Hannah Fielding's Blog, page 39

Eight years of blogging! A look at my highlights…

Having written novels since my early twenties, I have long considered myself a novelist – a long-form writer. But earlier this week, I was hunting through my blog posts and […]

Taking inspiration from Mr Rochester – the man with a past

I read French literature at university, and am deeply inspired by the French romantic authors of the 19th century, like Stendhal, Musset, Theophile Gautier, Leconte de Lisle and Victor Hugo. […]

Fading away: the tragic tale of Echo from Greek mythology

I am fascinated by etymology: the study of the origin of words and the way in which their meanings have changed throughout history. The Little Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins […]

Beatrix Potter’s Hill Top Farm (Writers’ Spaces series #4)

For many writers, the most important part of the ‘room with a view’ for their writing is the view. For Victor Hugo, whose writing space I visited in this series […]

Tell me a story: Why we will always read books

In 2014, Svend Brinkmann, professor of psychology at Aalborg University, Denmark, published a book entitled Stand Firm: Resisting the Self-Improvement Craze. In the book, Brinkmann applies the wisdom of the Stoics […]

‘How Do I Love Thee?’ Declarations of love in my novels

Happy St. Valentine’s Day! If there was ever a day to make a declaration of love, this is it. We do not need flowers, or chocolates, or champagne; we do […]

Victor Hugo’s Hauteville House (Writers’ Spaces series #3)

So far in my Writers’ Spaces series I’ve visited a tower writing room where privacy was key, and two homes where novelists penned their works at tables in snug family rooms. Today’s […]

The Brontës’ parsonage and Austen’s cottage (Writers’ Spaces series #2)

Last week, I introduced a series on my blog exploring where noted writers through history wrote their works. My first article focused on Sissinghurst Castle, home of Vita Sackville-West, and […]

Braving ‘the anxiety of publication’ to share a new novel

Sir Winston Churchill, politician and prolific writer, said this of the writing process: Writing a book is an adventure. To begin with it is a toy and an amusement. Then […]

Sissinghurst Castle and Vita Sackville-West (Writers’ Spaces series #1)

Readers of my fiction will know that I paint settings vividly. A strong sense of place brings colour and context and atmosphere to the story. But setting is not only […]