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Tag Archives: diana gabaldon

A little about setting

27 Monday Apr 2015

Posted by Paula Beavan in Uncategorized

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

Author, cathryn hein, diana gabaldon, Felicity Pulman, Hunter Valley, Jilly Cooper, Juliet Marillier, Kate Forsyth, Margo Lanagan, Norah Roberts, places, Scotland, Settings, Stephen King, writers

Hello again reader, sorry it’s been so long. All I can say is life seems to have taken some interesting twists and turns and I’m just now beginning to catch up.

My days have been jam packed and writing is only one part of the routine. But I am pleased to be able to say it still has top billing. I’ve actually been blessed with more time to call my own, but somehow, it’s also been sucked down a vortex of having to share my house again.

One of the things I’ve been contemplating is my story setting. With any novel, there needs to be research done. Even when you know your subject, there are points and information that will need checking.

2014-09-21 09.46.45

Sinclair Girnigoe Castle, Caithness, Scotland UK

Sinclair Girnigoe Castle, Caithness, Scotland UK The setting for my YA timeslip.

I began writing a YA time slip story about ten years ago, I got about half way through and got lost. I found I couldn’t write it when I had never been to Scotland. In an effort to not simply stop writing, I decided to write an Australian Historical. Maybe a short story. Just to keep my writing happening.

I found a suitable competition for a story of about 3,000 words and thought it sounded perfect. 100,000 words later I had my first ever finished first draft. It was wobbly, had no structure and way too many adverbs and adjectives, but I finished.

Fast forward seven years and several million words, well maybe a bit less, but you get the idea, and I’ve dragged out the old manuscript and have started again.

cropped-dsc00255hunter-river-luskintyre.jpg

Hunter River, setting for my historical fiction

 

The setting for this is the early settlement of the Hunter Valley and it’s been so much fun to research where we live. There is so much I didn’t know about the river and the people. Every time I come across a familiar name in historic accounts or articles I want to add yet another character to my too long list.

The setting in my stories are pretty much a character in their own right. From the wild northern coast of Scotland, to the brown ribbon of the Hunter River, I love to weave in a sense of place for my characters to move about in. I also love to read stories that ground me in the setting. I want to feel as if I am standing in the characters shoes and looking out through their eyes; smelling, feeling, experiencing everything they do.

Some of my favourite authors are really good at this and I find reading their stories inspiring. My top 5 favourite Australian writers are Kate Forsyth, Juliet Marillier, Cathryn Hein, Margo Lanagan and Felicity Pulman. But I can’t fail to mention Diana Gabaldon, Jilly Cooper, Stephen King and Nora Roberts.  I love lots of different writers for different reasons, and we’d be here all day if I listed them all. Now reader, how about you? Who are your favourite authors and why? I’d love to hear from you, so don’t be shy.

What are we looking for?

09 Friday Aug 2013

Posted by Paula Beavan in Uncategorized

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

can't put it down, diana gabaldon, Good read, good story or great story, good writing, literature, love reading, Paula Beavan, Reading, turn offs in writing, writing

Hi again reader, I’ve been thinking! I know, “Danger danger, Will Robinson!”

will robinson

<image credit>

Seriously though, as a reader, I’ve been wondering about what I look for in a book. How I define a good book, and what I consider an average read. What’s the difference between un-put-downable and “Oh, look, I need to clean the ceiling fans.”?

girl reading

<image credit>

For me it starts with characters. I need to connect. I need to care about what’s happening to the characters. I am fairly persistent, I will give a character a good chance to engage me. But if by the third chapter I can’t remember their name or it’s not clear what is at stake for them, I’m outta there!

On the other hand, being a writer, I notice (that is, I do now, I never used to) when a author has proceeded to tell me a whole heap of stuff about the character in one go I kind of stall. I think this is known as “information dump” in writerly speak. You know the book where the author tells you in half a page that the MC (main character) loves gardening, lives in a pretty cottage by the river and has three dogs and seven cats and wants to marry a millionaire who drives a Jaguar and really likes to eat ice cream cones while sitting listening to Bach on her iPod.

If I wanted to set a scene and show you all that information, I could write it more or less as I have above, or I could do something like this:

Mary carried her ice cone to the small bench seat at the bottom of the garden. It was one of her favourite things to do at the end of a hot day spent pulling weeds and tidying the roses. She sunk down onto the slatted timber seat, proud of her day’s achievements. The quiet song of the river dancing over the stones soothed her and she closed her eyes to listen, watching the red glow of late afternoon sunshine through her closed lids. She sat thus, dreaming of her ideal man, imagining the faceless millionaire as he emerged from his Jaguar. Her favourite fantasy evaporated as fast as the perspiration on her neck when ice cream dripped and ran over the back of her hand to plop in a sticky mess on her sunburnt thigh. 

