Marked on 22 April each year, Earth Day is a reminder to celebrate the natural environment and to pat ourselves on the back for our efforts to protect it. Alongside the usual recycling, composting and picking up other people’s litter, I spent it admiring the early blooms in our garden wildflower meadows and the newts…
I came across the name Anne Lister as I was researching my novel-in-progress, a subversive retelling of Jane Eyre. Born in 1791, Anne Lister was a pioneering Yorkshire landowner, businesswoman, traveller and mountaineer. She was also a secret diarist commonly considered the first modern lesbian, unkindly nicknamed Gentleman Jack. Although her sexuality, and her independent…
Now on my fifth draft of an alternative version ofJane Eyre, I’m experimenting with a different opening. It’s tough – there’s so much to balance in those early scenes. I need to orientate my reader without overwhelming them with information. I need to intrigue, without confusing. The first page has to do a lot of…
Women in nineteenth-century novels spend a lot of time sewing. They might comment on their embroidery or the shirt they are making or, like the orphaned narrator of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, lament the bluntness of the needles, but I’ve never come across a character marvelling at the feat of engineering that pulls the thread…
Earlier this month, a critique partner sent me her feedback on the initial draft of my novel-in-progress. Honestly, I’d forgotten what a wonderful gift it is the first time an attentive reader ploughs through to the end. Especially so if, as in this case, she gets what you’re trying to do, likes it and is…
I’ve begun a new project, and it’s quite a departure for me. Not only for the historical setting but also in that it’s influenced by a much loved classic. This is bringing as many problems as it does opportunities. One that immediately presents itself is that my dramatis personae are already laid out for me,…
One of my favourite walks takes me over the moors and down through Eyam, the picturesque Derbyshire village made famous by the inhabitants’ self-sacrifice during the Great Plague. When the pestilence arrived from London in a bolt of cloth, the residents – led by the young vicar, William Mompesson – agreed to quarantine themselves to…
There’s a lovely tradition in rural Derbyshire where the community comes together to create a colourful mosaic using natural materials pressed onto a board filled with wet clay. These are displayed beside ancient water sources to attract visitors to the village and raise money for charity. I’ve always been in awe of the work that…
I’d been waiting over six months to check out the setting for an early scene in my novel-in-progress. Back in November, the rocky field carpeted with purple orchids of my imagination proved a pleasant distraction from the storms buffeting the land beyond my desk. It was based on a place I’ve visited often, albeit not…
