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Tag Archives: Felicity Pulman

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.

Back into the fray . . .

14 Wednesday Jan 2015

Posted by Paula Beavan in Uncategorized

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Felicity Pulman, Heart Attack, I Morgana, Janna Mysteries, NaNoWriMo, painting, Reading, recovery, Shalot, stress, writing

Here we are reader, almost half way through January 2015 and I have to say my life has been hectic since I finished NaNoWriMo in November. Most of December was taken up with preparing for an audit for our business. With new laws and expectations, I ended up needing to rewrite our entire business policies and procedures as well as implementing a lot of new strategies. The audit was the week before Christmas and we passed with flying colours. So then it was time to get ready for Christmas. Shopping, cooking, present wrapping and cleaning.

We made it through the week between Christmas and New year with little to do and prepared to enjoy the break. I started back into my daily work schedule, decided to paint the interior of our house, started painting, it was all looking good.

Before

Before

After

After

And then the MOTT had a heart attack.

After the angiogram

After the angiogram

As you can imagine, this has taken it’s toll on Miss Muse, she took off and hid in the archive box and wouldn’t come out. So I spent a good majority of the last 2 weeks at hospitals, doctors offices and trying not to freak out. MOTT is fine, out of hospital and preparing to annoy me for the next 8 weeks until he is cleared to resume driving a commercial vehicle.

But, I am taking the opportunity to write while he is running the phones and chasing loads. I need to write a minimum of 30K in the remainder of January, so I can get my ms to Felicity Pulman for her perusal. After being fortunate enough to win a mentorship with the awesome author of “A Ring Through Time”, “The Shalott” Trilogy not to mention the “Janna Mysteries” and her latest release “I, Morgana”, I certainly did not want to blow the opportunity. So from now on reader, I will be writing like a wild thing.

If all goes well, I’ll share a snippet with you soon. So enough about me, what have you been up to? Have you ever read any of Felicity’s books? What did you think? I loved the “Shalott” series, and have “I, Morgana” on the top of the pile beside my bed.

Paula Beavan Author

Paula Beavan Author

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