldn't resist and
eventually they appeared in mysecond series.
I couldn't keep them out forany longer.
They're just fascinating.
There was I was in the middle ofwriting a book once when I came
across an important detail thatI did need for the book and I
completely forgotten about itand it was pure chance.
(14:16):
I was talking about the book onan online talk and somebody in
the audience said oh, I betyou're including the Bear Amulet
.
And I thought, oh, I'veforgotten about the Bear Amulet.
Yes, of course I'm includingthe Bear Amulet, it's vital.
Yes, I think I probably should.
Yes, front of the, go back andtry and remember all the details
(14:38):
about the Bear Amulet, so theBear.
Amulet is in the book now.
Thanks very much to the personat the talk.
It would look stupid about it.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Well, that's good and things do happen.
You know people remind you ofthings or you'll see something
that sparks one thing and thenends up as another and it's so
interesting when you read it.
You know another problem withdoing historical research.
You know you start out lookingfor, you know, guns in the army
during the Crimea and before youknow where you are, inside of
Victorian sewer and you're like,how did that happen?
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Oh, the possibility for rabbit holes is endless.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
Absolutely yes.
So that takes me on to do.
You believe it's essential forauthors to visit historical
locations relevant to theirstories, and how has any such
first hand experience impactedyour writing?
Speaker 2 (15:29):
It is extremely important, certainly.
Sometimes, of course, it'simpossible, because if you're
setting your novel in the glorydays of the hanging gardens of
Babylon or something like that,you really would have to go by
description and imagination.
But at least you could visitIraq and feel what the air is
like and talk to people and seethe likely dimensions of the
(15:50):
setting.
I've been to everywhere I'vewritten about so far, I think,
but sometimes, up to you know,10 centuries too late, and when
it comes to some books I'veplanned, it's going to be really
difficult for various modernreasons to visit the settings.
I'm just going to have to do alot of research.
(16:10):
But going does offer you somethings you can't get any other
way, like the dimensions ofthings, how the landscape fits
around a setting, the way thesea plays on the shore, how the
buildings tower over the street,how the water runs under the
bridge, things that you justcan't pick up from photographs
or reading about them.
My visit to the Brockham Bursey,where much of my Viking series
(16:32):
is set, was complicated.
For one thing, an awful lot ofthe land had fallen into the sea
since the time of ThorfinnSigurdarsson, so you had to
imagine where it might have been, and for another it was
actually much, much smaller thanI thought it was.
I had to go home and rewriteall the times it took for people
to travel from one place toanother and the great vista they
(16:55):
could see from their longhousedoor.
I had to reduce it severely, sothat was extremely useful and I
really wouldn't have thoughtabout it.
I've just been pouring overmaps and just imagined it as
huge when it really wasn't atall.
So yes, vampal.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
I would agree.
I went out to Antigua and youthink of it being this massive
Caribbean island.
You know it's not as big as youthink.
You know who doesn't take thatlong to get across it, and
that's in a car, though, so youcan take a little bit of poetic
license for the.
You know the time it would havetaken them in those days,
because they were marching, youknow, or eventually they would
(17:31):
have had carriages.
But yeah, you're right, it'sthe size and it's the smell of
the sea and the, and you canrealise things.
I learnt something.
I was chatting to a historian,a lovely, lovely Antiguan lady,
and she said something about ofcourse it smells lovely and
Antiguan, but it smelled like asewer when your chap was here,
because you threw everythinginto the sea over the side of
(17:54):
the ships and I was like, oh, Iwould never have known that.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Oh, that's just lovely yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Yeah, so it's things like that as well.
You know that visiting gets youa lot more.
Yeah so when we're going to gointo dialogue.
I'm all over the place here.
I told you we're going to betalking about setting and I'm
asking you questions abouteverything.
When you're crafting dialoguein historical fiction, how do
you strike a balance betweenauthenticity and accessibility
(18:22):
to the modern readers, and haveyou faced any linguistic
challenges?
Speaker 2 (18:28):
This is a tricky one because you want your characters
to sound real but not to soundlike the bloke on yesterday's
bus.
I haven't.
I haven't had to face any ofthe sort of the and the problems
because my, my Georgians, speakreally quite normally, I think
you'd say, but avoiding anyanachronisms or peculiar slang
(18:50):
or metaphors.
I'm very picky about mymetaphors.
I go back and check things likethe one that bugs me is are you
on the right track?
And I'm convinced that derivesfrom railways.
So you know you've got to watchthat kind of thing and words
like silhouette and hypnotizeare actually a lot more modern
than we might hypnotize inparticular, there's not an awful
(19:12):
lot of swearing in my books,but I do try and make it
accurate.
So slang and swearing are justthe other things that move
fastest in language, so they'rethe ones that you have to keep.
Keep a finger on.
My Vikings are definitely morechallenging.
