Deborah Swift's Blog, page 32

Cabinet of Curio-stories – An Apostle Spoon

I wonder what this spoon, which has survived for three hundred years, has stirred, or served, since it was first made? It is a 17thC Apostle spoon with an engraving of `Ave Maria` on the bowl. There are also further marks and chasings made during the Edwardian era, so it has obviously been used over […]

Historical Fiction – deadly sin no 6 – the Aura of an Era

One of the things that attracts writers of historical fiction, is the lure of the past – its costumes, its pageantry, its beautiful buildings and architecture, many imbued with a craftsmanship mostly lost to us today. Often great love and attention is devoted to describing these scenes in detail. In fact it is essential, to […]

Cabinet of Curio-stories – Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn entwined

As a gift to King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, Henry VIII erected a beautiful screen, the work of Renaissance Italian craftsmen. The work was carried out between 1533 and 1535 in the brief period when Anne Boleyn was Queen, and Henry’s royal crown surmounts their initials, which are shown linked together in the decoration. Interestingly, on […]

Historical Fiction – deadly sin no 5 – The Length of Time

In the past, travelling took much longer. Because journeys took longer, messages took weeks to arrive, and news was days old by the time it reached you. Talking to historical fiction writers who are starting out, I often find that one of the first things they have had to google, is how long it takes […]

Historical Fiction – The Dark Lady’s Mask by Mary Sharratt

It is a brave writer that sets out to tackle anything about William Shakespeare and how he wrote his plays. Even more so when the author posits the idea that��Shakespeare relied on a female poet as his collaborator. I dare say the novel will have its detractors, particularly those who find the portrait of Shakespeare […]

Historical Fiction – Deadly Sin no 4 – Lost or Glossary?

Like most historical novelists, I’ve��spent��much of my research time immersed in the everyday life of an earlier century, and my vocabulary has expanded. It has expanded to include��words that most people have never heard of. As a novelist, this was brought home to me, when I had one character stab another character ‘in the stomacher’. […]

Historical Fiction – Deadly Sin no 4 – Prologue vs Intrigue

When writing a historical novel and portraying a whole world, it is tempting to use a prologue as an introduction to the period you want your reader to inhabit. A prologue seems an ideal place to do this – to explain who conquered whom, who is on the throne, what the political or religious milieu […]

Fascinating old words for the historical novelist: ‘posnet’.

Whilst investigating something else entirely, I came upon an article in our local paper about the ‘Carnforth Posnet’. This apparently was a rare bronze vessel dating from medieval times. Amazing what sidetracks I end up on, when I get to our local library’s archives. (Side plea – save our local libraries!) This particular object was […]

Historical Fiction – Deadly Sin 3 – Stuck in the Past

Excess Verbiage When I was growing up I read classic fiction such as Dickens, The Brontes, Dumas, and Blackmore. These were my formative influences, and nuances of their language still make their way into my books. This is both an advantage, and a disadvantage. On the one hand, I’m hugely grateful for the vocabulary I […]

Gilded Leather Glitz – 17th Century wallpaper

If you were an important personage in 17th Century��Antwerp, your house would be furnished with��gilded leather wallpaper, a status symbol of the rich merchant. Inevitably this fashion spread to England. On a visit to The Hague, I took this picture in the Mauritshuis Museum, The Hague (left), but there are also good examples in the […]