Bev Allen's Blog, page 5
June 23, 2012
Write About What You Know
How often is that one trotted out to aspiring authors? I must have heard it a dozen times and it used to bother me because I didn't want to write about things I "know".
I know how to be an average housewife, know and hate btw. I know how to be a pretty good cook and I know how to take care of my kids, drive a car, work a washing machine, find the supermarket with my eyes shut and a zillion other boring necessities of daily life.
Why the hell would I want to write about any of that and more to the point, why would anyone want to read it.
What people should say is "Write about your passions,your interests and the things that delight you, scare you or give you joy."
I know how to be an average housewife, know and hate btw. I know how to be a pretty good cook and I know how to take care of my kids, drive a car, work a washing machine, find the supermarket with my eyes shut and a zillion other boring necessities of daily life.
Why the hell would I want to write about any of that and more to the point, why would anyone want to read it.
What people should say is "Write about your passions,your interests and the things that delight you, scare you or give you joy."
June 22, 2012
What Next.
I'm very near to completing my second book. This one is set on a forest world and has a very strong eco theme and lots and lots of tattooed tribesmen.
There's plenty of wilderness adventure and a fair bit of fighting.
No soldiers this time, but all that time I spent in the scouts has paid off.
I've had a couple of ideas for a third one floating around in my head for a while, but one keeps fighting its way to the surface.
It will star a soldier, I just don't seem to be able to resist them, it must be something to do with the uniform.
I'm not ready to fight another war just yet, so the action will be mere skirmishing. And what foe will this soldier of mine will be fighting...seven children aged from 4 to 16:-))
At least that is the plan, but as every good soldier knows, no plan survives the first encounter with the enemy.
There's plenty of wilderness adventure and a fair bit of fighting.
No soldiers this time, but all that time I spent in the scouts has paid off.
I've had a couple of ideas for a third one floating around in my head for a while, but one keeps fighting its way to the surface.
It will star a soldier, I just don't seem to be able to resist them, it must be something to do with the uniform.
I'm not ready to fight another war just yet, so the action will be mere skirmishing. And what foe will this soldier of mine will be fighting...seven children aged from 4 to 16:-))
At least that is the plan, but as every good soldier knows, no plan survives the first encounter with the enemy.
What Next.
I'm very near to completing my second book. This one is set on a forest world and has a very strong eco theme and lots and lots of tattooed tribesmen.
There's plenty of wilderness adventure and a fair bit of fighting.
No soldiers this time, but all that time I spent in the scouts has paid off.
I've had a couple of ideas for a third one floating around in my head for a while, but one keeps fighting its way to the surface.
It will star a soldier, I just don't seem to be able to resist them, it must be something to do with the uniform.
I'm not ready to fight another war just yet, so the action will be mere skirmishing. And what foe will this soldier of mine will be fighting...seven children aged from 4 to 16:-))
At least that is the plan, but as every good soldier knows, no plan survives the first encounter with the enemy.
There's plenty of wilderness adventure and a fair bit of fighting.
No soldiers this time, but all that time I spent in the scouts has paid off.
I've had a couple of ideas for a third one floating around in my head for a while, but one keeps fighting its way to the surface.
It will star a soldier, I just don't seem to be able to resist them, it must be something to do with the uniform.
I'm not ready to fight another war just yet, so the action will be mere skirmishing. And what foe will this soldier of mine will be fighting...seven children aged from 4 to 16:-))
At least that is the plan, but as every good soldier knows, no plan survives the first encounter with the enemy.
June 21, 2012
Hiding
I’m hiding at the moment.
Why?
Because I invented an army and I invented some soldiers to serve in it. It’s my army and they soldier in a world of my invention, but of course I didn’t dream them up from nothing.
For a long time now I have done administrative work for a group who not only research aspects of military history, they also publish the results. They are a great bunch of guys, some are ex-soldiers, some are academics and some are just enthusiasts, but they are all incredibly knowledgeable and many of them are published authors in their own specialist fields.
These men know about armies and they know about soldiering
And that’s why I’m hiding from them.
Why?
Because I invented an army and I invented some soldiers to serve in it. It’s my army and they soldier in a world of my invention, but of course I didn’t dream them up from nothing.
For a long time now I have done administrative work for a group who not only research aspects of military history, they also publish the results. They are a great bunch of guys, some are ex-soldiers, some are academics and some are just enthusiasts, but they are all incredibly knowledgeable and many of them are published authors in their own specialist fields.