A well written story shows us all this in the shape of action. This style of story telling is called Deep Point of View, and the best writer I know for this Diana Gabaldon. If you haven’t read her books then I strongly recommend that you do. Here’s a link.

So we have a character we could grow to care about. She likes gardening and ice cream. Fair enough! But then we want something intriguing to happen. We want to be given a reason to read on, to find out if everything is ok and that life and love works out for Mary. Perhaps even, we could  hope that Mary meets her Jaguar driving millionaire – just a thought.

So we could say that Mary was busily wiping off the dripping ice cream only to see an unusually large boat float by on the curve of the river that ran along the bottom of her garden and on the deck stood a man whose face filled the blank of her imaginings.

OR

river

<image credit>

“Dammit!” Mary licked the sweet milky rivulet from the back of her hand before wiping the melted ice cream from her thigh with her finger. The overheated skin of her sunburnt legs quickly warmed the cool sweetness. Not wasting even a drop, she licked her finger. Index finger still in her mouth, she heard the throb of a motor. She lifted her head and shielded her eyes to look up the river. A large cabin cruiser was idling toward her, approaching the bend in the river. What were they doing? The  river was far too shallow for such a big boat to navigate. She stood up, a frown creasing her brow. From beneath the hand that shaded her eyes, she saw only one figure on board. She couldn’t see the face of the man who stood silhouetted on the deck. The boat crept around the far side of the watercourse, passing the shady trees on the opposite bank. She got her  first clear view of the man’s face. Her heart began to thud, a rapid tattoo in her chest.  The ice cream cone forgotten, she let her hands fall to her side, the ball of melting confectionery fell out of the cone and onto the grass beside her bare foot. Her breath caught. His face fit every fantasy she’d ever had. The face she’d never been able to imagine into her day dreams. She couldn’t look away. Across the sun dappled water his eyes held her’s captive. Until a loud screeching of fibreglass tearing over rock prised her attention from the handsome boater and down, to look at the point of contact between nature and design. Rover, Rex and Rosie came crashing through the herbaceous border, all three dogs emitting the deep warning growls, reserved for strangers who threatened. 

For me a good story has an interesting character, a story question that I need to know the answer to and it has to take me deep into the character’s point of view. Too large a cast of character’s who aren’t clearly defined can also be the beginning of the end for me.

closed

<image credit>

So how about you reader? What are you looking for in a story? What keeps you reading? What turns you off? If something turns you off a story do you read on in the hope of improvement? Or do you just give it away and move on? My time is limited, if it doesn’t grab me and hold me, I’ll find the next book and hope it does a better job of entertaining me.

If I were to be interviewed

15 Monday Jul 2013

Posted by Paula Beavan in Uncategorized

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

books, cathryn hein, diana gabaldon, kerry greenwood, literature, outlander series, suspense romance

I’m always reading writer interviews and I think about how I’d answer some of these questions. So I thought I’d interview myself. Weirdo that I am!

Question: How would you describe yourself?

I’m fun loving. 40 plus (I’m not telling). I love reading, writing and day dreaming. Happily married with hundreds of borrowed children.

Me NYE 2012

Question: Who’s your favourite author?

I love many authors, but my all time faves, writer’s who’s books I purchase as soon as they are out, are Diana Gabaldon, Kerry Greenwood and my new fave is Cathryn Hein.

Outlander Series

<photo credit>

Question: Why write?

I started mucking about with writing in my teens and have had several half hearted goes at writing a novel every ten years or so. Until we started our transport company that kept my darling husband away through the week. Then I began to consider writing in earnest. Writing has become an outlet, a companion and an obsession.

Question: You wish you’d wrote? 

Probably Diana Gabaldon’s “Outlander” series and of course, you know what I’m going to say, “Harry Potter” who wouldn’t like to have written those books.

Question: Something we don’t know about you? 

Mmm, well that’s a hard one, as you probably don’t know much about me in the first place. But, I lived on a sheep station in the Riverina when I was in my twenties and was a cook in the homestead.

sheep99

<photo credit>

Question: In one sentence tell us about your WIP? 

I’m editing Something in the Water at the moment and it’s a contemporary suspense romance set in the beautiful squalor of the Solomon Islands.

Question: Publishing? Are you? 

I dream of being published. So far though, I feel as if I’m still practising, I am unpublished. I am going to try for traditional publishing for Something in the Water, hopefully before the end of the year.

Question: What would you be doing if you weren’t writing? 

Likely, just reading and listening to audio books. My garden would probably be in a better state and I’d have a winter vegetable garden.

Image

(see what a mess my roses are)

So, there you have it, a mini selfie-interview.

If you’d like to know anything else, feel free to ask. I can’t guarantee I’ll tell you, but I will answer <wink>

Paula Beavan Author

Paula Beavan Author

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