Linda Acaster's Blog, page 20

Research: Norway 4 - Viking Ships Not From Norway

How could I write a series about Norway and not include something about Viking ships? In truth, I found Norway surprisingly quiet about its Old Norse past. Yes, the places we visited mentioned farming and shipping from what the rest of Europe calls the 'Viking era', but mentions seemed to be the sum total of it. Even Bergen, which houses the Maritime Museum, doesn't go, er... overboard.



So

Research: Norway 3 - Bergen & the Hanseatic League

Our cruise ship wasn't all six course dinners and gentle strolls round the deck admiring the awesome scenery. Part of the on-board entertainment included lectures. Geoffrey Farrell, ex Oxbridge, was our affable and informative speaker, and it was in no small part due to one of his talks that when the ship berthed in Bergen more than a few passengers looked at the Bryggen with different eyes as

Research: Norway 2 - Hopperstad Stave Church

While on the cruise of the Norwegian fjords we took a single excursion from Vik to Flam. There was no other way I'd be able to visit the Hopperstad Stavkyrkje. Believe me, photographs don't do it justice, especially ours.



Hopperstad Stave Church set on a hill overlooking Vik on the Sognefjord



It dates from the early 12th century, only around 140 years after Christianity had been accepted

Research: In the Wake of the Vikings

What other way could I follow in the wake of a Viking longship except by cruising the Norwegian fjords? Ahem... well, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.



We were on a small ship of 550 passengers, a tad larger than the biggest dragon ships, granted, but its wraparound deck afforded fantastic views. And it was the views I'd gone for. I like to footfall the landscapes I'm intending to

Research: Spilsby's Quarter Sessions & Prison

For a novelist, research comes in all shapes and sizes. For my purposes I shuffle it into three groups:

General - undertaken to test if an idea has legs
Background - for usable window-dressing
Pertinent – facts to feed with subtlety direct into the text to emphasise that my characters aren’t idiots


There is also a fourth – Serendipitous – where I happen to come across something interesting

Writing, Reading and Research Updates

When I updated the site I intended on updating my actual writing on a somewhat regular basis. But the best laid plans of authors... Better late than never.


Pilgrims of the Pool, the final novel in the Torc of Moonlight trilogy (see 'Chillers'), continues to have pages added - not as fast as I'd like, but a decent enough amount to prove that I am now well out of the mire in which I'd written

For Want Of A Book Cover

Should a writer sit on a story or publish and be damned?



The theory is that an independent writer/publisher should know the genre, concept and the title of a work-in-progress so as to brief a designer of a cover for delivery at the same time that the text emerges from its final edits. That’s the theory.


Version 1 from Fiverr



The reality is that storylines can erupt from anywhere and

Greens *Proposing* Copyright Carnage

There have been angry responses on Twitter, discussion on Facebook and comments on news media articles to the Green Party's proposed overhaul of Copyright, particularly its stating that it wants to cut the copyright period to 14 years (it is unclear whether this is from the inception of the copyright, or from the death of its creator). For an overview, and picked for ease, see items in the

Wednesday Writing Prompt - Full List

Over the months I've been offering a weekly series of writing prompts. Here's a linked Indix:

Working from 'first lines' with discussions on what to look for and how to extrapolate:
WPrompt #1 : WPrompt #2 : WPrompt #3 : WPrompt #4 : WPrompt #5 

WPrompt #6 :   One idea is never one idea
WPrompt #7 :   How and where to find your own ideas
WPrompt #8 :   Building a character from the inside out,

IndieReCon 2015 - Free Writers' Conference

Writers' conferences can be expensive to attend and expensive to reach. Not any more. Check out IndieRecon 2015 going global 15-17th April, timed to interact with the London Book Fair where it is part of the Fringe Festival.




Started in 2013 to raise awareness that there was more on offer than just the contracting mainstream publishing route, 10,000 attendees signed on - free - to interact