I don't speak old Norse and Isuspect most of my readers
probably don't read old Norse.
I do speak Norwegian and Ilearned it really just to try
(19:35):
and get all the Norwegians arereally modern language to try
and get a flow and some of theidioms and metaphors.
Maybe that would come through.
So I try just to let the speechflow and, as I say, watch out
for anachronisms and littlethings like mentioning the front
door, which is a subtle thingfor us.
(19:55):
I think the front door isopposed to the back door, but of
course Longhouse has only hadone door, so it meant that would
mean nothing to a Viking.
I'm also unreasonably obsessedwith not using the word orange
in the Viking ones because it'sderived from a Spanish word and
it came to the UK much later.
So there are no oranges,nothing is orange.
I'm probably putting in a lotof other complete, horrible,
(20:21):
terrible, accidental things, butjust not the word orange.
With the Second World War booksI try very hard, as a slang
moved really fast, particularlywhen the Americans came into the
war and started coming over,and I'm trying very hard to keep
the language in the year thatit was actually happening rather
(20:44):
than skipping and bringing instuff that came in later.
Google Ngram is a brilliantdevice for this, to check stuff.
You're right, because you cansee you've got to make sure
you're doing the right regionfor the language.
But if you put a word in, it'llshow you the frequency of the
use of that word in writtenstuff but you extrapolate speech
(21:05):
from that.
The trouble is it did lead to aterrible disappointment.
When I discovered that the word''cludgy'', which you will know
is a fine slang term for achamber pot, only came into use
in the 1960s apparently, I washorrified.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
Oh way I know I wouldn't have known that.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
So I'd have to go back and take it out of my
Georgian book, unfortunately,but it's a brilliant word.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
It is.
It's a fabulous word.
Yeah, that's really interestingbecause trying to avoid slang
and I mean when you writecontemporary books as well slang
is a big thing, because theyare literally saying that you
know, slang moves so fast nowthat it's impossible to use it
(21:50):
because it dates your bookbefore it's even out Exactly
yeah.
Especially when you're writingfor the young adult market or
anything like that.
The slang they're using willhave changed by next week.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
I mean the reverse support.
It starts at all fast.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Precisely it's just, it's a minefield, at least.
At least you know it's.
If it was in use, then it mayhave changed since then, but
that doesn't matter yeah.
If it was in use in the yearyou're writing about.
Then you're on a winner.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
You know a lot safer writing contemporary.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
Precisely.
Yeah, so often we have realhistorical figures in our
historical fiction, and this isone that's dear to my heart
because it's based on, so thisis why I'm asking this question,
you know.
So how do you handle theinclusions of real historical
(22:43):
figures in your fiction, andwhat considerations do you take
into account to portray themaccurately while still serving
your narrative?
Speaker 2 (22:53):
Well, in the Viking books there's lots of leeway
because, apart from the latersaga, there's really nothing
much to tell us what theindividuals were really like and
very few close descendants tocomplain either.
So if I've made Earl Thorfinn'swife a snobby flirt which is,
incidentally, a phrase that Iwouldn't use in a Georgian book
I don't think anyone will reallymind.
(23:14):
My pair of books set in 18thcentury Aberdeenshire, are based
on two real historical events,so the inclusion of real people
is inevitable.
So I read as much as I couldabout them.
I read letters written by themso I could try to hear their
voice.
I looked at portraits, readletters about them as well from
(23:37):
people who knew them.
I stuck with as much history aspossible and then really went
with my instincts, which I thinkworked for those two books.
In later books it can betrickier and I usually
incorporate only quite minor.
Well, I incorporate them asminor characters about whom?
Often about whom nothing muchis known historically.
(23:59):
I think I've got a very briefcameo of Wellington in one book,
but I heard a lot aboutWellington even for that one
cameo, and in other cases it'ssomebody that I knew was there
but nobody knows much about themnow.
The big exception is my latestseries, which is the journals of
(24:21):
Dr Robert Wilson, based on aBerkshire Doctor.
He was definitely real and Iread all his journals and looked
at his belongings and hisportrait.
I haven't brought myself toread his poetry yet, but I'm
sure the time will come, and Istuck to his historical account,
but I've inserted eventsbetween the lines, as it were.
(24:41):
The funny thing is my colleagueand I, when I was first reading
the journals, thought he wasquite a heroic figure, but when
I came to write him he headedoff in an entirely different
direction and he's a verydifferent person, not a
particularly comfortable person,but a fortunate thing is I
don't think there's anyone leftin his family to sue me, so I
(25:04):
should be okay.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
Well, if he wanted to go in that direction, he was
going in that direction, that'sfor sure.
Trying to wrestle thecharacters back doesn't work.
No, no absolutely hopeless.
Yeah, yeah.
So we're going back to thesettings.
As I say, I'm all over theplace here.
I'm trying to help myself aswell here, as well as the
listeners.
