I recently received some advice from a publisher friend. He said:
‘The days of the one-off novel are over. If you want to get published, you should consider a series.’
Now while I hope it is not entirely true that the one-off novel will no longer find a place on the shelf (one would think literary novels would still flourish in the singular) I see the marketing wisdom in conceptualising a series of novels. Seeing the two series I’ve been involved in are children’s picture books, I thought it best, when talking about novels, to ask someone who knows what she’s talking about. Come in, Ruth Downie! If you don’t already know, Ruth, who is an old friend of the Crafty Writer, has written a bestselling series of Roman mysteries known as the Ruso novels. Continue reading ‘Writing a series: tips from Ruth Downie’
I’ve recently read The Long Song by Angela Levy. Set in the twilight years of slavery in Jamaica, this passionate and witty novel is a masterclass in writing historical fiction. To read my review, visit my new author blog. To learn more about how to write historical fiction, Ruth Downie, author of the Ruso Roman mystery novels, did a series of guest blogs for The Crafty Writer a couple of years ago:
- Writing Historical Fiction 1 – Creating your historical world.
- Writing Historical Fiction 2 – Doing the research.
- Writing Historical Fiction 3 – Using fact in fiction.
If you enjoy reading books like The Long Song and the Ruso series you will also enjoy my literary thriller, The Peace Garden, which deals with the aftermath of the Soweto Riots and its repercussions in the lives of two young lovers. To find out more, read Ruth Downie’s review of The Peace Garden.
For all you LOTR buffs, there’s a new website that delves into the fascinating links between Tolkien’s fantasy and real historical events and places. Christine Ahmed has put in an enormous amount of work to chronicle the references to Scottish Border and Northumberland history and culture at www.lotrandthescottishborder.net
In her third and final post on Writing Historical Fiction, RS Downie tells us why using fact in fiction is like wearing underwear. Ruth is the author of Ruso and the Disappearing Dancing Girls (’Medicus’ in the USA) and Ruso and the Demented Doctor (’Terra Incognita’ in the USA), the first in a series of historical crime novels set in Roman Britain.
Research is Like Underwear…
In 1541, if you came from London, you considered Yorkshire to be a barbarian land. Once you turned off the Great North Road, the journey to York was a ‘wretched track’. The woods contained boar and wildcat and the locals still shared thatched hovels with their cattle.
Continue reading ‘Writing historical fiction 3 – using fact in fiction’
Today RS Downie continues with her second post on Writing Historical Fiction (if you missed the first on creating your historical world, why not check it out first). Ruth is the author of Ruso and the Disappearing Dancing Girls (’Medicus’ in the USA) and Ruso and the Demented Doctor (’Terra Incognita’ in the USA), the first in a series of historical crime novels set in Roman Britain.
You can’t please all of the people…
Here’s a confession: the earliest edition of my first book contained a wrong Latin ending. I only found this out when it was firmly and very publicly corrected by a reviewer in a national newspaper. It was a small thing – just two letters – but as he said, it cast doubt on the rest of the research. He said nice things as well, and later chose the book as one of his top thrillers for Christmas, but at the time I barely noticed the positive points. I was mortified. I felt I’d let everyone down. I lay awake fantasising about recalling all the copies so I could set fire to them and then fling myself on the pyre.
Continue reading ‘Writing historical fiction 2 – doing the research’
Welcome to the first of three guest posts by RS Downie on writing historical fiction. Ruth is the author of Ruso and the Disappearing Dancing Girls (‘Medicus’ in the USA) and Ruso and the Demented Doctor (‘Terra Incognita’ in the USA), the first in a series of historical crime novels set in Roman Britain. Now over to Ruth:
Twenty years ago I knew nothing at all about historical fiction except that some of the novels I’d enjoyed had been set in the past. I’ve learned a great deal since then, mostly from other writers and sometimes from my own mistakes. I still have much to learn and frequently don’t practise what I preach – but if you too are fascinated by the past and want to set your story there, I hope you’ll find some useful pointers in this series of articles. If you have anything to add or questions to ask, feel free to post your comments below.
Continue reading ‘Writing historical fiction 1 – creating your historical world’
Some visitors to The Crafty Writer who have been following the non-fiction history writing series have been asking for something similar on writing historical fiction. So we asked Ruth Downie, author of Ruso and the Disappearing Dancing Girls (‘Medicus’ in the USA) to chat to us about writing historical crime novels. Ruth is married with two grown-up sons. She was born in North Devon and now lives in Milton Keynes. Her first book featuring Roman medic Gaius Petreius Ruso was published in 2006, and became a New York Times bestseller (albeit briefly, she reminds us!). Her second book Ruso and the Demented Doctor (‘Terra Incognita’ in the USA) is now on the shelves.
Continue reading ‘Writing historical crime novels – interview with R.S. Downie’
In this second session on writing history for the commercial market, we will look at how to write narrative history by using creative writing techniques to write the ‘story’ of your history.
Whose story is it?
The most marketable and interesting form of written history, is history about people. Your research will have unearthed many potential ‘characters’. Which ones are you going to feature in your story? Articles are best written when focusing on a single ‘protagonist’ or a small group. In a book you can deal with more characters, but they need to be linked. There are a number of questions that you can ask that are used by fiction writers to develop a character. By adopting this approach you will help to bring your personalities to life and to present them in a lively, readable historical narrative.
Continue reading ‘Writing history for the commercial market – 2: narrative history writing techniques’
