Linda Acaster's Blog, page 9

Research: Tomb Chests and Hanging Helms

Church of St Bartholomew, Aldbrough


The moral of this post is never underestimate a small medieval church in a small pre-Doomsday village.

My husband is adding to the genealogy of his family line and, in search of the later more law-abiding contingent, he is keen to visit churches in the locality during open days when parish records, often dating back to the 1700s or earlier, are available

Early Summer eBook Promos #99p / #99c - Part 1

The sun is shining yellow, the apple blossom is tinting pink, and the first of the early summer ebook promotions are waving their flags on Kindle. Each listed carries one of my titles. Do you enjoy quizzes? Match the book to the promo!


First up is Magic Book Deals with the Romance Book Fair. From Regency to Contemporary, Fantasy to  PNR, there's even a boxed set! The titles are listed from

Marketing & Promotion: Facebook Author Page

Since Anita Chapman’s day course on Social Media For Writers, ruminations have been coalescing into the draft of some sort of plan. And then I was overtaken by events: namely an invitation to a joint promotion with a handful of other authors whose novels are set in the East Yorkshire area. Tailor-made, I thought, for Torc of Moonlight. The kicker was that I’d need a Facebook Author Page. I’ve

Research: Social Media for Writers

It's not just novels which need researching; so does back-end stuff like genre, publishers, agents, and... social media. Unless you're under twenty-five you weren't born with an inherent understanding of the technology. It has to be learned.



My usual route is Google > blogposts > ebooks > forums, because living out in the "northern" sticks might offer the luxury of dark skies and low traffic

Holding Out For A #Heroine

"That hurts"


I write novels about ordinary people; ordinary people thrust into extraordinary situations leaving them fearing they can’t cope, but they do anyway because the alternative is too unpalatable to contemplate.

I don’t write about gung-ho macho men who can make world-changing decisions in an instant; I certainly don’t write about kick-ass women with a mouth full of sharp one-liners.

Research: Strong Men, Food Animals and Terracotta Warriors

Fiction writers have a tendency to spend long hours creating, often to the detriment of replenishing their creative well. I particularly enjoy going off-topic. It gives pause for a little perspective on the work-in-progress and I never know what interesting snippets of info might spark an idea.

The reason I was in Chester to view its Roman artefacts (see posts one and two) was to visit nearby

Research : Roman Amphitheatre at #Chester

Model 1:75 size amphitheatre of Deva Victrix


In the second of my posts on Roman Chester, I focus on its amphitheatre, found within sight of the fortress' south-east corner tower (set in the green area to the mid left of the amphitheatre aerial view), one of twenty-two towers in its fortress wall.



Amphitheatres were one of the go-to entertainment venues of Roman life,
and life in Roman

Research: Roman Tombstones in Chester

Part of the "Rows", buildings with elevated walkways


Having never visited Chester, I’ve now been twice within six months. The city is renown for its medieval Rows, elevated walkways of merchants’ living and
business premises dating from the early 1300s and often displaying parts of the original beams and wattle and daub internal construction. Still used as shops and
eateries, these stand on

Musings on...Where To Start A Novel

Your characters are nailed, your setting researched, your time period decided. You’ve brainstormed The Big Problem plus a few smaller ones to scatter, and you’ve chosen who’ll carry the story. So where to start? If you’ve written some sort of plan, even a feeble outline, how can where to start be a problem? As always, the Devil is in the detail.

Received wisdom points to a moment of conflict,

Research: Mapping Our Way To Understanding

Here in the UK we are fortunate to be able to pore over Ordnance Survey maps of the entire country, rural and urban alike. Each map shows, via simple icons, a welter of detail beyond the topographical: modern,
historical, and prehistoric. 



They helped me build an entire series of
weekend walks, and I’ve relied on them heavily for my fiction,
especially the Torc of Moonlight trilogy, which