Is that how, in what ways doyou believe incorporating
(25:31):
historical settings can enhancethe overall themes and messages
of your fiction, and how do youuse it to the historical
backdrop, to add depth to yourstorytelling?
Speaker 2 (25:44):
I think when we're panicking about something
happening in the world at themoment, it's always worth
looking back to see whathappened when it happened before
, like reading about the Spanishflu during COVID, for example.
We might not learn anythingpractical, but sometimes it just
helps to see that others gotthrough, that people have made
(26:04):
it through such times before,and a new perspective is always
good.
As for adding depth, I sort ofhad to think about that because
in some ways it's contradictory.
If I were writing acontemporary book, there's all
the depth of the world availableto me.
There's my own knowledge ofcurrent affairs, what people say
to me, the world around me, myown experience.
(26:28):
It might be easy to become toodistracted and, almost as a
reaction, the story itself mightbecome too shallow, maybe
over-focused, but because I'vechosen a specific point in the
past and learned about it andset it in its context, perhaps
it is a depth because of thatfocus.
Not sure I can quite decide onthat one.
The easy answer is sort of tosay that you do tons of research
(26:52):
and then leave almost all of itout and hope for the best.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
Yeah, it is a difficult one because you want
to give it a sense of settingwithout overwhelming characters.
It needs to be part of theoverall story because of course,
that's what they did and youknow it can be tough to handle
really.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Yeah, you don't want people to be reading the book
and thinking and then and thenbeing surprised to find it's
historical as well.
You want them to be aware ofthe historical context but find
it relevant Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
That's good.
It's relevance as well.
So in what ways do you believeincorporating historical
settings can enhance the overallthemes and messages of your
fiction, and how do you use?
Speaker 2 (27:40):
I've just asked you that one.
It doesn't matter.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
Listen, I'm going mad .
Okay, let's put this intocontext Wendy's going mad.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
It doesn't matter.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
We've asked you that one and I like the answer.
I'm going mad.
I know you're a really prolificwriter, so can you tell us a
bit about your books?
Speaker 2 (28:01):
Sure.
In the last year I started twomore series, so that makes five
series, which is just silly.
My first series is Murray ofLetho, which is set in late
Georgian times and mostly inScotland.
I started my second seriesbecause I felt I was writing the
Murray books too quickly, sothat's the Hippolyta, napier or
Ballotry Motor Series set inwhat's now Royal D-side,
(28:23):
starting in 1829 of that flood Imentioned.
My Orkney-Yinga series is setin Viking Orkney.
As a result of a randomconversation with a neighbour
and then, because I couldn't getback up to Orkney during
lockdown or for a good whileafterwards, I started a Second
World War series set in Aberdeenwhich was easy to research.
I just had to walk out thefront door and look at stuff and
(28:46):
that's the Alec Katanach series.
And then, finally, I startedthis really tricky series based
on real journals of this rector,dr Robert Wilson.
The first one was set in thePardecalée just after the Battle
of Waterloo, which the Frenchcall the Battle of
(29:07):
Mont-Saint-Jean.
Incidentally, and thereforenice historical context, the
French do not refer to it asWaterloo.
I didn't know it before the book.
The second will be set in Paris, which is otherwise known as an
excuse to visit my niece, andthen he carries on eastward
(29:27):
after that, so that could getquite tricky.
I was the archivist who listedthe journal years ago and this
idea has just been in my headever since to try this series.
And then there have been a fewstand-alones and that pair of
books set in 18th centuryAberdeenshire.
I think that's about all ofthem really.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
You have to be the most prolific writer I know,
which I'm glad about because itmeans I can keep reading them.
I think I'm single-handedlysupporting your lifestyle.
It's much appreciated.
They're great books, I have tosay they really are.
I love your books.
So my final question where canmy listeners find out more about
you and your books?
Speaker 2 (30:04):
Well, the books are all on Amazon, or hard copies
can be ordered from my website,which is just lexiconiancouk.
I'm on Twitter and Pinterest,but I'm most active on Facebook,
where you are very welcome tocome and join me Excellent.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
Well, it was an absolute pleasure to chat to you
again, even if I am asking youthe same questions over and over
Good practice.
Thank you very much indeed.
No worries, enjoy the rest ofyour day, thank you.
(30:39):
That brings us to the end ofanother show.
It was really good to have youon the show with me today.
I'm Wendy H Jones and you canfind me at wendahjjonescom.
You can also find me on Patreon, where you can support me for
as little as $3 a month, whichis less than the price of a tea
or coffee.
(31:00):
You go to wwwpatrioncom.
Forward slash wendahjjonescom.
I'm also Wendy H Jones onFacebook, twitter, instagram and
Pinterest.
Thank you for joining me todayand I hope you found it both
useful and interesting.
Join me next week when I willhave another cracking guest for
you.
Until then, have a good weekand keep writing, keep reading
(31:25):
and keep learning.
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