These men know about armies and they know about soldiering
And that’s why I’m hiding from them.
June 18, 2012
Waterloo Day
Today is the 197th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo.
It was probably this battle which first sparked my interest in military history. I read Georgette Heyer's "Infamous Army" at a ridiculously early age and was fascinated by the real soldiers she portrayed there.
I read more of her books and wondered about her beloved 95th.
So I went looking and it was just a short step to The Rifle Brigade and the history of the Penninsula War.
In the years since I met and married a man with an even bigger interest in all things military and he has showed me the army of Marlborough and of Queen Victoria and best of all, the ever glorious Indian Army.
Soldiers have played a big part in my life and they play a big part in my writing.
So on this, the anniversary of one of their greatest victories, I send my love and my deepest rerspect to The British Army.
It was probably this battle which first sparked my interest in military history. I read Georgette Heyer's "Infamous Army" at a ridiculously early age and was fascinated by the real soldiers she portrayed there.
I read more of her books and wondered about her beloved 95th.
So I went looking and it was just a short step to The Rifle Brigade and the history of the Penninsula War.
In the years since I met and married a man with an even bigger interest in all things military and he has showed me the army of Marlborough and of Queen Victoria and best of all, the ever glorious Indian Army.
Soldiers have played a big part in my life and they play a big part in my writing.
So on this, the anniversary of one of their greatest victories, I send my love and my deepest rerspect to The British Army.
June 15, 2012
On writing and sewing
I'm not only a writer, but also an avid quilter.
I suspect a lot of writers have some sort of craft as a hobby, if you are creative in one field, the chances are you are creative in another.
For me the colours of fabric, using them to make something harmonious, beautiful and useful is one of the great comforts of my life.
And hand sewing allows the imagination to run free and play:-))
I'm editing and revising a new book at the moment and I was really bogged down, stuck for a plot device to bring everything together. A couple of hours slicing things up with a rotary cutter, stabbing a needle through the result and hey presto! a neat little battle scene with half a dozen bodies and a nice bloody victory.
Who says sewing is for girls?
I suspect a lot of writers have some sort of craft as a hobby, if you are creative in one field, the chances are you are creative in another.
For me the colours of fabric, using them to make something harmonious, beautiful and useful is one of the great comforts of my life.
And hand sewing allows the imagination to run free and play:-))
I'm editing and revising a new book at the moment and I was really bogged down, stuck for a plot device to bring everything together. A couple of hours slicing things up with a rotary cutter, stabbing a needle through the result and hey presto! a neat little battle scene with half a dozen bodies and a nice bloody victory.
Who says sewing is for girls?
June 14, 2012
Space Pirates?
I wasn't sure about the "space pirates" bit when the publisher suggested it. I'd just called the book "Jabin". To be fair to me I'm pretty bloody hopeless at titles and it took me six months to come up with "Jabin".
But he was so right, it sums up a great deal of the book and manages to convey the sense of action and adventure which was one of the things foremost in my mind when I was writing it.
The other thing wanted to write about is summed by the quote I put after the title page, the one about faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is love, because that is the other main theme.
The book is a search for love, for the love of a parent and the love of friends and family.
But he was so right, it sums up a great deal of the book and manages to convey the sense of action and adventure which was one of the things foremost in my mind when I was writing it.
The other thing wanted to write about is summed by the quote I put after the title page, the one about faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is love, because that is the other main theme.
The book is a search for love, for the love of a parent and the love of friends and family.
June 3, 2012
What will the Welsh say?
I've been wondering since publication what the Welsh will make of New Wales.
Will I dare ever to cross the Severn again?
I hope so, as I love the place.
When I needed a reason for internal strife, I remembered once being asked by a very elderly welsh lady if I was "church or chapel" and the memory stuck.
She meant nothing but polite interest of course, but it was the hook I needed and then I realised I would to use all those beautiful, musical Welsh names and the whole was irresistable.
Will I dare ever to cross the Severn again?
I hope so, as I love the place.
When I needed a reason for internal strife, I remembered once being asked by a very elderly welsh lady if I was "church or chapel" and the memory stuck.
She meant nothing but polite interest of course, but it was the hook I needed and then I realised I would to use all those beautiful, musical Welsh names and the whole was irresistable.
