Tracey Warr's Blog, page 29

Lot Valley Log

The Cave of Swimmers, Wadi Sura, Egypt

I am currently writer in residence at Maisons Daura in Saint-Cirq-Lapopie in the Lot Valley, France where I’m developing a novella about an oceanic exoplanet. See my Lot Valley Log for further details.

Myself and the other artists in the project, Exoplanet Lot, will be presenting our work in progress on 13 May 2016 6.30pm at Maisons Daura. Please come along if you are in the area.

Filed under: future fiction Tagged: caves, contemporary art, france, writing

Interview with author Clare Kane for The Displaced Nation

Pudong Skyline. Photo: Jannes Glas

My interview for The Displaced Nation with Scottish author Clare Kane, who lives in and writes about Shanghai, just published in the column Location, Locution.

It’s the first in a series of monthly author interviews I will be doing for the column. Two free copies of Donna Leon’s new Brunetti novel have already been snapped up but one free copy of Clare Kane’s ebook is still waiting for a winner if you are quick off the mark.

Filed under: Books Tagged: historical fiction

Between historical fiction and historical research

In my historical novels I’m always imagining in the gaps and with the mysteries:

what happened to the 10th century Viscountess Emma of Limoges during the three years she was held for ransom by Vikings before her husband paid up? (The Viking Hostage)

 

why did the 11th century Count Ramon Berenger of Barcelona kidnap Countess Almodis from her husband Count Pons of Toulouse, risking war, incurring excommunication for himself and Almodis, and causing the alienation of his eldest son by a previous marriage? (Almodis the Peaceweaver)

 

how did the 12th century Princess Nest of Deheubarth in Wales come to be the mistress of King Henry I of England, marry two other Normans and a Fleming and get kidnapped by a Welsh prince, and how did she cope with all that? (my forthcoming trilogy, Conquest)

These have been the questions arising from my historical research that have driven my historical fiction, and I have invented around the facts to create my stories.

However, in response to reviewer and reader feedback on my first two novels, I’m also now thinking not only about what I can add to, and emphasise in, the historical research, but also what I can take away, how I can work selectively with the historical evidence. What and who can I leave out in order to focus the story better for the reader?

Filed under: Historical Fiction Tagged: france, middle ages, vikings, wales, women in history, writing

New reviews of The Viking Hostage

dreambydaybookreviews.com

https://www.instagram.com/dreambyday_bookreviews/

http://dreambydaybookreviews.com/

New reviews of The Viking Hostage just published. Thanks ‘Dream by Day’ for the reviews and the photos of reading in progress. One of the best things about writing novels is then having people reading the books and imagining their own ways into the stories, so I particularly liked these images. Several reviewers and readers have commented on difficulty ‘getting into’ my stories but then being hooked, and the bewildering array of characters, so something I’m trying to address in the new novels …

Filed under: Books Tagged: france, historical fiction, vikings, wales, women in history, writing